Resources for Addressing Hate: A Toolkit for Educators and School and District Leaders

Why This Work Matters and the Commitments That Guide It

Schools shape not only what students learn, but how they see themselves and one another.

When hate, dehumanization, or violence enters a school community, it threatens students’ sense of safety, belonging, and dignity—and places enormous responsibility on educators and leaders to respond appropriately.

This toolkit supports school boards, district leaders, principals, educators, counselors, and staff in doing that work before, during, and after moments of harm, with care, clarity, and purpose.

Our Purpose

This toolkit was created to help educational communities:

  • Strengthen school culture, relationships, and shared understanding to prevent harm before it occurs
  • Center learning on people, dignity, and human complexity when teaching about genocide, the Holocaust, and how to respond to hate responsibly
  • Respond to incidents of antisemitism, hate, and bias in ways that protect students, support staff, and maintain public trust
  • Communicate clearly and confidently with families, communities, and the public during difficult moments
  • Sustain this work over time to maintain positive school culture and community climate rather than treating it as a one-time response to crisis

This is not a compliance document or a scripted response manual. It is a practical, values-anchored resource designed to support thoughtful decision-making in real school contexts.

What Guides This Toolkit

This toolkit is grounded in a few core commitments:

  • Prevention matters. When administrators, educators, parents, and students build strong relationships and practice inclusion together, harm is reduced and resilience is strengthened.
  • People first. We teach about history—and respond to harm—by centering people as whole human beings, not only as victims or symbols.
  • Multiple forms of hate can be addressed together. Antisemitism, Islamophobia, anti-Black racism, anti-Armenian hate, anti-Asian hate, anti-LGBTQ+ bias, and other forms of identity-based prejudice and dehumanization are distinct in history and impact. Schools may be most successful when addressing these issues in coordinated ways without minimizing any community’s experience or collapsing their differences.
  • Support for educators. Teachers and leaders can best support students and families when they are not expected to navigate trauma, public pressure, or crisis alone.
  • Care and accountability together. Compassion, transparency, and responsibility are essential for integrity and trust.
  • Shared humanity and civic belonging. Schools play a central role in cultivating democratic norms, pluralism, and the skills necessary for students to live in diverse societies with respect and responsibility.

What You’ll Find

This toolkit includes three types of tools. Some are designed for ongoing use; others support specific moments.

  1. School Culture & Prevention Tools: Resources that foster an inclusive and positive learning environment which prevents harm before it occurs.
  2. Pedagogy & Teaching Practice Tools: Strategies for teaching difficult history and sensitive topics responsibly.
  3. Outward Communication & Response Tools: Support for what schools say and do publicly, especially during visible or high-pressure moments.

How to Use This Toolkit

You do not need to read this toolkit from beginning to end. Start where your role or situation calls for it. Return as needs evolve.

What This Toolkit Is — and Is Not

This toolkit is:

  • Evergreen and adaptable across contexts
  • Designed for multiple roles, from governance to classroom practice
  • Grounded in prevention, not just reaction
  • Practical, with tools, protocols, and guidance

This toolkit is not:

  • A scripted curriculum or required lesson plan
  • A replacement for local policies or legal guidance
  • A one-day training or checklist
  • A substitute for listening to your own community

A Shared Responsibility

Teaching difficult history and addressing hate are not the work of a single person or moment.

They require shared responsibility, coordination, and trust across classrooms, schools, districts, and communities.

This toolkit exists to support that shared work—so schools can remain places of learning, dignity, and care, even in challenging times.

This toolkit was created in partnership with the California Civil Rights Department and its Community Conflict Resolution Unit, California Department of Education, Cambodian Genocide Resource Center, Facing History & Ourselves, The Genocide Education Project, Intercultural Networks Group, JFCS Holocaust Center, and USC Shoah Foundation.