For all NYC DOE Respect for All Policies, please check the official webpage.
Cascades High School
Respect for All
Cascades High School is committed to making sure all students feel loved, supported, and respected as members of the school community. We recognize that very often students end up at Cascades because of negative experiences in previous settings where their identity was not respected and celebrated. At Cascades, we have a number of programs in place to support the development of an inclusive environment that promotes respect for diversity in order to prevent harassment, intimidation, and bias-based harassment.
Cascades has a very active Gender Sexuality Alliance (GSA) under the guidance of teacher Lisa Mazzariello. The GSA meets weekly to address issues facing the school and larger community. GSA sponsors school events (Haunted House), runs informational campaigns (World AIDS Day, National Coming Out Day), and takes trips (Historic NYC LGBTQ+ Walking Tour).
To help students address the issues facing them as a result of their gender identity, our CBO partner, Camba, leads Young Men, Real Talk and Girls Group, alongside Cascades faculty. Both groups are inclusive of all gender identities. The groups have team building activities (volunteer work, hiking trips), run informational campaigns (Gender Pay Cap, Challenges Facing Young Men of Color, What is Consent?), and hold cross-club events.
In the classroom setting, our teachers have been working diligently to improve curricular resources and ensure students are receiving a culturally responsive education. Texts studied in class reflect the cultures and experiences of our diverse student body. Student voice is celebrated and classroom resources and practices are improved based on student input – a practice we believe helps students feel respected and heard.
When addressing any student-to-student conflict we take a restorative approach, using mediation and counseling, to help students work through their issues with each other. To support this practice students participate in Advisory groups, which utilize circle practices and accountable talk, to create safe spaces for students to share their opinions and address conflict in a respectful manner before conflict arises.
Each student and staff member brings to our school community the richness of our city’s cultural diversity and the desire for respect. It is the policy of the New York City Department of Education to maintain a safe and supportive learning and educational environment that is free from harassment, intimidation and/or bullying committed by students against other students and discrimination by students against other students on account of actual or perceived race, color, creed, ethnicity, national origin, citizenship/immigration status, religion, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, disability or weight. (Chancellor’s Regulation A-832).
It is the policy of the New York City Department of Education to provide equal educational opportunities without regard to actual or perceived race, color, religion, age, creed, ethnicity, national origin, alienage, citizenship status, disability, sexual orientation, gender (sex) or weight. It is also the policy of the DOE to maintain an environment free of harassment on the basis of any of these grounds, including sexual harassment.
Accordingly, it is a violation of this policy for any DOE employee to discriminate against or create a hostile school environment for a student by conduct and/or verbal or written acts on school property, or at a school function on the basis of any of the above-noted grounds, (Chancellor’s Regulation A-830).
We are committed to promoting respect for diversity among students and between students and staff, so that all of our students feel valued, safe and supported. Any student who believes that s/he has been the victim of bias-based harassment, intimidation and/or bullying by another student should report the incident to the Respect For All Liaison in the school verbally or in writing.
Our school’s primary RFA Liaison is Lisa Mazzariello. She can be reached by calling the school at 646-654-1261. In addition, the following individuals are RFA Liaisons to whom reports can be made: AP Wesly Pierre-Toussaint.
Parents may report student-to student bias-based harassment, intimidation, and/or bullying verbally or in writing to the principal or the principal’s designee (enter the name of the school’s designee) the RFA liaison, or any other staff member. If a parent or student feels uncomfortable making a report to a school staff member, parents and students may submit a complaint by:
• E-mailing the report to the Office of Safety and Youth Development (OSYD) at RespectforAll@schools.nyc.gov
• Filing an online complaint at https://www.nycenet.edu/bullyingreporting
• Calling 718-935-2288 (Monday – Friday, 9am -5pm)
Any student or parent of a student who feels that the student has been discriminated against by a DOE employee may file a complaint with the DOE’s Office of Equal Opportunity either in writing or orally by contacting:
Office of Equal Opportunity
Room 1102
65 Court Street
Brooklyn, New York 11201
718-935-3320
We look forward to a productive school year as we work together to promote Respect For All.
Respectfully,
Claire Sheehan