On Monday night, February 17th, we held our second Worthy Town Hall, focusing on strategies for protecting children in our schools. With the looming possibility of immigration officials coming onto school campuses to request access to students and/or information on students, educators are seeking and advocating for clear guidance on how to handle these situations if and when they occur. You can review the recording of the livestream on Facebook here.
Our Town Halls are a safe place for educators to come together and discuss the work at hand. They are structured to be nonpartisan, non-conspiracy theory, non-alarmist, dealing only in facts to build constructive strategies everyone can take with them and implement. In all things, we are committed to the privacy of everyone involved. We will not publish, share or mention you by name or any other identifiable information in supporting your voice as an advocate for public education!
Last night’s panelists were:
Sheryl Abshire – an ed tech thought leader and former Chief Technology Officer for the Calcasieu Parish Public Schools in Louisiana
Susan Brooks-Young – an author, advocate and former teacher and principal in California, now residing in Washington State
Kathleen McClaskey – the CEO of Empower the Learner and Founder of Make Learning Personal in New Hampshire
Samantha Shane – a CTE Teacher, a member of our Worthy Educator Leaders cohort, and a contributing author to our journal, Legacy: Transformation in Action in New Jersey, and
Will Tragert – the Head of Upper School at Cape Henry Collegiate School and a member of our Worthy Educator Leaders cohort in Virginia
In walking though the EDInfluencers site we updated everyone on everything available for ed advocates:
- Educator Information (bottom of the page) and
- Tools for Action (bottom of the page)
We spent time reviewing key action items state governments and school districts have taken across the country, discussing each. You can click on “Topic: Protecting Children in Schools” at the top of the EDInfluencers page to view the current listing:
We then shared legislation resubmitted for the 119th congress, known as H.R.5166 – The Protecting Sensitive Locations Act in the House and S.455 - A bill to amend section 287 of the Immigration and Nationality Act to limit immigration enforcement actions at sensitive locations, to clarify the powers of immigration officers at sensitive locations, and for other purposes in the Senate. You can share your support for this legislation on our Speak Up and Be Heard page, where you can click to send a copy of the language in supporting the bill to your elected federal officials.
As an action item, we presented a strategy for developing your communications network, by creating a list of names and email addresses (and phone numbers, if desired) of eight to twelve educators you have a working relationship with plus all of your local, state level and federal elected representatives. This forms the core group of your list. The next level you can add onto the core include local media and education stakeholders, such as parents, community members and business leaders who support public education. The combined list represents the people you can count on for their voices and for their vote as you move forward advocating for public ed. You want this list constructed now so that it is ready when you need it, rather than starting to build it the day you are ready to communicate with your key connections. Keep it as a saved file in whatever format that works for you: a spreadsheet, database, hotlist, address book or whatever makes sense.
We concluded the evening announcing our March Town Hall on Monday, March 24th at 7pm et. You can register to participate via Zoom here.
Additional resources for your consideration in advocating for the protection of children in schools include:
We understand that what it looks like to take action differs from person to person, based on our perceptions of the situation on the ground where we live and work, and what we think we can accomplish in our own way in the days ahead. To this end, our Commit to Take Action board is set up for each educator to share what impact looks like for them, and what they can work to accomplish in these next months. When you are ready, please share your commitment to our profession and the children we serve on this board. It will provide incentive and encouragement for others to decide what they can do to help make a difference, too.
These Town Hall conversations are critical for sharing information, building capacity and coordinating our efforts to take action moving forward. All members of the panel also expressed willingness to speak with educators one-on-one to address questions an concerns and build individual relationships as well as our community as a whole. Please feel free to reach out to any and all of us between now and the next Town Hall. We look forward to seeing you there!
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Got something that needs to be heard? We'll get it said and read on the Worthy Educator blog! Email it to walter@theworthyeducator.com
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