Mt. Diablo Unified’s Community Speaker Series to focus on vaping and tobacco use prevention

BACKGROUND:   MDUSD‘s Community Speakers Series is provided to families as an activity to support goals of the district’s Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP).  As part of the key goal for Parent/Family & Community Engagement, parents, families and community members will be informed, engaged, and empowered as partners with MDUSD to support student learning. 
 
The community is invited to join us for the second in this year’s series – “Vaping and Tobacco Use Prevention” – with Derrick Kirk, a Youth Development Specialist with the Contra Costa County Office of Education’s Tobacco Use Prevention Education (TUPE) program. The purpose of the TUPE program is to reduce youth tobacco use by helping students make healthful tobacco-related decisions through tobacco-specific educational instruction and activities that build knowledge as well as social skills and youth development assets. It provides resources including videos and other tools to help empower students and families with smart decision-making.  Kirk was honored in 2017 by the County Board of Supervisors at its People Who Make a Difference Award event, and has trained hundreds of students to serve as tobacco use prevention peer educators. 
 
Upcoming Community Speaker Series events include:
 

• Wednesday, January 22, 2020 – Social Media Effects and Challenges
• Tuesday, March 24, 2020 - Adolescent Support

 
Students, parents, and staff are welcome at all events. Translation services will be provided.  For more information, please call (925) 682-8000, ext. 4016.
 
About Mt. Diablo Unified
Mt. Diablo Unified, located in Contra Costa County, is honored to serve nearly 32,000 students at one of more than 50 school sites in the cities of Clayton, Concord, Pleasant Hill; portions of Martinez, Pittsburg and Walnut Creek; and the unincorporated communities of Bay Point, Lafayette, and Pacheco. As part of a richly diverse community, MDUSD families represent numerous ethnic communities, speaking nearly 50 different languages and dialects. We offer award-winning innovative programs in Career Technical Education (CTE); Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM); extensive visual and performing arts programs; and rich foreign language and dual immersion offerings. MDUSD is pleased to have the only International Baccalaureate (IB) program in Contra Costa County at Ygnacio Valley High School; Oak Grove Middle School is an approved candidate for the IB Middle Years Programme. MDUSD has one of only three middle college programs regionally, our College Now program, enabling high school juniors and seniors to earn college credits while also meeting high school graduation requirements. MDUSD also has implemented the AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) program across the district, K-12.  Learn more at http://www.mdusd.org/.