Statement from Superintendent of Stamford Public Schools Dr. Tamu Lucero:
Watching news stories related to George Floyd has left us all speechless. It is unbelievable that in 2020 we must still find a way to have discussions with our children to try to explain why we continue to have acts of violence against people of color across our country.
Ordinarily, these difficult conversations would have begun organically in our school hallways with students and teachers sharing their concerns, fears and frustrations over another tragic death and senseless acts of violence. Inadvertently, this hallway chatter would have made its way into the classroom and the daily planned lessons would have been set aside, and our teachers and support staff would have used this as a spontaneous teachable moment.
During this time of Distance Teaching and Learning, we, as educators, must find a way to support families as co-teachers who are on the frontline of fielding questions from students of all ages as these events play out in the daily news stream in their “home classroom”. While our social workers, school psychologists and school counselors are always available to support any student who may be impacted by recent events, the district is also committed to providing additional support to parents to help educate their children.To that end, the Stamford Public Schools (SPS) Office of Family & Community Engagement is hosting our second Parent Pop-Up Webinar to assist families with these conversations.
In the words of the late Nelson Mandela: No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.
Let us ALL embrace our responsibilities as teachers of our children and of one another. Join the conversation and lend your voice.
SPS Parent Pop-Up Webinar
Let’s Talk: Strategies for speaking with children about race and traumatic events
In an effort to aid parents and guardians in supporting their children during this time of violence across our country. SPS will host its second Parent Pop-Up Webinar entitled, Let’s Talk: Strategies for speaking with children about race and traumatic events. The webinar is scheduled for Friday, June 5, at 5:00 p.m., and will include panelists from our own Stamford community to discuss race, monitoring media intake, and processing traumatic events around race with children. There will be breakout sessions during the webinar for both elementary (K-5) and secondary (6-12) parents and guardians.
Please click the link to join the webinar: https://zoom.us/j/97298553290
The webinar will be recorded. An English and Spanish-translated version will be posted on the district website following the event.