'What Our Kids Don't Know Can Hurt Them: Preparing Our Students for Gobal Citizenship' Presentation

Our children are coming of age at a time when they will work and interact with increasingly diverse groups of people. There are also increasingly alarming incidences of bullying, harassment and intolerance related to difference, as the most recent spate of youth suicides shows. The Merrick School District recently drafted and adopted a Diversity Mission Statement for the district with the goal that "all students develop an understanding and empathy for the individual differences that exist within our community and in the world around us."

This evening's presentation will share history of this statement and a glimpse at the curriculum which has been developed to meet this goal. It will also provide an opportunity to celebrate the ways in which the district's teachers are working to ensure that all students are knowledgeable and comfortable with a wide range of differences while also developing a strong classroom community and minimizing bullying and exclusion.

Please join us for a discussion presented by Dr. Mara Sapon-Shevin, Professor of Inclusive Education in the Teaching and Leadership, Department of the School of Education at Syracuse University. Dr. Sapon-Shevin is a nationally recognized author and presenter on diversity education, bullying, and social justice education.

Refreshments will be served.