Marin Schools Confront Ukraine Crisis

MARIN COUNTY, CA — Marin will hold a virtual town hall tonight that aims to help parents and teachers talk to kids about the Ukraine conflict.

“Empathizing with Tragedy: How to Talk to Kids about Conflict & War,” will be held on Zoom from 6 to 7 p.m.

The meeting endeavors to provide parents and teachers guidance on how to conduct age-appropriate conversations to address anxiety and fear and how to identify trusted news and information sources, among other topics.

The meeting is presented by the Marin County Office of Education.

“The news over the past few days of the tragedy unfolding in Ukraine has been difficult to watch and may be scary to some of our students and adult, MCOE Superintendent Mary Jane Burke said in a statement.

“We know that although these events are happening on the other side of the world, they undoubtedly impact many in our community and in our schools either directly or indirectly. We also know that with access to social media many of our tweens and teens will be seeing, hearing and sharing about what is going on - and they will have questions.”

A live Spanish translation will be available for this meeting.

The meeting will be recorded.

“Some of the most important advice is to take cues from our students, limit their exposure as much as possible to breaking news and not bombard them with scary images, and to ask students about what they have heard and what they are feeling,” Burke said.

“It is also important to look for signs that students may be feeling anxious, and to take their concerns seriously. If they have questions that you can't answer, it's OK to tell them you don't know, and that you'll seek out an answer and circle back with them.”

For more information, visit here.

To join the meeting visit this Zoom link (or Dial In: +1 669 900 6833; Webinar ID: 858 6239 6279; Passcode: 847884)