We are currently holding our PFLAG Support Group meetings virtually. Our meetings are supported by an easy-to-use online meeting tool called Zoom. CLICK HERE to get set-up with Zoom.
Join us for our regular monthly meeting welcoming the entire spectrum of the LGBTQ+ community, friends, families, and allies for support and education. Our regular support group will follow the education portion.
Please RSVP to info@pflagmanhattanbeach.org
EDUCATION PORTION:
Policies for Safe and Supportive Schools for LGBTQ+ Students
with Chris Records (he/him/his) from Equality California
This meeting's focus:
For over 20 years, Equality California has worked to transform school systems in California to be safer and more supportive of LGBTQ+ and all students through state policy change. Mindful of the long-standing inequities in treatment of LGBTQ+ students and the violence, discrimination, and poor mental health and life outcomes that result from them, Equality California’s Safe and Supportive Schools program ensures that critical protections and best practices that improve students’ lives are being implemented at the district level. By surveying unified school districts using an instrument developed by educational leaders and approved by the California Department of Education, we gather critical information on policy implementation and help superintendents chart a course toward improvement. In this presentation, we will review the Safe and Supportive Schools survey and the laws and best practices that comprise it and discuss how districts can use the survey to create positive, systemic change.
About our presenter:
Chris Records (he/him) is a program manager at Equality California overseeing Equality California's education programs. Prior to joining Equality California, Chris worked in non-profit consulting, community organizing, and development, serving organizations and initiatives focused on education, genocide awareness and prevention, refugee issues, and LGBTQ+ mental health. He also taught high school special education in Los Angeles Unified School District for four years. Chris holds Master’s degrees in Public Policy and Urban Planning from USC, an MA in Special Education from Loyola Marymount, and a BA in History from UC Riverside.
A NOTE ABOUT VIRTUAL MEETINGS:
We will be utilizing Zoom features that provide the highest level of safety and confidentiality possible. Zoom is free to you and you need not have an account to join us. If you are new to Zoom, you can follow the links [here] for brief tutorials on all you need to know to sign on to a Zoom meeting with us. We ask that each of you that would like to participate in the on-line support, contact us in advance by email at info@pflagmanhattanbeach.org to RSVP for the meeting. We will cut off RSVPs at 5 p.m. on the day of the meeting. All participants will receive a follow-up email with the link to the Zoom call and a password. For confidentiality’s sake, please do not forward these to another participant — they are welcome to contact us directly to receive the link.
We recognize that youth may be interested in the educational part of this meeting and they are welcome to join us. As usual, we ask that youth who may want to stick around for our support groups be joined by a parent. Some heavy emotions can emerge in the course of our sessions and having a parent on-hand helps to ensure that the needs of any youth on the call are met.
There are some benefits to utilizing new tools like Zoom. We recognize that our typical evening support group meetings are not feasible for everyone due to work, family or other demands. If there is a need, we would like to offer an additional support group Zoom conference call sometime during the daytime hours. If you are interested in a daytime support group, email us at info@pflagmanhattanbeach.org and let us know what times might be more workable for you.
If you need more personalized assistance and support, we remain here for you. Email us confidentially and we will work with you to identify the best member of our team to assist with your individual needs.