School Climate Update

Posted Date: 09/29/2025

Weston Middle School

September 29, 2025

Dear WMS Families,

I wanted to take a moment to update you on our school climate work - specifically, our ongoing work creating an inclusive and supportive environment for all students.

On Thursday, September 25th, WMS’s eighth grade teachers, school counselors, and administration engaged our eighth grade students in small restorative circles within their first period classes to talk more about the swastika found on Wednesday, September 17, 2025, in one of the eighth grade boys’ bathrooms. Restorative circles are facilitated, structured discussions (often in a circle formation) where participants discuss a conflict, problem, or community issue and seek to heal or repair the damage through shared responsibility and honest communication.During these discussions, we used open ended questions to gauge students’ feelings about what happened and engage them in potential solutions to help our school move forward. 

The discussions themselves were positive, serious, and (at times) emotional. Students expressed a range of feelings and thoughts including being “saddened” that our school was associated with anti-semetism,clear-eyed that we should never normalize this type of behavior, and even a little worn out by the amount of times that it has occurred. Some students were very talkative while others listened and tried to process what was being said. Every student had the opportunity at the end of the experience to write a reflection. Reflections were then given to our staff for additional information to process and consider how to move forward.

We are also continuing to tighten up systems and procedures related to how we monitor the shared spaces at WMS. This includes daily (and multiple) checks of bathroom spaces by our security guards and using sign out sheets in all classrooms for when students need to leave for any reason. While these measures do not eliminate the possibility of incidents, they increase our ability to investigate, identify who may be responsible, and respond effectively should another anti-semetic or hate based incident occur.

During the next few weeks, our No Place for Hate committee will be coming together to plan our first schoolwide event - which we anticipate (and are excited to do) in early November. Our pledge signing was successful and demonstrated that there is a tremendous amount of student interest in making our school a place where all students feel welcome and hate based behavior does not occur. 

Finally, If you have not already done so, I highly encourage all parents of eighth-grade students to follow up with your child—ask how they felt about the circle discussions and what they took away from the experience. Your partnership in this work is critical. I will continue to provide updates in the coming weeks as we move forward together.

Sincerely,

Jason Bluestein

Principal