Teaching Tolerance in Yolo County's Schools
By Dave Rosenberg, Yolo County Supervisor, 4th District
The recent tragic high school shootings have been an unwelcome wake-up call to all of us who care about our children. Opening and maintaining lines of communication between adults and our children is beyond important-it is critical. And here in Yolo County, we take our commitment to our young people very, very seriously.
Yolo County is about to embark on a precedent-setting program called the "Teaching Tolerance Project". This project will aid us immeasurably in maintaining those lines of communication between the generations. Funded by a $100,000 one-year pilot grant from the State's Office of Criminal Justice Planning, this program will pay for a dedicated "tolerance officer" from the Yolo County's Sheriff's Department who will begin calling upon students, teachers, administrators, and community leaders to develop a school-based tolerance education curriculum specific to each high school in Yolo County. The twin goals for the new "Teaching Tolerance Project" are to clearly define that certain actions are unacceptable and prosecutable under the current definition of hate crime, and to also teach tolerance in our high schools. This project is not only unique, but embarks Yolo County on a creative partnership between law enforcement and educators to address issues of diversity with our young people.
Based upon the successfully "DARE" model, the Yolo Tolerance Project will enable a uniformed officer to regularly visit each high school in Yolo County, to engage in an on-going dialogue with students, and most importantly to "teach tolerance."
The recent school violence that erupted in middle-class Santana High School near San Diego was a wake-up call to policy-makers that intolerance can take many forms. Reports that Charles Andrew "Andy" Williams' violent actions were a tragic response to daily taunts about his small stature, big ears, and inability to fit in with any particular group in his new school continue to haunt many people.
In the short 37 years since the landmark passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the scope of what constitutes a protected class has grown to include not only race, sex, age, national origin, and religion, but also disability - both mental and physical - and sexual orientation. Some groups have already advocated adding large size or stature to the list of groups needing protected class status (e.g., the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance - NAAFA - whose website is replete with anecdotes of those who face humiliation because of their size).
In any case, whether we agree or disagree about expanding the range and number of special groups needing legal protection, the one common-sense, over-arching, and easiest principle for all of us to embrace is that of simple TOLERANCE and RESPECT. The 2000 Decennial Census has already established California as the most diverse state in the nation (perhaps the most diverse place on the planet). The race-as-the-baseline-for-diversity paradigm is changing, and we will either change with the times or find our communities and our children imploding in hurt, anger, and violence. In short, as parents, grandparents, adults, we must teach TOLERANCE and RESPECT to our children.
I am proud to have played a role in the development of and funding for the new "Teaching Tolerance Project" in Yolo County. It will provide one more new, vibrant vehicle for our effort to teach tolerance to our young people.