TEAM STUDENT: Putting Families and Students First

Format

Individual Presentation

First Presenter's Institution

Savannah Chatham County Public School System

First Presenter’s Email Address

gabrielle.brundidge@sccpss.com

First Presenter's Brief Biography

Gabrielle Brundidge is from Alpharetta, Georgia. Gabrielle earned a Bachelor’s of Science in Interdisciplinary Studies (with concentrations in Psychology, Women's Studies, and Human Development and Family Studies) from Auburn in 2013. She is also a graduate of Troy University- Montgomery where she earned a Master’s in School Counseling (2016). In 2021, Miss Brundidge earned her Educational Specialist Degree from Valdosta State University. This will be Miss Brundidge's seventh year as a School Counselor. Miss Brundidge is the Southern Director for Georgia School Counselor Association, and this past year won Emerging leader for the Association. She is a Fellow for Ruling Our Experience.

Location

Session Three

Strand #1

Head: Academic Achievement & Leadership

Strand #2

Home: Family & Community Engagement

Relevance

Myers Middle school is using Academic Achievement, Leadership, Family and Community Engagement to not only change the narrative of our school/students but raise our standards. This past year we were able to bring up our scholars academically, but also saw decrease in discipline and attendance due to putting students/families first.

Brief Program Description

What does it take to be a true family-friendly, student-focused school? Putting families and students first means making hard choices; meeting students where they are; ensuring that all aspects of learning are relevant and engaging; helping students own their learning and control their pace; and personalizing the learning for each student-even when it's more work for the adults. In this engaging and relevant session, the team from Myers Middle School will practice what they preach. They will share processes and strategies for building relationships with students and families, communicating effectively and supporting all students through social-emotional learning and other resources. When staff and families are TEAM student, we can work together to ensure the success of the whole child.

Summary

This past year Myers saw gains in academics, and a decrease in areas of attendance, and discipline all by intentionally putting students and families first. This was done by offering mentorship programs for students who have face adversity during the previous school year, students who are over age, and students who may struggle socially. These students were given their own personal mentor, every person who works at Myers is a mentor. Students this year also had personal one-on-one student led conferences every quarter, students who were failing had additional conferences with a parent or guardian. We also put students by making sure our staff had adequate PL on building relationships, and how to put our “relationship, relevance, rigor” into practice. Our staff was able to understand that making positive and healthy relationships would be the key to student’s success in the building. This practice led us to see a 2% jump in academic area since coming back from Covid. Staff also held clubs weekly, to engage students in activities that most interests them. This past year Myers won several grants to help promote student mental health. Grants include a safe space grant, yoga grant, and mediation. With these grants we were able to offer such classes during Friday free time.

This year we also engaged the community and families we serve by adding different initiative such as Families first, community service days. Families came in several times this year for parent engagement events such a parent lunch and learns, awards day, and other school events. Parents were given open invitations to the building which has not been done since covid. They also were able to come and meet with a parent liaison who was there to help with all their needs whether they were school related, or community needs.

With initiatives like student first and family first, we were able to gain two distinctions, Family-Friendly and Model Schools.

Evidence

Last year Myers Middle School was able to earn two different distinctions. A Family-Friendly school according to the Georgia Department of Education, and we were named a 2023 Model School. We were able to lower our discipline incidents from 971 to 574 with different initiatives and incentives. We also so a decrease in the number of students who attended summer school in 7th grade. Programs and initiatives we have are changing not only how our students see themselves, but how the community sees them and showcases them and all of their wonderful talents.

Learning Objective 1

Learn how to engage students

Learning Objective 2

Learn how to engage families

Learning Objective 3

Learn how to engage the community

Keyword Descriptors

family, students, whole child, community, Savannah

Presentation Year

2024

Start Date

3-4-2024 2:15 PM

End Date

3-4-2024 2:45 PM

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Mar 4th, 2:15 PM Mar 4th, 2:45 PM

TEAM STUDENT: Putting Families and Students First

Session Three

What does it take to be a true family-friendly, student-focused school? Putting families and students first means making hard choices; meeting students where they are; ensuring that all aspects of learning are relevant and engaging; helping students own their learning and control their pace; and personalizing the learning for each student-even when it's more work for the adults. In this engaging and relevant session, the team from Myers Middle School will practice what they preach. They will share processes and strategies for building relationships with students and families, communicating effectively and supporting all students through social-emotional learning and other resources. When staff and families are TEAM student, we can work together to ensure the success of the whole child.