Titan Goals for the 2013-2014 Academic Year

As the first quarter of the new school year comes to a close, Titans focus on goal setting for the school year.

Titan+Goals+for+the+2013-2014+Academic+Year

During the current academic year, goals concerning the integrity of the student body include continual focuses on anti-cheating and anti-bullying.

Students were required to take an anonymous student survey at the beginning of the current year that gathered information on the issue of cheating in school. Assistant Principal Mrs. Quirin said, “[that the survey serves] to help [the administration] plan and determine how to follow up on the problem and understand why students end up in the situation [where they feel the need to cheat].”

Quirin said that by understanding more about the circumstances that lead to cheating on assignments, the administration can be proactive in prevention if the problem can be traced to lack of reasonable preparation time, an enormous workload, or the pressures of competition between fellow students.

The data the survey collects will be sent to Instructional Council – a group of comprised of administrators, teachers, parents, and students – that meet regularly to discuss and resolve problems within Titan Territory. Quirin said that the problem of cheating “will be a prominent [issue] that does not have a finishing point” and will be continually addressed during the year through lessons in clubhouse.

Another focus of the school year is anti-bullying. The student organization PEER (Positive Experiences in Educational Relationships) is dedicated to helping students with this issue and “provide a medium through which students may lend support to one another [and] address important issues throughout the student community.”

The head of PEER, Sara Kittelson, said that PEER works “with our social worker, Dr. Daphne King, and one of our school counselor’s, Amanda Patel.”

PEER spreads awareness of anti-bullying policy throughout the community through its work with the BFF club and set up of opportunities for guest speakers to come to Dominion. PEER is also responsible for the anti-bullying themed puppet show at Meadowland Elementary.

In addition to the distribution of the school’s expectations of student’s acceptance of policy regarding cheating during clubhouse, according to Quirin, PEER is a tool that administrators can use when distributing the message to students.

The redress of issues such as bullying and cheating within the school is a continual goal of the current and future academic years for Titan Territory.