Our Values & Culture

We work together with passion, kindness, and positivity in service of our students and in alignment with our values:

We put children first. We put our children’s needs before our own. The well-being and achievement of our children and families is our highest priority, and all our decisions are based on what’s best for them. 

We are positive! We energize each other with positive talk, attitudes, and actions. We don’t engage in negativity, complaining, arrogance, divisiveness, or gossip. There is no “them,” only “us”. 

We hold ourselves accountable for results. We take ownership of our work and assume personal accountability for student achievement. We do not believe in blame or excuses—as individuals and as a team—just results and hard work. 

We are passionate and driven to attain excellence. We are not satisfied with incremental gains. We work for social justice with seriousness and a sense of urgency. We are resilient even in times of stress because our work is a sacred calling. 

We are entrepreneurial. When a problem arises, we’re able to talk to each other, figure out a solution, and implement it fast. 

We work actively toward practicing culturally responsive education. Recognizing that society perpetuates inequity, we offer all students equal access to a rich, meaningful and cognitively demanding curriculum, close relationships, and ambitious instruction based on cognitive rigor. 

We revere teaching. We believe that no calling is more noble. 

We work as a team. We approach our work with humility rather than seeking the limelight. We treat one another with kindness and put the interests of the group above those of the individual. 

We are continually improving and learning. We take initiative to continually improve everything, every day. We are relentless about excellence and about a strong work ethic. We believe that great teachers are always learning, so we put in the time and effort to continually improve our practice. 

We listen thoughtfully to one another. Real communication happens here—and the most important part is listening. By truly hearing one another and assuming the best of one another, we work through disagreements and difficult situations. We use email judiciously, and never for conversations.