Student Voice and Democracy

All School Meetings: An important element of the Compass School community is All School Meetings. Scheduled twice weekly, these meetings are a chance for the whole community to come together, celebrate accomplishments, address challenges, set common direction, and be together in a common space. Students often are given responsibility to lead all school meetings to help contribute to the continuing development of a positive school community.

Advisory: Advisory allows students and teachers to develop close and long-term relationships that help support each student in his or her learning and living at Compass. Advisory groups are organized to have one teacher meet 3 times per week with a small group of students over the course of the year.

Advisory groups discuss issues from within and outside school pertinent to students and teachers and serve as a primary vehicle for student governance and representation. Advisory activities might include group building activities, physical activity, community service projects, or working with students' portfolios. Each advisory group also takes responsibility for building clean-up and helps with the school lunch program as well. Advisory activities evolve over the course of the year and can take many directions as the tenor of the group dictates. The advisor acts as an advocate for the student, and is the primary person parents can contact to address general issues and concerns that they might have concerning their son or daughter.

School Democracy: Students learn about democracy by living democracy. At Compass, we aim to model democracy with a powerful Student Council, Student Judiciary, and Town Meetings held several times each year. Each student is encouraged to participate in the school's democratic practices, either through elected positions or through open forum and advisory input. Compass values the input of all and believes our students develop as citizens by exercising their voice.