The Mustang Minute
January 17, 2020 - Issue 19
How Does CMS Work to Reduce bullying and Other Negative Behaviors ?
Creating a Positive School Culture
Creating a positive school culture that is supported by staff and students is the most effective way to reduce bullying and other harmful behaviors. The goal is to create a culture where staff teach and exemplify being kind and supportive, and students gain the skills needed to be the major force that sets the tone where negative behaviors are not tolerated by anyone and are reported when adult help is needed. This is no small task. With a constantly changing population (every three years it's a whole new school) working on this type of culture needs to be done consistently and using the most effective methods.
Creating this culture is a multi-tiered effort and takes years and constant review to maintain. Here are a few examples of what we do throughout the school year at CMS:
- Explicitly teach what bullying is, what it looks like, and how to identify if you are engaging in bullying or being bullied to our students via yearly health class lessons.
- Each term, CMS guidance staff create social-emotional learning lessons around different positive characteristics in order to build those skills. Some of these characteristics include empathy, resilience, kindness, and integrity
- Use a Positive Behavior Intervention and Support program (called CMS PRIDE) to explicitly teach expected behaviors in a positive manner
- Content teachers embed articles, readings, and activities around the effect of positive and negative behaviors and actions into their daily curriculum.
- In the moment teaching - when we find a student has engaged in a negative behavior (even if it not bullying) we use it as an opportunity for in the moment teaching. Bullying is rarely (if ever) "as seen on TV", we don't have designated bullies and victims, and no child wakes up in the morning and thinks "I'm going to bully someone today". We discuss how their actions have a negative impact on themselves and others and, if appropriate, how this one time incident could head towards bullying.
This is just a portion of what we do directly with students. As a staff, we have yearly training in recognizing and combating negative behaviors, we work on building a positive school culture everyday. Are we perfect? Of course not! Are we still working on this? Absolutely! Middle School is a hard time for kids and , in my opinion, when kids really start to be negative towards themselves and others. This process of reducing bullying and improving our culture is constant and at times daunting. However, we know how important it is for our students and our community so we will continue to improve in this area each day, each week, and each school year.
If you have concerns about your child being bullied or having other types of peer issues please do not hesitate to reach out to us at CMS.
December Citizens of the Month
Fast Facts with Dr. Fraczek
The CMS Student Newpaper
DC Scholarship Fund
This year we will need approximately $5000 to cover all scholarships awarded - any donation is welcome and appreciated!
PTO Corner
The PTO typically meets the third Wednesday of each month (at times our day varies due to conflicts) to hear an update from the principal and discuss planning related to enrichment, fundraising, activities and other topics of interest. You can also stay up to date with the CMS PTO by following us on Facebook. You can contact the PTO at coakleypto@gmail.com.
Meeting Dates (all meetings start at 6:00 pm)
December 11th - location TBD
February 12
March 18
April 15
May 13
June 17
After School Activities
After School Activities
Honor Chorus: Thursdays 3:15-4:45 in the chorus roomYearbook club: Every other Wednesday.
Bowling Club starts January 10th and goes from 3:30-4:30 on Fridays
Student Council: meets monthly on Wednesday or Thursday (dates announced)
Rocket Club - Starts in mid April to the first week in June. Dates TBD
Indoor Soccer: on Mondays and Wednesdays
Basketball: on Tuesdays and Thursdays
LEGO Club meets one Tuesday a month.
HW Club: Monday - Thursday
The Comics and Cartooning Club will start end of October and run on Thursdays.
Artist Circle is meeting on Wednesdays after school starting October 23rd
Drama Club: First Monday of the month
Math Club: Every Thursday 2:15 - 3:00pm
Friendship Club: Dates: 2/10, 3/10, 4/8, 5/12, 6/9
Important Dates
January 23: Orchestra night at NHS at 7:00pm
Dr. Margo Fraczek
Email: mfraczek@norwood.k12.ma.us
Website: https://sites.google.com/norwood.k12.ma.us/cms-principal/home
Phone: 781-762-7880
Twitter: @mfraczek