Hot Topics Discussion at John Burroughs Middle School Family Safety Night

April 26th 2010 -

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Ande Richards

Mobile: 323-244-8662

CYBER BULLYING, SEXTING, ONLINE SAFETY, INHALANT USE, INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS

Hot Topics Discussion at John Burroughs Middle School Family Safety Night

Los Angeles, CA: Thursday, April 29, 5:00p.m. – 6:30pm. In light of recent troubling news stories concerning our youth, John Burroughs Middle School Principal, Steve Martinez, is taking a proactive stance by hosting Family Safety Night – an event created to elevate awareness and offer assistance to parents and their children about today’s pressing issues including Cyber bullying, Sexting, Online Safety, Inhalant use and Interpersonal Violence. Family Safety Night presenters include Anne Monk, Advisor-Safe & Drug Free Schools at Los Angeles Unified School District, Abby Simms, Peace Over Violence and Allison Vanore and Jillian Gilbert, New City Parents.

Principal Martinez comments; “I am keenly aware of the many issues that challenge our children, especially during the critical middle school years. Family Safety Night was created to give parents an opportunity to get information from community organizations that specialize in areas of concern.”

One major area of concern to parents is Online Safety. It is easy to prey on children online, many times they are not aware of how to set their privacy settings, making them an easy target for manipulative predators.

“As a parent of two I am acutely aware of the complex issues facing our children. We teach our children how to cross the street and drive a car, but yet we allow them to interact with potentially millions of people online without our guidance.” Notes event sponsor Councilman Tom La Bonge.

The New City Parents team will tackle the subjects of Online Safety, Cyber-bullying and Sexting at John Burroughs Family Safety Night. “We are very excited to be a part of Family Safety Night. Kids need to know how to protect themselves from online predators and how to negotiate the challenges of being on social media sites. Furthermore, parents should understand the popularity and impact of social media sites and be on the sites with their children in control of logins, passwords and privacy settings.” States New City Parents co-founder Jillian Gilbert.

“As evidenced in daily news stories, we are reminded of how social media sites directly affect children, Cyber bullying and Sexting are all too commonplace and for fragile tweens these behaviors can result in deep depression, anxiety and even suicide as in the case of Phoebe Prince.” Adds New City Parents co-founder Allison Vanore.

Family safety night is being held this Thursday, from 5:00pm – 6:30pm. A Tommy’s Burgers truck will provide free burgers to all in attendance. This event is open to John Burroughs Middle School families. If you are not a parent or student, but would like to attend Family Safety Night please contact John Burroughs Middle School prior to the event at 323-549-5000.

New City Parents recognizes the ever-growing community of young social media users as well as the somewhat staggering gap in knowledge between them and their parents, hence the creation of their seminar A Parent’s Guide to Social Media. Seminars are offered throughout the Greater Los Angeles area and can be presented in Spanish, Korean and Armenian. Co-founders Allison Vanore and Jillian Gilbert are also available for commentary on breaking news stories regarding Online Safety, Cyber bullying and Sexting.

For additional information, contact community liaison Ande Richards ande@theplymouthagency.com and visit http://newcityentertainment.com/parents/.

Tags: Abby Simms, Allison Vanore, Ande Richards, Anne Monk, Burroughs Middle School, Councilman Tom la Bonge, cyber-bullying, Family Safety Night, inhalant use, interpersonal relationships, Jillian Gilbert, John Burroughs Middle School Family Safety Night, LAUSD, logins, New City Parents, Online safety, passwords, Peace Over Violence, Phoebe Prince, Principal Steve Martinez, privacy settings, Safe and Drug Free Schools, sexting, teen anxiety, teen depression, teen suicide, The Plymouth Agency, Tommy's burgers