The families, staff, students, and community of South Orangetown Central School District have been involved in an ongoing discussion about how to best prevent our students from engaging in risky behaviors. At the May 3, 2018 Board of Education, I outlined some of the practices that we currently use to prevent risky behaviors related to substance use and promoting positive mental health for our students. A copy of this presentation can be found at SOCSD Substance Use Prevention and Mental Health Supports.
As I have mentioned in a previous blog post, the Family Resource Center (FRC) will be a key element in forging these essential partnerships between families, the community, our children, and our schools. The mission of the FRC is to ensure the optimal development of every child (Pre-K through 12) and to empower families to be actively engaged in their child’s education by linking community, family, and students through innovative programs, advocacy, and integrated services. One thing is for certain…we are all partners in the pursuit of keeping our kids safe and ensuring that they are healthy and well-adjusted.
We anticipate that the FRC will be “up and running” by September 2018. The FRC is designed to strengthen and create new links between community, family, and school to help every child grow intellectually, physically, emotionally. We will achieve this through the expansion and continuation of:
- Early childhood development (e.g., playgroups, school readiness, and early childhood literacy)
- Parent University (to be conducted on a variety of parent interests)
- Community engagement events
- Information from (and referrals to) our community partners in order to support families.
Stay tuned for the schedule of events for the FRC categories listed above. We hope to have the location and staffing completed for the FRC prior to the opening of the 2018-19 school year.