The Whole Child Review Issue No. 4, September 2020

Enhancing Teacher Wellbeing

Teacher/Staff Wellness survey

As we move into fall and back-to-school, our wellness team is committed to finding new, fun, and creative ways to bring wellness events to KIPP Chicago! During a recent survey, we saw a 62% increase in responses from our 2019 survey and we’re excited to keep learning more about our teachers’ needs. Our partner offerings from last year include Core Power Yoga, Chill Meditation and Massage Studio, Asutra, Holberg, Lyric Opera, LA Fitness, Chicago Ideas, Pure Edge, and Unmeasured Barre classes. Based on the most current teacher wellness survey, we are working on aligning all of our partnerships and wellness offerings with what teachers want and need.

Wellness champions

We are dedicated to the mission of bringing our community of teachers and leaders opportunities to decompress, relax, and come together in joyful ways. This past spring, as we reassessed staff wellbeing needs, we developed a team of peer-nominated wellness champions. The team set a goal of offering weekly remote wellness events for KIPP Staff, elevating our existing wellness-oriented resources for kids and families on our digital platforms. Last school year, staff engaged in yoga, watercolors, candle-making, game nights (like the one shown here with host Miguel Rodriguez), dance, and meditation. After reviewing the teacher wellness survey, we’re thrilled to unveil our 2020/2021 wellness events calendar soon to continue our work of bringing teachers together in wellness, joy, and community.