Press Release
4/7/05

Ann Arbor Huron High School will celebrate “Tolerance Week” April 11-15, 2005. Tolerance Week is a school-wide opportunity for the Huron school community to become more aware of school district and building tolerance and anti-bullying policies.

Activities include a free, voluntary film festival (starting seventh hour daily in the Media Center), a one-week revival of Rat Bucks, a school climate survey, “Mix It Up” Day and suspension of regular announcements to engage in brief school-wide discussions.

The following plan for Tolerance Week will provide a fun, focused kick-off for a much larger, future campaign to further engrain tolerance of differences and intolerance of bullying.

For more information, contact Liz Margolis, AAPS Director of Communications at 994-2236, or Dr. Arthur Williams, Ann Arbor Huron Principal, at 994-2040.

Film Festival
The Media Center will host a week-long film festival starting seventh hour daily; bring your class or encourage students to come down for popcorn and a movie.

Monday: Real Women Have Curves
Tuesday:  Mean Girls
Wednesday: The Laramie Project
Thursday:  Children of a Lesser God
Friday:  Fried Green Tomatoes

Rat Bucks
To promote the kind acts that characterize a culture of tolerance, Rat Bucks will be revived for Tolerance Week.  Each staff member will be given ten Rat Bucks. During Tolerance Week, April 11-15, hand out Rat Bucks to students who you catch in the act of demonstrating kindness. Be sure to sign the Rat Buck and print both the student’s name and class year on the Rat Buck, which should be placed in the Rat Bucks container located in the main office.  On Wednesday, April 20, we will have a drawing for Rat Buck prizes, including use of Ms. Hein’s parking spot for two weeks, dinner for two at Ann Arbor Ventures and many more “thank yous.”

School Climate Survey
To accurately assess Huron’s climate, we will survey the entire school with a short questionnaire that combines multiple choice questions with maps of the school that ask students to locate where bullying happens.  This information will help community assistants, administrators and teachers pay focused attention to bullying with regard to location, type and frequency.

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Mix It Up Day
Mix It Up is a national campaign (usually scheduled in November) that asks students and staff to socialize with people outside of our daily routines.  Mix It Up will focus on lunch seating but may also include classroom seating.  Mix It Up Day will be Friday, April 15 as an opportunity to begin following through with the personal commitments students will consider during the morning’s announcement time.

Day of Silence (Sponsored by the Gay-Straight Alliance)
Students can sign up to participate in the Day of Silence during lunch on Friday, April 8, Monday, April 11 and Tuesday, April 12; Day of Silence t-shirts will be on sale.  Students who participate in the Day of Silence on Wednesday, April 13 will present this explanation: “Please understand my reason for not speaking today.  I am participating in the Day of Silence, a national youth movement protesting the silence faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender people and their allies, which is caused by harassment, prejudice and discrimination.  I believe that ending the silence is the first step to fighting these injustices.”  Students will break their silence at the film festival showing of The Laramie Project in the media center.

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Alternative Announcements
As part of Tolerance Week, we will use the seven minutes during third hour usually reserved for announcements to engage in school-wide discussions.  (See daily plans above.)

Tolerance Committee
Many individuals have committed time and energy to this project.  Their commitment is greatly appreciated.

Sarah Andrew-Vaughan and her creative writing students
Lisa Bares and the Intergroup Relations students
Patty Carden and her students
Sara Duvall
Marcus Edmonson and his SCIP students
Sean Eldon and The Emery students
Lauretta Flowers
Brenda Goebbel
Aimee Grant
Jennifer Hein
Ann Hendrick and her graphics students
Jay Howe
Scott Hunter
Brad Huttenga
Jennifer Iverson
Robyn Kimmey-Watson
Kristin Kubacki
Maryan Mastey
Kimberly Miller-Wright
Diane Rosenblum
Jonathan Smigell
Arthur Williams

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