Field Trip
Students
The African American History Museum is four hours from our school. Throughout the year, we will fundraise with Go Fund Me campaigns and other fundraisers to raise money for transportation to the museum. If prices remain as they currently are, we should be able to take at least two busloads of 11th graders. To cut down on cost, we will return that same night.
Staff
Every school is required to participate in some form of professional development and much like the lessons we give our students, it is important that we make our PDs relevant to the teachers’ challenges and growth needs. We have struggled to inspire collective buy-in regarding restorative practices and PBIS at our school. These practices focus on rewarding positive behavior instead of punishment or negative reinforcement. Let me be transparent, I have struggled with this too because they seldom address the behaviors that often derail the learning environment. However, the more I study, the more I see the need for PBIS to be properly implemented.
My proposal is that the administration and school staff take a bus ride to explore the communities that feed into our school and also the city jail. Before the trip, the teachers will have a required summer reading regarding the prison-to-pipeline system and an additional day of PD to review and share ideas prior to the trip. Unfortunately, a few students are currently serving time for minor offenses; seeing them behind bars and recalling the school’s disciplinary practices will reaffirm the need for these initiatives and encourage more participation by all parties. This will result in a collective effort to take on these challenges together because we have now seen first-hand what happens when we take the path of least resistance.
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