The Delaware Academy Central School District at Delhi held a Superintendent’s Conference Day last Monday with a presentation from keynote speaker Dr. Jennifer L. Bashant of Building Better Futures, LLC. Dr. Bashant presented on the importance of building trauma-informed compassionate education environments, along with several other sessions for staff surrounding the topic of mental health and wellness.
According to Delaware Academy CSD Superintendent Kelly Zimmerman, the focus of the conference was to support the District’s goal to support and cultivate an educational environment that prioritizes social emotional well-being of students and staff. In addition to Bashant, speakers and trainers included Kyleen Joslyn of the LEAF Council on Alcoholism and Addiction and Mark Rossley of Delhi Emergency Services.
“Jennifer Bashant is the founder of Building Better Futures, and is an educational consultant, motivational speaker, and therapist with the mission to provide educators with evidence-based strategies to reduce challenging behavior in the classroom and create a positive impact on learning,” Zimmerman stated in her opening remarks. “Throughout her session, Bashant was able to connect with our educators in a compassionate and authentic way.”
Zimmerman’s welcome address emphasized the importance of building a solid foundation of relationship with students and with one another. She also commended faculty and staff for their hard work as evidenced by high student performance on NYS Assessments and Regents exams. Zimmerman noted that student performance at Delaware Academy exceeded that of our region and state.
Following the keynote speaker presentation two major breakout sessions were provided including a K-12 Heart Saver Certification Course in First Aid, CPR, AED, and Narcan deployment, and a course on strategies to promote healthy stress management, resilience, and thriving for faculty and staff.
Zimmerman said the K-12 Heart Saver Certification was a two hour long training taught by Delhi Emergency Services that certified participants with the Basic Heart Saver Card which allows them to administer first aid, CPR, AED, and Narcan in emergency situations. She added that the Resilience and Thriving Course was an hour long training by the LEAF Council on Alcoholism and Addiction that helped participants identify stressors, develop positive personal coping mechanisms, and thrive personally and professionally.
“In addition to the two main sessions, instructional staff also had the option of taking part in self-guided work sessions where they could meet with their department, work with colleagues, or work on their own,” said Zimmerman. “We hope everyone enjoyed the day and found the sessions to be helpful as we move into another great year of education in the Delhi community.”
“Thank you to all of the great community partners who helped make the conference day possible.”
Those who are interested in learning more about Delaware Academy CSD may visit its facebook page at facebook.com/DACSD or its website at https://www.delhischools.org/ for additional information.