group and coming to know and reveal his own sexuality, respectively.
This provided interested parents with the opportunity to have an
informed discussion of these important, but potentially confusing topics at home.
The PA also sponsors speakers from within Allen-Stevenson. In
recent years, Winnie Barnes and Ben Neulander introduced us to the new academic schedule, specialists from the Learning Resource
Center de-mystified the standardized testing process and our librarians helped us choose the right book at the right time for our devel-
oping readers. One of the areas of primary focus for the Community
Life + Diversity Group has been to bring together the Allen-Stevenson
community and to allow us to learn from one another in the forum of Parent Chats.
The ever-changing world of technology is an area ripe for ongoing parent education. Historically, the PA sponsored a biannual talk about Internet safety with specialists from Children Online, who
Community Life + Diversity Chat on Race and Our Community
actively research the activity of children online – what they actually,
anonymously report to be doing online. Realizing that parents largely understood the broader threats posed by the Internet to the safety, identity, and reputation of their children, but were often not facile
with the most current mechanisms of social media or how to monitor
them, the PA turned to our in-house experts in the Allen-Stevenson Technology Department. Beginning with their program geared
toward Middle and Upper School parents last year, Adam Shecter,
Glenn Lieberman, Joanne Ciuccio and McCartney Wilkins walked us through some of the finer points of Facebook, texting and online
gaming. We discovered tagging, how to un-tag a picture and how
extensively that might or might not resolve a posting, and what concepts like “delete,” “private” and “forever” mean in the context of
PA meeting on the new schedule
social media. This year’s technology team presentation was geared
toward Lower School parents. In this rapidly changing arena, we are
fortunate to have a resource at Allen-Stevenson that is tuned into the trends in social media and workings of the latest products and applications. Instagram, ubiquitous today, wasn’t even on the agenda 12 months ago.
The agenda for the PA’s parent education program is set by the com-
munity and largely dependent upon the input and feedback received.
A piece of the program is tied into faculty’s professional development and another is devoted to technology. The remainder arises from oftasked questions of faculty and administrators or direct requests and
recommendations. A few of the topics that have been suggested and are being considered for next year include how to avoid athletic
injuries, street smarts and personal safety, understanding school
Community Life + Diversity Chat on the Social & Emotional Well Being of Your Son
finances, and new methods in long division (just kidding). Amanda Lister PA President
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