The Arkansas Department of Education is co-sponsoring a conference with the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights; U.S. Department of Justice, Community Relations Services and the Intercultural Development Research Association, South Central Collaborative for Equity. The conference, Unlawful Harassment of Students in Education Programs and Activities, will be held September 11-12, 2006, at the Peabody Hotel.
The purpose of the conference is to share information on harassment and its effect on the learning environment. Harassment, whether based on race, color, national origin, disability or sex, is a recurring issue that has the potential for excluding students from participating in or benefiting from the programs and activities operated by school districts, contributing to children being left behind. Administrators and other professionals will learn about what constitutes harassment, the different regulatory authorities that prohibit harassment, developing preventative harassment programs and responding effectively to incidents of harassment whenever it occurs.
The objectives of the work shop are as follows:
1. To ground participants in the relevant law.
2. To provide opportunities for participants to apply relevant law to real-life case study examples.
3. To provide opportunities for participants to develop skills and the capacity to resolve similar problems in the local school settings.
4. To provide participants with a set of resources and materials for preventing and addressing harassment in the local school settings.
Educators attending this two-day conference will receive 12.0 hours of Professional Development Training credits.
A block of rooms at The Peabody has been reserved at a conference rate of $71.00 per night on September 10 and September 11, 2006. The registration fee is $85.00 and includes all conference materials, a continental breakfast, a luncheon, and other activities. The attachment includes the registration form and methods for registering for the conference.
Further information is available from Frankie Furr, Team Leader, OCR, at (214) 661-9614, Jann Laws Jackson, Executive Assistant, OCR, at (214) 661-9633 or Carol Chavez, IDRA, at (210) 444-1714.