I have heard it remarked more than once, that if "you can survive LACHSA, you can survive anywhere." It has always surprised me how we've tolerated this for our students. After all, a school should not be a place that must be "survived" by its students. Schools should take an active and intentional role in supporting students as they navigate this complex world. Success should not be determined by those who can identify and overcome this complexity on their own, a rather Darwinian paradigm.
When I began at LACHSA more than two years ago I shadowed several students through the course of a school day; it was important for me to understand, as best I could, a student's experience at LACHSA. Not only did I quickly learn how long a school day felt--8 a.m. to 4 p.m. is a very long time for anyone--but I also learned how our school presented our students with immense challenges in time management and prioritization; students needed to quickly adapt to juggling eleven separate classes and teachers.
Stress is a common experience for all students in all schools, but takes on a particular intensity for students at LACHSA. Our students come driven and motivated and determined to succeed. As their responsibilities and opportunities mount, the motivation of our students often leads to a succeed-at-all-costs mentality, where students routinely work late into the evening and sacrifice sleep and other necessities to ensure this. Although stress will never be eliminated from the student experience, nor should it be, we can ensure that we are supporting our students as they manage their experience. Our students should not be on their own as they try to figure out success at LACHSA.
We have structured our 9th grade with a three-day summer orientation and a structured study hall during the school year to provide dedicated time, space, and support for the demands of the LACHSA workload. We have coordinated our calendar to help our students successfully manage academic and artistic responsibilities throughout the course of the year.
It can take students time, at any school, to adapt to a school's demands and complexity. When students begin to falter, our probation policy acts as a "watch list" to identify problem areas and creates an action plan for each students, managed by a team of adults close to the students. Our Student Support Team, comprised of our assistant principal, academic dean, counselors, resource specialist, and school psychologist meets weekly to monitor these and other students in need. And our upcoming Parent/Teacher Conferences are meant to strengthen the school-to-home connection.
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