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Empowerment Workshop Opens Schools' Year Of The Girl

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By RONNIE BLAIR, The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 30, 2007

LAND O' LAKES - Girls and boys both will get a shot at the limelight in the next two years as the Pasco County school district takes a look at challenges and social issues that each gender faces.

First up, for 2007-08, is the Year of the Girl.

Then 2008-09 will bring the Year of the Boy.

Sherri Dunham, supervisor of the district's Safe and Drug-Free Schools program, said the student services department came up with the concept while looking for ways to reach out to families.

A series of workshops scheduled this year will involve parents and their daughters.

'We want parents to be able to have that bond with their daughters, and next year with their sons,' Dunham said.

Boys have a slight edge over girls in enrollment in Pasco County schools. The school district has 34,449 boys and 32,218 girls.

The first Year of the Girl workshop will be at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Land O' Lakes High School. It is titled 'Step It Up and Step Out: Empowering Girls to Achieve Their Full Potential.' The free workshop is for the parents of middle and high school girls and their daughters.

The guest speaker is Kaye Randall, a licensed clinical social worker from South Carolina and co-author of the book 'Mean Girls: 101 1/2 Strategies for Working with Relational Aggression.'
Relational aggression includes such behaviors as rumors, gossip and social exclusion, and is a more subtle form of bullying that uses relationships to damage or manipulate others. It's a problem with boys and girls, but it's seen more in girls, Dunham said.

The 'mean girl' attitude is nothing new, but girls today use technology such as text messaging, instant messaging and Web sites to take it to a new level, Dunham said.

'There are a lot of ways kids find to be mean to each other,' she said.

The school district took note of the rise of cyberbullying in 2006 and revised the student code of conduct to try to address the emerging trend.

The cyberbullying policy notes that the district could discipline students even if their digital communications take place off-campus if it is determined their activities 'are intended to have an effect on a student or adversely affected the safety and well-being of a student.'

While Randall is in town, she also will speak to the school district's student services staff, which includes guidance counselors, nurses, social workers and psychologists.

A National Conference on Mean Girls and Relational Aggression also is planned in June in Orlando.

Reporter Ronnie Blair can be reached at (813) 948-4218 or rblair@tampatrib.com.

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