Unquestionably, transforming school climate and sustaining that change are not easy, but both are well worth the time and effort.
- Create an infrastructure with a leadership team to guide climate enhancement efforts.
- Train staff, students, and parents on determine safety, bullying prevention, and how to address intolerance.
- Collect data on school climate. This involves incidents of bullying and other discipline, as well as student and staff attitudes and feelings. Repeat the assessment yearly to track progress and determine where to focus improvement efforts.
- Analyze and update policies, procedures, and practices to make sure that they are equitable and student-friendly.
- Create an identity-safe school plan or integrate identity safety and positive climate efforts into your existing plan.
- Focus on both student wellness and staff wellness.
Unquestionably, transforming school climate and sustaining that change are not easy, but both are well worth the time and effort. The students will feel better and attain higher levels, and the staff will have higher morale. That does not mean that bullying will never happen again, but when it does, a school that is poised to respond and take swift action will lead the healing process and will continue to move forward in a positive direction.