Anti-Bullying and Harassment Week Will Kick Off on March 8 and Run through March 12, 2010<\/p>\n
City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn and Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein today announced that the Department of Education is launching its first-ever \u201cRespect for All Week,\u201d designed to focus all City schools on the importance of promoting respect for diversity and fostering inclusive learning environments for their students. The Department\u2019s \u201cRespect for All\u201d initiative is New York City\u2019s effort to combat bullying and harassment based on ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, and other characteristics. The Chancellor and Speaker were joined at PS 24 in Brooklyn by New York City Council Education Committee Chair Robert Jackson, New York City Council Member Sara M. Gonzalez, Council of School Supervisors & Administrators (CSA) First Vice President Randi Herman, United Federation of Teachers (UFT) Vice President for Special Education Carmen Alvarez, UFT Vice President for Career and Technical Education Sterling Roberson, and PS 24 Principal Christina Fuentes, along with many public officials, religious leaders, and community partners who collaborated with the Department in developing the Respect for All initiative.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a responsibility to provide every student in New York City with a safe and inclusive learning environment,\u201d said Speaker Christine C. Quinn. \u201cTeaching our students to embrace diversity is essential to preventing hate among future generations. For the past two years, we\u2019ve been working with advocates and community members to expand our Respect for All program. This week is part of our long-term effort to make this subject matter part of our school culture. We will use this opportunity to build awareness of this issue and the tools that are available to educators, students, and parents as they seek to eliminate bias-based harassment in our schools.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEstablishing a safe, respectful learning environment is a prerequisite for student success,\u201d Chancellor Klein said. \u201cI hereby designate March 8-12 as our first annual Respect for All Week and ask our City\u2019s educators to plan special activities and lessons to promote respect for diversity in their schools. I thank Speaker Quinn and our community partners\u2014Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), Operation Respect, Anti-Defamation League, YES Program, and Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility\u2014for their continued collaboration in this important work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Respect for All Week is designed to focus each school\u2019s attention on sustaining safe, supportive, and inclusive environments, providing an opportunity to highlight and build upon their existing efforts to promote respect for diversity and prevent bias-based harassment and bullying. To support schools in this important work, the Department\u2019s Office of School and Youth Development already has made many resources available to principals and school staff members\u2014including sample lesson plans and connections to community organizations that offer programs and free curricular resources supporting the goals of Respect for All. The Department recently provided principals with suggested activities to guide their Respect for All week planning and will continue expanding the availability of such resources to support implementation of those programs throughout the school year.<\/p>\n
This push to strengthen and encourage anti-bullying programs in schools across the City is the latest step in an extensive joint outreach effort between the Department, City Council, UFT, CSA, and community-based organizations. Joint letters from Chancellor Klein, Speaker Quinn, UFT President Michael Mulgrew, and CSA President Ernest A. Logan were distributed to principals, teachers, and parents across the City earlier this month. The UFT and CSA will continue to communicate the importance of this issue and the goals of RFA Week to members through emails, Web sites, and newsletters. City Council Members will play an active role in Respect for All Week, visiting schools in their Districts and participating in programs designed to prevent bias, bullying, and harassment. Many community-based organizations have reached out to schools to strengthen existing partnerships and develop new relationships that will have a positive impact lasting far beyond Respect for All Week.<\/p>\n
\u201cStudents should have the right to pursue, and we have an obligation to provide, an education without the fear and distraction of bullying,\u201d UFT President Michael Mulgrew said. \u201cThe Respect for All programs can help make sure that our schools are safe havens for all our students and educators.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst and foremost, let\u2019s remember the \u2018All\u2019 in Respect for All,\u201d CSA President Ernest A. Logan said. \u201cThe effort to develop respect in our students for all members of the community is essential and includes not only respect for people of all races, religious faiths, physical abilities, and genders, but also respect for people of all ages. That works in reverse as well, for we must encourage educators, parents, and other adult members of the community to show equal respect for all groups of people including students. The Chancellor’s campaign makes an important statement about our need to live in a civil society.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRespect transcends tolerance and is the very underpinning of a diverse society,\u201d New York City Council Education Committee Chair Robert Jackson said. \u201cOur City will be a better place if our youth grow up with real respect for each other. I commend the Department of Education for emphasizing this as an important part of our public school studies.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Respect For All Initiative will establish New York City as a national leader in efforts to stop bullying in our schools,\u201d New York City Council Member Sara M. Gonzalez said. \u201cHow can students learn if they feel discriminated against or threatened? By using mandated reporting and investigation guidelines, tracking and monitoring all bias incidents, increasing training opportunities for teachers, providing additional guidance for principals, and giving parents the opportunity to review principals\u2019 Respect for All plans, we will be creating a safer and more inclusive learning environment. At the same time, we will be instilling a most valuable life lesson to children at a young age\u2014that bullying, harassment, and discrimination are not acceptable in today\u2019s society.