LETTER: Student shares context to recent Harwood dialogues on safety

April 20, 2022 | By Maisie Franke

To the community: 

I have recently been made aware of multiple public responses to information I shared at the March 23 HUUSD School Board meeting. I’d like to address some aspects of those responses that I feel have been misrepresented and share my perspective and experience as a student facilitator working alongside youth and adults throughout this process. 

To begin, it’s crucial to clarify that these dialogues weren’t something that started in response to the February incident at Harwood. Instead, the group of student facilitators had been working together for months beforehand with intentions of leading conversations around the topics of school culture and climate, specifically addressing the bathroom environment and vaping.

When the facilitators were ready, and we began drafting an agenda, the issue that rose to the top for youth was school safety, so we created a plan meant to give students a space to express how they feel about our school environment. This was a time for everyone's voice to be heard and for students to hear from their peers on what a safe school feels and looks like and how we can achieve this vision. These conversations were student-driven at their core and that’s what made them so powerful. The intent was to create a space for calling in, not calling out, in order to productively move forward towards next steps. 

In the synthesis I shared at the March 23 school board meeting, I was very transparent about the words of students and what was brought up in reflection throughout grades since I believe that without this information, the bulk of student voice and input is lost. This message has given valuable insight into where we go from here as we move as a school community to create a learning space that feels welcoming and safe to all. The support shown by staff and administrators around the original logistics of the dialogues and next steps was and continues to be very positive. 

At the root purpose of this dialogue was authentic partnership, and that is the goal we are continuing to strive for as we reflect on this experience. Partnership between students, staff, administrators, and members of the community to communicate clearly and effectively on the needs of students and how we can improve our school culture and climate. 

Finally, as I wrote in the March 25 Harwood Family Newsletter, we can only move forward if we act as advocates for one another, collaborate to create solutions, and hold strong to our values as a community. 

With lots of gratitude to all those who have shown and given their support, 

Maisie Franke

HUUSD School Board student representative