Climate Committee Creates Change on Pioneer's Campus
A group of department representatives has been focusing on implementing positive reinforcement to improve the student experience.
By Abigail Shlimenzon
A group of department representatives has been focusing on implementing positive reinforcement to improve the student experience.
By Abigail Shlimenzon
Many new policies, such as Social Emotional Learning, have been implemented this year with the goal of improving the school environment, the quality of education and the safety of students at Pioneer. The Climate Committee is a program that has been around for many years and focuses on these topics.
The climate committee was founded to address and improve the environment on Pioneer’s campus. The committee includes teacher representatives from every department. English teacher Michelle Bowman, is one of the representatives from the English department.
“The main goal of the committee is to keep things clean and safe and to make sure our students are happy and that staff and teachers are as well,” said Bowman. “We are doing great things, we are learning in a safe place.”
One of the main ways that the committee wants to improve Pioneer’s environment is by their focus on the school’s culture.
“We try to find ways to make sure that the school culture is kept healthy and strong,” said math teacher Cem Yesilyurt. “And we care about making sure that the school has a positive culture, one where support and service is emphasized and rewarded.”
Many students, such as Daya Kumaran, 12, realize the importance of what the committee is doing and how helpful it is to students.
“School is a place for education so it is important that kids feel safe when they are learning, so they can focus on learning and not other concerns they might have,” said Kumaran.
The most recent project that the committee is working on is Positive Behavior Intervention Strategies which are methods used to motivate and reward students for creating a welcoming environment around campus.
“We recently had a survey that was sent out where we asked students to name what kind of rewards they would like to see for positive behavior, and among those, some of the things people mentioned were like getting food and then in addition to that like doing something fun during FLEX or lunch, maybe watching a movie. These were options that were published on the survey and so we got some feedback on that,” said Yesilyurt.
Although rewards through food and fun events are always a great incentive, it is also important to reach the entire student body in order for these events to truly bring the student body together and improve the culture.
“I feel like better advertising for events that just happen on campus would be better because then people become more aware about it and could actually join it,” said Kacie Petty, 12. “The more people that show up to events, the more people you get to meet.”
During the committee meeting on Oct. 24, one of the agenda items regarded students leaving campus. The agenda note focused on the dangers students faced when allowed to walk off campus, and proposed different solutions to prohibit this behavior. However, some believe that inhibiting students from having such freedoms is far more harmful to students than it is helpful.
“I think students should be able to walk off campus during times such as lunch because it gives them more freedom and responsibility, which as high schoolers I think we deserve,” said Kumaran. “High schoolers should be responsible enough to make decisions that will lead to our success, and if not, we will hopefully learn from them so that we don’t make those mistakes in the future.”
The climate committee was founded to address and improve the environment on Pioneer’s campus. The committee includes teacher representatives from every department. English teacher Michelle Bowman, is one of the representatives from the English department.
“The main goal of the committee is to keep things clean and safe and to make sure our students are happy and that staff and teachers are as well,” said Bowman. “We are doing great things, we are learning in a safe place.”
One of the main ways that the committee wants to improve Pioneer’s environment is by their focus on the school’s culture.
“We try to find ways to make sure that the school culture is kept healthy and strong,” said math teacher Cem Yesilyurt. “And we care about making sure that the school has a positive culture, one where support and service is emphasized and rewarded.”
Many students, such as Daya Kumaran, 12, realize the importance of what the committee is doing and how helpful it is to students.
“School is a place for education so it is important that kids feel safe when they are learning, so they can focus on learning and not other concerns they might have,” said Kumaran.
The most recent project that the committee is working on is Positive Behavior Intervention Strategies which are methods used to motivate and reward students for creating a welcoming environment around campus.
“We recently had a survey that was sent out where we asked students to name what kind of rewards they would like to see for positive behavior, and among those, some of the things people mentioned were like getting food and then in addition to that like doing something fun during FLEX or lunch, maybe watching a movie. These were options that were published on the survey and so we got some feedback on that,” said Yesilyurt.
Although rewards through food and fun events are always a great incentive, it is also important to reach the entire student body in order for these events to truly bring the student body together and improve the culture.
“I feel like better advertising for events that just happen on campus would be better because then people become more aware about it and could actually join it,” said Kacie Petty, 12. “The more people that show up to events, the more people you get to meet.”
During the committee meeting on Oct. 24, one of the agenda items regarded students leaving campus. The agenda note focused on the dangers students faced when allowed to walk off campus, and proposed different solutions to prohibit this behavior. However, some believe that inhibiting students from having such freedoms is far more harmful to students than it is helpful.
“I think students should be able to walk off campus during times such as lunch because it gives them more freedom and responsibility, which as high schoolers I think we deserve,” said Kumaran. “High schoolers should be responsible enough to make decisions that will lead to our success, and if not, we will hopefully learn from them so that we don’t make those mistakes in the future.”