Dr. Fino Celano, Garden City's Assistant Superintendent of Personnel with social worker Michele Vincent On January 13th, Dr. Fino Celano, Garden City's Assistant Superintendent of Personnel and social worker Michele Vincent were included as panel members for the Nassau-Suffolk Director of Guidance Annual Conference at Farmingdale State College to share the work of the district's Cyber-bullying Prevention Committee and other anti-bullying efforts implemented throughout Garden City's public schools. The presentation and panel helped to give both Nassau and Suffolk County guidance directors ideas about how Long Island school districts can implement The Dignity Act by July 12, 2012.

The legislative intent of the The Dignity Act is to be proactive and prevent bullying, harassment and discrimination, create a school environment free of discrimination and harassment, foster a culture of civility in public schools, prevent conduct inconsistent with a school's mission and a student's constitutional rights.

In attendance was Garden City's Director of Guidance, Gina Christel, who commented, "I was exceptionally proud of the two Garden City Public Schools panel representatives, Dr. Fino Celano and Ms. Michele Vincent, who were able to show how the district has implemented the Dignity Act into the curriculum, and utilized our Cyber-bullying Prevention Committee as a vehicle to assist many stakeholders in learning about the legislation. The district's committee, co-chaired by Dr. Celano and Director of Technology, Dr. Rita Melikian, was instrumental in identifying best practices, as well as ways in which the district could increase education and communication about the Dignity Act. Ms. Vincent was able to demonstrate the multitude of activities in which our high school, middle school and elementary schools are working to educate students, parents, faculty and staff."

Under the leadership of the Cyber-bullying Committee, Garden City Public Schools has engaged its staff and students in a variety of activities including establishing literaturebased character education themes to raise awareness about bullying at the primary and elementary levels, hosting guest speakers during the school day for middle and high school students and after school for parents and community members, supporting clubsponsored activities such as inschool anti-bullying awareness fairs and a district-wide Unity Day, and establishing bullying prevention contact point persons in each school building.

The school district would like to thank Dr. Celano, Michele Vincent, and Gina Christel for participating in this important event and sharing Garden City's anti-bullying activities with educators from across Long Island.

For more information on the Dignity Act, visit the New York State Department of Education website: http://www.p12.nysed.gov/dignityact.