Parent Education

Because there’s always more to learn!

Events and speakers are sponsored by the Parent Association, School Leadership Team, and WESS Administration.

To suggest speakers or topics for Parent Education events, please contact papresidents@westendsecondary.com.

Health & Technology Series

Fostering Healthy Relationships With and Through Technology
March and April 2021

Technology is a permanent fixture in our kids’ lives. So we organized a series of 3 virtual events to help parents and students think about, and give them the language to talk about, how to have healthy relationships with technology and how to have healthy relationships with others (friends, intimate partners, parents, teachers, members of their community, and even strangers) in virtual spaces and via digital communication channels.  

Part I - Creating a Healthy Relationship with Media in Your Home

Michelle Ciulla Lipkin is an adjunct lecturer at Brooklyn College and Executive Director of the National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE). Ciulla Lipkin has helped NAMLE grow to be the preeminent media literacy education association in the U.S. She launched the first ever Media Literacy Week in the U.S. now in its 6th year, developed strategic partnerships with companies such as Trend Micro, Nickelodeon, and Twitter, and restructured both the governance and membership of the organization. Since she began her tenure as Executive Director, NAMLE has grown from 300 members to over 6,500. She has overseen four national conferences and done countless appearances at conferences and in the media regarding the importance of media literacy education. Ciulla Lipkin has advocated for greater media literacy education through CNN, PBS NewsHour, NPR, The New York Times, and Al Jazeera English.

LISTEN TO HIM SPEAK:
Ted Talk: https://youtu.be/dQDHEejnn5U
NPR Interview: https://www.npr.org/transcripts/680882610

Part II - The Digital Sandbox: Parenting the New Playground

Can playing video games with your child help?

A Q&A session with author Jordan Shapiro

All parents are worried about screen usage during the pandemic. Jordan advocates moving away from limits and restrictions and instead pushes parents to focus on guidance and mentoring.

Jordan Shapiro, PhD, is an author, educator, and researcher. He's a Senior Fellow for the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop, and Nonresident Fellow in the Center for Universal Education at the Brookings Institution. He teaches in Temple University's Intellectual Heritage Program, and he wrote "The New Childhood: Raising Kids to Thrive in a Connected World." His upcoming book, "Father-Figure: How to be a Feminist Dad," offers a norm-shattering perspective on fatherhood, family, and gender essentialism.

Part III - Technology & Teen Dating
Identifying & Avoiding Unhealthy Relationships

Aaron Kay from Day One and Ebele Onyema from One Love Foundation spoke to the WESS community about identifying and avoiding unhealthy and abusive relationships and supporting young people in building healthy relationships. We invited parents, caregivers, families, and students to join what was an interactive and empowering discussion.

Aaron Kay is an ERAPP Educator at Day One. He works with eight middle schools in Manhattan to deliver Day One’s educational and interactive workshops that provide students with foundational skills and tools to build healthy and safe relationships. Workshops are tailored to the specific needs of each school or classroom community that engage a variety of learning styles. He facilitates preventive and informative workshops to end intimate partner violence for middle school students, caregivers, parents, and school staff; as well as link young people and families already experiencing intimate partner violence to direct assistance.

Ebele Onyema is the Director of the New York Tri-State Region at One Love. Her work is focused on building and executing strategies to expand our programmatic footprint, and managing the community education and activation efforts that are the heart and soul of our work. A dynamic and strategic leader, Ebele served as Vice President of Global Strategic Planning at an award-winning public relations firm, leveraging data-driven insights to guide the strategic vision and goals of some of the world's top brands. In addition to her corporate background, Ebele brings to One Love over a decade of nonprofit leadership experience – designing programs, leading teams, and growing local and global partnerships for a variety of high-impact, social justice-focused organizations. Ebele earned her bachelor’s degree in Political Economics from Georgetown University, and her Master of Social Work from the University of Chicago.

The Psychology of Motivation: Understanding and Inspiring Your Child to Learn
with Michael Middleton and Gina Riley

Wednesday, March 3, 2021

Do you struggle at home or in the classroom with an adolescent who has endless potential, but lacks the motivation to do work? As a result of our current public health crisis, remote and hybrid learning are the primary way our students are being educated making it more important, and challenging, than ever to motivate your children and provide support. Dean Middleton and Dr. Riley guided us through understanding the psychological principles of motivation - outlining underlying contributors and providing tools and ideas to create and sustain motivation in our children.

Michael Middleton is the Klara and Larry Silverstein Dean of the School of Education at Hunter College. He began his career as a high school mathematics teacher in Massachusetts working with at-risk youth. He has served in academic and administrative roles at Harvard University, the University of New Hampshire and UMass Boston. The topic of his research and writing is the relation of classroom and cultural contexts on adolescent achievement motivation and well-being. His work includes his book Motivation to Learn: Transforming Classroom Culture to Support Student Achievement.

