Monticello High School students and staff members met on Tuesday afternoon to reignite the school’s No Place for Hate committee. No Place for Hate (NPFH) is a designation from The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) that schools may earn after utilizing the NPFH’s research-based framework to enhance students’ understanding of diversity, bias and social justice through a series of active learning projects. Because the NPFH initiative is a framework rather than a prescribed curriculum, each school has the opportunity to create a plan of action based upon their own unique needs and challenges. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, MHS had been working towards earning this distinction.
During Tuesday’s meeting, the committee discussed both short and long-term goals. Immediately, the school will work to publicize the AnonymousAlerts service. AnonymousAlerts is a web-based platform that allows students, staff and community members to report threats and/or other concerns to administrators. The service enables users to upload photos and/or video, and even initiate two-way messaging – all anonymously.
In the short term, the school is hoping to hold a series of small student focus groups to collect detailed student perspectives on matters of safety and climate. The committee will use the feedback gained from these groups to establish long-term goals and strategies. Students on the committee brought up the challenges of having meaningful conversations about difficult subjects in large group settings, or with unfamiliar staff members. To that end, the school plans to ask each student to identify 1-3 staff members that they consider to be a trusted adult and will use the information gathered when organizing small group activities in the future.
Keep an eye on our website for more information as plans are developed and solidified.