Deerfield School

Principal's Message

Joshua C. Baumer, Principal

September 26, 2016

Dear Deerfield Families and Staff,

During my remarks on Curriculum Night, I shared that one of our main areas of focus this year will be on clearly defining the behavioral standards we hold for ourselves as a community. During our first PTO meeting last Friday, I presented additional information about this work. In the coming weeks, I hope to create and share a “screencast” of the presentation with an audio narration of the slides I shared.

Over the summer, with the support and collaboration of the Deerfield Climate Team and author and researcher, Stan Davis, I drafted several documents and began to develop plans for defining our behavioral standards. I began with our Core Values and used them to draft Community Standards that provide specifics about how our Core Values are reflected in our actions. To access the draft of our Community Standards, please click the following link: Core Values and Community Standards

Our Community Standards are intended to be the expected behaviors at Deerfield. Over the course of this year, the Deerfield staff and I will work with students to provide specific examples of what these expected behaviors look like in all school settings. Using the information our older students provided in the School Connectedness Survey from the past two springs, I drafted an initial list of the “never allowed” behaviors at Deerfield. These behaviors were ones that students indicated they always wanted staff members to respond to and prevent from occurring. To access the draft of our Expected and Never Allowed Behaviors, please click the following link: Expected and Never Allowed Behaviors

Finally, I drafted a Behavior Rubric that outlines how all staff members respond to specific negative behaviors and what consequences students earn when these behaviors are displayed. This rubric is intended to bring fairness and consistency to our school-wide discipline system. To access the draft of our Deerfield Behavior Rubric, please click the following link: Deerfield Behavior Rubric

I expect these documents to go through many iterations over the course of this year. It is important that they be vetted through the entire Deerfield community to ensure they are both reasonable and comprehensive. I welcome your feedback on these documents and plans and look forward to partnering with you on this school initiative.

Thank you so much,
Josh

Joshua Baumer