Below, see a short description of topics discussed, and the newly released video.
Across the 2022-23 school year, Green Island UFSD has focused on a cultural shift at the school. The New York State Education Department Office of Special Education created an Educational Partnership with GIUFSD to help us enact this cultural shift.
Heatly has taken steps to help elevate student voices, including participating in an educational consortium hosted by BOCES. “You can’t make systemic change in a school without including the kids,” Acting Superintendent Dan Kalbfliesh stated. Once a month at Heatly School, students share their reasoning and ideas with administration which helps create a system of change in their school.
Thematic analysis was another activity we used to help perpetuate this cultural shift, with Jessica Coles, a Culturally Responsive Educator from the Regional Partnership Center. She asked students to think about what a perfect Green Island school would look like, including topics of disability.
Heatly graduate Class of 2023 Mackenzie Rankin focused on how a disability affects someone’s everyday life and how Green Island can help students with disabilities.
A turning point in elevating student voices was accomplishing the student’s top two requests: better school lunches, and new water fountains, both of which are updated for the 2023-24 school year.
The Elevating Student Voices program aligns with New York State Education Department’s Culturally Responsive Sustaining Education Framework, creating student-centered learning environments, and elevating historically marginalized voices so students can become agents of change.