Honors given for fighting violence

Danette Goulet

COSTA MESA -- They have fought the toughest bully of all -- a notion

that nothing bad ever happens in their community.

Now the grass-roots parent activists -- who began the Safe Schools

Partnership in Corona del Mar and set out to abolish the “code of silence

in the schoolyard” that protects bullies -- have support and confirmation

of their cause.

The three parents -- Cyndie Borcoman, Lucy Steinberg and Gwen Haas --

were awarded as Ambassadors of Peace by the Violence Coalition of Orange

County on Friday for their fight against bullying.

“It’s a great validation of what we’ve been doing,” Steinberg said.

“It’s good to know that people agree with us that our kids need to be

safe. This is something we need to keep on with.”

The safe schools crusade began last spring after a 13-year-old boy was

choked by a classmate in a gym class and no students came forward right

away. Following their efforts, the Newport-Mesa Unified School District

Board of Education approved a revision to the district’s zero-tolerance

policy -- which sets guidelines for student conduct -- that added

bullying, intimidation and violence to the list of things that

disciplinarians will crack down on.

“It was a real grass-roots effort that came together with nothing else

in common but that they wanted their children not to be bullied,” said

Daria Waetjen, a coalition committee member who works at the Orange

County Department of Education, one of 80 organizations that make up the

coalition.

The coalition was established in 1996 to promote policies in Orange

County that prevent violence, to change community norms by establishing

nonviolence as desirable behavior and to foster communication among

community members.

“This is the fifth year for the Ambassador of Peace Awards,” Waetjen

said. “The impetus was really to recognize exceptional work and leaders

in the county in the areas that have been laid out.”

While the Safe Schools Partnership won for the category of “agency,”

there were seven others categories. Among the honorees Friday were the

following: for law enforcement, California Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer; for

judiciary, Judge Pam L. Iies of the Harbor Justice Center; and Corona del

Mar High School’s Josh Ludmir won for the youth category.

“These people have done amazing things, and I am flattered and honored

to be counted among them,” said Ludmir, a senior at Corona del Mar High

School who got his award for organizing the school’s first Tolerance Day.

But it was more than pulling together an anti-violence symposium,

Waetjen said.

“It’s not just the Tolerance Day -- he walks the walk,” she said.

The honor left each of the Newport Beach recipients humbled and

honored.

“I really appreciate it because I think we stand for kids who need a

voice, to be heard about their feeling safe at school and their ability

to express themselves,” Borcoman said. “It’s still a battle.”