Council on Educational Equity and Inclusion
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SPIRIT Program
Student Problem
Identification and Resolving Issues Together
The program was created by
the U.S. Department of Justices’ Community Relations
Service (CRS). CRS offers racial/ethnic conflict
prevention and management programs for schools or school
districts and has been involved in this work for over 35
years. The SPIRIT (Student Problem Identification and
Resolving Issues Together) Program is one of their
programs.
It is a two-day program
involving selected students who will learn to problem
solve around the issues of race and other related
topics. The program “brings students, administrators,
teachers (and sometimes parents) together to identify
issues, develop solutions and take action on conflicts
within their schools.” It requires a long-term
commitment from participating schools, their teachers
and students.
Participating schools are
responsible for:
- Selecting 50-80
students - who represent the student body (at
least 10 from each ethnic group identified). These are
students who have exhibited some “natural” leadership
qualities, whether through groups they are involved
with, cliques or aspects of the school (social
groupings, governances, academics, sports, etc.). They
should be able to be away from their regular classes for
two days without resulting in any hardship for them
academically or otherwise. They must also make a
commitment to the process and to working with
administration for the remainder of the year.
-
Facilitators – (2-3 persons
from each ethnic group represented at the school).
USDOJ personnel will train the facilitators and provide
one or two of their own staff who participate throughout
the two days. Classroom teachers are not to be
among the persons selected as facilitators, as this may
create tensions among teachers and their students and
interfere with classroom relationships. Counselors or
librarians might be considered, however.
-
Commitment - Students and
administrators are expected to work together for the
remainder of the school year (and subsequent years) to
implement the resolutions they came up with. A student
council is selected from among all of the students who
participated. They are “appointed” or selected by their
peers.
List
of Participating Schools (as of 2007):
Jefferson
Davis Middle School
Lake Shore
Middle School
First
Coast High School
Forrest
High School
Wolfson
High School
Agenda for the two days is as
follows:
Day One
– Students meet in homogeneous groups to discuss
issues/concerns in their schools. Each group also
selects two of their peers to become members of the
Student Advisory Council that will work with
administrators throughout the year. Selected
representatives report back to the general assembly
about issues identified. Students then vote (by
self-adhesive dots) on the issues of most concern to
them.
Facilitators meet after the
session to debrief, develop a compilation of common
problems and themes, and select the 3-5 most critical
issues identified by the students.
Day Two
– Students meet in heterogeneous groups to brainstorm
resolutions to the 3-5 most critical issues identified
during the first day using a 5-step problem solving
process. The Student Advisory Council will meet
periodically with school administrators (leadership
team) to follow-up on the SPIRIT Program and implement
resolutions developed during the two-day process. The
Council will also work on other problem areas as
appropriate.
Facilitators meet again after
the second session to debrief and give general feedback
to school administrators. The USDOJ staff will submit a
written report to the school for their use.
Some testimonials:
Iranetta Wright, Principal at Lake Shore Middle said
it was a “phenomenal” experience for her students;
Crystal Sisler, Principal at First Coast High
School, said it was one of the best student-driven
programs she’s ever been involved with.
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