The safety of our children in schools is of paramount importance in America today, and The Peace Center, along with the Bucks County NAACP and the Bucks County Human Relations Council, are holding the first of three forums to have meaningful dialogue leading to the creation of new strategies and collaboration toward improving safety in schools and communities.
The first forum will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 19, from 4 to 6 p.m. at Middletown Township Municipal Building, 3 Municipal Way, Langhorne. The forum will address issues such as bullying, discrimination, harassment, hazing and intimidation and their impact on local schools and neighborhoods.
Organizers have invited key community leaders who have the ability to take action and create safe spaces at a time when anxiety levels are heightened. These are people who can work with community members to create new strategies and collaborate to bring compassion, fresh ideas and pragmatism to these issues. The links between social media, hate crimes and domestic terrorism will be discussed.
The program features national speaker Bernard Hoffman, who has been working across the country to deal with some of the mass shootings and difficult issues facing young people, educators and parents. He was a school administrator for many years and is now a consultant for safe schools and communities.
“Issues of bullying, discrimination and prejudice are not limited to Bucks County – they occur everywhere,” Hoffman said. “The forum seeks to not solely ‘punish the bully,’ but apply restorative justice and educate our administrators, faculty and students to be agents of change and work toward a more open-minded, accepting approach toward others.”
Organizers hope to start conversations and actions toward building a better Bucks County where kids feel safe in schools, parents feel their kids are safe, and parents become role models for children to learn to embrace diversity and inclusion.
RSVP to bsimmons@thepeacecenter.org or call 215-750-7220.
