Townsend takes post leading national education initiative
Operation Respect urges tolerance at school, camp
 
By A Sun Staff Writer

June 17, 2003

In her first venture since losing last year's gubernatorial election, former Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend has sidestepped politics to become president of a not-for-profit organization that aims to create a bully-free environment in schools and summer camps.

Operation Respect: "Don't Laugh at Me" is expected to announce today that Townsend, 51, is its new leader.

In an interview yesterday, the former lieutenant governor said she had been on the job for nearly two months, helping the New York-based group construct a national network to distribute a curriculum of music and videos that focus on tolerance and respect.

The "Don't Laugh at Me" campaign was launched in September 2000 by Peter Yarrow of the folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary. Townsend said that Yarrow has been a supporter since her first run for office, an unsuccessful 1986 bid for Congress representing Baltimore County.

She said she jumped at the chance after being approached about becoming president.

"As you know, I've always loved character education. It's clearly what I love to do," she said. "I'm excited about bringing that whole notion of teaching right from wrong and helping kids make a difference nationwide."

Townsend's previous education work in Maryland includes an effort to make character education part of the state schools curriculum, and a push that makes volunteer service a graduation requirement.

She declined to reveal the salary she would earn but said it was a paying position.

The group's Web site, www.dontlaugh.org, says that Yarrow founded the group after being moved to tears by a song he first heard at a folk festival.

Written by Steve Seskin and Allen Shamblin, the song "Don't Laugh at Me" begins with the lyrics: "I'm a little boy with glasses, the one they call a geek. A little girl who never smiles, 'cause I've got braces on my teeth. And I know how it feels to cry myself to sleep. I'm that kid on every playground, who's always chosen last. A single teen-age mother, tryin' to overcome my past."

Yarrow says on the Web site that "I knew I had just discovered a song that could become an anthem of a movement to help children find their common sensitivity to the painful effects of disrespect, intolerance, ridicule and bullying."

The organization distributes compact discs and other materials free to schools, camps and other groups.

Townsend said that between 8,000 and 15,000 schools nationwide are teaching from the materials, and that 60 percent of teachers in Connecticut have been trained. Yesterday, she was in Chicago, helping the group open an Illinois office.

The effort is backed by several corporate and higher education sponsors, notably The McGraw-Hill Cos. In a statement, Charlotte K. Frank, a McGraw-Hill Education senior vice president and Operation Respect co-chairwoman, said Townsend's leadership will help the effort "reach new heights of success."

Word of Townsend's new position surfaced last week, in commencement comments made by the headmistress of Stone Ridge, a Catholic school for girls. Townsend, a Stone Ridge alumna, delivered a graduation speech at the Bethesda school.

After The Washington Post and the Gazette newspapers published news of the job, Townsend said the group began receiving calls.

"I realized we never did an announcement," she said. "I realized we should do a press release."

After serving two terms as lieutenant governor and garnering front-runner status in the gubernatorial race when no major opponent challenged her in the Democratic Party, Townsend lost the election to Republican Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. by 66,170 votes.

She said yesterday that she would not be moving, though "Don't Laugh at Me" is based in New York.

"With e-mail and fax and phone, I can work very hard in Maryland," she said.

Asked if she envisioned a return to politics, Townsend was noncommittal. "I see myself as making the best contribution with each passing day," she said.

Copyright © 2003, The Baltimore Sun