Haber Oaks staff and students tell board their program boosts student belonging and attendance

Haber Oaks administrators, staff and students told the Community High School District 155 Board of Education on Sept. 9 that the alternative-program campus has focused for years on social-emotional supports intended to help students feel they belong and stay in school. Tony Moretti, Tulsa Dean of Students at Haber Oaks, introduced the presentation and staff and students described classroom, counseling and incentive practices that leaders say improved engagement. The presentation included student testimony, descriptions of an "Haber Has Heart" culture and examples of attendance incentives that staff said led to measurable attendance improvements. The district superintendent and board members heard accounts from a former student who credited the program with helping her regain stability and return to a mainstream high school, staff who described multi-tiered literacy instruction paired with SEL activities, and outreach actions to connect Haber students with their home high schools for extracurricular participation. "It was a place where my emotions weren't something that needed to be hidden away," said Victoria Pezla, identifying herself as a Haber Oaks senior who transferred back to a comprehensive campus for her final year and said she was earning all A's and taking dual-credit courses. Reading and literacy data specialist Kristen Geo described development of "What Matters Mondays," a late-start SEL activity block designed with the student support team to prepare students emotionally for learning. School nurse Gretchen Levin and social worker Jen Sanchez gave examples of low-cost, tangible attendance incentives (gift cards, a pumpkin-spice latte reward) and one-on-one follow-up that staff said helped students attend consistently. Administrators told the board the program exceeded the district's sense-of-belonging target in the prior year. Board members thanked staff for the presentation and were invited to a pancake breakfast at Haber Oaks to see the program and students in person. The presentation occurred during the public portion of the meeting and no board action was required.