Mark Weiss, M.A, has been the Director of Operation Respect since 2002. He was a New York City school principal for 20 years, founding the first alternative high school in the Bronx in 1979 and leading that school for 13 years. In 1993, he founded a New Visions 6-12th grade school, School for the Physical City, which was heralded in a New York Times Magazine cover story as “A City School Experiment That Actually Works.” He led that school for more than 7 years before “retiring.”
Mark brings his commitment and expertise in building school communities of respect and learning to his work with Operation Respect. He is a master trainer and directs a staff of trainers who lead workshops focusing on social and emotional learning and promoting positive school climate nationally from New York City to Charlotte, North Carolina, to the Clark County School District in Las Vegas, Nevada, and internationally in Israel and Palestine, Jordan, Ukraine and most recently, Japan and Hong Kong. He has been a Personal, Professional Leadership Coach for school leaders including Principals and School Superintendents for more than ten years. Mark lives in Putnam Valley, New York with his wife, Jane, enjoying the nearby families of their three adult daughters, their husbands, and four granddaughters.