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Consultant's campus climate work draws students and staff into restorative events at Fairfax and Trevor Brown
Summary
Social Centric consultant Calvin Terrell told the Phoenix Union board he is running community‑building activities — music, dance, ice cream bars, bubbles and facilitated circles — at campuses including Fairfax and Trevor Brown as part of a larger push to change campus culture and promote restorative practices.
Calvin Terrell, a consultant contracted by the district through Social Centric, told the Phoenix Union High School District board at its April 3 retreat that his team has begun work at Fairfax and Trevor Brown to address campus climate and to create restorative, culturally relevant engagement that trustees can replicate across the district.
Terrell described the approach as moving beyond surface crowd‑pleasing events to build relationships and trust, then to install measurable practices and reporting. "I believe every house has a smell," Terrell told trustees, and his work focuses on identifying what is visible on a campus (the climate) and what is deeper (the culture) so leaders can plan interventions, prevention and promotion activities.
Examples and methods: Terrell said he led an event for 500 juniors at Fairfax that included an ice‑cream bar, line dances, limbo and other activities; at Trevor Brown he organized student ciphers and freestyle sessions to create peer dialogue. He emphasized intergenerational programming and described working with staff, security and student leaders to build "proactive relationships," citing a security officer who joined a student cipher and a campus staffer who convened students for follow‑up discussions.
Why it matters: Terrell framed the work as a sustained, districtwide effort to "unleash the infinite potential of all stakeholders" rather than a one‑time engagement. He said that a heavy focus on reactionary work ("intervention") without prevention and promotion fosters a cycle of crisis response.
Board response and next steps: Superintendent Andrade introduced Terrell and said she would like the district to sustain and scale the approach. Several trustees said they appreciated the focus on joy and relationship‑building and asked staff to return with a measurable plan and data‑auditing approach to report impact over time.
Ending: Terrell asked board members to consider how their own culture and values affect decisions and closed with a request to post the consultant's measures and to track outcomes alongside board guardrails and interim metrics.
