The No Place for Hate districtwide campaign against hatred and discrimination. Morningside Elementary School scholars heard from motivational speaker, TES, and participated in activities to encourage diversity and inclusion.
APS celebrates No Place for Hate Day at Benjamin E. Mays High School.
The No Place for Hate districtwide campaign against hatred and discrimination, recently launched in Atlanta Public Schools and created a space where students and staff stood in solidarity to champion inclusivity.
Benjamin E. Mays High School held a special rally in which students took the lead in conveying their desire to cultivate a school community rooted in understanding, respect, and acceptance, and raised awareness about the impact of bullying and the strength that comes from embracing diversity.
A Benjamin E. Mays High School student holds a sign describing how she has been judged in the past. Photo: Atlanta Public Schools ©
At the heart of the rally was a living museum, a poignant display where students held up signs depicting the negative judgements they had endured during instances of bullying as their peers walked silently through reading and reflecting on the messages.
Anirea Chapman, a senior at Benjamin E. Mays High School and Ms. Mays’ second attendant, highlighted the positive impact the program and visual display had on the students.
“I think it was very beneficial to many people, and I feel like we should do [these] more often to raise awareness for bullying because people don’t often [have the opportunity], so it was great and I enjoyed it.”
Maya Winfrey, also a senior at Mays, shared a similar sentiment.
“I think it was nice for students to hear other peers speak to them about something that can affect anyone,” Winfrey said.
Benjamin E. Mays High School senior Cameron Green led the No Place For Hate Pledge. Photo: Atlanta Public Schools ©
Senior Cameron Green led the students in reciting a pledge to show their dedication to creating a school environment free from hatred. The pledge served as a promise to seek understanding, speak out against prejudice, support targets of hate, and foster a prejudice-free school environment.
— — —
NO PLACE FOR HATE PLEDGE:
I will seek to gain understanding of those who are different from myself.
I will speak out against prejudice and discrimination.
I will reach out to support those who are targets of hate.
I will promote respect for people and help foster a prejudice-free school.
I believe that one person can make a difference.
All APS students are encouraged to take the pledge.
— — —
In addition, Green expressed the need to talk about experiences of bullying openly and advised her peers who may be experiencing mistreatment.
“Just be yourself,” Green said. “I feel like we should accept people for being themselves rather than acting like others. I have a soft spot for just owning up to who you are, because I know I’m different than a lot of people. So I take pride in showing up and showing out as myself.”
Benjamin E. Mays High School ninth grade counselor Erika Blount. Photo: Atlanta Public Schools ©
Ninth grade counselor and the program director for No Place for Hate at Benjamin E. Mays High School, Erika Blount, shared plans for on-going initiatives at Mays, with bi-weekly sessions addressing post-traumatic syndrome and various mental health issues.
“I think [the rally] was beneficial. We’ve been getting a lot of negative press conferences and different things throughout the county and so this is a good turn of events for our students,” Blount said. “That’s really why I stayed in-house because I wanted everybody to see it’s not what you see in the newspaper that’s a 100% representation of what we deal with here at Mays. We do have positive kids here and we want to empower our students.”
Ramon Garner, principal at Benjamin E. Mays High School, also expressed the school’s plans to continue the message and outlined their commitment to fostering respect for all cultures.
“This is what we do every day,” Garner said. “Our core values are within the acronym of P.R.I.D.E. They stand for perseverance, respect, integrity, discipline, and excellence. And that’s how we want to live. We want to make sure that we are raising up good, powerful young men and good, powerful young women. To respect everyone, to be inclusive of all things that’s different from yourself and embrace and love each other. That’s what we stand for, that’s what we want to do.”
For more information on the No Place For Hate Challenge, please visit www.noplaceforhate.org and contact your local APS school for details.
ATLANTA (JUNE 22, 2017) – Today, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Southeast Region awarded its Stuart Lewengrub Torch of Liberty Award to Atlanta Public Schools and Dr. Meria Carstarphen at the annual Torch of Liberty Corporate Breakfast.
“This award recognizes the incredible work that Atlanta Public Schools has done over the past two years to implement ADL’s No Place for Hate® program throughout the entire school district,” commented Shelley Rose, ADL interim regional director. “52,000 students have been inspired to stand up to hate by this program.”
