Dr. Ron Avi Astor will be our webinar speaker on Monday, June 10, 2024, at 4 pm PT / 5 pm MT / 6 pm CT / 7 pm ET
The length of the webinar is 2 hours and it is on ZOOM!
School Climate, SEL & Social Justice in the Context of Norm Shifts: How would an emerging K-12 antisemitism agenda fit within school safety?
This lecture will overview traditional School climate as it pertains to school safety, which has been conducted in countries across the globe over the past 30 years. The lecture will weave together specific intersections within the school safety literature where an emerging K-12 antisemitism bias might fit. The findings within the school safety literature show that climate is an essential organizational and social-emotional component in creating welcoming and uplifting school settings. A positive school climate can reduce victimization and substance use in schools that have high levels of care and support. In recent years, the global pandemic, societal social injustice, mass shootings, political turmoil, migrations, and war have challenged schools to examine what school climate and safety mean in their social contexts more carefully.
Furthermore, there is a growing realization that school climate and safety and not only relational concepts but rather are deeply connected to organizational structure, and resources that include the health and mental health of the school educational staff. These global events change the nature of how we understand and see the school climate and safety. As an example, in the USA, historically high levels of funding have been given to states to support student and staff mental health through programs and positive school climate approaches. Funds have also been allocated for SROs, metal detectors, school staff weapon carrying, school police, and hardening strategies. Most of these new policies are direct reactions to the increase in mass shootings that have included schools. Uvalde was a watershed moment for this national shift in norms in the USA. Similar tensions are present in other countries currently. The lecture will explore the concepts and practices of school climate in this global political context.
Dr. Ron Avi Astor, MSW, Ph.D., holds the Marjorie Crump Chair Professorship in Social Welfare at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs with a joint appointment in the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies. His work examines the role of the physical, social-organizational, and cultural contexts in schools related to different kinds of bullying and school violence (e.g., sexual harassment, cyberbullying, discrimination hate acts, school fights, emotional abuse, weapon use, and teacher/child violence). This work documents the ecological influences of the family, community, school, and culture on different forms of bullying and school violence. This work has been used worldwide. Astor’s studies have included tens of thousands of schools and millions of students, teachers, parents, and administrators. Over the past 30 years, findings from these studies have been published in more than 200 scholarly manuscripts.
School Climate & Social Justice: How would an emerging K-12 antisemitism agenda fit within school safety?
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