Spring Branch ISD Featured News

No Place for Hate: Resolution of Respect

Some good ideas never grow old, and constantly remind us to be our best selves. The Spring Branch ISD Board of Trustees and Senior Staff members began the first day of the new academic year with a call to combat prejudice, listen deeply to others and practice respect.

SBISD’s key governing and administrative leadership team members, meeting August 24 at Northbrook High School in a regular monthly meeting, took the first step in recommitting the district to its No Place for Hate® official designation.

The August meeting date also marked the start of a two-week period of distance learning for all SBISD students and remote instruction from classroom-based teachers.

For more than a decade now, the district and many of its campuses have earned the No Place for Hate® designation through Houston’s Southwest Regional Office of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). School and district departments have also earned special ADL recognitions for their ongoing efforts to operate inclusive and respectful work and learning environments.

The Board’s August 24 meeting, held in person with socially distanced guidelines inside the Northbrook High auditorium, included a No Place for Hate pledge resigning held after the public agenda. It was the first in-person meeting for the Trustees since mid-March when COVID-19-related restrictions on public gatherings of more than 10 people led to several months of virtual Board meetings.

The ADL-sponsored Resolution of Respect states:

“I pledge from this day forward to do my best to combat prejudice and to stop those who, because of hate or ignorance, would hurt anyone or violate their civil rights. I will try at all times to be aware of my own biases and to seek to gain understanding of those who I perceive as being different from myself. I will speak out against all forms of prejudice and discrimination. I will reach out to support those who are targets of hate. I will think about specific ways my community members can promote respect for people and create a prejudice-free zone. I firmly believe that one person can make a difference and that no person can be an ‘innocent’ bystander when it comes to opposing hate. By signing this pledge, I commit myself to creating a community that is No Place for Hate.®’

To learn more about No Place for Hate, please visit the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Southwest website.