I will send out preview copies of the new McGrath videos series to all of you
who have inquired. Meanwhile, a little background on McGrath Systems and the
resources we provide seems to be in order, so here goes...
McGrath Systems, Inc., is an international training and development company
that specializes in providing legally based and principled workshops and
video training systems to schools, groups and private organizations. Our
products and services unite the legal rights and responsibilities of the
workplace with the human dynamics present in everyday life.
We provide both comprehensive video training systems as well as inservice
workshops on sexual harassment awareness and investigation, cultural
diversity, sports liability, and administrator accountability/teacher
supervision and evaluation.
McGrath Systems was founded by school law attorney Mary Jo McGrath, who
recently participated on the sexual harassment panel sponsored by Edequity.
Mary Jo is the primary individual responsible for the development of our
programs and materials and currently serves as Chair of the US Department of
Education Expert Panel on Safe, Disciplined, and Drug-Free Schools.
We produce 2 video series for use in the schools--"Sexual Harassment: Minimize
the Risk" for middle and high schools and "Early Faces of Violence" (AKA Show
and Tell!) for pre-k through 6th grade. Both series cover the whole school
community--students, teachers/staff, administrators, and parents--and are
designed as training tools. As I stated in my earlier communication, Early Faces
of Violence deals with the behaviors which we see in younger children, which
while they may or may not constitute actionable cases of sexual harassment, have
been identified as the precursors of such behavior.
The series starts with a "movie" which portrays incidents of bullying,
teasing and sexual harassment--male to male, male to female, female to
female, female to male. The story is from the perspective of the main
character--a young boy who is being bullied by other boys in his class and
observes other children being bullied as well. The setting is "anytime,
anyplace" and is deliberately vague as to era or locale--so that students can
actually follow the story rather than trying to relate to the setting (inner
city, suburban, etc.)
We walked a fine line with regard to 3 issues--portraying violence and
inappropriate language, portraying diversity, and portraying teachers. While we
are aware that the incidents portrayed are mild in comparison to what goes on,
we feel that we've shown enough to launch a discussion without exposing young
children to yet more violence. We also chose to include racial and ethnic
diversity among our secondary characters but the main characters are all
Caucasian--this is our deliberate attempt to keep the issue distinct.
Bullying is not a racial issue (although racial epithets and racial violence may
be an expressed through bullying behavior). Finally, with regard to the
teachers--you may notice a lack of supervision on the playground and a scene
where one teacher is not seen as understanding--remember, the movie is one
child's reality and not meant to imply negligence. In his world, help is not
coming. We portrayed these scenes to elicit conversation about the role of
teachers. (In our companion videos for children--videos 2 through 4--we
emphasize reporting such behavior to teachers and other adults.)
The companion videos are available for 3 age levels and for teachers,
parents, and administrators. These videos include interviews and panel
discussions with children and professionals. We even taped Mary Jo actually
interviewing the main character ("in character") regarding the harassment
complaint. It is very revealing and a practical tool for training
investigators in legally sound interview techniques.
Those who requested preview copies will receive a 25 minute tape containing
excerpts from all 7 tapes in the series. These need not be returned. In fact,
feel free to pass them on to other professionals after you've viewed them.
Also, please let me know if you would like to preview our high school series as
well and I'll include a copy.
For further information on Mary Jo McGrath, McGrath Systems, our inservice
workshops, and our video series, you can go to www.mcgrathinc.com or call me
directly at McGrath Systems.
We are also in the process of creating a links page and welcome any requests to
set up reciprocal "links" with appropriate web sites.
Thank you again for your responses.
Maureen Charles
National Program Director
McGrath Systems, Inc.
(626) 441-6134
mcgrathla@aol.com
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