Exactly a month ago I attended an excellent talk sponsored by the Fairfield PTA Council on school climate improvement and bullying prevention. Andrea Leonardi, Fairfield Public Schools' Director of Special Education and Pupil Services, was the guest speaker and her presentation was very thorough, providing a history of anti-bullying legislation in our state; a review of important definitions; an overview of the district's school climate improvement plan; and an exhaustive list of resources for further reading. The only thing missing? An audience.
Believe me, I get it. I know for a fact that Fairfield is full of compassionate and concerned families, but I also know that Fairfield is full of very busy families. There are just so many places you can be at one time; just so many evenings you can pull yourself away from home for a meeting; just so many issues you can commit your time and energy to.
But the truth is, we will never get anywhere on the issues of bullying and positive school climate without conversation. If we can't find a way to physically get together to have those conversations, we need to find other ways to communicate. I'm hoping my blog can be one of those other ways.
Over the last three years, I've accumulated a wealth of articles, research, and resources on this and related issues like depression and suicide. I'm going to start sharing all of that on my blog. I hope that this will allow people to learn and exchange ideas, and that the posts will spark conversations in your homes, at the bus stop, in the parking lot, and in the aisles of the grocery store. Maybe through these conversations we will begin to see not only a path to change, but also the growth of a collective commitment to make that change.
I get absorbed in daily life just like everyone else, so my posting is somewhat irregular. If you want to be sure you are seeing new posts, it's probably easiest to subscribe to the blog. Subscribers receive notifications when something new has been posted, so they don't have to worry about missing a post.
So, here's the first installment. The live link below will take you to the Fairfield Public Schools School Climate Improvement page. At the top of that page, you will see a link to Andrea Leonardi's excellent presentation. More to come!
Andrea's Presentation link
(once you get to the page, click on PTAC School Climate Presentation - April 24, 2012)
I am one who would have liked to have been in the audience. I suppose it's my own fault for not knowing about the talk as I tend to discard the newspaper most times. Is that the way it was perhaps advertised? Is there an email list, perhaps?
ReplyDeleteHope to get involved or at least learn more. I am quite busy with my own litigation issues, actually, about symphony conductor bullying. Serious stuff and time-taking and not, unfortunately, using the word bullying lightly here. Young folks can handle it far less than an adult. They need our support. Let me know how I can be better informed of talks and actions, please.
Adrianne
Adrianne, I should have told you about it because, as far as I know, it was only publicized through the schools. I hope to do a better job of using my blog to spread awareness of these presentations. There will be a lot happening come fall, but since it is school-related work, they will be reaching out mostly to parents and students. If the Community Conversation gets going again, I hope that would present opportunities to draw the larger community into the conversation. - Nancy
ReplyDelete