We respect and care for ourselves, our peers, and our community. We lead with empathy and compassion. We celebrate the ways that our diverse experiences and skills add value to our collective community. We confront internal and external challenges as a community.

We believe that education is the most powerful tool for liberation. We commit to being life-long learners who leverage all of our lived experiences as learning opportunities. We view open dialogue as the centerpiece of learning spaces, and we reject models of learning that place teachers above students. We acknowledge and ground in struggle – intellectual, personal, and social – as the root of all learning and growth.

We know that, in the words of Medgar Evers, “freedom has never been free”, so we must take action to create the future that we want for ourselves and our communities. We work in solidarity to identify and move towards our personal and collective goals. We believe that the economic, social, and political conditions that have historically oppressed our students and communities are not immutable, but must be transformed by collective action.

We believe that we must exercise discipline within ourselves and in our relationships to one another. We know that progress is slow, but we remain committed to our mission and goals. When times get tough, we deepen our resolve. We use restorative practices to navigate conflict and hold each other accountable. We commit to a model of transformative justice that works to create healing and transform the root causes of conflict.