School communities are complex systems of relationships between faculty, parents and students. And although all of us share a common goal, navigating these relationships is often challenging as emotions run high and we, as educators, partner with parents on the journey of raising their children. At the core of successful partnerships and positive school culture is strong communication and mutual respect, something that gets quickly pushed to the side when frustration and anxiety surface. At Luria Academy of Brooklyn, we began a journey to create an environment of unconditional respect among all of our constituents. 

We began this journey with a design thinking project, led by our faculty, which, by definition, “combines a user-centered perspective with rational and analytical research with the goal of creating innovative solutions.” They took this question of unconditional respect and went through the five stages of the design thinking process, engaging students, parents and other schools in their research and in their process. What emerged following a year-long process was our Four Commitments, a framework for how we communicate and how we function in relationship with one another in our school community. 

We came up with these four commitments: 

I will be Kind * I will be Strong * I will be Curious * I will Contribute

In designing these commitments we were careful to frame them as aspirational. We see this process as an ongoing journey where we set goals for ourselves and support one another in achieving them. The Four Commitments are differentiated by age and constituency, creating access points at every level.

An example:

I will be Kind

Preschool:  This means I care about others, and I check in on them.

Lower School: This means I am patient and listen to my friends and teachers. I respect that everyone gets what they need in our classroom.

Upper School: This means I treat myself and others with patience, empathy and an understanding that everyone gets what they need.

Staff: This means I treat children, parents and teammates with empathy, respect, patience and generosity.

Parents: This means I communicate with all members of the Luria community with grace, courtesy and compassion.

As the school year begins anew, our administrators spend time reviewing the staff commitments and setting personal goals for the school year. We share these goals with one another in order to hold ourselves accountable and then we share them with our faculty as they begin the same process of goal setting and sharing. Faculty share their goals with the students and create opportunities for students to set their own goals. We check in on our goals at various times throughout the school year including on student progress reports and faculty reflections. We review the parent goals in our parent handbook and orientation at the start of each school year. Posters with our commitments can be found in classrooms, faculty rooms, offices and hallways, and teachers create interactive ways for students to support one another in achieving their four commitments goals throughout the year. 

When it begins to feel as if we are straying from our commitments to one another, we do our best to provide gentle reminders and to make requests. Framing our commitments as aspirational allows us to acknowledge the realities and complexities of school communities. It leaves room for us to make mistakes and normalizes second chances. It is a gift to our community to have delineated guidelines for being in relationship with one another, and an even bigger gift to be a work in progress, together. 

If you would like to know more about this initiative, please email us at contact@jewishchallenge.org.