2026 School Climate and Anti-Bullying Conference Schedule
Conference Day 1 – May 19, 2026
Registration & Continental Breakfast
8:30 am – 9:00 am
Opening & Welcome
9:00 am – 9:15 am
Keynote I Presentation: 9:15 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.
Mykee Fowlin, Psy.D.
“You Don’t Know Me Until You Know Me.”
Concurrent Workshop Sessions I: 10:45 am – 12:00 Noon
Workshop I
Anne Gregory, Ph.D.
Advancing Schoolwide -wide Restorative Practice
All too often well-intentioned school climate initiatives are stymied by a lack of buy-in and by resistance to shift from the status quo. Fundamental beliefs about the purpose of schooling and how to handle student misconduct can drive policy and practice. In this workshop, Dr. Gregory shares strategies and tools to foster educators’ motivation and commitment to a restorative approach to community-building and school discipline. Workshop participants will leave with concrete tools to increase buy-in as their schools undertake restorative work. Dr. Gregory will also introduce the Twelve Indicators of Restorative Practices implementation, a free guide to support comprehensive schoolwide implementation ( https://tinyurl.com/tg4gaw3). She will discuss how schools are using the guide to support planned, incremental, and strategic schoolwide initiatives.
Workshop II
David Rubin, Esq.
Keeping Schools Safe While Respecting Student Rights: The Legal Framework
Schools are entrusted with students’ safety, but honoring that obligation without violating students’ legal rights can often be a daunting challenge. This session will review the basic legal ground rules for preserving a safe school environment while respecting students’ legal rights under the First, Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments, the Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights Act, and other applicable law.
Workshop III
Paulina Dutton, LAC
QPR (Question, Persuade, Refer) Suicide Prevention
This interactive QPR Suicide Prevention training equips participants with practical, evidence-based skills to recognize warning signs of suicide and respond effectively. Attendees will learn how to ask direct questions about suicide, persuade individuals to accept help, and refer them to appropriate supports. Designed for professionals, caregivers, and community members, the session emphasizes stigma reduction, early intervention, and real-world application. Participants leave with increased confidence to act as a critical link in suicide prevention in both professional and everyday settings.
Lunch: 12:15pm – 12:45pm
Keynote II: 12:45pm – 2:05 pm
Alisha DeLorenzo
Unleashing a Culture of Aliveness through Positive Disruption
Concurrent Workshop Sessions II: 2:15 pm – 3:30 pm
Workshop I
Alma A. Godinez and Alysia Colón
Raquel Sosa, PhD
Kimberly Valle, MPA
Topic: Supporting Immigrant Students
Title TBA
Workshop II
Josh Barrett and Memorial HS Peer Mediators
The Power of the Circle: Providing Safety and Support for Students
Josh Barrett and his students will demonstrate the power of a daily discussion circle to build a strong feeling of community, while building communication skills and a sense of psychological safety. In the powerful workshop Josh and his previous students provided at this conference last year, they shared some of the discussions and activities they had experienced. This year Josh and his current students will share another set of experiences that attendees can also use in circle discussions with students.
Workshop III
Jose Luis Posos, M.Ed, LPC
Digital Harm and Disconnection: What the 2026–2027 Phone Shift Means for School Climate
Students’ digital lives now shape peer dynamics, identity development, and perceptions of safety. Research consistently links digital victimization to anxiety, depression, loneliness, reduced academic engagement, and diminished belonging. These effects extend beyond individual students and influence overall school climate.
Beginning in the 2026–2027 school year, New Jersey schools will implement statewide restrictions on student phone use. While emerging research suggests that phone bans may improve academic focus and reduce distraction, evidence shows that restrictions alone do not automatically improve mental health. In some cases, abrupt digital disconnection may heighten anxiety, particularly for students who rely on online communities for validation and support.
This session examines: the mental health impact of digital harm on belonging and climate, the relationship between perceived safety and attendance, what research says about phone bans and student wellbeing, how schools can implement phone restrictions while protecting connection and psychological safety, and practical strategies at the student, classroom, and family level. Participants will leave with a research-informed framework for navigating digital harm and policy change while strengthening school climate and student mental health.
Conference Day 2 – May 20, 2026
8:15 am – 9:00 am
Continental Breakfast/Registration
Keynote III: 9:00 am – 10:15 am
Jeff Gale, Dr. Mary Ann Bell, 3 student teams
NJ Invent2Prevent Project Showcase
Concurrent Workshop Session III: 10:25 am – 11:40 am
Workshop I
Darrell Detample & Tom McHale (NJHeart)
Creating Brave and Welcoming Classrooms: Addressing Harmful Humor and Supporting Vulnerable Students.
Educators play a vital role in shaping classrooms where students feel both safe and empowered to engage authentically. This session explores how to establish “safe and brave” spaces that encourage honest dialogue while upholding clear norms of respect and accountability. Participants will examine how disparaging humor, particularly jokes targeting identity, language, or cultural background, can normalize bias, undermine belonging, and create barriers to student engagement, even when framed as harmless.
Workshop II
Joan McNichol, Ed.D. & Julie Starega, MSW, LCSW
Meeting Families Where They Are: Partnering with Parents While Understanding the Child’s Perspective
Meeting Families Where They Are: Partnering with Parents While Understanding the Child’s Perspective
Every parent believes their child is good. In moments of conflict, especially in bullying situations, parents often experience their child as either victimized or justified in their behavior. Schools and clinicians who fail to recognize this emotional lens risk losing the opportunity for meaningful collaboration.
This interactive session will explore the importance of building authentic working partnerships with parents by understanding and validating their perspective first. Participants will examine the relational and psychological dynamics that shape how families interpret challenging behaviors and school-based conflicts.
Equally important, we will explore the child’s developmental perspective: why children and adolescents make choices that may confuse or frustrate adults and how understanding the “why” behind behavior can guide more thoughtful, restorative responses.
This workshop will provide practical, real-world strategies for bridging communication gaps between schools and families, offering tools that educators and clinicians can immediately implement to foster trust, reduce defensiveness, and promote repair-oriented solutions.
Workshop III
Meera Wells, M.D.& Elizabeth McHugh, PhD Little Minds, Safe Schools: Planting Seeds of Safety through Early Mental Health
Safe and supportive schools are built in the earliest years, long before patterns of bullying, exclusion or discipline take hold. In this interactive workshop, participants will explore how early childhood mental health challenges and stress responses show up as behavior and how a prevention and trauma-informed lens can transform adult responses in real time. Attendees will leave with practical, developmentally grounded strategies to recognize early warning signs, strengthen regulation and connection, and intentionally plant the seeds of safety and belonging in their school communities
Conference Closing/Evaluation/PD Certificates
11:45 am – 12:15 pm