001okay so it says that we are live wonderful how are you Miss Cunningham I am well I want to welcome you and I am going to start off with a statement I know that there was an email sent today um just asking for some transparency and I'll read the last bullet of the email it says arms staff are concerned about a history of hiring practices that appear to include conflicts of interest we believe that the responsibility of candidates and anyone involved in hiring them to declare any social or commercial connections they may have with one another and that those at HR or in the search committee with such connections should recuse themselves from any involvement in the hiring process it says we believe that the superintendent and school committee should make a good faith effort
002to discover conflicts of interest that may hinder a fair and Equitable search and I know that there are many who have done their research and so um they've come back with faulty information and with that being said I'm just going to make my declaration and Gabrielle after I make mine you can make yours okay okay so great I have never met you I don't know you from anything or anywhere ever prior to last week when you came to interview with our district so that is me making the statement of disclosure that you and I although we share the same skin color we have never met and have no outside affiliation Gabrielle right let's share whether you know me or not from any yes affiliations right I affirm that I have not met Miss Cunningham prior
003to last week's initial interview um she is good company to know so I'm excited to be here with the arms community and hopefully get to know everyone much better but previously no connection all right thank you and people by the way right right um so let me start off by saying good evening and welcome to the arms principle forum so you had a chance to meet me and the other individuals who interviewed you during last week's Forum uh interview session and um basically I hope you got a good feel for our district we know that you Gabrielle are interviewing us as well as while we're interviewing you so tonight we're going to ask you a series of questions I had asked the community families and every you know staff members to send me questions that
004they would like to hear you respond to I received quite a few with some themes that are um going to going to that I have merged together because you know every a lot of people have the similar thoughts as to what they wanted you to respond to prior to me asking the full-blown questions the people who are watching and it says at this moment we have about 20 people um the people who are watching would like to know more about you because they like the interview committee have never seen your resume so please tell us more about you and your background wonderful thank you so much again for the opportunity to be here with the arms Community um and as a leader and as a person I've been shifting twofold first of all I'm an
005inclusive affirming and collaborative leader and I anchor my leadership on three things for both students staff colleagues peers parents agency voice and self-determination to make decisions for the future and that comes down to just my upbringing when I was younger I had to face some challenging decisions at a young age in high school I remember the company that my mom worked for was going to be sending jobs overseas and so she had a tough choice to make and I remember her calling me into the kitchen and saying Gabrielle I know you want to go to college but here's the predicament that I'm in with my job I can keep my job for lower wages or I can sell it and we might not have enough money to put you all the way through school and
006I remember at this young age being like huh you know who gets to make these types of decisions we've done everything right I've gone to school middle one high school I have helped take care of my younger brother while we were growing up I did everything right my mom did everything right as a single parent but now I'm at the finish line which really should prepare me to propel me to my future and I'm stuck with this tough choice it was from that moment on that I decided I want to be an advocate I want to go into education and I want to make sure that students that I'm working with families that I'm working with everyone in the Greater Community knows that I am a leader focused on agency voice and self-determination in the
007classroom I have anchored a student agency at the center both bringing the community into the classroom as well as exposing students to the Greater Community and finding parents in as partners to be a front and center part and integral part of the classroom and decision making for their students oftentimes I see that we have parents kind of on the back burner on the outline until something happens and then we want to build a relationship and we know that doesn't work for our students and it doesn't work for our families and it doesn't work for the community parents also should have a voice when it comes to decisions happening for the students and with their students I also see myself as super inclusive um affirming and collaborative we're living in times now and we always have
008been where oftentimes we want to isolate one part of ourselves or one part of a minority group or a kind of tier our approach to how we support the needs of everyone when really everybody's fighting for the same thing and if we come together and operate as a fist rather than isolated fingers we can accomplish a lot in our community for our students especially at the Middle School seventh and eighth grade levels where they're navigating so many different things with their identity identities let's celebrate that let's leverage that let's encourage our students to take on leadership and be their authentic selves in and out of the school building I'm also a leader that centers around Joy who wants to come to a school that doesn't have joy let's have some fun while we're learning we
