Parent University is a morning of workshops for caregivers and community members focused on education, parenting, community engagement, and related topics.
Parent U is free, registration is required. Melrose Parent University is brought to you by the Melrose Education Foundation in cooperation with the Melrose Public Schools. Special thanks to the Melrose Cooperative Bank Foundation for a grant supporting this free event.
Fall 2025 Parent U is Saturday morning, November 22, at Melrose High School!
Saturday, November 22, 2025 | 8:00 am - 12:00 pm | Melrose High School
Schedule
8:00 - 8:30 Registration, coffee, community tables
8:30 - 8:55 Welcome by MEF; address from Interim Superintendent Cari Berman
9:00 - 9:50 Workshop Session 1
10:00 - 10:50 Full Group Session: The Override Vote is Over; Now What?
11:00 - 11:50 Workshop Session 2
Workshop Options - see below for full descriptions!
College Admissions Planning
Digital Diet, Exercise, and Modeling: How to prepare your kids for their digital lives, at home and as a community
Financial Literacy and Kids - How to Teach Your Kids Key Basics
Fostering Age Appropriate Independence by Empowering Children’s Capabilities
A Framework for HOPE - Building Resilience and a Brighter Future with Positive Childhood Experiences
Healthy Friendships: Helping Young People Build Them, Sustain Them, and Act as an Upstander
Is My Kid Ready for the Next Step? Skills for Managing the Transition to Young Adulthood
Managing Kids, Families, and Technology in the 21st Century
Overcoming School Avoidance
Parenting and Supporting LGBTQ+ Youth in Uncertain Times
Restorative Practices: Using Restorative and Relational Practices with Your Family
Saving and Paying for College
Transform Difficult Behaviors & Nurture Success and Greatness in Each Child
Turning 18: Legal Protections and Connections for Your New Adult!
Understanding and Supporting Anxiety
Understanding Your Child’s Learning Supports: A Caregivers Guide to Testing, IEPs, and 504s
A World of Difference
2025 Parent U: Workshop Descriptions
Full Group Session: The Override Vote is Over; Now What?
Target Audience: All; Presenters: Cari Berman, Interim Superintendent & Ken Kelley, Interim Deputy Superintendent, , Melrose Public Schools
A lot of decisions will need to be made about allocating resources for MPS in 2026-2027 and beyond. Learn about some of the considerations and priorities, and share some of your thoughts about what happens next.
College Admissions Planning
Target Audience: Grades 9 - 12; Presenter: Meghan Jenkins, Jenkins College Coaching
College planning does not need to be stressful! This workshop will help parents and caregivers of high school students understand the key stages and timeline of the college admissions process, including academic preparation, college research, application components, and testing. Parents will leave with practical tips to support their children throughout this important time.
Digital Diet, Exercise, and Modeling: How to prepare your kids for their digital lives, at home and as a community
Target Audience: Grades K - 5; Presenter: Niels Rosenquist, MD, PhD, Mass General Hospital and Harvard Medical School
Dr. Rosenquist is a psychiatrist and economist whose work focuses on the impact of digital influences on mental health and social connectivity, and has been featured in the New York Times, The New England Journal of Medicine, and other outlets. He co-founded JANYS analytics, which developed the first global sentiment tracker using twitter data, the IHS-WSJ Social Sentiment Index.
Parents of young children are faced with many challenges. One of the biggest relates to their kids' exposure to, and eventual adoption of, digital technologies. This session will focus on how to best prepare your children for their eventual use of digital devices and technologies in a way that promotes “healthy” consumption of digital information. Drawing on scientific research and best practice models, the session will combine presentation with individual/group exercises with the goal of having parents develop concrete goals for their homes and their communities.
Financial Literacy and Kids - How to Teach Your Kids Key Basics
Target Audience: Grades 4 and up; Presenter: David Martin, Pathways Financial Health
Many parents (and experts!) agree – students need to learn how to avoid making financial mistakes, however few feel truly equipped to teach critical financial concepts, even if they feel like they understand them themselves. Please join us for a session that will help provide you with tools and tips to teach your children about employment and income, budgeting and credit and debt.
Fostering Age-Appropriate Independence by Empowering Children’s Capabilities
Target Audience: Grades K - 5; Presenters: Dr. Carolyn Cassill & Dr. Aikisha Harley from Newton Neuropsychology Group
Parents want their children to become more independent in a safe and healthy way, but are often uncertain how to do this. This workshop focuses on encouraging the development of executive functioning and adaptive skills across key transition points (such as Kindergarten, 3rd grade, middle school, etc.) by creating environments that invite children to contribute meaningfully and take on responsibility. It highlights the importance of recognizing children’s competence, providing opportunities for them to help and problem-solve, and supporting growth through natural consequences to strengthen confidence, autonomy, and readiness for adult life.
A Framework for HOPE - building resilience and a brighter future with positive childhood experiences
Target Audience: All; Presenter: Becca Lewis, Stoneham Health Department
Do you worry about your child’s future physical and mental health? Their sense of belonging and relationships? Research shows that positive childhood experiences (PCEs) drive healthy development, allow children to form meaningful connections, cultivate positive self-image and self-worth, and build skills to cope with stress in healthy ways. This workshop will explore four building blocks of HOPE - relationships, environment, engagement, and emotional growth, and will provide caregivers with tips to help bring the power of the positive into the lives of their children and their families.
