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In January of 2002, a random
survey was presented to parents, students, and staff. In that survey, school safety was an issue
raised by those polled. From those
survey results, the LINK crew program was initiated and II/USP money was used
to train upperclassmen, who in turn trained 80% of incoming freshmen to help transition
them to high school and talk about school climate, including sexual
harassment, racial issues, and gang tensions. Counselors were assigned to LINK leaders who act as conduits
between counselors and freshmen who may need specific help transitioning to
high school.
The
Comprehensive Guidance Program (CGP) at Lancaster High School is the focal
point of the guidance department. Six
credentialed counselors with the help of support staff provide proactive
classroom lessons to every grade level.
The focus of the lessons is personal/social, academic, and career
domains. Each of these areas of
student development encompasses a variety of desired student learning
competencies. Every lesson plan meets
Lancaster High School’s ESLR’s, as well as the National Standards for School
counseling programs. Pre and
post-tests, surveys and questionnaires are used to evaluate the CGP, along
with surveys conducted amongst 9th and 10th grade
students.
Peer Helping and Peer Mediation
has been expanded to include peer time in Healthful Living classrooms with a
focus on 9th grade, which is the largest at-risk population on
campus.
It is also felt by many members
of the staff that the new Air Force JROTC program is helping to foster order
in the lives of many of the students.
In fact, some of the strongest support for this program has come from
parents of at-risk students enrolled in the course.
Lancaster High School has also partnered with the
Josephson Institute of Ethics to employ their “Character Counts!” program in
its athletics program. Character Counts!
promotes strong character and ethics in students, parents, coaches, teachers,
and administrators through training in six principles of strong
character: trustworthiness, respect,
responsibility, fairness, caring, and good citizenship. These individuals then go on to model and
encourage that behavior for their peers in the school and community at
large. The program incorporates a
reward program for strong behavior that includes patches for letterman
jackets. Parents, students, and
coaches are then surveyed at the end of each school year to gauge the
effectiveness of the program and determine if any modifications are
necessary.
On January 14, 2003, Lancaster High School hosted the AV
Youth Summit, a one-day workshop to identify, brainstorm, and develop
innovative ways to educate, adopt, advocate, and role model appropriate
tolerance and character behaviors on the school. Attendees at the Summit
encompassed two hundred 8th through 12th grade
students, school administration, and community based leaders.
Students were selected from various school, ethnic and
leadership clubs from Lancaster High School. Workshops were designed to
develop skills in leadership, character, tolerance, conflict resolution,
school spirit, and human relations.
There were also workshops on the juvenile justice system, community,
rules & policies, and action plan processes. The Summit was a coordinated
collaborative of the Antelope Valley Human Relations Task Force, Antelope
Valley Mentoring Partnership, Antelope Valley Union High School District, Los
Angeles Commission on Human Relations, and Murrell’s Service Center. The expected benefits and outcome of the
AV Youth Summit will be further reviewed by the students, the schools, and
the community based organizations to ensure that a safe and conducive
environment for learning exists on every school campus throughout the
district.
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