Shaking Up The First Day Of School

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t is the day students dread, the return of the homework and expectations, the first day of school. This year at Wauwatosa East, the first day of school looked a little different than usual, especially since it fell on the Friday before Labor Day. “This year Mrs. Marble approached with the East Side Pride group soft of a restart of PBIS and said ‘We want to try something different.’ So I looked at that as an opportunity for me to not be responsible for planning the first day,” says Principal Nick Hughes. A lot of this planning and preparation for the first day fell on Mrs. Marble and her East Side Pride team to put their new changes into action. For the past couple years on the first day of school, there has been a freshman orientation in the morning with upperclassmen Link Crew leaders. At this, they do some get-to-know-you activities and get comfortable with the school. The rest of the students join them for the afternoon, where, with the rest of their time, students walk tentatively through their schedules. “We got a lot of feedback last year from students and staff and even parents just that there was a lot of haziness and fogginess around what procedures really were what expectations really were and we just felt like we needed to tighten that up a little bit so that everyone could be on the same page. … And we really wanted to do that in a positive way and have everyone hear the same message” says Mrs. Marble.

This year, they found a way to make that happen. There was still the usual freshmen orientation in the morning. However, once the rest of the students arrived at school, everyone gathered in their advisory classrooms instead of going through their schedule. From there, each advisory had a set pathway to walk around a tour of the school and stop at designated locations to listen to staff members stationed there. At these various locations — the cafeteria, the ARC, the library, etc… — staff members discussed the new East Side Pride initiative and school expectations. “The first day of school is the first day we have an opportunity to have a positive impact on climate and culture of our building. Students know what respect, responsibility, and safety is but to build us up and to remind students of that we decided to unveil a new branding for Tosa East called East Side Pride.” All of that was followed by a welcome back assembly for the whole school. It was packed full with a teacher dance off, performances from Tosa East’s own dance and new cheer team and even a spirit can full of East Side Pride.

There were mixed reviews on the success of this year’s starting day. Some believed it was a move in the right direction, while others didn’t appreciate it a much. “I didn’t really like it just because I thought it was a waste of time” says senior Maura Hanley. “I’ve been going to school here for four years so I was familiar with everything and I would have much rather had done what we’ve done in the past where I just have like fifteen minutes in my class so I can get my syllabus, kind of see who’s in my class, see what it's going to be like and just get that over with.” Administrators seemed to recognize and even expect mixed reviews from the staff and students though. “Some students said that ‘yeah it was a good day’ and other students were like ‘well I didn’t learn anything today that I didn’t already know’. But I think we’re going to get that with anything that we do, even if we would have had a typical day” says Mrs. Marble. In the future, it seems that what happened this year with all the Tosa East students may be only for incoming freshman or other new students. However, most think that it has so far been a good start to the school year and are looking forward to seeing where this year takes us. “I think we’ve had a really, really good start quite honestly. We’re at that point right now where kids are settling into routines and we start to have to remind a little bit more about expectations and things and the first assessments coming up but I think we’ve gotten off to a really good start. … I’m excited to come to work every day” says Mr. Hughes. Teachers can agree, including Mrs. Vedbraaten, “I absolutely am excited. I’m always excited at the beginning of the school year. It’s also probably the most stressful time of the school year … It’s a learning process, they’re learning who I am, I’m learning who they are. But if we can do that in a positive way, knowing we’re part of East Side Pride it goes well.”