For the second year in a row, students have the opportunity to directly share their thoughts on the current issues they face within LFHS inside student focus groups. “Join our student focus groups to make our school a better place for everyone,” reads the fliers that can be found around the school advertising the groups.
The discussions, which started Thursday Feb. 29th and have had two more since, are led by staff members who prompt students with questions about their feelings related to the school. Students are not expected to prepare anything beforehand, rather they will be given questions about their experiences relating to the school.
“The idea is to find out what are the issues that students are facing in the high school and then try to design structures and programs to remediate those issues,” said English teacher Mr. Peter Lubliner. Lubliner leads the focus groups along with librarian Ms. Katie Pausch.
LFHS focus groups started three years ago with the arrival of LFHS’ new principal Dr. Erin Lenart, and discussions with the faculty and administration. A focus group with teachers occurs earlier in the school year which gives creates a shared leadership model giving a voice to everyone in the school, including teachers.
One tangible change students may have noticed are the Principles of Respect posters which can be found in classrooms, a change that came out of last year’s focus groups.
Junior Nora Sharman commented on the focus groups saying, “It’s incredibly refreshing to see so many students putting in the work to see change. It really gives me hope that we can work towards a more inclusive learning environment that everyone benefits from.”
The LFHS School Innovation and Improvement Plan (SIIP) team “uses the data gathered in these focus groups to make substantive changes in structures within the school.” The SIIP team also looks at data from the dean’s office, attendance, SAT scores, and the Comprehensive School Climate Inventory (CSCI) survey which students annually take with this years being on Feb. 22.
“I think it’s really great to see active student participation – especially when you know it’ll impact the larger student population,” said President of Human Rights Club Sophia Zar.
Although most changes made might be more subtle than some students might hope, there have been structural changes to the dean’s office and training for teachers to be upstanders rather than bystanders.
Senior Charlotte Beckman, who has attended the focus groups for the past two years, said, “Sometimes even the obvious issues can be difficult to deal with so we also discuss how we can deal with said issues.”
“We don’t always get it right,” said Lubliner, “but if we don’t always get it right we’re going to keep at it until we get it right.”
One more focus group will be taking next Wednesday, March 13th, before school from 7:45-8:45. Students have to sign up beforehand by responding to this google form.
