PINE BUSH – Several new hires were welcomed to the district by Pine Bush superintendent Joan Carbone, board president Lloyd Greer and the board itself this past Tuesday, August 16. Carbone also explained that while this was her final, official meeting as superintendent, she would be returning for six weeks as interim superintendent while the search for her full time replacement continues.

Several presentations were given, beginning with assistant superintendent for instruction Donna Geidel, who reported on the progress of the district's No Place For Hate campaign, now in its third year. Pine Bush was drawn to No Place For Hate in the aftermath of the damaging lawsuit a few years ago that alleged a lack of concern about anti-Semitic bullying in the district. Since joining the campaign Pine Bush has become a vigorous promoter of anti-bullying techniques.

Geidel showed how this worked from goals to resolutions, training and projects. The goals, for instance, include such items as: "Promote an understanding of the value and benefits of diversity" and "Empower all members of the school community to challenge all forms of bigotry," laying out a clear direction for everyone.

The message is clear — in a society filled with increasing diversity, success depends on being free of old forms of bigotry and prejudice.

Geidel explained that all seven buildings in the district — the four elementary schools, the two middle schools and the high school — had now qualified under the rules of the No Place For Hate campaign. They have registered online, and all PBSD students, teachers and staff have signed the Resolution of Respect. Each building will conduct three events a year that will involve all the students and staff in overcoming bigotry and welcoming diversity.

Geidel displayed a list of projects in the program from the 2015-16 school year. She mentioned the success of their booth at the Harvest Festival last autumn, and also the training taken by all 150 bus drivers who work in the district, held at the Pine Bush Fire House. The primary message was that there should be "zero indifference" to name calling and bullying and that consistent intervention is the key to establishing an environment where all students feel safe and respected. The drivers were trained to stop any such behavior immediately and to educate those involved. Ignoring incidents and excusing this kind of behavior is out.

By May's "Action Plan Review," all the goals set out in the summer of 2015 had been met and all seven schools were designated as No Place For Hate, Geidel added. Four schools were awarded the Gold Star in NPFH — Circleville Elementary, EJ Russell Elementary, Pine Bush Elementary and the Pine Bush High School. A new action plan for 2016-17 was also begun and Geidel announced that that plan had been finalized and was now going out to all the schools. She added that the Pine Bush "template" had been examined by the Anti-Defamation League, the sponsor of No Place For Hate, and was being promoted to the rest of the country.

Board member and county legislator Roseanne Sullivan asked how the campaign was influencing parents.

"It's so important for parents to get involved," she noted. "There's got to be a partnership with them because unless this is supported by the parents it goes for naught."

Geidel explained that the cost of the program — $15,000 — had been covered in the first year by grants supplied through Federal Title II funds.

Carbone said that it was important for everyone to understand that bullying is not a "rite of passage" thing, it is not normal, and it will not be tolerated. Geidel finished up with a note on a survey of the attitudes of students themselves which would be made this fall.

Another interesting presentation came from Amy McDonald, a teacher and director of the Pine Bush Human Rights Academy, which was held over five days in mid-July. McDonald explained that the fifty-four students who participated really got into the topics they covered. The cost of the academy was $50 per student, which covered the field trip and a T-shirt commemorating it. Where necessary some students were "scholarshipped" to cover the cost.

The program's opening move was to watch a video by Beyonce Knowles as the "guest speaker." Each day the students worked from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. There was a field trip to Manhattan's Lower East Side and the Tenement Museum, which displays a record of the grim lives of the immigrant masses in New York around the turn of the 19th to the 20th centuries. Then the students turned to two topics that detailed the complicated nature of universal human rights in a consumerist capitalist world. "Clothing, Chocolate and Child Labor" was explored and the students saw how Nike, famous for its sports shoes, allowed children to work in sweat shops for very low pay in making its clothing line in far off lands. The indifference of Nike's CEO to this situation was also spotlighted. Then there was an examination of child slavery in parts of West Africa where Nestle and Hershey source most of their chocolate. The children are sold as slaves and worked hard to gather cocoa pods.

The following day there was a visit and discussion with Alan Moskin, who participated in the liberation of a concentration camp in Germany during World War II. With those grim memories in mind students discussed the universal declaration of human rights, and on the final day, students discussed how we can change the world to improve things. Students created posters, a website, and made a video. There was also a contest for the best student tweets on the topics.

Winding things up, Donna Geidel, added that the teachers for the academy had worked on the project through the school year and had come up with a powerful and informative academy that was bound to leave its mark on the students.