FEA members know how important safe, nurturing environments are in cultivating student success. During the month of October  our members are focusing on what they can do to build a positive school climate for all students. We can all call attention to the issue and solutions to bullying by participating in National Bullying Prevention Month. Today we kick-off Safe Schools Week, and October 15-21 is the Dignity in School Campaign’s eighth National Week of Action Against School Pushout.

Click here for more information about stopping bullying in its tracks!

We believe that all students deserve to have the support and tools to learn and learning environments that encourage and nurture them. By rescinding the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, President Trump has narrowed those opportunities for the 800,000 young people who are DACA program recipients - many of which live in Florida. Click here to learn about how you can help protect dreamers.

Below are several links that we've compiled to help our members know how to talk to their students.

How to talk to your students about the Las Vegas mass shooting

http://neatoday.org/2017/10/02/mass-shooting-las-vegas-talk-students/

NEA's site on school safety http://www.nea.org/safeschools

Helping children cope with a traumatic event

• AFT: Trauma
  Understanding the role of trauma in children’s brain development is essential to establishing effective behavioral interventions in schools.
  
• NEA Healthy Futures School Crisis Guide
  Knowing what to do in a crisis can be the difference between stability and upheaval. This step-by-step resource created by educators for educators can make it easier for union leaders, school district administrators, and principals to keep schools safe — before, during and after a crisis. 
• National Child Traumatic Stress Network                  
  NCTSN has several PDFs and other resources for helping parents and children deal with catastrophic mass violence events, including parent tips for helping school-age children after disasters, which lists children’s reactions with examples of how parents should respond and what they should say.
• Talking to Children About Tragedies and Other News Events 
  The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) encourages parents, teachers, child care providers and others who work closely with children to filter information about the crisis and present it in a way that their child can accommodate, adjust to, and cope with.
• How to Help Kids Feel Safe After Tragedy
  It's normal for both adults and kids to feel anxious after such a publicly devastating event, but there are things you can do to minimize the stress and maintain a sense of normalcy.
• Incidents of Mass Violence
  Learn about who is most at risk for emotional distress from incidents of mass violence and where to find disaster-related resources. 

Sadly, we know that many of our students have or will face traumas and violence in their lives. We know this is heartbreaking to us all just as we know our members will do everything in their power to help their students grapple with the after effects of these events.