Mutual Respect and How We Work Together

In the spring of 2004, the school board and nearly 60 community members participated in a 3 day Conflict Resolution Workshop conducted by facilitator, Robert Chadwick. The purpose of the workshop was to address long-standing conflicts at the board and community level, and bring to light the underlying source of the conflict … teachers feeling disrespected by parents and parents feeling disrespected by teachers. The follow-up to this work is the document titled, “Mutual Respect and How We Work Together.” including shared responsibility statements from the board, administration, parents, students and community members.

Participants on the Mutual Respect and Shared Responsibility Task Force have been hard at work. The mission of the Task Force is to continue the work of the Conflict Resolution Workshop, and to identify ways to address conflict in our school community. As one of the outcomes, the Mercer Island School Board, the Administrative Team, the Mercer Island Education Association and the Mercer Island PTA Council have made commitments to each other to insure an environment of mutual respect and shared responsibility in our community. Those commitments are available to the left. The high school students, represented by their ASB officers and working with all high school students through the BRIDGES program, have completed their commitments.