In an effort to engage parents with community resources meant to protect young people, Killeen ISD on Wednesday hosted a forum to address some of the most frightening aspects of today’s culture and strategies to combat them.
The KISD School Health Advisory Council Safe Spaces and Places forum at the Jackson Professional Learning Center featured workshops addressing youth violence, conflict resolution, substance abuse and human trafficking.
KISD Community Relations Director Angenet Wilkerson said the SHAC wanted forum participants to walk away with answers to their questions.
Following the workshops, parents and other attendees heard from Joseph Scaramucci, a former McLennan County deputy and recognized human trafficking expert and KISD Police Chief Erik Hydorn.
Three SHAC forums during the school year address safety, mental health and available youth resources.
“The whole idea is to bring parents together with community resources. We intentionally pick the topics. When schools are safe, students are safe and they are learning,” said Wilkerson.
“(Parents) are here to learn and to connect and will be able to guide their children. We want them to leave with strategies and solutions,” she said.
“The feedback is ‘This is good. I had no idea,’” she said, noting that when parents ask questions that leads to forums and more knowledge.
Les Williams, one of the chairs of the SHAC who is also a parent and pastor of a local church praised the effort to bring families together to learn strategies to keep children and youth safe.
He said the common theme in the workshops was the importance for parents to communicate with their children and to be aware of their friends and their online and social media activity.
“The SHAC is all things health,” he said. “So, we try to educate people who are around kids to make the community better and make sure their kids are making better decisions.”
“The three (workshops) I’ve heard so far have said it starts with an ongoing conversation with your kids,” he said, noting that monitoring gaming and devices are critical.
“It seems like a lot of what kids are dealing with it all starts with parent conversations and then what are the outside influences coming in that you need to be monitoring.”
Community resources about bullying, mentoring, wellness and other topics are available at https://www.killeenisd.org/o/kisd/page/shac-school-health-advisory-council
Photos from the forum are posted at www.killeenisd.org/photos