Dear Parents/Guardians and Community Members,
We are excited to host an Anti-Bullying Seminar for students, staff, family and community members. We realize that it takes a coordinated effort to have a unified message for all stakeholders to support students during this eventful time in their lives. Our proactive approach is not due to any specific new concerns but a next step in our work to support the social emotional learning needs of all students.
This series will support the district's goals for Culture, Relationship, and a healthy learning environment. Material that will be covered will empower students to meet the expectations of being a part of a community and learning environment that values the totality of each students’ experiences, culture, and identity to support each others’ academic growth and life success. We expect students to bring their best every day.
We will host the Anti-Bullying Seminar on Wednesday February 22, 2023 for Park students during an assembly period during the school day. We will present it to our Park teachers from 2:30-4:30 PM. However, all District 102 parents/guardians and community members are invited to attend a session from 7:15-8:15 PM at Park Junior High in the auditorium. If you are not available to join us in person, you can watch the live stream on our District 102 YouTube channel. The link is available HERE and it will be available on the District 102 website main page.
Our presenter Jodee Blanco describes her Parent/Family Seminar in these words:
“The Parent/Family seminar is an enlightening interactive workshop for parents and their children. It deepens their understanding of each other and actively improves the way in which they communicate. I take parents back in time to my school years, and help them reconnect with that part of their own past so they can better relate to their children’s experiences in the here and now. Then, engaging the assistance of all the kids in the audience, we walk the parents through the typical clichés adults use on bullied kids and why they don’t work. Kids love being able to teach their parents, and you can see the bond between parent and child strengthening in the room. It’s palpable. Then I offer fresh and effective alternatives to those clichés.
I describe the warning signs a child may be a bully or a target, how to intervene successfully, how to approach the parents of the bullies and/or their targets, how to work productively with the school, why some children are targeted by bullies more than others, how to spot the warning signs a child may be suicidal due to bullying or may be contemplating violence; how to help that child create an interim social life until issues at school can be resolved, and other critical information.
I also share deeply personal insights about the mistakes my own parents made and how to avoid them, as well as what my parents did that helped and why.”
Upon completion of this series, we ask that parents/guardians and the broader community continue to be a part of a learning environment that values students’ experiences, culture, and identity as a key support to all students’ academic success by supporting the students' learning on this subject. This is one of many steps in this important work for the remainder of this school year and beyond.
Sincerely,
Jerome Green - Principal Park Junior High
Lynette Campbell - Assistant Principal Park Junior High