Safe & Supportive

A small school relies heavily on all members of the community to hold up its values. Misconduct is not simply a violation of the rules of the school, but it is a violation against people and relationships at Sizer and/or the wider community. Harm done must be explored reflectively through Conferencing and made right through Restorative Action.

Sizer School prohibits all forms of harassment, discrimination, and conduct, including language, expressing animosity and bias based on race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation, age, or disability. The civil rights of all school community members are guaranteed by law. The protection of those rights is of utmost importance and priority to our School. The School prohibits bullying or harassment of school community members for any reason, including those related to their race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation, age, or disability. The School will also not tolerate retaliation against persons who take action consistent with this Policy.

Since our inception, Sizer has built an incredibly safe, supportive and inclusive school culture where students report that they can come to school as themselves and not feel pressured to fit into a particular norm. In the spring of 2009, we asked three separate questions about safety in our annual school climate survey, 93% of our students responded. 50% agreed that the school is Safe, 43% agreed that the school is Very Safe. In addition, Sizer students participated in a region wide Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) administered to teens across Massachusetts through LUK, Inc. 0% of our 9th graders responded that they did not go to school because of safety concerns and only 3.2 % of our high school students responded in the affirmative compared to 6% nationally and 4% in Massachusetts.

In our second year of operation the school had one of the highest suspension rates in the region. In order to achieve a truly safe and supportive school culture, a very clear plan and strategy was put in place in our third year of operation. This plan first identified a critical need in our school to address conflict and challenging student behaviors. The work of bringing together young people from 30 towns and cities across the region proved challenging and the school needed a clear plan to bring about the diversity and inclusivity we espoused in our mission. This work resulted in multiple program developments that have been critical to our ability to build and sustain a safe and supportive learning environment for all of our students. These are:

• A vibrant Student Support Services Team including an Assistant Principal, two School Counselors, a school nurse and Director of Special Education.
• The Restorative Justice based “Make it Right Approach” to behavior management.
• A contract with Mediation Services of North Central Massachusetts, Inc to provide an objective 3rd party-run Peer Mediation program.
• Training Active Bystanders (TAB) Training in partnership with Quabbin Mediation
• 50 students are selected from all grade levels to participate in leadership training as Student Ambassadors, responsible for leading new student orientation and promoting school values throughout the year.
• Partnerships with multiple social services agencies including LUK, Inc., Children’s Aid & Family Services and Licensed Clinical Social Workers in private practice that provide school based mental health services.
• Strong partnerships with Fitchburg Police, Fire, and Probation Departments
• Excellent food service partnership with Fitchburg Public Schools and Sodexho Corp. which provides healthy breakfast and lunch programs.

Sizer has received Safe and Supportive Learning Environment grants from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) throughout our charter and has been selected by the Rennie Center to present our approach to building school culture at several Rennie Center events in the past few years.

These programs have resulted in the following successes: Increased safety in the school as reported in our school climate survey (from 83% of students reporting feeling safe in school in 2006 to 93% in 2009) and in our suspension rates (declined from 15 % in 2005 to 3.6 % in 2008), and increased enrollment of 10% annually.

In the Fall of 2010 the school submitted a comprehensive bullying prevention and intervention plan to the DESE that was board approved. This plan is updated annually.

To learn more about these and other programs that our school is committed to, please refer to the blue links below.