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Department will kick off Respect for All Week at PS 24: The Dual Language School for International Studies in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. Nearly half of the school\u2019s students are English language learners. PS 24 is a Title I school, and 23 percent of students receive special education services. Principal Christina Fuentes has made it a priority to foster a culture of respect and inclusion in the school, partnering for many years with the Morningside Center for Social Responsibility to develop students\u2019 social-emotional learning and conflict resolution skills. PS 24 is widely recognized as a model school for its work in this area, and later this week, the Fund for the City of New York will award Principal Fuentes its prestigious Sloan Award for Public Service.<\/p>\n
During Respect for All Week, students citywide will take part in a broad range of activities and special programs, such as school-wide presentations, performances and art projects, interactive classroom workshops, peer education, and student-led poster campaigns. At PS 24, for example, students will participate in Diversity Panels where student-leaders share stories of past struggles with bullying and harassment, while also discussing how they were able to overcome those challenges. Other students will participate in \u201c4Rs (Reading, Writing, Respect, and Resolution)\u201d workshops, which integrate conflict resolution directly into the school\u2019s language arts curriculum, simultaneously building students\u2019 literacy and conflict-resolution skills.<\/p>\n
\u201cI applaud the Chancellor\u2019s firm commitment to promoting Respect for All as an essential foundation for life and learning in our schools,\u201d said Tom Roderick, Executive Director of the Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility. \u201cMorningside Center is honored to be a partner in this critical effort.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe applaud the Department of Education for recognizing the importance of the ongoing project of providing safe and effective learning environments for all students,\u201d Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) Executive Director Eliza Byard said. \u201cHelping educators to focus on this work is crucial for ensuring that all students receive the support and respect they need to thrive in school. As a lead partner in the Respect for All program, GLSEN looks forward to continued collaboration with the Department to strengthen its efforts to address bias of all kinds in New York City schools.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe believe that Respect for All Week is an opportunity for all of us to focus on very specific ways that we can build a culture and climate of respect in our schools,\u201d said Mark Weiss, Education Director of Operation Respect. \u201cWe are very proud to partner with the Department of Education and are pleased to support this important effort. Operation Respect offers music and curriculum materials free of charge that can support school activities during Respect For All Week and throughout the school year.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe salute the Department of Education, under the leadership of Chancellor Klein, for its unwavering commitment to making schools safer and more inclusive for all New York City students,\u201d Anti-Defamation League (ADL) New York Regional Director Ron Meier said. \u201cADL stands proudly as a key partner in the Respect for All Initiative, and as we look to the future, such programs will remain vital to ensuring that diversity and mutual respect continue to be hallmarks of the New York City public school system.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI often remind students at commencement ceremonies and during our \u2018Respect\u2019 events here in Brooklyn that we all must learn to respect life, respect ourselves and respect one another,\u201d Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz said. \u201cWhen anyone is harassed or attacked because of his or her ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, gender, or anything else that makes us each unique, we are all attacked. Bravo to Chancellor Klein, Speaker Quinn, and the Respect for All Week partners for helping to educate our children and their parents to see that as different as we are, there is one thing that we all want, one thing that we all need, and one thing that we all deserve\u2014and that is respect.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe applaud the Department of Education for its Respect for All initiative,\u201d said Jenny DeBower, Director of Youth & Family Services at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Community Center. \u201cEvery week we see youth who are being harassed at school for being LGBT. Respect for All sets a standard for schools in creating safety for LGBT youth, and provides a resource for youth to seek help if it is needed. It is an important first step in ensuring that all LGBT youth or any youth seen as \u2018different\u2019 has a safe learning environment.\u201d<\/p>\n
This year, the Department of Education built on its commitment to the Respect for All initiative by requiring more school-based staff members to attend trainings so they are better prepared to confront and prevent negative behaviors. The Department provided principals with additional guidance in creating rigorous anti-bullying plans and implemented new measures to hold them accountable for enforcing those plans. Efforts to combat bullying and harassment will now factor into a school\u2019s Quality Review, and last month, the Department released findings from its first annual audit of bias-related bullying and harassment incidents in the City\u2019s public schools. That report provides baseline data against which the Department can measure future progress in preventing bias-related incidents.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Anti-Bullying and Harassment Week Will Kick Off on March 8 and Run through March 12, 2010<\/p>\n
City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn and Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein today announced that the Department of Education is launching its first-ever \u201cRespect for All Week,\u201d designed to focus all City schools on the importance of promoting respect for diversity and fostering inclusive learning environments for their students.<\/p>\n
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