Cherokee Schools Begins Annual Parent University Program Tuesday

CHEROKEE COUNTY, GA — The Cherokee County School District will begin a new series on Tuesday for its Parent University program, an annual initiative focused on providing parents with expert guidance to help their children be more successful in school and in their lives overall.

For this school year's series, which will be conducted through live sessions on Microsoft Teams, the district is partnering with Nathan Maynard, author of the bestselling book "Hacking School Discipline," to focus on how to build students' social-emotional competencies through restorative practices.

Through restorative practices, incidents that might otherwise only result in punishments, instead are used to help students recognize the impact of their actions, take responsibility for their actions, and take steps toward making things right. Restorative practices also heavily focus on building community, empathy, and relationships, and improving school culture. Cherokee Schools is implementing some of these practices in its schools and want to make sure that families have an opportunity to learn about them and make connections between home and school to best support the social and emotional wellness of all children.

• You can attend any of the live sessions by going to the Microsoft Teams Live links below for each event. Following each session, the video will be available for on-demand viewing on the Cherokee Schools' YouTube channel.
• During each Teams Live event, Maynard will speak on a particular topic for 45 minutes. He then will conduct a 15-minute question-and-answer session.
• The Restorative Practices Teams Live sessions are part of the district’s Parent University series, and one of the components of the district’s CCSD CARES (Cultivating Achievement Resiliency and the Empowerment of Students) initiative.

The sessions are posted below:

Introduction to Restorative Practices: 6 p.m. on Tuesday, March 16

Author Nathan Maynard will talk about his background and the basics of restorative practices. He will also preview the rest of the sessions in the series. Click here to join.

It Starts With You: 6 p.m. on Wednesday, March 24

Building strong relationships at home: Improve the connection with your child and increase their confidence. Click here to join.

Family Meetings: 6 p.m. on Wednesday, April 14

Building Community: Begin your journey on creating a positive home environment that connects everyone and builds strong relationships. Click here to join.

Shifting from Punishment to Opportunity: 6 p.m. on Tuesday, April 27

Restorative questions: Address behavior and begin the process of reflecting and repairing harm. Click here to join.

Effective Communication-Parenting Styles: 6 p.m. on Tuesday, May 4

Affective Statements and The Social Discipline Window: Learn positive approaches to address misbehavior with empathic statements that create changes in behavior. Learn ways to create an environment that leads to more cooperative, productive and happier children. Click here to join.

Mindfulness: 6 p.m. on Tuesday, May 11

Parenting Under Stressful Situations: Learn ways to manage the stress of being a parent by using simple techniques that will help you "live in the moment" without judgement. Click here to join.