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Maine's Best practices in Bullying and Harassment prevention Information

• Appendices
• Creating Safe, Fair, and Responsive Schools
• Creating the Infrastructure or Best Practices Bullying and Harassment
• Guidelines for Effective Discussions About Bullying
• Maine's Best Practices in Bullying and Harassment Prevention Printable Version (pdf)
• Overview: School Climate and School Culture
• Resources
• Survey Tools and Information
• Teacher to Parent Communication
• Training Links and Opportunities

LD564 Best Practice Guide Design Team

Stan Davis has dedicated his life to human rights in many different ways. In the 1960s, he marched with Dr. King in the South and worked for civil rights in the North. As a social worker, Davis worked as a child and family therapist with abused and grieving children and provided trainings to Child Protective Workers. He designed and implemented trainings for a network of rape crisis centers and helped police develop effective interventions for domestic abuse. In 1985, Davis became a school counselor and based on his hands-on experience with children and adults in local schools, and put his energies toward helping schools prevent bullying. Since 1990, Davis has trained schools throughout Maine and nationally on effective bullying prevention strategies, which have been adopted by state-wide initiatives in Michigan, New Jersey, and West Virginia. Davis’s work has been featured in national publications and radio articles and on a special 20/20 report on bullying with John Stossel. Davis is the author of the 2005 Research Press book Schools Where Everyone Belongs: Practical Strategies to Reduce Bullying. His trainings integrate research, practical experience, specific techniques, storytelling, and audience participation. Davis is a certified Olweus Bullying Prevention trainer and consultant Contact information: web http://www.stopbullyingnow.com email stan@stopbullyingnow.com PO: 409 North Wayne Rd Wayne ME 04284 Phone: 207-685-9639

Lyn Mikel Brown, Ed.D. is Professor of Education and Human Development at Colby College in Maine. She writes extensively on the social and relational life of girls and the influences of race, social class, and gender on girls’ lives. Brown received her Ed.D. from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education, and was a founding member of the Harvard Project on Women’s Psychology and Girls’ Development. She is the author of numerous articles and four books on girls’ social and psychological development: Meeting at the Crossroads: Women’s Psychology and Girls’ Development (with Carol Gilligan; 1992), Raising Their Voices: The Politics of Girls’ Anger (1998), Girlfighting: Betrayal and Rejection Among Girls (2003), and most recently Packaging Girlhood: Rescuing Our Daughters From Marketers’ Schemes (with Sharon Lamb, 2006). Brown is co-creator of Hardy Girls Healthy Women, a Waterville, Maine-based nonprofit designed to provide girls with more control, commitment, and challenge in their lives. Brown is co-author of From Adversaries to Allies: A Curriculum for Change, a positive youth development approach to girlfighting prevention and co-developer of the Ugly Ducklings Community Action Kit, which provides adults and youth with educational strategies and resources to reduce harassment of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and questioning youth. See www.hardygirlshealthywomen.org for more information on resources and curriculum.

Chuck Saufler received a M.Ed. from Northeastern University in Community Mental Health in 1979. Since that time he has worked in private practice and with youth focused organizations and schools. Saufler has been a guidance counselor and staff trainer in Maine since 1989 and has been active in the Communities for Children statewide initiative. As co-coordinator of the Maine Project Against Bullying, he coordinated a statewide bullying survey and has provided initial bullying prevention training for over 200 schools and communities. Saufler is co-developer of CLIMBERS, a proactive program for teaching social skills and improving school climate. CLIMBERS was selected as 1997 “Program of the Year” by Maine ASCD. A member of the Governor’s Task Force on Safe Schools and Communities, he co-authored the summary report for presentation to the Maine State Legislature. Saufler served as a member of the Critical Review Team for the Career Development Strand of the Maine Learning Results. He is the recipient of the 1999 Governor’s Medal for outstanding service to education and prevention of substance abuse. He is currently the lead trainer for bullying education at the Maine Law and Civics Education Program, University of Maine School of Law. Saufler is a nationally certified trainer for the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program, a “Blueprints for Violence Prevention” program. He is a founding member of the International Bullying Prevention Association. The focus of his career has been developing safer schools and communities. He is drawn to this work by a firm belief that community building, prevention and early intervention are our best hope of creating a civil society for future generations. Mr. Saufler is married and resides in Bath, Maine with his wife Beth and their son Christopher.To reach Mr. Saufler: Maine Project Against Bullying 2 Maxwell St. Bath, ME 04530 www.stopbullyingmaine.com e-mail: chuck@stopbullyingmaine.com 207-751-4160.

