Community Engagement

We all exist in relationship with one another. Leadership is about connection.

  • Community in Action

    I believe strongly that schools should reflect the hopes and dreams of the communities we serve. We strive to have events that bring the community into the school. When we have an opportunity for guest speakers, we make sure to look within our own community first, and then to look to find speakers that reflect our student body. We also have worked to increase parent volunteers and opportunities for our staff to hear from parents and students alike. This last month, staff heard from a panel of parents and a panel of our students about their hopes and dreams for the school.

  • Community Programs

    Partnering with community organizations and entities is an important way to support students and also a way to ensure that students see those who look like them and come from similar backgrounds reflected in the school. Entities and organizations from our community are represented at career days, parent dinners, and school assemblies. Guest speakers are invited form the community, and also partner with us to provide unique experiences for our youth for internships and more.

  • Welcoming Environment

    It is important to remember that schools are not places that have historically been welcoming to all communities. Parents and grandparents may have had negative experiences in schools, as some communities have been excluded from schools or harmed directly by schools. Some children and families may have been asked to leave parts of themselves and their identities outside of the school doors. For this reason, we have worked hard to include all families and make sure that a school is a place where all students and families know they are welcome.

Communication with Families

Families are our partners in education. Increasing communication with our families has helped us keep students more engaged, increased access to our social and emotional support for students in need, and also has helped us to improve our graduation rate.

A School Built from Generations

We make a concerted effort to support and celebrate alumni. It is an honor to serve the children of alumni and demonstrates their confidence in the school. Celebrating and recognizing alumni extends our connection beyond high school and helps provide community education and resources to support healthy families. It also shows our kids what they are able to achieve, by highlighting the success of people who have come through our halls.

School Community

We also intentionally build a community around our children. Staff come and wrap around our youth to provide them with the support necessary to find success. This image is of Senior Day when seniors came to apply to colleges, complete FASFA applications, and finish Edgenuity classes. The day wasn’t only about work. We had good music and good food while our students reached for their futures!

Invite the community into the school!

As part of community engagement, community members were invited in to speak about their careers, the education and background required for the career, and what they enjoyed and disliked about the career. We had dentists, computer programmers, human resource specialists, real estate agents, fisheries, politicians, and much more! Many were family to our students or worked in our community entities. Students then went to a career fair in the gym and were able to see colleges, technical schools, and local businesses that were related to these fields.

Families that feel valued and welcome are engaged!

People sometimes think that parents are not interested in education or invested in their child’s academic life. I have found that connecting successfully with people - staff, parents, students - means learning who they are and ensuring that events offered are relevant to them, that they are heard in authentic ways, and they are welcome and well represented in the school itself. In addition to events that are relevant to the community I serve, we also regularly request feedback from families, students, and staff through meetings, panels, and surveys.