Scripts for video or letter from superintendent
EXAMPLE #1
Hello, my name is _________ and I am the Superintendent of __________ School District. I want to thank you for your interest in joining our district. We take great pride in our mission of excellence in teaching and learning. We take very seriously our responsibility to provide a safe, respectful, equitable, and caring environment in which all young people can learn and thrive. If you come to work, student-teach, or volunteer in the ______ School District, I think you will learn that it is a rewarding and caring place, made up of people who are deeply committed to making the world a better place for our students, families, and communities.
The fact that you are applying to work with students and watching this video probably means that you, too, feel strongly about our vision that all students will graduate with the knowledge, understanding, and ability to apply skills necessary for success in college, career, and other parts of life. We believe you are contributing to this vision whether you are working a 10-hour shift, teaching, or simply saying hello to a student on the sidewalk as a maintenance worker. Every person regardless of identity is equally important.
Together, we build relationships to help students reach their full potentials. Unfortunately, some of the young people we serve have been profoundly hurt, often by adult authority figures in their lives or possibly by peers. Because of feeling betrayed and let down, some students have learned not to put much faith in any relationships. Many have sworn off relationships altogether vowing only to rely on themselves or rely on relationships that are not healthy for them. We can change that. We believe it is our job in The ________ School District to show our students, in a safe environment, that their education is very valuable and worth investing in. Part of our success is being able to show them that adult relationships can be different from ones that hurt them in the past.
All school staff and volunteers are expected to be positive role models -- where the students’ needs come first, where the adult is both caring and firm, where there is predictability and consistency, and most of all, where there is safety. These are the kind of healthy relationships that help children and teens reach their full academic and life potential. The growth of our students is contingent upon having a safe environment; however, we want them to thrive in our schools, not just survive.
Working with The ______________ School District offers tremendous rewards. You can quite literally change the course of a student’s life that might otherwise be on a negative path. Although we do not often see the fruits of our work until many years later, these kinds of successes are happening every day in The ______________ School District.
As you know, working with young people demands honesty, empathy, and integrity including speaking up if we see or hear about a student being harmed in any way. We have a responsibility to do everything in our power to keep children safe because, again, safety is the fundamental bedrock to academic success. Unless students feel safe, they cannot do the important academic work that will get them on the path towards becoming a happy, healthy, and productive member of society. So, if you can join us in this responsibility to make our schools a safe place for our students, we welcome your skills, your enthusiasm, and your caring heart.
However, if you are concerned that you might not be able to keep our students safe or maintain proper boundaries, The ________________ School District is not a place for you to work. And here I will be quite frank – if you have been involved with or if you have sexual thoughts and fantasies about any young people under the age of 18, or you have been involved with any student or program participant – even older than 18 - at a school or youth program that you were involved in as a position of authority, or if you use child pornography, please do not accept a job here, but please do seek out help! If you are currently harming a child, breaking these boundaries and/or doing anything illegal, we ask that you stop whatever you are doing and seek help. We do extensive training with our staff about identifying and reporting the signs of abuse perpetrated by other staff. We supervise staff youth interactions carefully as well as youth to youth interactions. We take our Title IX and related legal and ethical responsibilities to maintain safe learning environments very seriously. And, we support prosecution to the fullest extent of the law situations where the staff is abusive to our students in any way, including sexual and non-sexual verbal and physical violence.
We look forward to working with you to create a safe and successful learning environment for all students. Again, thank you for your interest in this most important work.
EXAMPLE #2
Hello, my name is (your name) and I am the (title) of (name of school/district). I want to thank you for your interest in joining our team. We take great pride in our mission of (state mission). We take very seriously our responsibility to provide a safe, equitable, and respectful environments. If you come to work or volunteer at (name of school/district), I think you will learn that it is a rewarding, empathetic, and caring place, made up of people who are deeply committed to the best quality of service for you, your fellow employees, and the community.
The fact that you are applying to work with us probably means that you, too, feel strongly about our vision and mission. We believe you are contributing to this vision whether you are working a 10-hour shift, teaching, or simply saying hello to a person that walks in the door. Every person regardless of identity or ability is equally important.
Together, we build safe and authentic relationships to help everyone reach their full potential. Unfortunately, some of the people we serve have been profoundly hurt, often by authority figures in their lives or possibly by peers. Because of feeling betrayed and let down, some people have learned not to trust. We can change that. We believe it is our job to create a safe and trustworthy environment, that others find very valuable and worth investing in. Part of our success is being able to model safe and healthy relationships and work environments on or offline. All staff and volunteers are expected to be positive role models. We want you to thrive.
Working with (name of the business) offers tremendous rewards. You can quite literally change the course of someone's life that might otherwise be on a negative path. Although we do not often see the fruits of our work until many years later, these kinds of successes are happening every day across the globe and we believe we are part of the solution.
As you know, working with others demands honesty, empathy, and integrity. We believe in SPEAKING-UP if we see or hear about anyone being harmed in any way. This includes workplace harassment on and off-site. Together we have a responsibility to do everything in our power to keep our community safe. It is a fundamental bedrock to success. Employees must feel safe and treated equitably with respect to do this important work. So, if you can join us in this responsibility to help create safe, equitable, and respectful environments, we welcome your skills, your enthusiasm, and your caring heart.
However, if you are concerned that you might not be able to cultivate safety, equity or respect as norms including not being able to maintain proper boundaries, then (name of the business) is not a place for you to work. And here I will be quite frank – if you have been involved with any young people under the age of 18, or program participant – even older than 18 - at a school or youth program that you were involved in as a position of authority, or if you use child pornography, please do not accept a job here, but please do seek out help!
If you are currently harming a child or doing anything illegal, we ask that you stop whatever you are doing and seek help. We do extensive training with our staff about identifying and reporting the signs of abuse perpetrated by other staff. We supervise staff interactions carefully. We take our legal and ethical responsibilities to maintain safe environments very seriously. And, we support prosecution to the fullest extent of the law situations where the staff is abusive in any way, including sexual and non-sexual verbal, non-verbal, and physical violence.
We look forward to working with you to create safe and successful environments for all. Again, thank you for your interest in this most important work.
EXAMPLE #3
Hello, my name is ____________ and I am the Superintendent of _____________. Thank you for your interest in joining our team. We take pride in our mission of excellence. We take seriously our responsibility to provide safe, equitable, and respectful environments. If you work at________, you will find your co-workers are also committed to this culture. Part of our success is being able to model this vision with our co-workers and community. This is how we do it.
We treat each person, regardless of identity, equally. This you, our patrons, and me.
We value a safe, healthy, happy, productive work environment.
We use respectful communication among students, staff, family, and community.
We are willing to listen and learn.
We are honest and deeply value integrity.
We are empathetic, compassionate, and kind.
We speak-up, when we feel safe if we see or hear anything that is not ok.
If you would like to join our team, we welcome your skills, your enthusiasm, and commitment to our culture. However, if you are concerned that you might not be able to maintain proper boundaries or are unable to treat people equitably with respect, ________________ is not a place for you to work.
We do extensive training with our staff about identifying and reporting the signs of harm perpetrated by other staff. We supervise interactions carefully. We take our legal and ethical responsibilities to maintain safe and harassment and violent free environments very seriously. And, we support prosecution to the fullest extent of the law, situations where the staff is abusive including sexual and non-sexual verbal and physical violence. And here I will be quite frank – if you have a problem sexually violating others or if you use child pornography, please do not accept a job here, but please do seek out help!
Working with ______________ offers tremendous rewards. We look forward to working with you to foster a safe, equitable, and respectful environment and community. Thank you again!
By and for the community.
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