“How was the first week of school?” has been a frequent question lately. And although, I am sure that every principal thinks that each year is the best opening ever, I am very impressed with the positive and respectful attitudes that our students have returned with this year. Upon reflection, I believe our warm and positive climate at Millbrook High School can be attributed to improving student space, a strong sense of community and a character education program that focuses on making our school a place where all students feel like they belong.

The first step in getting everyone off on their best footing was to ensure the year started with a sparkling clean building. Our staff put a tremendous amount of care and effort into our building so that everything was ready for the student’s arrival. From the scent of markers and newly cleaned hallways to the smell of freshly cut grass, these are the smells that reminded everyone that it was a new year and a fresh start. And making sure that repairs are made and graffiti erased gives everyone a greater sense of responsibility to ensure that the building stays in good condition.

MHS is a small high school and an important priority has been to improve upon the space within our building; most notably in the lunchroom and in our Guidance area. A year ago, we added an additional lunch period to create room for all students to eat comfortably which dramatically helped to improve the climate. Students now have a greater opportunity to build relationships and the added room helps prevent students from feeling cramped, stressed or disenfranchised. Our new Guidance offices are now perfectly designed for increased student confidentiality and this year, we redesigned our Learning Center to allow for teachers to more flexibly group our students. Each of these projects was done with student needs at the forefront and each has been very effective in making students feel more positively about their school.

Besides enhancing the physical environment, MHS has developed a very upbeat and constructive social environment that promotes communication between faculty, staff and students. Social media has been a great way to build our community. Many faculty members have accounts on Twitter where we share ideas and tweet out good news about our students and programs. The students enjoy the increased opportunity for positive interactions with faculty and administration and it has helped to bring all of us closer together. The high school Facebook page has also done a great deal to promote all of the good things happening in our building. Parents enjoy seeing pictures of their children while at school and they also enjoy the feeling of inclusion that comes from sharing in the general school spirit. And this year, in another great step towards increased communication with parents, many teachers and coaches have begun to use a new app, RemindHQ to strengthen our school community. The app can be used to remind students of upcoming tests or general information. It’s also a useful way to get information to parents of high schoolers who generally don’t relay messages home. One of the parents commented at Back to School Night, that she noticed a sense of enthusiasm among our staff and a renewed interest in communicating with parents. One of the most important steps in building our community has been our PBIS team, which is beginning its third year of existence. The team has focused on important celebrations that will make our students excited to come to school and feel a sense of belonging. Last year, the team planned a fantastic “Big Blue Day” where students were on multi-grade level teams with a teacher captain who led students in a scavenger hunt and team building activities. The day was a huge success with students exclaiming, “how happy they were” which is a direct result of bonding with each other and their teachers. This good feelings and goodwill have carried over to this school year and given students a very optimistic outlook. https://www.pbis.org And I would be remiss if I did not mention our amazing senior class who has demonstrated remarkable leadership this year. These students have done a fantastic job as Connection Crew leaders working with our new 9th graders in the building. This group has helped tremendously in setting a positive tone for the building and modeling appropriate and respectful behavior. All the teachers and coaches have commented about “what a nice group” this class is. Furthermore, they are very enthusiastic and willing to take step up and lead. For instance, they are spearheading many new ideas for our Homecoming Week in October. I have no doubt that it will be the most exciting Homecoming our school has seen! And if September is a predictor of success, then as many have noted through their tweets this past month, this will be #TheBestYearEver at MHS!