009know we have a lot of hard work to do we know we are in MCAS testing season Miss Cunningham I know you're feeling it too but let's have some fun let's have some celebrations let's celebrate some small and large Milestones together for students and for staff and know that we're in this for the long run together so that's me I'm all about agency voice self-determination and inclusivity and self-care now I can't leave out the self-care I thought it was done but I'm also definitely sittering on self-care we have to take care of ourselves if we want to be good for other people well thank you very much for that one um first question says this is a school seeking stable and capable leadership and we have several collaborative aspirations and models can you tell us
010how will you evaluate create and assess a strong working Community among the faculty and staff yeah so I think about what are the on-ramps or um pipelines that we can support with establishing instructional practices instructional coaching and developmental supports for teachers in the summer time and think critically and think um intentionally about how we use that summer planning time to launch teachers into the school year while building trust while building content knowledge and while collaborating with each other to ensure that we're supporting students based on their individual needs so I'll initially I'll use that summer planning time use some PD time throughout the school year but also leveraging our teachers who are also integral stakeholders within the school community and leveraging their expertise around how do we plan how do we support how do we
011scaffold differentiation for all students not just our you know majority students definitely paying close attention to our exceptional learning students and our English Learners which we know we have that population in seventh and eighth grade at arms and just being an inclusive collaborative leader when it comes to how we are supporting students in their learning overall and when that comes also making sure that we have those Benchmark chunks for how we're monitoring progress over the course of the year so at the beginning of the year whether you're a veteran teacher or an honest teacher what are what is the first chunk the first month of school look like for you how are we celebrating and measuring your success if there are stumbling blocks how do we work together to help you overcome those some some
012link blocks same thing going on throughout the school year creating these benchmarks these progress markers for ourselves and supporting each other collaboratively celebrating success and then also if we're not meeting the mark coming together as a team because we're working on creating safe spaces to have these conversations and Coach through them oh you touched on a couple questions that I have here so this was question number seven but I'm going to ask it now since you started talking about benchmarks and such right so it says um Beyond MCAS and other standardized measures what do you consider the most useful form of data about Middle School teachers and students and their overall well-being what kinds of things do you learn from non-testing data and how have you used this oh that's a really really great question
013Miss Cunningham thank you for uh taking me there one of the things that I found to be a priority especially coming out of the pandemic especially for middle and early high school students is the emphasis on creating restorative and holistic supports for students and even when you think about restorative practices it's more than just having group circles where we talk about what's going on or we talk about feelings it's building this community of safeness a culture where if there is harm done if someone's offended if something happens maybe that goes beyond offense we have a safe space in our classroom but also in our greater School Community where we can talk about this if we have a situation that spirals outside of that safe space um where you know uh myself as the school leader
014teacher leaders parents need to be brought in we still want to think about how do we restore and repair the relationship in order to move on but we're not just having these conversations we should track the data right because data tells us everything one of the things I've been able to do in the past is pinpoint when and where some of this harm can happen or when and where pockets of Joy happen throughout the uh the school year that can be as simple as talking to the team about here's a Google form that we're using um so that we can look at when and where of course this is happening again what are the hot spots so that then I can work with a student with the family and then also with the teachers around
015how we can overcome this obstacle moving forward the foundation to students being successful is for them to feel safe and welcome in their classroom safe and welcome in their school regardless of their gender identity regardless of orientation race ability we want our students to feel safe because we know that when students feel safe they achieve at the highest level on MCAS and Beyond oh okay well thank you for that the um question as a slight follow-up would be what steps have you taken in previous positions to ensure the safety of all students regardless of their race national origin religion disability age sexual orientation or gender identity and then please provide specific examples of how you have created inclusive and safe spaces in the past because you talked about students and feeling safe and belonging right
016in the school right absolutely absolutely so a couple of steps that I would take in a couple of things that I've done in the past is to make sure that we have the right folks supporting students outside of the classroom as well as inside of the classroom but let's start with what happens inside of the classroom one of my favorite analogies that I use is making a deposit and we've all we all have bank accounts right and we all know what happens when you try to make a withdrawal from your bank account and you don't have no money in the bank right what happens you overdraft the same thing happens with students when they might be having a bad day maybe the adult in front of them is having a bad day and we try
