Cultivating, monitoring, and advancing a positive climate in your building

Majestic’s population includes families who are living in the homeless shelter, motels, apartment complexes with high turnover rates, foster care, temporary housing, and a domestic violence shelter. With traumatic life experiences, our students are yearning for stability and a sense of belonging.

Because of the unique needs of our community, our faculty has engaged in six days of professional development around the theme of trauma-informed schools. Teachers have been trained on how to identify the individual needs of students in order to create a safe environment for learning. This approach has helped us to increase our awareness of the complex and sensitive issues that our students and their families face each day.

One of my favorite things that we do to help our students feel like they are part of a community, is what we call “Monday Meeting.” The entire student body gathers in the gym first thing in the morning every single Monday. This is my chance to greet them with a big smile, welcome each one of them back after a weekend, and to stand together as Mountain Lions and remember what we stand for. We start each meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance, led by one of our student ambassadors, and then recite our Mountain Lion Pledge. This pledge defines our school’s PRIDE values and reminds us what it means to be Polite, Responsible, Independent, Disciplined, and Empowered to make good choices.

Majestic is an incredibly diverse and wonderful place for students. Our teachers are prepared and committed to staying positive regardless of the challenges that come through the door. We know that some of our students may not stay with us for very long, but we are committed to making Majestic a place where they feel lucky to have been able to stop by for a while.