DeKalb Middle School

School climate and culture are important for EVERYONE.  A Positive School Culture and Climate is one where all individuals feel valued, cared for, and respected.  We believe that such an atmosphere contributes to effective teaching and learning and to genuine communication, both within and outside of the school.

School climate refers to our school's effects on our students, including teaching practices, diversity, and relationships among administrators, teachers, parents, and students.  School culture refers to the way teachers and other staff members work together and the set of beliefs, values, and assumptions they share.

Bullying Prevention in Positive Behavior Support:  Expect Respect

Our purpose is to improve the success of our students' learning experiences and environments.  We recognize that aggression, violence, threats, intimidation, and isolation compromise the ability of our students to learn and perform in school.  We have established school-wide expectations for common respect, teaching what that means, and ensuring that all students and faculty and staff members share in the responsibility of making our schools respectful settings.  

The core of our beliefs revolves around five key messages:

1. Everyone in the school should know what it means to be respectful.
2. Bullying is a harmful and disrespectful behavior that continues when given attention from recipients, bystanders, and peers.
3. Everyone in the school should have a strategy that stops attending to and acknowledging bullying. When someone is not respectful, ask them to stop.  Don’t allow bullying to be rewarded.
4. Everyone who asked to stop should have a common strategy for moving on without escalation.
5. Regular information collection is used to assess the safety and health of our school-wide culture.