Safe School and District Climate

The New Milford Public School Safe Climate Committee’s purpose is to ensure a safe school environment in which all members take the necessary actions needed to achieve positive academic, social, and emotional growth. Our schools are warm, welcoming destinations for students, families, and staff who are treated with respect and dignity.

1/18/23

What is School Climate?

School climate is the quality and character of school life with a focus on the quality of the relationships within the school community and among students and adults. (CTSDE)

Safe Schools = Successful Students and Collaborative Adults

The New Milford Public Schools District-Wide Safe School Climate Council aims to ensure students and faculty are provided with the safe environment needed to support teaching and learning. For this to occur, we must work collaboratively as a community.

The district, through its adoption of policy 5131.91 articulates its dedication to promoting The Board and maintaining a positive learning environment where all students are welcomed, supported, and feel safe in school, socially, emotionally, intellectually and physically. The purpose of this policy is to address the existence of challenging behaviors in the schools.

CONNECTICUT SCHOOL CLIMATE POLICY

Reporting Challenging Behaviors

This form is for students, parents or guardians of students enrolled in the school, and school employees to report any alleged challenging behavioral incidents. Challenging behavior is behavior that negatively impacts school climate or interferes, or is at risk with interfering, with the learning or safety of a student or the safety of a school employee. This form should also be used to report alleged bullying incidents, meaning: unwanted and aggressive behavior among children in grades kindergarten to twelve, inclusive, that involves a real or perceived power imbalance

Challenging Behavior Reporting Form

Restorative Practices

Our Driving Questions

Four questions help drive our efforts.

How do we foster a welcoming environment for families?
Are we “meeting” families at the right place to foster strong relationships?
What is the evidence of growth based on your previous school self-evaluation?
How can we use the power of dialogue to turn a moment of “harm” into an opportunity for reconnection and rebuilding?

Our goal is to proactively build a trusting community where all stakeholders feel equipped to listen, be heard, and have a voice. We strive to empower every member to take positive risks, learn from mistakes, and accept full ownership and accountability for their academic, behavioral, and social actions, followed by a commitment to repair, resolution ("fix it"), and resilience.

Restorative Practices is the framework for addressing conflict, building community, and promoting accountability, focusing on understanding the impact of actions and repairing the harm caused to individuals and relationships.

This is not a program, but a continuous journey—a life-style commitment to life-long learning.

Restorative Practices Policy