Peace Room Adjusts To Staff Changes
A sign hangs on the Peace Room’s door, reminding students of Ms. Wright’s message. She reminded her students to always find the soft people. According to Mr. Blount, a soft person is “somebody that meets you where you are with kindness and not any sort of preconceived notions or any sort of judgment or rule setting.”
This January, five teachers replaced Ms. Anjole Wright as Peace Room staff. The change from a single staff member to multiple has some students concerned that the Peace Room’s original vision has been compromised.
After a year and a half of virtual learning, the Restorative Justice Committee opened the Peace Room in response to nationwide mental health concerns among teenagers.
For two years, Ms. Wright served as the single supervisor of the Peace Room until she resigned in 2023. During her tenure, she established strong connections with students and created an environment that allowed students to adjust to their “new normal.”
According to Special Educator Ms. Laura Collier, the Peace Room is a resource for students to step away from a classroom environment and take a break while “getting what they need” to return to the classroom.
School data shows that students are still widely using this resource. Between January 24th to 31st, 2023, 302 students signed in.
But without Ms. Wright’s guidance, some students struggle to connect within the space.
Sophomore Mary Gill has been going to the Peace Room since it opened, so she has experienced the changes of the Peace Room firsthand. She says she notices the lack of a significant personal connection.
“It is always a different person here, and there’s not that one person you can talk to,” said Mary.
The new staff members, such as Science Paraeducator Mr. Walters, says he recognizes that building valuable relationships takes time.
According to freshman Ela Sezer, many students still have more of a general connection to the space rather than a personal connection. “One of the main reasons I went there was to communicate with someone willing to help me. But I haven’t been able to build that bond with whoever’s in there right now,” said Ela.
“When you’re there with that one person, they make you feel confident in yourself and just confident that you want to stay,” she says.
Autumn Wilkerson misses the consistency of having the same adult present “if you were going through a hard time.”
With Student Services and a Guidance department, some question the necessity of a Peace Room. Still, students see the Peace Room as different.
Ela says that she would look to the Peace Room as a safe space in the building for support over the guidance office. “I know [the counselors] want me to go back to class,” she said, “[In the Peace Room] they wait until you’re ready to leave.”
For Autumn, the Peace Room is an accessible space where she can go to have a quiet place to herself, while Student Services is a more specialized space and often less accessible due to the counselors’ busy schedules.
“[In] Student Services, you’re kind of expected to talk to people. It is a lot easier to just go to the Peace Room and have a quiet place,” said Autumn, “I know the counselors are really busy, and they have tons of students to attend to, so it’s a lot easier to have the Peace Room as an option.”
Autumn says the Peace Room and the guidance counselors have their separate benefits as resources and safe spaces for students. “It really benefits the students to not only have a place to go talk to your counselors but also just having a place to be quiet.”
The Peace Room staff members are working to maintain the Peace Room as a safe space. Each new staff member brings something to the table, according to Mr. Greengold, Alternative Education Paraeducator. “They’re making it their own space as well, so kids can relate,” he said.
As these new leaders make the space their own, some students come to the Peace Room to strengthen connections they previously held with the new leaders.
Students with prior connections to Peace Room leaders have begun to find more comfort in the space, according to senior Erikka Coleman.
Sophomore Caleb Mackenna says he sees Mr. Blount as a “big brother” and has recently started going to the Peace Room to strengthen his bond with Mr. Blount. “Knowing he is there is something I can always fall back on, just in case,” says Caleb.
Moving forward, Ms. Collier hopes that the Peace Room continues to be a space in the building. However, beyond just the Peace Room, she also hopes that other rooms in the school remove the “barriers” found in a school building, making every space feel like a Peace Room. As she said, “day to day is hard, and it does not have to be.”
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