017to withdraw or provide a correction or a check if you will but we haven't done the work of depositing into that student giving them positive affirmations asking them if they've had a great day making Community contact with the families early on in the school year but now we're trying to call because we need support because something happened the instructional support with that would be ensuring that teachers are building their relationships with students on the front end of the school year so that again when harm is done we can move forward as a team that will be the first step then what happens outside of the classroom who are the students support people it could be a teacher leader it could be our counselors which I know have been doing a credible work in the arms
018Community who are the folks that support with that holistic need of students who are the ones that have check-ins with them throughout the day who are the ones that are asking them what happened and we know that our middle schoolers can have very bold and Frank conversations with us around what happened and how are we also again because on a very data oriented person how are we again tracking the data to ensure that this doesn't become a Perpetual cycle of the same students or same you know situations how can we create those supports that students need so they can move forward and feel safe also on that same notion thinking about what are some spaces we can have for students what are they interest can we create a survey at the beginning of the year
019because our students are also key stakeholders in their education to ask what do you want to do what do you want to see what do you want to lead one of the things I was able to do in the past was create Affinity spaces based off of just that restorative needs for our students I had students that were grappling with some Newfound identity struggles that they wanted to navigate with so one of the things that I was really excited and proud to launch was an lgbtqia book club and we had a coming a series of coming-of-age books that I had in my restorative practice team leaders facilitate with students and in that book club they were able to ask questions be their true and authentic selves and we celebrated them each and every day regardless
020of what was going on in the background another piece of that was just establishing some mentorships students that were able to take on a little bit more leadership again regardless of gender identity age ability everybody was welcome in these clubs because we are fully inclusive um including them in the mentorship program and then kind of checking in with them you know because students working with students helps to move them grow them move them forward in in our mentors student mentors became leaders for the other rest of the population and then also thinking about what does student leader student leadership look like at the middle school level again our kids have a lot of bold ideas a lot of bold conversations that they want to have let's use that for the good let's let them feel
021empowered let's let them use their voice let's create a student council let's create some art clubs let's figure out what is their Niche and really lean into what their Niche is so that they feel empowered and want to be in school with us each and every day regardless of what's going on and who are the adults that are in front of them and around in that support with that touched on inclusion and there is a question here that talks about um the person wrote I'd like to ask each candidate how they would handle Universal inclusion and what their support for students with disability would look like what kind of commitment do you have to full inclusion and how do you intend to expand and realize um some of the programs that are here I'm not
022sure if you did your own research to see what programs were here but they just wanted to know how would you expand it and increase access for all students and end disparities to access so that's a big a lot combined in that statement or that question but basically how do you how would you handle Universal inclusion and what kind of supports would you offer for students with disabilities yes so the programs that are offered for our students with disabilities within the arms Community are some of the best in the country right and a part of that is also the inclusive model where all students again regardless of ability or language acquisition are able to get grade or above grade level education in seventh and eighth grade one of the things that it takes to build
023out a program like that and to enhance the strong program and culture that you already have in arms and is with collaboration of our intensive needs administrator is to ensure that teachers have the coaching and development that they need to support with differentiation when needed scaffolding creating some flexible learning groups how do we break off to look at the data to see which students might need to be pulled to a small group to get that individualized supports while other students are able to continue moving and doing the work on their own just being intentional around how we are using our curriculum also around how we're using the data to create some groups and making sure that literally all of our students are performing at our above grade level but it might not all be at
024the same pace and I know again we have our our strong instance of needs administrator we have a strong special education department that I will be working alongside uh with if I offered this position to be a part of the arms Community um to move that work ahead and ensure that all of our students are performing at the highest levels because that's what they deserve thank you for that question so here's one that um I'm going to read it says the Amherst Regional Middle School teachers tend to be vocal activists for their school and their students it says we want a principal who can work with us on the multitudes of issues that come up every year please describe how you would work with us collaboratively to reach our goals yes so keyword collaboratively and
