LUPINACCI APPLAUDS LOCAL SCHOOLS FOR WORK TO CREATE INCLUSIVE CLIMATE

Assemblyman Chad Lupinacci (R,C,WF,I-Huntington Station) is applauding today’s announcement by the Lions Club and local schools on the implementation of Lions Quest, a project to help grow life skills and foster an inclusive school environment as part of the Dignity for All Students Act. Locally, South Huntington and Huntington School Districts will begin using the Lions Quest programs to improve focus on social and emotional skill building, bullying, substance abuse and dropout prevention, and service learning.

“I want to applaud the effort by our schools and the Lions Club to help ensure students go to school each day in an environment free of harassment and discrimination,” said Lupinacci. “Unfortunately, we hear too often of the negative consequence that can come from students being bullied or persecuted because other students may feel they don’t meet some type of social norm. Programs like Lion Quest will help develop the next generation of young people to be not only more tolerant and accepting, but will hopefully breed a culture where students can feel comfortable expressing themselves.”

The Lion Quest program is designed to create a positive school climate for students and teachers, as well as unite the home, school and community. Highly effective social and emotional learning programs for students, including Lions Quest, have been proven to decrease problem behaviors while increasing academic achievement, pro-social behaviors, and connectedness to family and school.

“School can be an incredibly stressful environment for a young person regardless of their background. With programs like this, I believe we can foster an environment where students come to school both comfortable with who they are and excited to learn,” concluded Lupinacci.

The implementation of Lions Quest will help schools in Huntington and South Huntington School Districts, along with others in Nassau and Suffolk counties meet the requirements of the Dignity for All Students Act. This legislation, passed in 2010 requires all New York schools to provide learning environments free of discrimination, bullying, and harassment. A key component of the law is providing Kindergarten through twelfth grade instruction in civility, citizenship, and character education.

For more information on the Long Island Lions Quest Initiative, please contact Lions Quest directly at 1-800-446-2700, or Joan Fretz, co-founder of the LI Social Emotional Literacy Forum at 631-553-2620 or jrfretz@optonline.net.