During his time as principal at the high school, Dr. Jay Dostal has been using a simple, yet effective medium to make many groups of students feel included at school: the morning announcements.
Often starting by stating the current history or awareness of the month, Dostal then shares a fact about a group of people that many may not know much information about.
“I actually had a couple of students in the office one day when I was reading the announcements who said that it would be nice if you could include information about the different segments of our population,” Dostal said. “So, I went in and looked at every month and found out facts for each of the different ones and just started putting them in the announcements.”
WE-SIDE, the district’s program dedicated to promoting equity and unity, supports the morning announcements’ inclusive messages.
“I think part of it is to make sure that people are aware,” Dostal said. “Awareness is half the battle. There are different populations of people in our building that need to be recognized and I think that fits in with the spirit of WE-SIDE, which is being inclusive and being respectful to the differences that everybody has.”
While the information shared over the intercom is intended to shine light on different groups, Dostal has received some feedback from students and teachers about the content being announced.
“Some have said that the messages in some of [the announcements] have been a little dark,” Dostal said. “But, I also understand that that might be part of the history of a specific segment of our population.”
While it may be Dostal’s voice that students and staff hear every morning at eight a.m., Dostal said he is always looking for extra help with this informative segment.
“I am always looking for new facts or anything like that, that people wouldn’t mind sharing,” Dostal said. “We would also love to have some of our students who represent those populations come up and read the announcements rather than hearing from me every single day. I really believe that every student needs to have a voice and we need to provide a platform to share that voice.”