025I love working alongside um vocal activists and leaders in school buildings I feel like that's how we impact change and make sure that there's a system of accountability all across the board um and there's not a top-down approach I think about our our teachers as being like some of the strongest stakeholders that we have so my role and my goal would be to really listen in on their areas of expertise and figure out how we can work together to really lean into the areas of expertise to make beautiful things happen for students but also make sure that teachers are feeling supported in the areas where they need development coaching and evaluation and as well throughout the course of the school year so it's acknowledging that everybody is bringing in their strengths to the arms community
026leveraging those strengths but then also identifying I am a lifelong learner Miss Cunningham I have not mastered anything yet okay I have a master's degree but I've not met I have not arrived okay so just like I have not arrived we all as Educators should be lifelong Learners to continue to lean into our practice lean into development and coaching just like I would be seeking feedback from my colleagues and from you um and from the the teacher team as well because that's how we learn and grow that's how we get better for students and that's how we become more and more effective so then what what would your plan be on how to create a it says a harmonious work environment and build a community where all the teachers can Thrive and feel heard and
027respected yes so creating a harmonious work environment I look at that again and I'm someone that's very uh relational I like to get to know people hear their stories and I'm also someone that believes I have to be out of the office and into the classroom and that takes early on in the school year right thinking about the summer planning time getting to know um the teachers getting to know the needs getting to know what's going on and starting to build relationships with them and then learning what their strengths and areas of focus are gradually before we get into the school year I mentioned a little bit ago the importance of deposits and depositing into students before we withdraw it's the same thing with teachers folks want to feel heard they want to know if
028their opinions and voices matter and I'm some one that truly believes that let's have a conversation let's have an open dialogue because again this I am not a top-down leader I'm very collaborative I want to listen and learn and know more and together we build joyful learning spaces together we will build our harmonious School culture together but it's take strong communication on the early point of the school year that continues throughout the school year I'm going to pause for a second we are halfway through the questions okay so this will be your opportunity if you wanted to get a sip of your water or just um add on to anything but we're halfway through and so I'm going to pause great wonderful and I definitely have water ready and available I think learning about the
029culture of the arms community and again I know that you have a scholar that is a part of the arms community and also all the things that I know to be true about the Educators and what makes the school so special and so the the role of you know whomever you all choose to become a part of the community as the principal is not to take over by any means it's to be a thought partner to help with the utilization of data to help ensure that everyone staff students families feel included and engaged as a part of the community and to really listen and help you know build something that is sustainable build something that lasts Beyond an MCAS score where people feel safe where people feel seen where people feel heard another big part
030that I do want to share is um the importance of having parent voice at the Forefront um I know I had you know been thinking about how can we collect information or how can we bring parents to the table all throughout the school year again I'm I love a corny joke and I love the corny deposits analogy that I keep mentioning I think you know at the beginning of the school year middle of the school year end of the school year is great to do a survey or something where we get information from parents and see you know what are your thoughts about this your Scholars uh school what are some concerns that you have do you feel like your voice is heard but I think we can up the frequency of that like really
031building the relationships with parents bringing them into the school having more of a um you know uh an open door policy if you will when you know with the proper you know protocol in place so that parents are at the Forefront again they should be at the table when it comes to making decisions for their students it shouldn't happen on the back end you know after the decisions are made now we're calling the parent in for a meeting no let's get that done on the front end um and that's another part of how we will create a joyful culture not just for students and staff but also for our families so I'll say that one of the questions here talks about communication I'm going to read the question and then kind of change a little
032bit the question is uh as uh sent to me says communication is key for most families how do you plan on keeping families informed on what is going on in the school you touched on surveys and such yes and I would say how do you reach those who are not able to share information via survey you know so give us more if you can expand on how else you would communicate outside of just the survey alone one of your questions during the interview talked about how do you reach families who don't normally come in so okay if you can touch on something like that as well absolutely so survey would be the high level initial and throughout the year touches right what are the touch points that we have we can do a survey at
