Ophelia Project
In 2002 NDA embarked on a multiyear, comprehensive effort to ensure that our school culture is a respectful and safe one for all our members. America’s cultural climate seems to promote or, at the very least, turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to issues of exclusive cliques, malicious gossip, hateful rumors, and degrading bullying between and among students both on and off a school’s campus. This aggressive behavior can be overt or covert and deeply hurts students.
The Ophelia Project is a nonprofit national organization dedicated to creating a safe social climate for students through awareness, education and advocacy. Since December of 2002, NDA has been involved with a team of national trainers to make our vision a reality. A key to the success of the project is to offer system-wide training, therefore, teachers, parents, students and administrators were trained to begin a long-term effort to foster positive social norms in our community.
Currently, high school students serve as mentors to students in grades 5 through 8 in our elementary school. Parent teams have organized Parent Study Circles and Parent Education Meetings on the topic of relational aggression in girls.
The Ophelia Project has proven to be one of the many graces we experienced during our Centennial Year 2003-2004 and it continues to grace our community.
Vision Statement
Notre Dame Academy is a community where all are welcome. We envision a climate of inclusivity, compassion, and respect. We value spiritual, intellectual, emotional, social and financial safety for all members. We pledge the courage to hold others and ourselves to these standards.
Notre Dame Academy participates in the CASS (Creating a Safe School) Program which trains our students to work as mentors in the Elementary School concerning relational aggression topics. The normative beliefs CASS supports are the following:
1. Each of us is responsible for creating a safe social climate
2. We treat everyone with civility
3. We are accountable for our actions
4. After a mistake, we make it right
5. In this school we protect each other
6. We work hard to include others in our work, sports, and play
7. Adults help us deal with aggression
8. Aggression is everyone's problem
9. At Notre Dame Academy it is NEVER okay to:
- Use teasing to hurt someone spread malicious gossip
- Use exclusion to hurt someone
- Build alliances against another person
- Use aggression to hurt, embarrass or humiliate someone