Cultivating Kindness

We understand that when the health and safety of one child is at risk, this diminishes the health and safety for all children.  We understand that for children to be optimally engaged and motivated in their learning experience, we need to acknowledge the barriers to learning and agree to do our best to diminish these barriers.  This is why the leadership of Our School has signed the “Community Immunity Acknowledgments and Agreements form.”  

This form will do four things: 1) share our understanding of trauma and traumatic systems  2) share our understanding of Kindness and Kindness systems 3) share our Agreement as individuals who Lead this Organization to enact Kindness Systems throughout the School / District 4) Invite everyone who embodies the School Community (students, parents/caregivers, and all supporting staff) to sign the “Community Immunity Acknowledgements and Agreements form.”  

                                                  Community Immunity – Understandings and Agreements form 

     We Understand there are many different types of traumatic experiences which can affect a child throughout a lifetime.    Some traumatic experiences include accidents, abuse, neglect, war, natural disasters, seeing something horrific, and having a loved one die.  Dr. Peter Levine, a renowned traumatologist, writes that trauma is not in the experience itself but rather in the effects on the autonomic nervous system (fight, flight, freeze), and that a lack of adequate support during and/or after a traumatic experience can result in chronic autonomic nervous system dysregulation.   

     We understand Traumatic Systems include cultural ideas, practices, rules, and/or procedures which diminish the health, safety, or well-being of an individual, family, community, or ecosystem.  Some traumatic systems include a lack of making quality basic needs and safety for all children a priority, ableism, teaching to test rather than offering a child-centered education, and systemic racism practices.    We understand that at the root of these traumatic systems is a Lack of adequate kindness as the organizational foundation.     

     We understand that Traumatic Systems are Not Our Fault but passed down intergenerationally.  We Understand that we must do our best to take Responsibility for the Lack of Kindness we See in Ourselves and Others so that these cycles of trauma can be healed.  Just as learning to read and write are skills that require many hours of time and dedication to learn, Loving-Kindness is also a skill that we all need to learn and teach our children. 

      We agree to do our best to learn, receive, give, and practice kindness with ourselves and others. Some ways we can practice kindness with ourselves include the following: kindness towards ourselves when we make mistakes, asking others for help to get our needs met, practicing patience, seeking understanding of our body's needs, and saying kind words. Some ways we can practice kindness with Others are the following: seeking to understand, being patient, asking someone what would be helpful to them in getting their needs met, showing kindness toward others when they make a mistake, and saying kind words.    

        We understand that when someone in Our School is not being Kind, that this may be because of something we cannot see. Some reasons people struggle to be kind are the following: a lack of adequate nutrition or sleep, hormone imbalance, brain chemistry dysfunction, autonomic nervous system dysregulation, and a lack of Kindness in the Systems which surround them.   

      We agree to support a culture of kindness in our School for everyone to the best of our ability.  We agree to do this by addressing the structure, system, and organization of our school in the following ways: 

1) Signing the Community Immunity Acknowledgments and Agreements form and making it available to everyone in the School Community 

2) Asking Ourselves.  We asked ourselves “how can I create a culture of kindness in the school?” and we recognized that although we would like to give every child and family the quality support they need for the highest emotional/mental/physical outcomes, we do not have the capacity to do this without your help. We do have several people in the school (teachers, administrator, and support staff) who have agreed to be a part of a “Kindness Committee” to help the school get organized.  

3) Asking Everyone.  We are now asking everyone “how would you like to help create a culture of Kindness in the school?”  Some ways you may like to participate are by signing this form.  Some of you may like to join the Kindness Committee to help the school get organized.  Others may feel too overwhelmed to do anything, and that’s OKAY.  We know you need Kindness Systems Support.   

4) Asking Everyone.  Would you be willing to take a Kindness Systems Survey?  This is a quick, online, and anonymous survey that would allow everyone to understand both the barriers and the solutions to kindness that might be available within the school community.  

5) Once we have a better Understanding of the Barriers and Solutions to Kindness, and the formation of the “Kindness Committee” is complete (anyone committed to kindness can join!), we will begin to form Kindness Objectives. 

6) Kindness Objectives will center around the barriers and solutions to Kindness.  For example, if we see that nutritional/food access is a barrier at our school, and that there is community availability to assist with the time to tend to it, the Kindness Committee may work to start a school community garden. 

 It is our Hope that All Children Everywhere receive Quality Basic Needs within a Caring Community. As individuals, we all are doing the best we can, as a community, we believe we can all do better.  

Thank You to All of Our Children, Teachers, Parents, Faculty and the Families, Communities, and Ecosystems that Support them. 

Signed, 

Everyone in a Position of Leadership at the School