WELCOME MESSAGE
JOHN WILLIAMS & FAMILY
Dad, Mom, and/or Guardian!
My name is John Williams, and I lead the nonprofit, Life that Counts. We have partnered with your child’s school to teach healthy relationship education. A healthy relationship is one where communication happens often, boundaries are defined, and mutual respect is practiced.
I founded Life that Counts, Inc. in 2012, after seeing for myself the positive outcomes of what happens when we teach large groups of students how to get along better with others while valuing themselves. I observed this through my work with community organizations like churches and other nonprofit agencies. After growing up without ever meeting my biological father and living in an environment where abuse and alcoholism were a daily thing, it became a goal of mine for my wife to know, be loved, protected, and provided for by her husband and for my kids to experience the same from their dad.
Everything we do at Life that Counts is to help others make better decisions for more healthy outcomes. We work towards this by partnering with parents, guardians, and schools to reinforce healthy decision making which starts at home.
CONTENT
CLASSROOM INSTRUCTION
The content to be delivered to your kids will address the outcomes and effects of choosing healthy decisions and unhealthy decisions. While I was growing up, I saw friends and other classmates’ lives greatly impacted by things like drug and alcohol use, bullying and violence, and sexual activity in dating or casual relationships. My staff will address content like this in a respectful and professional way. That is part of the commitment I make to you, from one parent to another, as you’ve entrusted me to the opportunity to work with your kids.
Unlike culture and media, we will never pressure your child to a viewpoint, opinion, or position on the subject matter. We instruct using the best practices of education models and medically accurate information which has stood the test of time and been well documented. An example of this would be that a person would have a 0% chance of becoming pregnant if that person has never participated in sexual activity.
ASSEMBLIES
CONSENT PROTOCOLS
At Life that Counts, we aim to exceed the laws governing each state we serve with our parent/guardian consent protocols. Every school we partner with will have a full copy of the materials we will be using to teach your kids available for you to look over in their administrative or guidance offices. We also do not allow these copies to leave the offices or be posted online for review. This helps us know that the content that you see is from us and has not been manipulated by a bad actor.
In addition, many states have adopted various laws to healthy relationships education. Some stares leave it up to their individual schools to make decisions on how you, the parent/guardian, are communicated with others use and “Opt-Out” approach which means you have to sign and have your child return the letter, like this one, to not be included in the program.
At Life that Counts, we want you to be informed. We use the “Opt-In” approach. This means that unless you sign this consent and your child returns it to the school, then your child will not be allowed to participate in our healthy relationships and social emotional training. While it is very important to me that my organization serves as many students as possible, I do not want to cut you out of the decision making process in your child’s education.
OPT-IN
There are two places to sign below, one is for your child to be able to participate in the class and the other is so your child can take a survey, like a test, at the beginning and the end so that we can see what the class, as a whole learned.
The survey is delivered online using a tablet provided to them by my team. We will never ask your child to attach their name to the survey. Also, my team will always inform your child that if there are any questions on the survey, there is no penalty in any way for not answering a question you feel uncomfortable answering.
We are taking every measure to make this experience for you and your child one that is safe, enriching, and gives your child the lifelong benefit of learning to think through how their decisions will affect their outcomes. When I speak to parents, kids, and educators at events, assemblies, or professional trainings, I always like to encourage them to make decisions where they are proud of where they are 1, 3, 5, and 10 years down the road.
If I may be of assistance in any way, I personally monitor my own email inbox and my direct phone line. Thank you for the opportunity to serve your kids!
John Williams
Founder/CEO (Constantly Elevating Others)
Life that Counts, Inc.
(256) 841-2195