ACLU of Texas’ Post

As we enter Pride month, here is a great article for parents/guardians on how to ensure that your child's school is safe and affirming. https://lnkd.in/e2c788Rz

For Day 2 of #TeacherAppreciationWeek, I will be sharing with you a passage of the book I am currently reading “We Want to Do More Than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom”, by Dr. Bettina Love. Today’s quote comes from Chapter 2, Educational Survival, page 40: “Schools are mirrors of our society; educational justice cannot and will not happen in a vacuum or with pedagogies that undergird the educational survival complex. We need pedagogies that support social movements. I hear teachers say all the time, ‘I close my classroom door and teach.’ This strategy helps teachers survive the disempowering and stressful environment, irrelevant curriculums, and bureaucratic mess of education, but it does not change the field or the context in which youth are being disposed of; it may just prolong the inevitable. Ta-Nehisi Coates writes, ‘The streets were not my only problem. If the streets shackled my right leg, the schools shackled my left. Fail to comprehend the streets and you gave up your body now. But fail to comprehend the schools and you gave your body later. Suffered at the hands of both, but I resent the schools more…. The world had no time for the childhoods of Black boys and girls…. When our elders presented school to us, they did not present it as a place of high learning but as a means of escape from death and penal warehousing…. Schools did not reveal truths, they concealed them.’ At the heart of this thing are racism, persisting segregation, and violence. Dark people within America are the disposable class of people, inside and outside the classroom.” May 9th 2024 is #BlackTeacherAppreciationDay so I’ll be celebrating the week with you all by sharing quotes from We Want To Do More Than Survive. #TeacherAppreciationWeek #WeNeedBlackTeachers #ThankABlackTeacher

Starting a new school year can feel daunting, full of new experiences and emotions. That’s why we’ve created the Four Step Guides to Empowerment. These guides are designed for (1) 2SLGBTQI students, (2) parents/guardians, and (3) educators to support empowerment, resilience, and self-advocacy in the school community and beyond. Use this resource and more at egale.ca/back-to-school

New Post: Racelighting in Utah education: counterstories across contexts - https://lnkd.in/g4Q_Wwfb - The authors of this article– five anti-racist educators working in various educational settings in SLC– employ the Critical Race Theory counter-story methodology (Delgado and Stefancic, 1993) to confront resistance to educational equity in Utah. They do so by first providing a historical context of race and education in Utah before presenting four short counterstories addressing the racelighting efforts of students, fellow educators and administrators when confronted with the complexities of racial injustice. source - The authors of this article– five anti-racist educators working in various educational settings in SLC– employ the Critical Race Theory counter-story methodology (Delgado and Stefancic, 1993) to confront resistance to educational equity in Utah. They do so by first providing a historical context of race and education in Utah before presenting four short counterstories addressing the racelighting efforts of students, fellow educators and administrators when confronted with the complexities of racial injustice. source - TATANKA - TATANKA

Not what I planned on posting about today but... 4 years after changing the school names that honored Confederate leaders, the Shenandoah County school board voted to change them back. Mountain View High School and Honey Run Elementary School will return to be known as - Stonewall Jackson High School and Ashby-Lee Elementary School.  3 men who fought to protect the institution of slavery in the United States. And it will cost the school district approximately $300,000 to make the changes. In 1860-61 South Carolina, Mississippi, Georgia, and Texas all presented "declaration of causes" for their secession from the United States and formation of the Confederacy. All included statements regarding slavery, including this one from Mississippi: "Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery—the greatest material interest of the world." The State of Texas complained against the northern states: "They have encouraged and assisted thousands of our slaves to leave their homes; and those who remain, have been incited by emissaries, books, and pictures to servile insurrection." This is only one county, in one state - we shouldn't generalize this as being a representation of the entire country - BUT, we shouldn't underestimate it's representation either. Open your eyes. #humanity #challengethestatusquo #ethicalleadership #slavery

For 30 years, Children's Defense Fund has held the Ella Baker Child Policy Training Institute to prepare hundreds of college-aged young people to teach CDF Freedom Schools® curriculum at our program sites across America. This year's national training welcomes more than 1,500 youth advocates. On Thursday, CDF Vice President and Chief Program Officer Sheri Brady joined with Denise Dean, executive vice president of East Tennessee Freedom Schools, to appear on WATE-TV's Living East Tennessee with Veronica Ogbe and Amber Lynn Carroll. Brady and Dean discussed a public demonstration Children’s Defense Fund has planned to protect the freedom to read in Tennessee and across the country. "Reading is fundamental and it's really important to actually engage students and a lot of time if students don't see themselves in the stories they read, they won't read,” Brady said. “So, it's really important they have books they can relate to and understand." The event, which will also feature a march through downtown Knoxville, is also meant to bring attention to the proliferation of book bans across the country. Such methods of censorship have proven harmful to young people. "I talk to families in two ways about books,” Dean said. “So, our books are mirrors that reflect us, our cultures, the stories that are familiar to us, but they're also windows; windows into other cultures, other lifestyles and other people. So, whereas the mirrors are affirming for the children, the windows allow them to have greater understanding and empathy that allow them to deal with people who are different than them in a healthy way." https://lnkd.in/ePDt-N9q

70 years after Brown v. Board, our schools remain as segregated as they were in the 1960s. Classrooms are one of the first places where kids have the chance to connect with people from different backgrounds. Increasing diversity in our schools isn’t just the right thing to do—it’s critical for preparing young people for the diverse workplaces and communities they’ll be part of as adults. It’s time to end segregation in public education so students can truly learn from each other and be equipped to succeed in the real world. https://lnkd.in/gxQ9tbBN

Who? Anyone working in youth centered, human service, and education spaces. What? Restorative Justice Using Restorative Practices: Strengthening Relationships institute. Where? Brooklyn Friends School. When? July 31–August 2. Why? So that we may explore the engagement of restorative practice as a focus on building community through the power of circles, looking at classrooms as communities, co-creating agreements, engaging authentic presence and communication with the emphasis on relationships, understanding, and empathizing in community. How: https://lnkd.in/gKTwWtzT

It’s Civic Learning Week! iCivics encourages us to learn how we can make better decisions as citizens. Decision Education equips students with the tools to assess information critically, weigh different perspectives, and make informed decisions about civic matters, such as voting on policies or engaging in advocacy. Learn more about what you can do for Civic Learning week below! https://lnkd.in/gZpNSbD9

Reducing the burden of costs for early education and care providers - especially for Black & Latino/Hispanic providers - is crucial for retention and encouraging others to enter the field. Learn more in a video from CEOAction for Racial Equity: https://lnkd.in/e2vb62mu