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= Bullying and School Climate Community Discussion— For Educators AND Parents =

With Dr. Jo Ann Freiberg, School Climate and Bullying expert from the Connecticut State Department of Education
//** Motto for the day: If it's mean, intervene! **//

April 10, 2012 • 5:00 – 8:00 pm (dinner included)

Watkinson School, Hartford, CT, (Dining Hall)

The toxicity of the word bullying can overwhelm our ability to address the problem in real time. Often no one will own up to the word, not the student who is a bully, the school, or the parent of the bully; the only person who wants the label of bully is the target’s family. So how can we as parents and educators create physically, emotionally and intellectually safe school communities? Come learn from our state’s expert on bullying, Dr. Jo Ann Frieberg, who has vast experience talking to groups of parents and educators.

We invite all parents and educators to join this dynamic discussion on this complex topic. Dr. Frieberg’s presentation last year at the CAIS Conference on Bullying earned excellent reviews from CAIS educators. Join us for a unique experience this year where participant questions help steer her discussion points. A renowned speaker around our state for creating community discussions among parents, teachers and school boards, Dr. Frieberg’s interactive talk will be grounded with a wide array of anecdotes from the field to illuminate her points about how parents and educators can better partner around this complex issue. Her expertise helps educators review their own list of best practices for bullying cases and supplies parents the awareness and language for intervention. She will role model scripts for how parents and educators can dialogue about proactively implementing changes for creating respectful school climate. Though independent schools are not beholden to the new national standards for school climate, Dr. Frieberg’s expertise and experience with training state educators through her “School Climate Certification Training” will help attendees return to their schools with great talking points for community dialogues. Sign up now for an encouraging, better step forward toward improving your school’s climate.

Agenda 5:00 - 5:15 Registration 5:15 - 5:35 Opening remarks 5:35 – 6:30 Dinner at “Birds of a Feather” discussion tables. “Birds of a Feather” is a purposeful table arrangement and conference practice to help make the event more meaningful as participants can network with like-minded colleagues who work in the same niche. There will also be tables for open-ended discussion. Registrants will also be allowed to suggest table groups ahead of time (see current topic ideas below). 6:30- 7:45 School Climate Community Discussion with Dr. Jo Ann Freibergwho will incorporate questions from birds of a feather tables as interactive discussion points.

The resources that Jo Ann discussed at the end can be found at the Connecticut Association of Schools' website. Again, independent school can use these climate tools to assess their schools and reflect on their own practices: [|http://www.casciac.org/schoolclimate.shtm]
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Birds of a Feather Table Topics: Parent intervention with children; parents and parent associations of schools partnering with school communities; administrative best practices; athletic directors and coaches; working with student leaders; adult intervention; issues specific to boarding schools; middle school; legal boundaries; cyber bullying; fostering school connectedness. Registrants should feel free to add additional topics on their registration form.

Resourceful Links from Dr. Jo Ann Frieberg:


 * [] The National School Climate Resource Center (NSCRC) is an international leader in understanding, promoting and leading efforts to improve school climate. They have a long history of championing and providing research-based information and practices. They led the charge to bring national leaders together to create National School Climate Standards.
 * [] The Connecticut State Department of Education has a wealth of information and resources on bullying, harassment and school climate improvement The best way to access these resources is to use the search window and enter “bullying” once you arrive at the CSDE Homepage.
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For more on Birds of a Feather practice, see the following links: · [] · []