Task Force Addresses Social Media, Training, Family Outreach
The Los Alamitos Unified School is launching a range of initiatives to promote equity, access and inclusion in classrooms and all other aspects District operations. The efforts include recommendations from the District’s Human Relations Task Force on social media practices, staff development and parent/community education.
The 44-member Task Force, formed nine months ago, includes students, parents, community residents and District employees.
The Task Force worked with the District to develop social media guidelines for all District employees, said Danielle Nava-Mijares, Task Force facilitator, to help them make informed decisions about using personal social media and digital communication. The guidelines offer boundaries and specific advice on how to avoid social media pitfalls. Employees are urged, for example, to separate their personal and professional accounts, to refrain from “friending” current students or their parents, and to utilize the privacy settings on social media accounts. Overall, the guidelines remind employees to consider the type of image they want to present online professionally and to exercise best judgements when posting online in general.
The social media guidelines were introduced through staff meetings across the District. All new employees receive the guidelines as part of their new-hire package. Next year all employees will receive the guidelines as a part of their annual staff notifications
The Task Force also worked with Ondrea Reed, Assistant Superintendent for Education Services, to expand staff professional development to include social and emotional learning, human relations and restorative justice. This school year, 160 teachers, administrators and counselors will receive training in restorative justice practices that hold students accountable for their behavior in ways that are less punitive and more educational, Reed said. The District will participate in four, two-day trainings in conjunction with the International Institute of Restorative Practices and the Orange County Department of Education.
In addition, the District will hold nine training sessions for teachers and administrators this year in how to enhance social and emotional learning among students. The goal of the training is to equip educators with the tools to create more inclusive classrooms and respond more effectively to interpersonal problems and negative behavior, such as stereotyping, name calling and bullying. These efforts stem from a District survey of all teachers in which respondents said training in human relations and social and emotional learning was their top priority, Reed said.
The Task Force also is kicking off a series of parent/community education nights to encourage families to be part of the human relations effort in the District, Nava-Mijares said. The first event — November 6 at Hopkinson Elementary — is a presentation by the Anti-Defamation League on how parents and children can engage in “courageous conversations” that explore issues of identity, bias and prejudice in society as a way to promote inclusion and mutual respect. The Task Force plans two additional parent/community sessions during this school year.
Finally, recent PEACE Week activities at schools across the District set a tone of positive human relations. This year, the Task Force helped bring consistency in programming to these events by sharing curricular materials and PEACE Week posters with teachers and administrators at each campus, Nava-Mijares said.
Overall, she said, the work of the Task Force “is about ensuring that all of our students, families and staff have the best experiences in our District and feel they are valued and belong.”
District Superintendent Dr. Pulver praised the work of the Task Force and the District Board’s support for it. The fact that the District spends time and money on human relations work is evidence of its commitment, Pulver said.
“We will certainly face human relations challenges,” Pulver said, but because of the work of the Task Force, “we are better skilled at supporting our students and families.”