033least three times a year but that's not building the relationship right that's just data that we get to hear the voices and the needs and the idea ideas and the opinions of parents so that we can include them as a part of building the community and building the culture um I think that in addition to the survey we should figure out who are our parental stakeholders that can help us build up some different um you know needs and communities and group parent-centered groups focus groups if you will um groups where parents can come in and talk about what's happening with the ELA department or come in and talk about this restorative practice system right that we say that we have we need to you know and help enhance and build um better over the course
034of the school year so the date the initial survey data will be great for launching those types of initiatives but then thinking about who are the parents that have the capacity to be some of our key leaders and then it's the same thing as networking right parents reach other parents for us maybe they know the parents that we can't get in touch with uh maybe they speak the language of the parents that we can't get in touch with through the survey or through phone calls so on and so forth also I will say a part of me is old school because I don't mind you know going out into the beautiful arms community and many people face to face and there's nothing like going to a good flea market or going to the grocery store
035and meeting folks um and putting face to names because there's a I believe truly in the importance of human connection and getting to know people um so I believe that where there's a will there's a way when it comes to getting in front of all of our parents and just having you know I mentioned joyful spaces joyful assemblies joyful culture but also bringing parents in to help us co-plan and co-create these joyful spaces and cultures um on the front end and not waiting all the way until the end of the school year or again when something happens to invite them to the table let's get them there to build it with us and we can do that if we're intentional about our time so you talk about the joyful spaces and building and doing all
036this great thing what um one of the questions that someone asked is what prompted you to apply for this position and how can you reassure the families and stuff that you will stay the course and not quit after one year okay so one of the things that had encouraged me and inspired me really to apply for the arms position is just knowing the beautiful cultures and spaces and how truly diverse the arms Community is um and then also knowing just the importance of having an impact with seventh and 8th grade students because they're at a pivotal moment in their lives they need strong um uh supports and Leadership that will hold them to high expectations but also create a sense of safety community and belonging all throughout the the school year and that's something that
037I've been able to do in the past as a chameleon right sometimes we have to be chameleon leaders and shift and change over the course of the Year based on the needs of our students and staff and our families but also just being consistent and that is one thing that is true about myself is that I'm extremely consistent and if we want our students to fill that sense of belonging we have to know you know that you are bringing somebody that is not going to leave after a year um that is going to stay the course and that will be there um for the long run in order to create this you know um sense of just safety and um you know collaboration in a in a place where students feel like they truly belong
038um and that's someone that I am right um again I've had to be a chameleon all throughout my career just because we work I work in education right so sometimes you do have to shape and shift um but I do believe in order to have a sustainable and healthy school Community you have to have someone that's going to be there for the Long Haul um so someone that truly believes in our students and that they all can achieve again all students can achieve at the highest levels um when they feel safe seen and heard and when they're also pushed um and challenged academically bring out the student s ask you to two questions it says how will you help students to feel engaged and challenged in their academic classes and then the other one says
039um well we'll answer that one first and then I'll go back to the next one okay no problem so how will I help students to feel engaged and challenged I think it's twofold um the first part will be supporting teachers right so we talked a little bit ago about um listening to teachers learning about their area of expertise but also learning about um what areas there are for growth in establishing that initial coaching cycle um that is a non-negotiable right because we're all lifelong Learners um and lifelong leaders in our school um so establishing that to ensure that teachers feel like they have the support they need to provide the instruction um that again is Equitable when I say Equitable meaning fully inclusive right also at or above grade level that pushes our students to
040think Challenge and create in seventh and 8th graders if they can do nothing else they can definitely think Challenge and create so how can we leverage that and push them at the grade level and channel that into what they're producing um academically so that's the instructional piece coaching systems high level um academic curriculum and also ensuring that students are doing the heavy lifting of the work right and this is something that myself and the teacher leaders instructional leaders will work with teachers on but then there's also that sense of belonging creating a culture where student feels like they can show up in a classroom and Thrive and perform and where they are challenged and a lot of that comes in you know different instructional moves and instructional supports that teachers will be supported with me