No Place for Hate is an initiative of the Anti-Defamation League offered free to schools. The initiative is designed to rally the entire school around the goal of creating a welcoming community committed to stopping all forms of bias and bullying. In 2012, as Austin Independent School District Superintendent, Dr. Meria Carstarphen was so impressed with ADL’s No Place for Hate® initiative, she announced plans to bring the program to the entire district. That passion and commitment continued when she became Superintendent of Atlanta Public Schools in July 2014. In 2015, Atlanta Public Schools, through the leadership of Dr. Carstarphen, introduced ADL’s flagship education initiative system-wide. APS continues to see progress as they work aggressively to address and prevent bullying and cyber bullying, as well as educate against all forms of hatred.
“The No Place for Hate initiative provides our district with a clear framework to fight bias, bullying and hatred, leading to long-term solutions for creating and maintaining a positive climate,” commented Dr. Carstarphen in accepting the award. “We are sending a clear message that hate, bullying and disrespect have no place in our schools. We want our schools to be places where students, staff and families feel safe, welcomed and respected.”
The Anti-Defamation League Southeast Region annually presents the Stuart Lewengrub Torch of Liberty Award to an individual, entity or company making outstanding contributions to the welfare of our community. The award, which was renamed in honor of Stuart Lewengrub who served as the ADL Southeast Regional Director from 1965 until his passing in 1995, symbolizes ADL’s profound commitment to translating our democratic heritage into a way of life for all Americans.
Atlanta Public Schools would like to thank the Anti-Defamation league for recognizing the districts efforts in creating a safe place for our students.
Credit: Anti-Defamation League Press Release
Twin sisters Regina and Renita Deloatch of TwinSportsTV brought their “Stop the Bullying”School Tour to Gideons Elementary School.
Twin sisters Regina and Renita Deloatch know all too well how bullying can impact the life of a young person. Their cousin, who was bullied as a child and throughout her school-age years, eventually committed suicide when the tormenting became too much for her to bear.
That personal tragedy has inspired the Virginia natives to create a 90-minute, interactive, high-energy presentation they call their “Stop the Bullying” School Tour. It has made stops in more than 150 schools nationwide since 2012. Recently, the more than 300 students at Gideons Elementary School took in the show.
“It ties in to all of our character building initiatives like Social Emotional Learning and ‘No Place for Hate,’ which we are implementing with fidelity here at Gideons,” said counselor Dr. Clara Matthews, who invited the Deloatch twins to Gideons. “This is something our kids needed to see, messages they needed to hear.”
The show promotes positive concepts like self-love, self-worth, respect and kindness while also stressing the importance of education. It uses hip-hop beats and lyrics and features real-life dramatizations to grab and hold the attention of students.
“We know how bullying can alter the course of a life,” Renita Deloatch said. “We want to touch the kids who are being bullied, but we also want to touch the kids who are doing the bullying so they can realize what they are doing is wrong. Our message is educational, but we want it to be fun and engaging as well.”
After the performance at Gideons, the twins and their other show participants were swarmed by students, wanting autographs, pictures and advice.
“Our goal is for all the kids we meet to become better people and be nicer to each other,” Regina Deloatch said. “We want them to realize their full potential and go on to graduate from college. If our message can reach just one child, and help that child keep from being bullied or make that child stop bullying other kids, we could have saved a life. And that’s our goal. We don’t want to lecture. We want to uplift.”
WWE celebrities visited Hope-Hill Elementary on February 4th, 2013, for Be a STAR rally against bullying. The Anti-Defamation League, which operates No Place for Hate, connected Be a STAR with Hope-Hill and co-sponsored this event. The students were ecstatic to meet the special guests and enlightened by their presentations regarding cyber-bullying, disrespecting others, name-calling, and more.
Be a STAR Rally participants included:
- Stephanie McMahon, Executive Vice President of Creative
- Diva Layla, WWE Professional Wrestler
- Kofi Kingston, WWE Professional Wrestler
- Hornswoggle, WWE Professional Wrestler
- Josh Mathews, WWE Announcer and Be a STAR Host
- Ben Cohen, Founder of The Ben Cohen Stand Up Foundation
“Being different is being great,” said Kofi Kingston, as he shared his experience of being bullied in his childhood. He told the students that people used to tease him by calling him Coffee rather than Kofi, and Hope-Hill students reacted by chanting Kofi Kingston’s name. Diva Layla discussed the difference between entertainment and reality by sharing her personal experience. Hornswoggle inspired the students by never letting his size hold him back from reaching his dream as a WWE professional wrestler.
“Hope-Hill has zero tolerance for bullying, and our goal is for Hope-Hill to be designated as a No Place for Hate school. We will achieve this by continually implementing programs such as the one today to highlight the need for anti-bullying, not only at our school, but for schools across the nation,” says Angela Fortson, Counselor at Hope-Hill. “The students are thrilled to meet all of the stars who visited Hope-Hill today, and we appreciate and applause their support for anti-bullying.”
100 tickets were given away to Hope-Hill students to attend the RAW Event at Phillips Arena.
Centennial Place Elementary School’s PTA hosted a Technology & Engineering night with students, parents, and representatives from Stevens & Wilkinson, Atlanta Institute of Architects, Atlanta Streetcar, and Atlanta Beltline. The focus of this event is to celebrate students’ work, and provide an opportunity for students and families to be aware of projects in their local community.
The program began as participants of the Architecture club presented models of their buildings. Representatives from Stevens & Wilkinson, an award-winning architectural firm, committed the past several months in assisting students with their projects. They shared their love and joy of architecture as they created models of the students’ dream houses.
“It’s been a pleasure and really really fun,” says William Clark, Principal at Stevens & Wilkinson. “The energy level has been incredible during the last few months together as we discovered architecture.”
The “No Place for Hate” ambassadors presented an impressive 10-minute anti-bullying video that was created with the students. The Atlanta Beltline and Atlanta Streetcar representatives explained the benefits and significance of their organization and how it impacts the community. These informational presentations allowed the students and families to be more aware and supportive as community members.
Centennial’s PTA offers family nights with different themes to provide an opportunity for students to share their work with their families. It’s also a great opportunity for parents to be informed of what their child is learning and how they are involved with the community. A food truck also catered the event to promote the engineering and technology theme.
“Our wonderful PTA has embraced our work around common core, science and technology by allowing our students to be authentically engaged in architecture and engineering,” says Alison Shelton, Principal at Centennial Place Elementary. “This is a memorable experience for the students and opens a horizon of career opportunities as well.”
From L-R: Dale W. Tate, guidance counselor, NPFH chair; Holland Levinson, education director, Anti-Defamation League (NPFH Program); Tamarah Larkin-Currie, principal, White Elementary; and Ronald Garlington, counselor coordinator, APS-OSPS
Walter F. White Elementary learned Monday that it has been officially certified as a No Place for Hate School by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the group announced in a press release. The announcement came in a Banner Certification Program in which Hollande Levinson, ADL education director, presented a banner to White guidance counselor Dale W. Tate. Tate also serves as the guidance counselor for F.L. Stanton, which also has received No Place for Hate certification.
No Place for Hate is a program that was created to stop bullying and build a respect for people of all races and cultures. It works alongside other school programs to deliver the message of a “No Place for Hate” environment. William J. Scott Elementary has selected students from the P.O.W.E.R. Performing Arts Program to carry the name and responsibility of No Place for Hate Ambassadors. These students, led by Lt. Charles Rambo, took a pledge at the No Place for Hate assembly to uphold the promise:
I promise to do my best to treat everyone fairly
I promise to do my best to be kind to everyone even if they are not like me
If I see someone being hurt or bullied, I will tell a teacher
Everyone should be able to feel safe and happy in school
I want our school to be “No Place for Hate”
The Scott students watched a performance by the P.O.W.E.R. performers about bullying and what it looks like to be positive and respect others. The skit featured poems written and selected by P.O.W.E.R. students. The school also hosted a guest speaker from a No Place for Hate representative, Hollande Levinson.
From L-R: Anthony DeCosta, Marquis Trammell, Elizabeth Escandon, Mariela Macias, Jonathan Johnson, Yori Aiyeola
King Middle School commemorated World AIDS Day with a series of activities designed to provide teachable moments about a deadly disease that strikes too close to home for some. The No Place for Hate school took a cue from the Anti-Defamation League and designed work for students that included a quiz about the disease, hosting 10 panels from the AIDS Quilt Project, and an art project by students that will create a separate quilt for the school to showcase in its hallway.
Guidance counselors Shirley McCullough and Ronald Garlington partnered on the activities with Yori Aiyeola and Anthony DeCosta, who are completing an internship at King as part of their work on a master’s degree in school counseling at Clark Atlanta University. They recruited four “student ambassadors” – seventh-graders Jonathan Johnson and Marquis Trammell and sixth-graders Elizabeth Escandon and Mariela Macias – who had recently attended a day-long Power Over Prejudice conference at Georgia Tech.
Students spent their homeroom hour taking a pre-quiz about HIV/AIDS that led to classroom discussion and then a quiz to review topics such as how to contract the disease and the difference between HIV and AIDS. They then created “unity chains” that spoke to the disease and the need for greater awareness, understanding and prevention. Students in Alison Isabelle’s eighth-grade art class then fashioned artwork inspired by four words – hope, love, unity and remembrance – that would be assembled as tiles for the hallway “quilt.”
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