NORTH ANDOVER PUBLIC SCHOOLS

BUILDING RESPECTFUL COMMUNITY

2012-2013

A Message from the Superintendent

Social-emotional learning is an integral part of North Andover’s educational mission. We feel it is important to stand behind the increasingly strong evidence that social-emotional skills positively affect student academic outcomes.  Over the past year, the Administration revisited our mission and goals, and defined our social-emotional learning expectations as those which identify civic and character education as vitally important to the development of well-rounded students.  These goals resulted in a culmination of four years of research, feedback and outreach conducted by the Building Respectful Community Committee (BRC).

In a continuing effort to be responsive to feedback received from students, staff, and parents through a district-wide survey, the BRC Committee will continue working collaboratively with representatives from all schools to build upon and strengthen the values associated with RAISE.

The Joint Speaker Series in conjunction with North Andover Parents Advisory Council for Children with Special Needs (NAPAC) will present several speakers throughout the course of the year including nationally renowned anti-bullying expert Dr. Elizabeth Englander, Director of the MARC Center at Bridgewater State University. MARC is an academic center, bringing services and programs in bullying and cyberbullying prevention to the K-12 Education Community.

In closing, it is important for parents and the community to know that the staff and Administration are listening and taking action to continue to strive toward our goal of building a respectful community.  Thank you for your continued feedback and support. 

R.A.I.S.E.

Our Social-Emotional Learning Expectations

Civic and character education is vitally important to the development of well-rounded students. Our Building Respectful Community (BRC) initiative highlights the values associated with RAISE through which…

• North Andover students will demonstrate respect. They will think about others before speaking or taking any action. They will appreciate the contributions of others, while showing respect for themselves, other people, personal and/or community property and the environment.
• North Andover students will demonstrate achievement. They will exercise their best effort and judgment in all activities in which they participate and will set goals that promote positive academic, social, and personal development.
• North Andover students will demonstrate inclusion. They have a responsibility to break down barriers by inviting new people into teams, circles of friends, and experiences as they work to be a unified, collaborative community.
• North Andover students will demonstrate service. They believe the growth and improvement of a relationship and community depends on the willingness of others to contribute support to the greater good.
• North Andover students will demonstrate empathy. They will be aware of and consider another person’s situation, feelings or motives before speaking or taking action.

What is the BRC Initiative?

In January, 2008, a group of parents concerned about the social and emotional issues affecting student learning came together to discuss their concerns.  Initial discussions focused on problems affecting students at all levels (PK-12) within the school environment.  The following topics were idenitified. 

• Physical, verbal, and cyber bullying
• Lack of respect for one another (mocking differences)
• Isolations (kids feeling left out, lack of support system)
• Anxiety
• Drugs
• Parental fears
• Teen relationships

Recognizing that there was a loose connection between current efforts to address these topics and initiatives among schools, the group initially focused on three major questions and their relation to social and emotional learning:

• What do we want our students to know and be able to do?
• How will we know when they have learned?
• How do we respond when they are not learning?

The overall goal when addressing these questions was to create a community in which all participants had a greater respect and active concern for others, “a respectful community.”  To achieve its goal, the group identified several objectives, including developing a common language that students and the community can use, collecting information from a variety of groups to identify where the issues lie (lunch room, recess, etc.), identifying the impact on and making a connection to the broader community (students, staff, parents, coaches, Boosters, North Andover Youth Services, and the greater North Andover community), and implementing a K-12 programmatic approach.   In order to ensure success, the group needed to define the roles of all participants and promote a forum for open communication, pro-viding a safe environment in which individual concerns can be raised and ad-dressed.  From this initial meeting, the Building Respectful Community Committee was formed.

BRC RAISE Logo

The BRC logo contest ran during January and February of 2011 and was open to all students in the North Andover school district. We had over 80 entries with elementary, middle, and High school all being represented. A BRC selection committee met and while there were a number of worthy entries, we unanimously selected an original design by 8th grade NAMS student Ophelia Deng as the winner.  This original design was modified slightly to fit the needs of a district wide logo and presented to Ms. DiGregory's graphic arts class at the HS to create a template. Senior Brittany Savoia undertook the project and helped create this final logo design. These two girls were recognized and our new district BRC logo unveiled at the school committee meeting on April 4th. Thanks to all who entered the contest and great job Ophelia and Brittany!