041on but also just having students feel like they are seen and heard um will be a part of the the coaching piece and also ensuring that teachers feel comfortable with ensuring that students are seen and heard and that we're creating spaces where everybody feels included like they have a voice again that whole agency voice and self-determination piece is something that we want to fully Implement collaboratively as a team so the second piece um talks about how do you plan on engaging students it says the rising seventh graders for this upcoming school year so when you by the time you start let's say if you are the can the chosen person by the time you start you would be coming and starting July 1st then you have students who are seventh grade because this is a
042two-year school right so you have students who are seventh graders getting ready to rise into the eighth grade how do you plan to engage those students in in our schools in our school yes they're the big they're the big dogs on campus right Rising seventh graders they're going to be the big dog on campus so really helping them to see the power of their leadership of being the eighth graders um in the upcoming school year um and leaning into that right helping them see themselves as key stakeholders helping them you know navigate the complexities of you know being in eighth grade can kind of be a tough year as well because you're going to be in high school then what do you do when you're in high school you're no longer going to have all
043this like protection with people supporting you and telling you what to do though you kind of have to go and figure it out a little bit on your own but setting them up for Success early on in the school year by creating this like we are eighth grade you all are the leaders of the building and now we need you to show seventh graders how it's done show seventh graders how you can achieve at high levels so seventh graders how we talk to each other in the hallways how we create inclusive spaces um have the eighth grade mentoring the seventh grader so that we have this like chain and pipeline maybe even some of the restorative practice work that we talk about doing we can leverage some of our influencers right I use the word
044stakeholders but all of our kids they all love YouTube and they all want to be into YouTube influencers so maybe we encourage them to influence um seventh grade or maybe even younger grades right to make right decisions just you know to to do what they need to do in school when we have challenges there's nothing like student to Student Learning um and encouragement and influence over the course of the year so I think that would be a good launch for it again talking with the other stakeholders of the building our teachers families and really just supporting eighth grade with understanding that they are the leaders of the school we need you to be a positive influence celebrating their benchmarks of success um that could be you know at the beginning of the year having a
045launch where we're celebrating them um in some form for just being the leaders of the school I'm having something in the mid-year you know maybe um something positive that the students can lead and lift all throughout the year and then of course as we get ready to send them off into our high school having another big celebration you know that they can plan and lead and execute because we've kind of developed them over the course of the year to take on that type of leadership and our kids will rise to the challenge they they will rise to the challenge yeah they typically do um so along with that if you want to add on here's another question that's similar it says at present we are at seventh through eighth grade school right just two years
046how can you create a sense of belonging for students and families during such a short time I think it all comes from um again the supports that they feel in a school and I I know we kind of have been talking all throughout this um Forum around ways that we build uh community and belonging for all of our stakeholders or influencers what is it like for students how do we get them to want to come to school on a consistent basis how do we challenge them once they're in the classroom where they feel safe seen and heard on a consistent basis how we're supporting our teachers with the differentiation and Scaffolding that needs to happen to meet the needs of all students and then how do we call in parents um uh both figuratively and
047literally so that they feel included as a part of the community on the front end not all the way at the end of the school year not um you know in the instance that something happens with their student during the school year so it's really kind of integrating these things not operating in isolation with just one of our stakeholders but including all of these pieces together again and acknowledging the strong culture that arms already has in order to make sure that everybody feels a sense of belonging in community all throughout the course of the school year and then some folks you know some parents might have a little bit more time that they can invest into school why not allow them to come into the school a little bit more if they have the time
048to support with students why not you know have this uh this kind of excitement and joyful leadership that we want to come from the students kind of spill over into the elementary school grades if we can right just kind of creating this ongoing chain once we get this type of system established that can still be on a school but I do believe and I have done again being a chameleon work that you know once you leverage leadership and once you start to reach out to our community and reach out to families and bring them in they want to be there but it takes the getting the systems in place um to make that work happen together so here's another one what is your perspective on the use of cell phones and or social media at
049school in the middle school years says how have you worked with families students and communities to navigate these issues in the past so it's twofold um technology in general is a beautiful tool especially now and I think it's also a tour of the tool that our students have mastered the use of Technology um probably more than both you and I have but I think there has to be a time and a place because because of social media because of a lot of different things that we have access to on our cell phones it can be a distraction right so going into the school year again and communicating with the teachers with guidance counselors and with families I do think we'll have to establish a strong plan for how we are going to um you know