Healthy Friendships: Helping Young People Build Them, Sustain Them, and Act as an Upstander
Target Audience: Grades K - 5; Presenter: Meredith Shaw, Executive Director and Ali Calnan, Prevention Specialist & Survivor Advocate at the Melrose Alliance Against Violence (MAAV)
This workshop is aimed at supporting parents of elementary and early middle school students as their children navigate friendships. We will cover how to support your children in building healthy friendships and navigating challenging situations such as bullying. We want you to walk away feeling like you have the skills to support conversations with your children about healthy and unhealthy friendships and support them in acting as an upstander
Is My Kid Ready for the Next Step? - Skills for Managing the Transition to Young Adulthood
Target Audience: Grades 8 and up; Presenter: Stephanie Turner, Launchpoint Talent
Does your student have the academic, practical, and interpersonal skills they’ll need to thrive after high school? In this session, we’ll talk about how to scaffold independence, build resilience, and prepare your teen to show up with confidence and capability, whether they’re headed to college, a gap year, or the workforce.
Managing Kids, Families, and Technology in the 21st Century
Target Audience: Grades 4 and up; Presenter: Katie Greer, KL Greer Consulting
Katie’s internet safety career began as the Director of Internet Safety in the MA Attorney General’s Office, and her expertise has led to features in USA Today, Parents Magazine, TIME Magazine, CNN, Inside Edition and more.
In today’s technology-driven world, it can be overwhelming for parents and caretakers to stay on top of the latest trends to help ensure kids have a safe and productive online experience. This program will cover the latest tech trends impacting kids, including screen time, social media, AI, and gaming, and will provide caretakers with tools to utilize to help them keep their families using technology in thoughtful ways.
Overcoming School Avoidance
Target Audience: All; Presenter: Sheilah Gauch, LICSW, M.Ed, Principal and Clinical Director of Dearborn Academy
Being afraid to go to school and avoiding school is particularly stressful and challenging for parents to address. We will look at best practice interventions to support, including how teamwork is essential and how understanding anxiety will help you support your child in re-engaging with school.
Parenting and Supporting LGBTQ+ Youth in Uncertain Times
Target Audience: All; Presenter: Bert Whittier, co-facilitator of EPiC-Melrose, consultant to schools on creating gender inclusive classrooms
Federal government policy changes are leaving all in the LGBTQ+ community uncertain, particularly queer youth and their parents. This is a workshop for families, friends and allies of LGBTQ+ youth who seek to understand and support these students.
Restorative Practices: Using Restorative and Relational Practices with Your Family
Target Audience: All; Presenter: Beth Hampson and Rebecca Taplin, Pathways to Restorative Communities
In this interactive session participants will be introduced to Restorative Justice Practices and how they are utilized in a school setting. Participants will learn about how shifting to a mindset of curiosity that centers healthy relationships can improve behavior in children and teens. We will explore how attending to our own adult social and emotional needs can improve how we respond to our children and in turn improve how they respond to us.
Saving and Paying for College
Target Audience: All; Presenters: Jeff Bentley, VP, Student Lending at Citizens; Amy Piantedosi, Director of Financial Aid, Tufts University
College is an investment, but the thought of saving for and financing a college education can be overwhelming for families. Though it’s never too late to begin saving, there are certainly advantages to starting early on in your child’s life. This workshop will discuss college savings options, tips, and different ways to pay for college, including types of financial aid, the FAFSA, student loans and more.
Transform Difficult Behaviors & Nurture Success and Greatness in Each Child
Target Audience: All; Presenter: Sam Healy, LICSW
The Nurtured Heart Approach™ (NHA) is an evidence-based approach and set of strategies to teach children of all ages self-regulation, critical life skills and values within the context of everyday routines and activities. Participants will learn practical strategies and specific techniques to help children transform difficult behaviors and reach their highest potential.
Turning 18: Legal Protections and Connections for your new Adult!
Target Audience: High School and beyond; Presenter: John Martino, Martino Law Group
Once your child turns 18, they’re a legal adult! That’s exciting, but it also means parents no longer have access to things like medical information. Find out what legal documents you and your child can put in place to ensure they have an advocate in an emergency, especially if they’re far away.
Understanding and Supporting Anxiety
Target Audience: All; Presenter: Sheilah Gauch, LICSW, M.Ed, Principal and Clinical Director of Dearborn Academy
In this presentation, we will break down and learn about the science behind anxiety and identify ways to support it. Anxiety impacts us all differently; particular attention will be given to understanding anxiety in your children - and yourselves. This is especially important for caregivers of children who have challenges of any kind. Understanding our stress responses can not only help our kids - but help us in supporting them!
Understanding Your Child’s Learning Supports: A Caregivers Guide to Testing, IEPs, and 504s
Target Audience: All; Presenters: Dr. Caitlyn Burns, Dr. Christina Lin, & Dr. Cara Soccorso from Newton Neuropsychology Group
Understanding school-based supports can be confusing, especially when faced with terms like IEPs, 504 Plans, and neuropsychological evaluations. This presentation will break down each step of the process and walk parents and caregivers through what each of these means, when to consider an evaluation, and how to work with your child’s school to get the most appropriate support in place. We will discuss the testing process, how the results determine what support your child may receive, and what you can expect during IEP and 504 meetings. You will leave with practical tips, sample questions to ask, and a clearer sense of how to advocate for your child’s learning and emotional needs—so school can become a place where they truly thrive.
A World of Difference
Target Audience: All; Presenters: MHS Peer Leaders
Have you ever wondered what peer-led anti-bias education could look like in Melrose schools? Melrose High School Peer Leaders invite you to an interactive workshop focused on building inclusion and belonging right at home. Trained in the A World of Difference program by the Anti-Defamation League, student leaders will guide attendees through activities designed to explore unconscious bias, and open a discussion on how those assumptions might influence both children and parents. Participants should come prepared to engage and gain the tools and language necessary to raise empathetic kids who are equipped to navigate a diverse world.