FROM THE PRINCIPAL’S DESK AT EMMETT O’BRIEN
SEPTEMBER 6, 2007
Dear Parents and Families of O’Brien Students,
I hope this letter finds you healthy and satisfied with your
child’s school experience. We have an exciting program
of studies planned for students for the 2007 - 2008 school year;
within our program we are including special opportunities for
students to grow, improve relationships, and to place a greater
value upon diversity. At this time we are preparing the
school for the Student Problem Identification and Resolution
of Issues Together Program (SPIRIT). I would like to share
more about this program with you.
The Community Relations Service (CRS) of the Department of Justice
initiated a pilot program in 1985 to assist school administrators
in gaining insight into student perceptions concerning racial
issues in an effort to encourage intergroup understanding. The
CRS staff believed that as objective outsiders with facilitation
skills, they could be helpful organizing and leading discussions
among youth to acquire candid perceptions on school racial problems
and solutions. SPRIT can be modified to meet the circumstances
in each school. Our school falls within unique circumstances
because the perception presented by the local media and statements
made by a limited number of people created an atmosphere of concern. The
school was barraged by negativity while students participated
in anti-bias team building activities, administrators took action
imposing strong discipline for every offense related to bias
and violence, and school staff attended in-depth related professional
development sessions and urged students to “practice random
acts of kindness”. No matter what we did as a school
team to respond to the problems it did not seem to be enough
according to those quoted in the media. Our hard work to
build a caring community went unrecognized and sadly, it appears
that some of life’s most important lessons were not learned. The
media created a larger problem for the school; reports clouded
issues and failed to fully present facts. Time to work
on necessary teen programming was stolen. I spent time
fielding questions from reporters who never seemed to get the
facts straight instead of meeting with students and parents. Teachers,
students and parents were equally troubled.
At this time we seek to learn and grow together from this disconcert
and to continue moving forward in a positive direction. In
an effort broaden the activity and gain community support; I
have invited the Department of Justice in to assist us with accurate
problem identification. In order to present a factual representation
of what occurs within our halls for all children regardless of
race or color, we must verify the scope of the problem.
All students are invited to seek nomination to the SPIRIT program. This
leadership program will be open to 100 students. Teachers
are currently nominating teen leaders for the program. In
order to learn about the SPIRIT program and how parents can promote
intergroup understanding please attend the SPIRIT parent information
session on the evening of September 25, 2007 at 6:00 PM in the
school’s Library Media Center. I look forward to
meeting with you.
Sincerely,
Lisa Hylwa
Principal Emmett O’Brien |