050if we're going to use cell phones During certain points what are those points everybody has to know those points and then there's no cell phone use at other points during the day I think it's a safety a reason I think it's also just helping students stay focused on learning right and if a teacher says you know we need to use this for kahoot or for whatever interactive game we can advise permission for that during that point because again technology is a powerful tool but outside of those parameters we shouldn't be using cell phones throughout the school day in regard to um parent engagement and parent phone calls and you know parents needing to get in contact with our students definitely open you know to having them contact me or contacting the main office right that's
051why we have the main office if students need to get in touch with their families families need to get in touch with students that all goes through um the main office as it would you know a regular a regular system so technology can be beautiful for many reasons we can definitely leverage it but now we have to put some parameters around it um just because of safety and because of the distraction piece okay well thank you for that and then here's another one it says the Middle School competes with other private Charter and public schools as well as homeschooling as an option for the students it says how will you Market the school for maximum retention of students from the elementary schools coming up to the middle school and to potentially attract the families who
052have left to help them to return back to Middle School yes I think in working in a alongside you and learning alongside you and the teacher team and our parents that are that have the capacity to step up a little bit more to be influencers I think once we build out these systems restorative practices creating an inclusive engaging and affirming um School culture for all students regardless again this is very important regardless of gender identity regardless of ability regardless of race regardless of any other minority pieces pieces of themselves creating a truly inclusive culture and then calling parents into it once we get that system established right because it won't happen overnight arms have been doing a lot of great things but I know that it'll take some time to just get these systems established
053um and we already have a lot of great academic data once we get all those things together now we can say we are arms right we are the middle school and this is the place that you want to be this is where a lot of excitement it happens this is where the Learning Happens trust me you want to be on board with this team then it also takes getting out into the community right letting the community see not me as the principal they don't care right well they care in this form but they want to see what the students are doing again using student voice student influence who are parental influencers that can go out and speak and do the marketing on our behalf and then how are we getting with the times like the
054students would say and using social media to Market our school in an effective in a caring way but we have to have something positive um and something engaging in affirming to to Market over time and we'll get there you know over time and ensure that this is the place that people want to be this is where students want to be this is where the learning thriving and Leadership happens thank you for that I like how you use that word influencer yes that's the word that a lot of the young people are using yes yes absolutely but here's here's something where you know it's not it's not a positive thing but just in conversation about bullying it says Please provide examples of steps you took following reports of bullying in schools where you have worked yes
055um so one of the things is just helping all stakeholders in our community understand that there is a zero tolerance tolerance for bullying and it's not negotiable um in an instance of bullying a lot of fact-finding has to be has to be done so that's like figuring out what happened um getting anybody that was involved in the incident of bullying um gathering information on what happened and then working with the guidance team working with the teacher leaders or leadership team to figure out what are the steps that we have to take in order to make sure that this doesn't happen again previously I've used a combination of like the district level protocol for bullying as well as implementing that system of restorative practices right so I know arms has a whole process for dealing with
056bullying but what happens when in the goal is to get our students back into school right or what or to make sure that they feel safe in school so what does the system look like restoratively where our kids want to be in school right or if there is harm student to student student to teacher how are we having this conversation um hearing both sides out together as a team so that we feel safe and can move forward we can co-create a plan um to move forward in a restorative way at first it might be a little bit uncomfortable right that's why I use the word on-ramps um and providing you know positioning people well because we want to start the school year with this we can't do it in December and then expect things to
057to go well right we have to start the school year with these practices um and helping everybody understand that the teacher leaders teacher team um community and students understand how this this process works um and then having the folks that need to be involved in our restorative conversations involved in that again student to student teacher to student leader to student or you know whatever the case might be so it'll be a combination of the district policy first of all there is a zero tolerance policy for bullying um regardless of the event doing the fact finding that's needed right you can't jump the gun before you have all of your data and pieces in place communicating with all parties involved um and then creating that restorative um system where this happened how do we move forward
