Our Community Values

Helen M. Marshall Community Values

Our Community Values reflect what is most important to our community. It's the why behind the decisions we make and they are supported by a belief that we are at our best when our Community Values guide the choices we make as a school community.

These values came from a list that was produced, organized and prioritized by various Teachers, Student council members, PTA executive board members, Office staff and Administration. All of these values have deep connections to our original BEST values (Balance, Experience, Success and Teamwork).

We are at our best as a community when we:

Collaboration:

...communicate, dream and create together

Respect:

...value the bodies and minds of the people in the community. Including ourselves.

Compassion:

...seek to understand who people are and what is best for them. This knowledge guides how we interact with people.

Responsibility:

....are reliable. We follow through on commitments with community members at school and at home. Sometimes we need to sacrifice our interests in the moment in order to protect long term success.

 We teach and celebrate our Community Values in different spaces:

  • Community Meetings: Community meetings are monthly grade wide meetings that promote our community values and celebrations of who we are. Teacher leaders plan interactive experiences where students build community and ownership over our community values. These meetings happen the first week of each month and are open to families. 
  • In our classrooms: Teachers prompt students to write and discuss our community values in the context of their units of study. Moreover, we also use our Community Values to guide our behaviors in the classroom and to learn from poor choices.
  • Throughout our Hallways: You will see values posted on walls, pictures of students engaging in our community values and you will hear staff and students recognizing each other for their values.
  • Community Value action projects: Students can participate in organized opportunities to demonstrate our community values in action. For instance during Respect For All Week, students had an opportunity to write each other and staff positive notes as a demonstration of respect and compassion.