Dear Fryelands Families,

As you may recall, we surveyed our students earlier this fall to better understand their views of the climate and culture in our school. Now that we have the results and have taken time to review them, we want to share them with you and outline our goals for improving our students’ sense of belonging at our school this year.

96% of our students (171 out of 179 students) in grades 3rd-5th completed the survey during school this fall. You can view our school-specific survey results in their entirety HERE (click on the “9 schools” icon to select our school’s name to view our results).

This year, all schools in the Monroe School District have set goals for improving our students’ sense of belonging at school. Sense of belonging is “the extent to which students feel that they are valued members of their school’s community.” Belonging includes feelings related to acceptance, respect, value, and connectedness, which we know impacts engagement, behavior, and academic performance.

At Fryelands Elementary School, our “sense of belonging” goal for the 2023-24 school year is that students will increase their Sense of Belonging from 62% favorable to 80% favorable as measured by the spring 2023 to spring 2024 Panorama survey data.

As we work toward achieving this goal, we are implementing the following strategies at our school:

• Tier 1 Support for All Students -

  • Greeting by staff at every entrance to school,

  • Positive Greeting at the Door by classroom teachers,

  • Entry Tasks as they enter the classroom with established routines,

  • Pre corrections to help with expectations,

  • Daily Second Step lessons,

  • Daily classroom circles,

  • Visual Schedules in all classroom settings,

  • Calming Corners in all classroom settings,

  • Daily video every morning “Good Morning Fryelands” to start the day,

  • Daily positive recognition SOAR tickets (Safety, Ownership, Acceptance, and Respect)

  • Co-constructed classroom norms and common area expectations.

• Tier 2 Supports for Select Students -

  • Check in/Check out system for students identified as needing a champion at school (32 students currently have CICO)

• Student Leadership opportunities- Green Team, Playground Managers, Safety Patrol, Library Pages, Student Council, School Ambassador, and Video Hosts

• Monitoring absence trends using Panorama, including monthly recognition for grade levels who have the highest attendance % and on time to school %, as well as student recognition of good and improved attendance

Our students will take the survey again this spring to help us measure our progress toward our goal. In addition, we will be asking families and staff to take the survey so that we can better understand their views of the climate and culture in our schools - be on the lookout for the survey this spring!

We're dedicated to creating a welcoming environment that helps our students succeed both academically and personally. We look forward to the positive impact our teamwork will have on making everyone at Fryelands feel that they belong.

Sincerely,

Jeff Presley
Principal