Gina Riley, Ph.D. is an educational psychologist, Clinical Professor, and Program Leader of the Adolescent Special Education Program at CUNY – Hunter College. She is the author of the new book Unschooling: Exploring Learning Beyond the Classroom, which is focused on principles of intrinsic motivation and community-based learning.

NAMI - Ending the Silence
Presentation by Almarie Tulloch,
Family Programs Coordinator, NAMI NYC

Tuesday, December 1, 2020

NAMI Ending the Silence for families is a one hour presentation for parents and other primary caregivers of middle and high school students that helps raise awareness around mental health conditions. It was designed to educate families about the early warning signs of mental illness, facts and statistics, how to approach your child, how to work with school staff, and how early recognition and prevention are key to positive outcomes. Additionally, the presentation includes personal testimony from a young adult living with a mental illness and his/her journey to recovery.

NAMI METRO-NYC helps families and individuals affected by mental illness build better lives through education, support, and advocacy. It was founded by a small group of parents who came together for support, for guidance, and for resources. Sharing lived experiences remains the guiding principle of the organization, and the core pillar of their programs. Learn more at National Alliance on Mental Illness of NYC | NAMI-NYC Metro.

"It’s amazing what just one day, one talk can do. You never really know what's going on in the brain of any particular student." – Teacher

Click here to read about NAMI in The New York Times.

Reframing Conversations: Raising Sexually Healthy Teens with Dr. Logan Levkoff, Ph.D

Wednesday, May 13, 2020

As a sexuality educator for over twenty years, our speaker Dr. Logan Levkoff has designed and implemented sexuality education programs for students, faculty, and parents in many independent, public, religious, and secular schools, as well as worked with organizations globally.

Our conversation topics included:

  • What typical adolescent sexual development looks like

  • How to understand the changing landscape and language of gender

  • How to answer questions about sex, sexuality, and consent in a factual, sex positive, and empowering way

  • A new model for understanding sexual health

  • Navigating the sexual health challenges that come with technology

Screenagers: Next Chapter – Uncovering Skills for Stress Resilience
(1-hour film followed by 1-hour group discussion)

Monday, December 9, 2019

Screenagers: Next Chapter is a film that examines the science behind teen’s emotional challenges, the interplay of social media, and most importantly, what can be done to help children build crucial skills to navigate stress, anxiety, and depression in our digital age. Click here to see the trailer.

For those who saw the first Screenagers movie, this film steps away from the broader issues of screen use and moves on to deeper issues being experienced by our teenagers managing stress and anxiety. It gives parents strategies to recognize the signs and effectively talk to their children.

The screening was followed by a group discussion around managing stress and anxiety.

Financial Literacy Workshop for Parents and Students

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

The workshop was conducted by representatives from W!SE, Working in Support of Education, a leading educational nonprofit that promotes financial literacy. Their award winning and nationally recognized programs for youth and adults improve financial knowledge and financial behavior by encouraging people to budget, bank, save and set financial goals—key barometers of financial well-being.

Further information:

Executive Function Skills: Raising Confident and Competent Kids

Tuesday, February 26, 2019


Michael Delman, author of Your Kid’s Gonna Be Okay: Building the Executive Function skills your child needs in the Age of Attention, gave a presentation titled, “How to build executive function skills: your guide to raising confident and competent kids.” In preparation for the event, the WESS PA hosted three book club meetings for parents and provided copies of Delman’s book.

Sex, Drugs, & Rock ‘n Roll

Thursday, November 1, 2018


The event focused on two hot-topics that surround raising teenagers – sexual activity and substance abuse during adolescence. We talked about the prevalence and impact of youth substance use, adolescent sexual development and activity, and resources available to students and their families. Parents were able to discuss their concerns and ask questions of experts in the field.

Further information:

Teens & Technology

Wednesday, May 30, 2018

Johanna Burgos, Training Supervisor at NYC non-profit Day One, and Aristo Orignos, WESS Teacher and Crew Advisor, facilitated a discussion to educate parents about dating abuse and the significant role technology plays in both healthy and unhealthy relationship behaviors among young people, as well as to provide guidance on how parents and the WESS community can support students in navigating their friendships and dating relationships.

Further Information: http://www.dayoneny.org

Parenting Adolescents

Tuesday, February 6, 2018


Experts Dr. Dana Dorfman and Dr. Linda Olszweki joined the WESS community to talk about adolescent development and the work they do to support teens and parents through middle school and high school.

Further information:

Angst

Wednesday, October 18, 2017


“Angst” is a documentary that looks at anxiety, its cause and effects, and what we can do about it.  Angst features interviews with kids and young adults who suffer or have suffered from anxiety, experts charged with helping people manage their anxiety, and those researching its causes and sociological effects.

Further information: