In this eSeminar, Debra Wilson, General Counsel for the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), discusses the many practices that schools will want to consider implementing to prevent abuse of students. Drawing on the NAIS/TABS task force report, as well as referencing other school's experiences, Ms. Wilson also prepares schools for potential reports made by current or former students.

In this NYSAIS-Now interview at the NYSAIS Education & Information Technology conference in January of 2018, Kimberly Bryant discusses the success of her non-profit, Black Girls CODE, and how she grew it from an afterschool program for her daughter into an international organization that has served over 3,000 students. Ms. Bryant also offers advice to schools on child wellness, connecting with students across demographics to get them interested and keep them coming back to programs they would not normally seek out, as well as how partnerships have helped Black Girls CODE throughout their history.

In this talk at the 2015 NYSAIS Head Conference, Oberlin College Professor David Orr explores the growing gap between the hopes, dreams, and expectations of young people and the declining vital signs of the Earth, the most important of which is rapid climate change. Orr argues that between optimism and despair there is a third possibility: Hope and hope is a verb with its sleeves rolled up. But how do we engender hope and ecological competence? This talk focuses on the work of the Oberlin Project.

In this NYSAIS-Now interview with George Swain, Derreck Kayongo discusses The Global Soap Project, which he created and now manages. Derreck also describes several essential steps that independent schools and other non-profit organizations should take to build enthusiasm around their missions and market their programs.

In this talk at the NYSAIS Assistant and Division Heads Conference at the Mohonk Mountain House, danah boyd examines the ways in which our personal and professional lives are shaped by experiences interacting with and around emerging media. boyd describes the process of diversification and mainstreaming that has transformed participatory culture. She advocates a move beyond individualized personal expression and argues for the benefit of “doing it together”.

In this talk from the NYSAIS Advancement and Placement Directors Conference at the Mohonk Mountain House, Andrew Solomon, a writer of remarkable talent and intellect, discusses his latest work, Far From the Tree: Parents, Children & the Search for Identity. This riveting talk is an examination of the means by which families accommodate children with physical, mental and social disabilities and how these unusual situations can be invested with love.

In this NYSAIS-Now interview with George Swain at the 2017 Tri-State Annual Conference for Heads of School, Charles Vogl describes the inspiration behind his recent book, The Art of Community. Drawing from thousands of years of religious studies and his own work training leaders, Vogl discusses how to build communities, become a role model for children, and effectively create change.

In this talk at the Tri-State Conference for Heads of School at the Mohonk Mountain House, Timothy Snyder discusses his new book, "On Tyranny." “The Founding Fathers tried to protect us from the threat they knew, the tyranny that overcame ancient democracy. Today, our political order faces new threats, not unlike the totalitarianism of the twentieth century. We are no wiser than the Europeans who saw democracy yield to fascism, Nazism, or communism. Our one advantage is that we might learn from their experience.”

In her talk at the 2016 Annual Conference for Heads of School, Dr. Ali Michael, University of Pennsylvania researcher and the Director of the Race Institute for K-12 Educators, discusses white racial socialization and how white families teach (or do not) their children how to talk about race. Drawing from both her own life experiences and those of numerous research subjects, Dr. Ali Michael presents her research team's recommendations for helping white children to grow up with anti-racist, positive racial identities.

In this NYSAIS-Now interview with Dr. Judith Sheridan at the 2017 NYSAIS Athletic Directors Conference, Schuyler Bailar describes his own journey of self-discovery in becoming the first transgender man to compete in any sport on an NCAA Division I men's team. Mr. Bailar also discusses strategies that he believes schools and families can take to support their students, whether they know them to be transgender or not.