058together as a community and ensure that this does not happen again so your time with me is almost at the end right oh no the session was scheduled from 5 to 5 45. and so I believe the most important question right now once again is basically why should we trust you with your candidacy as the possible next potential leader of the Middle School like what can you bring to us that we haven't heard other people say that they can bring and um and and how would you be here to basically help us um as a school yes um again my whole Focus has been to be collaborative thoughtful inclusive but also centered around agency voice and self-determination for our students teachers and our Greater Community including our parents um as a leader I'll bring a
059lot of focus a lot of instructional supports which is something that I'm deeply passionate about supporting teachers so they can in turn support students of course using data as our roadmap not an indictment but a road map because it helps us plan for the future and how we move forward whether it's dealing with systems of restorative practices or working towards MCAS or whatever our Benchmark assessment is but also thinking about what does Joy look like yes we're we're gonna do the we're going to do what we need to do to make sure that we're meeting our mark on MCAS and then identifying how we can get you know students to continue to increase their score of the year but how do we have fun in school how do we have fun in a way that's
060responsible in school how do we leverage student and parent leadership in our school and those are things that I've been able to do in the past and things that I would love to bring to the arms Community um in a very inclusive way I'm also someone that believes that everybody again is a lifelong learner no one has is the end-all be-all so keep in keeping that in mind leveraging what teachers would like to see implemented what do families want to see implemented and how can we encourage our students to take on different leadership positions throughout the school as well I'm also someone that has walked the walk again I still have a lot to learn a lot of room for growth and I know that the arms Community won't let me fall shy of my
061growth but I'm someone that has literally walked the walk when it comes to building out these types of systems and I'd love to be a part of the arms Community to support with the development and implementation of these systems but also learn about the beautiful culture that I know you have already well thank you for that um trying to see here how I can move you to the back of the system the process so that you're not on on McCall as I'm speaking but since I don't know how to do that I'm just going to say well thank you so much for being here and sharing who you are with the individuals who were able to join us today this meeting this session is recorded So anyone can go back at a later time to
062watch the session and just um we play it as many times as you need to to hear what Miss Jackson has stated in her comments and in her responses to the questions that are asked can I there are a couple of questions in the chat do we have time it is 5 47. okay and let me see let me try Okay there are two so it says can you tell us what you know or understand about the community of Amherst and how would you bring the understanding of Amherst culture to your work and arms yeah so when I know about um the community of Amherst is that it's a large community of activists um but also a very diverse and inclusive community and I know that um combining the inclusivity um that is in the
063Greater Community into the school again by making sure that all voices are heard and that students um feel included and safe in school is going to be a big part of what I bring and help to enhance within arms so thank you so much for that question Miss um Miss Lopez and then the other one it says see there's there's usually a moderator with these things typical of the questions right so it says uh do you have a favorite program or process that you would bring to arms that would create a healing environment that is functional post pandemic and post leadership change yes thank you so much for that question Miss Mayfield and I think the system of restorative practices that I mentioned and again that would start with the teacher leadership team with the
064administrative team but also there are a lot of outside supports that we can bring in to support what the holistic needs of students but I think implementing that system of restorative practices and intervention supports will be something that will be foundational to support with the healing environment within arms okay great and that only took us a few extra minutes so thank you for recognizing the questions in the chat like I said there's usually someone who would come on and tell let me know that there are questions and you know here's something no worries slide it across but thank you again uh Miss Jackson for joining us and uh taking the time to let us know who you are and once again for everyone who um wants to this has been recorded and you can replay
065it as many times as you'd like so Miss Jackson I'm going to end your I'm going to remove you from this section and just put you in the back screen for a moment I just found out how all right thank you everyone great to be with you and please wait in the back so I can exit the process sounds good let me see whoops oh did something wrong here hold on remove and for everyone who has joined the call I know that there is a session scheduled for six o'clock with Tanya Broad and Miss broad has taken a position elsewhere so the six o'clock session has been canceled for tonight so thank you all for showing up to hear about what Miss Jackson has to say and I am going to only go on the
066six o'clock session just to let anyone who is not on this session know that the six o'clock has been canceled so thank you all and the broadcast is ending now