In cooperation with parents and the community, the W. E. B. Du Bois Regional Middle School will provide all students a safe environment in which:

• Personal and academic excellence is promoted and celebrated.
• Student responsibility for learning is developed and expected.
• All people value and exercise respect and responsibility.
• A spirit of inquiry is recognized and fostered.
• An enthusiasm for life-long learning is instilled.

DBRMS subscribes to the beliefs set forth by the National Middle School Association. In their position paper, This We Believe: Keys to Educating Young Adolescents (2010), they outline a framework of four essential attributes that connect with the characteristics of successful middle grades schools. Embracing these attributes helps us in striving to create a school that best meets the needs of our students.

Essential Attributes
An education for young adolescents must be:

• Developmentally responsive
  Using the distinctive nature of young adolescents as the foundation upon which all decisions about school organization, policies, curriculum, instruction, and assessment are made.
• Challenging
  Ensuring that every student learns and every member of the learning community is held to high expectations.
• Empowering
  Providing all students with the knowledge and skills they need to take responsibility for their lives, to address life's challenges, to function successfully at all levels of society, and to be creators of knowledge.
• Equitable
  Advocating for and ensuring every student's right to learn and providing appropriately challenging and relevant learning opportunities for every student.

Compact of Shared Responsibility

W. E. B. Du Bois thanks you for the opportunity to be a part of your child’s education. We know that there are many important actors is a child’s life and no one person or organization is ever enough to see to all of the needs children have. We believe we have a better chance if we work closely together with families and involve students directly in taking responsibility for their educational success. The Compact of Shared Responsibility below grows out of that belief.

As a School we will:

• Communicate frequently regarding your child’s education.
• Provide an environment that is safe and conducive to learning.
• Respect each student, their parents and the diverse culture of the school.
• Contact you quickly in case of any concerning incidents.
• Keep Power-School up to date so that you can keep track of your child’s progress.

As Parents we will:

• Have on going communication with my child’s school.
• See that my child attends school regularly and is habitually on time.
• Establish a time and place for my child to do homework and check regularly to see it is getting done.
• Monitor my child’s involvement with electronics and social media.
• Come to the school as necessary to discuss the needs of my child and respond to specific incident.
• Be familiar with the student/family handbook.

As a Student I will:

• Come to school each day prepared to learn.
• Always work to the best of my ability.
• Strive to make a positive difference in the school community.
• Demonstrate respect for the behavioral norms of W. E. B. Du Bois, the staff, and my fellow students.
• Be familiar with the student/family handbook.