PLUS Program

Topic: Youth Development and School Culture

Addressing Racism, Harassment, Bias and Bullying Through a Youth Development Lens

One of the many goals of the presentation is for participants to develop a strong understanding of the impact group identity has on individual adolescent behavior, particularly with gangs, violence, and bullying. Educators must understand the importance of developing programs that foster relationships among youth and developing a sense of belonging for youth to a group. Our youth are simply growing up in a violent culture that invests itself in a code of silence. As educators we must counter this and develop a culture of communication, where students feel connected to one another and responsible for the outcomes of their campus culture.

Expected session outcomes: skills and insights participants should be able to gain :Participants will learn three objectives from this workshop:

How to engage a peer/youth leadership program to be a proactive organization in addressing school safety issues, such as Racism, Gangs, Violence, and Bullying. 

How to utilize a sequential set of youth development activities to create a rite of passage into a group identity. This is what counters the negative peer group model in adolescence and develops a positive campus culture.

How to utilize your peer/youth leadership program in a cross age mentoring approach to engage students K-12 in a consistent group identity

Topic: Safe Schools

Safe School Framework: A three step Cycle of Actions to Developing a Safe School

When developing this safe schools framework the words “to inspire” became critical pieces of the overall objectives of its’ development. When students are inspired they feel safe, connected, and protected.   When developing the safe school framework as part of the three cycle approach, the vision was kept simple, “When it is all said and done, we developed this approach to protect our most precious assets, our kids.”

In developing the framework we kept the scope as simple as possible. Three criteria were identified as the framework to the development of a safe school:

Communication - Structure a program that utilizes activities which develop a culture of communication among the students on a campus.

School and Law Enforcement Partnership - Let the foundation of the safe school programs invest in a strong school and law enforcement partnership.

Staff Trainings - Identify an efficient set of trainings for staff to build capacity and optimize the time to engage staff in school safety protocol.

Expected Session outcomes. Participants will learn three objectives from this session presentation:

Strategies that develop peer to peer communication on a campus, which in turns develops a culture of communication between students and teachers.

Components of a successful School and Law Enforcement Partnership. Insight into tested strategies implemented that optimize a school law enforcement partnership.

A variety of resource trainings that are critical in the development of staff capacity.

Topic: Cyber Trends and the Impact on Youth Development

The Trends, Dangers and Influence of the Cyber World

A new frontier has quickly developed and for many parents, teachers and schools it is a frontier that is very foreign. This new frontier is the Cyberworld. This world offers our kids some pretty amazing things that can help foster their growth as an individual and provide information that accelerates their educational learning opportunities. Unfortunately once developed as an educator’s tool for sharing, the internet and cyberworld has quickly taken on a dark side. To understand the risk factors associated with this dark side, parents, teachers and schools must get into the cyberworld immediately.

This presentation is designed to help parents, teachers and schools understand the dynamics that the internet, media, video gaming and social networking have on developing safe schools.

Expected Session outcomes. Participants will learn three objectives from this session presentation:

Strategies to prevent and mitigate online threats to youth.

How to utilize online sites to investigate threats to students and schools.

Strategies to create positive use of technology in the response to negative online behavior.

Topic: Cyberbullying

Addressing the Rising Trend of Cyberbullying Utilizing a Cycle of Actions

The act of kids bullying one another is not a new safety concern for parents or schools, but cyberbullying is. The internet and social networking sites have established an unsupervised arena for individuals to attack one another. A drastic difference between schoolyard bullying and cyberbullying is that there are no adults supervising in the cyberworld. In the cyberworld, kids are left alone to deal with the emotions that result from online harassment. To address this emerging trend parents, schools, legislation, and students need to begin a cycle of actions as a response. This session will highlight a variety of strategies that each group must engage in to become active participants in the cycle of actions.

Expected Session Outcomes. Participants will learn three objectives from this session presentation:

Strategies parents, schools and law enforcement can utilize to prevent and mitigate the impact of cyberbullying on youth.

Identify resources for parents and schools in their response to cyberbullying and online threats.

A firm understanding of the mechanisms individuals utilize to stalk, harass and bully one another in the cyberworld.

Topic: Partnerships

School Law Enforcement Partnerships

In the development of Safe Schools the catalyst to success is the establishment of a defined School and Law Enforcement Partnership. The healthy relationship between these two diverse agencies is critical in the establishment of safe schools. This session presentation will identify critical components necessary to develop, collaborate and sustain a strong School and Law Enforcement Partnership.

Expected Session Outcomes. Participants will learn three objectives from this session presentation:

On going communication strategies to assure interpretation and understanding of incidents are in align for both schools and law enforcement

Cross training strategies to further understand circumstance perspectives.

Utilizing the strength of the School and Law enforcement partnership as a tool for prevention/mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery.