Respectful School: How Educators and Students Can Conquer Hate and Harassment (Second)

This book is a comprehensive guide for principals in providing a safe environment for students, both emotionally and physically. It provides practical ways to prevent and address a wide range of negative behaviors that undermine learning. This book is not only about adult interventions, but also the role of students. It is particularly useful because it is a quick read. The only piece I consider missing from the equation is looking at the way adults treat adults in schools and the modeling of behaviors they provide for students.

Collaboratively written by Stephen L. Wessler (a former state prosecutor and currently director of the Center for the Prevention of Hate Violence) with the assistance of contributing author William Preble, The Respectful School: How Educators And Students Can Conquer Hate And Harassment addresses a pressing and endemic social problem of emotionally charged and vituperative public school atmospheres in which excessive teasing, racial slurs, and prejudice can (and all too often do) interfere with learning. Individual chapters specifically address how to most effectively work with student victims and their parents; how to confront perpetrators and their crimes; as well as the skills needed to enact effective intervention. The Respectful School is a very practical and empathetic manual which is a very strongly recommended addition to academic Education Library reference collections and for public educators charged with the responsibility for creating and maintaining a functionally effective "learning friendly" school environment - public or private!