In August of 2005, the Alliance School in Wisconsin became the first school created with the specific purpose of being bully-free. Fourteen years later, founder Tina M. Owen-Moore takes a reflective look back at the hard work and, yes, love, that went into creating a school whose mission is to make everyone feel safe and included, no matter who they are.
The Alliance Way: The Making of a Bully-Free School (Harvard Education Press, 2019) is packed with heartwarming stories of how this relatively small school was able to build a family-like community. Owen-Moore gives us portraits of students who became leaders and nurturers of their classmates, sharing their highs and lows. She offers strategies that Alliance used to create community, ensure justice, and promote understanding and caring—such as graduation rituals involving teddy bears, a schoolwide community meeting in which everyone had a voice, and one attempt to corral the entire student body outside to literally hug the school walls.
The book covers topics such as restorative justice, democratic leadership, student voice and choice, and culturally responsive practices. It features resources and sample documents, including a robust list of ideas school leaders can replicate today to prevent and address bullying.
Some of the strategies might be difficult for schools of larger sizes to replicate—such as the Alliance faculty's tradition of buying and wrapping personalized Christmas presents for each student. However, each example or story is told with such heart and passion that the book will inevitably spark other, more applicable ideas for educators to try in their own schools.
In all, this is a must-read for any educator serious about developing comprehensive bully-prevention tactics in schools.
