Arkansas Department of Education Division of Elementary and Secondary Education What They Don't Teach Teens Book Study for Educators and SROs

Memo Information

Memo Number
COM-22-128
Memo Date
3/9/2022
Memo Type
Informational
Unit
Legal Services
Regulatory Authority
Response Required
NO
Attention
Superintendents; Assistant Superintendent; Principals; School Counselors

Primary Contact Information

Memo Text

This six (6) week book study is designed to encourage collaboration between classroom educators and SROs, and to provide practical resources for working with teens.  Educators bring an understanding of instructional practices while SROs have expert knowledge of real-world experiences.  Together they can inform and empower teens to make good choices now and in the future. 

Young people coming of age today face new risks, expectations, and laws that didn't exist when their parents were young. What They Don't Teach Teens provides teens, tweens, and young adults with up-to-date, realistic strategies to protect themselves against the pitfalls of modern adolescence.

Author Jonathan Cristall, once a troubled teen himself and now a veteran prosecutor for the City of Los Angeles, works extensively with teenagers and their families to teach physical, digital, emotional, and legal safety skills. Drawing on Cristall’s hands-on experience, What They Don't Teach Teens gives parents and other caregivers techniques for talking to their children about these urgent issues.

What They Don't Teach Teens is broken into three parts and gives sound advice on 1) Police Interactions And Personal Safety (your constitutional rights, what to do/not do when stopped by the police while driving, situational awareness, street robberies, gun violence); 2) Sexual Violence And Misconduct (sexual consent, sexual harassment prevention, dating violence, sextortion); and 3) Staying Safer Online (digital footprint and citizenship, cyberbullying, underage sexting, online porn).

There is no cost for Educators and SROs employed in a school district.  Participants will receive a copy of the book What They Don’t Teach Teens by Jonathan Cristall.  There will be three (3) separate online interactive sessions for discussions with the author and to allow participants to work in groups to develop lesson/activity plans that will be available to all participants.

  • Thursday, April 14, 2022 – 4:30-5:30 PM CST
  • Thursday, April 28, 2022 – 4:30-5:30 PM CST
  • Thursday, May 12, 2022 – 4:30-5:30 PM CST

Participants are encouraged to sign up as teams that consist of at least one (1) Educator and at least one (1) SRO from a district to facilitate implementation of the content learned.  While individual Educators and SROs are allowed to register, in the event the maximum capacity for the session is reached, preference will be given to paired teams from a district.  

To register, please use the escWorks system (Session ID# 468206) or contact Suzanne Jones at Suzanne.jones@ade.arkansas.gov or 501-683-5266

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