Thomas Harnett, Esq. is the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Education and Enforcement in the Maine Office of the Attorney General. Mr. Harnett directs the Civil Rights Team Project that has established Civil Rights Teams in more than 220 schools located throughout the State of Maine. Mr. Harnett also directs the Office’s enforcement of the Maine Civil Rights Act. Mr. Harnett worked as an Assistant Attorney General in the Natural Resources Division and the Civil Rights Unit of the Maine Department of the Attorney General from 1989 to 2000. He directed the civil rights enforcement effort of the Attorney General’s Office and the Civil Rights Team Project from 1999 to 2000 and returned to direct the Office’s civil rights initiatives in September 2001. As an Assistant Attorney General, Mr. Harnett has prosecuted numerous civil rights or “hate crime” cases. Mr. Harnett also conducts student and faculty trainings and has spoken about the Attorney General’s Civil Rights Team Project at regional conferences, guidance counselor gatherings, legal education seminars, statewide events and at national conferences sponsored by the United States Department of Justice and the Education Law & Policy Consortium, Inc. Mr. Harnett has also addressed tens of thousands of students in elementary, middle and high schools throughout the State of Maine. He currently serves as a community advisor for the Civil Rights Team at his son’s elementary school. Mr. Harnett was born in the Bronx and is a graduate of Fordham University and New York University School of Law. Prior to practicing law in Maine, he worked as a legal services attorney for migrant farm workers in New York State from 1980 to 1989.

Lauren Sterling currently manages the Maine Governor’s Children’s Cabinet and the coordination of its various initiatives to include, the 21st Century Community Learning Center program, and the Task Force on Early Childhood among others after directing the Kennebec County Child Abuse & Neglect Council from 1998 to 2001. As volunteer co-chair for the Greater Waterville Communities for Children and Youth Coalition since 1996, Sterling lead the group in successfully yielding over $2 million in local prevention funds to collaboratively fill gaps in services to include, but not limited to: The 21st Century Community Learning Center’s grant project, the One ME Substance Abuse Prevention Project; the Regional Juvenile Resolution Team program with four police departments, Youth Expressions, an after school performing arts program for at risk teens, a summer Shakespeare Camp for Teens, Music Mentoring partnering Colby student music mentors with area at-risk, and the development of a community-wide, nationally recognized college/community mentoring initiative in partnership with Colby College providing 250 area children with one-on-one mentors each year. In 2002, the Coalition was selected as one of 15 local coalitions to partner with America’s Promise as a demonstration site and recently was honored in Washington, D.C. as one of the “100 Best Communities for Young People.” Sterling is the executive producer of Ugly Ducklings, the Documentary Film and co-developer of the Ugly Ducklings Community Action Kit that seeks to reduce the harassment of gay and lesbian youth in Maine and nationally. Lauren.Sterling@maine.gov.

Deb Landry is the founder and Executive Director of Crossroads Youth Center in Saco, a nonprofit mentoring organization that empowers youth through the performing arts. She retired six year ago after twenty-two years as a healthcare administrator to dedicate her career to her passion, children and youth issues. A mother of four and grandmother of three, Ms. Landry specializes in operational management with a focus on nonprofit agencies and social awareness education. As an author, she writes interactive children’s mentoring plays on social awareness issues, which are performed throughout Southern Maine to students grades K-5 by mentoring youth grades 6 to 12. She is the co-author, executive producer and director of Ty, an educational film focusing on the use of gateway drugs and heroin abuse. Her first book, released February 2006, Sticks, Stones and Stumped!, is an illustrated children’s story using Maine animals to tell the tale of bullying prevention. The book focuses on acceptance and the communications between student, bystander, and teacher. Ms. Landry serves on several committees including as co chair of the Saco Middle School Anti Bullying Program. Ms. Landry is a member of Communities for Children and the Children’s Cabinet’s School and Community Climate Committee. She lectures and consults to organizations on parent-teacher communication, customer service training and medical office management. Due out in 2006-, 07 is her new interactive children’s play For Pete’s Sake based on the children’s book by Linda Verville on disabilities and Yankee Go Home, a children’s book about strangers. Ms. Landry can be reached at 207-838-2146; 199 New County Road, Saco, ME 04072; email: deb@brysontaylor.com; Websites: www.crossroadsyouthcenter.org and www.brysontaylorpublishing.com.

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