The high school is adopting a program called No Place for Hate, an initiative starting this year which aims to create a welcoming and safe environment for everyone in the district.
Leader of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Stephen Lewis Sr. said No Place for Hate has the goal of creating an environment where students feel like they can be themselves without being judged.
“No Place for Hate is a program designed to try to make it so everybody feels this is a great place to be,” Lewis explained. “There is no place for hate.”
The program is supported by a worldwide organization called the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), he said. The ADL was first created to combat antisemitism, but it later moved on to fight all forms of hate, he added.
There are several different reasons why Bexley chose to incorporate No Place for Hate, he said.
“The motivation behind the program is because of the district’s strategic and equity plans,” Lewis explained.
The district wants all students to be open-minded and accepting when they move on to the real world, he added.
The process to begin No Place for Hate has already started, Lewis added.
The first step to initiate No Place for Hate was to identify a coordinator, which is himself, Lewis said. He explained the coordinator runs the program throughout the high school, middle school and elementary schools.
“It’s really the students’ voices that make up the program,” Lewis said. “So, a committee had to be designed, and that’s the Culture Climate Council.”
Lewis explained the Culture Climate Council is open to all students, and they meet every Wednesday during lunch in the Dargusch Black Box Theatre. All schools in the district would have to create their own initiatives and pledges, he added.
Finally, each school in Bexley will submit evidence to the ADL of their work to receive a national designation as an official No Place for Hate school, Lewis explained.
There are around 2,000 districts right now registered as No Place for Hate districts, he added.
Lewis said the program is essentially costing nothing for the district.
“If the event itself requires a level of funding, then I have set aside money to support the No Place for Hate initiative,” he said. “So within the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion budget, I have put dollars in to help offset those
costs. However, the program itself is free.”
The high school was introduced to No Place for Hate through an assembly Nov. 13, organized by Lewis and members of the Culture Climate Council, he said.
Junior Espen Price said he has a strong belief in the necessity of No Place for Hate. He explained it needed to be done to “bring light” to the com-
munity. A lot of people in Bexley are scared to say what they think
on the assumption they would be bullied or get in trouble for their
different ideas, he added.
“I think it will be an effective way to deal with something that hasn’t been dealt with,” Price said.
Senior Spencer Goldberg explained he likes the idea of No Place for Hate, but he doesn’t believe it will be successful because he noticed a lot of laughter during the assembly.
“I honestly don’t think it will be that effective,” Goldberg said.
Lewis said he believes a different range of changes for students’ day to day life will occur as a result of the No Place for Hate
initiative.
“I think there are going to be some students that may feel that, ‘wow, this is fantastic I can finally be me,’” he said. “But, there are others that may say, ‘I’m already me.’”
