Safe School Ambassadors is an essential guide for school administrators, counselors, teachers, parents, and youth organization leaders. It challenges the current "outside-in" thinking?that keeping schools safe is accomplished primarily by adults through heightened security and stricter policies. It makes the case for a complementary ?inside-out? approach that taps the power of students to change the social norms of a school culture in order to stop bullying and violence.
About the Author
Rick Phillips, M.Ed., a former teacher and principal, is the executive director of Community Matters, a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering young people to be agents of positive social change.
John Linney, M.A., has twenty years of youth development experience and is the executive director of Impact Coaching and Speaking, specializing in organizational climate issues.
Chris Pack, BSE, program director of Community Matters, co-developed the Safe School Ambassadors program and has developed and delivered many training seminars on youth development.
Features
Bullying and violence in schools are a very hot topic at the moment, from the extreme violence of school shootings, to the everyday bullying going on in the average middle school playground. Every counselor, school psychologist, and teacher needs training in how to deal with this.
The authors have developed a unique program, called "Safe School Ambassadors" that has been used at 500 schools (over 20,000 children and teens have received the training described in the book) with marked results.
The program enlists students themselves in the prevention of violence and bullying by training them to respond with specific strategies to diffuse different situations. Rather than becoming "snitches" for the administration, these "ambassadors," who are typically leaders of different cliques, are trained to deal effectively with their peers and work to create a culture in which cruelty and violence are not tolerated.
Safe School Ambassadors has a cadre of seven trainers who work with schools around the country.
