CEA Advisor_April 2022

INFORMING

4 CEA ADVISOR APRIL 2022

TEACHERS, LEGISLATORS ON

Daniel HoSang, Yale professor of Ethnicity, Race, & Migration and American Studies, moderates a panel of educators (L-R): Benie N’sumbu, Giselle Garcia, Leslie Blatteau, and Ruth-Terry Walden.

THE LAST SEVERAL MONTHS HAVE SEEN CLASSROOMS AND BOARD OF EDUCATION MEETINGS TURN INTO BATTLEGROUNDS FOR EVERYTHING FROM COVID PROTOCOL TO CURRICULUM.

What are educators to do when they’re faced with angry accusations, confused parents, and misinformation about what they teach? How can they ensure schools are strongholds of diversity, equity, and inclusion and dispel myths about what that means? Those were the questions taken up at a forum in RockyHill in February that brought educators, administrators, and lawmakers together for a discussion of What’s Real in Education. The program—held in person and livestreamed—was a collaborative effort of CEA, AFT Connecticut, and the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents (CAPSS). Chilling effect CEA President Kate Dias described significant abuse aimed at teachers and curricula in the context of public school board meetings, private emails, and social media—including recent threats that have had a chilling effect on Guilford educators by a group purporting to be watching everything they do. As many as 43 states have passed or considered legislation to restrict educators’ ability to teach a broad range of subjects, including gender, sexuality, race, and racism. The list of banned books and materials grows longer each day, and more than a third of educators surveyed nationwide say they are more likely to leave the profession at the end of this school year in the face of laws that prevent honest teaching and conversations. “This distortion and perversion of the work we do every day has brought us together to say we can’t let the noise be the only information that’s out there,” said Dias. “We have to bring our perspective to the table, let everybody know what’s real in

education, and provide protection for our educators.” “Teaching is a hard job,” AFT Connecticut President Jan Hochadel remarked, adding that student trauma and dysregulation forged by the pandemic have only made it harder. “We need to offer support systems for our teachers. We’re not getting the respect we deserve.” That protection and support would come, in part, from a proposed Educator’s Bill of Rights that calls for freedomfrom intimidation, respect for the dignity and expertise of educators, equitable resources that are not limited by a school’s ZIP code, school communities that cultivate social emotional health for optimal teaching and learning, and recruitment and retention of diverse educators.

can grow every child who’s in your care. We’re much more powerful when we’re one.” Panelist Ruth-Terry Walden, an English teacher at Westhill High School in Stamford, recalled her start in teaching as a second career. “Six weeks into teaching, I looked at the books on my classroom shelf and said, ‘I can’t use these books.’ They were all written by white men about other white men.” As a woman of color, Walden noted, “We’ve always been there; we just haven’t been in the history books. Women couldn’t see themselves in these books, and certainly Black children, brown children, and indigenous children couldn’t see themselves. Students have to be able to see themselves in their classroom to be

free from intimidation. Just the fact that teachers are being made to feel afraid to go into their classrooms and teach the truth has to change. Teachers shouldn’t have to sacrifice their professional lives.” Panelist Leslie Blatteau, a world history teacher at New Haven’s Metro Business Academy and president of the New Haven Federation of Teachers Local 933, described anti-racist teaching strategies that she and her colleagues use, including checking with students to find out what they want to learn. “That doesn’t mean throwing out curriculum,” she clarified. “It means empowering students with choice. American history is a history of Black resistance. We are teaching students that another world is

Just the fact that teachers are being made to feel afraid to go into their classrooms and teach the truth has to change.” GISELLE GARCIA, MANCHESTER TEACHER

Educators speak out The forum led off with a panel of classroom educators sharing their own experiences with anti-racist, anti- discriminatory teaching, including obstacles they have faced. They urged colleagues, administrators, and lawmakers to stand together to ensure Connecticut teachers are not sanctioned or silenced for teaching equity, diversity, and truth. CAPSS President Fran Rabinowitz agreed. “Teachers are the most important asset we have in our schools, and our job is to ensure you have the environment where you

engaged.” She added, “We need administrators and legislators to have our backs when we do this work.” Walden also noted that much of the curriculum that deals with Black, brown, and indigenous people is limited to their suffering and struggles without also acknowledging their successes. “We must convey the joy in their stories, the fact that our ancestors passed the torch and we endured.” Fellow panelist and Manchester High School math teacher Giselle Garcia described her own experiences teaching about race. “Our school is engaging in a lot of work centered on race and equity,” Garcia said. “As a Puerto Rican woman, I think of my role and how I interact with students. We’re fortunate that we have anti-racist teachers creating anti-racist classrooms and that we’re all engaging in that training.” She acknowledged, however, that teachers are “still working in a system that perpetuates the racism we’re trying to undo,” adding, “Teachers deserve to be viewed as professionals and trained experts in our field. We also have the right to be

possible. We have a right to teach our students the truth.” One of the driving forces behind the campaign for Connecticut’s new Black/Latino Studies high school course that won recent approval, panelist Benie N’sumbu is a former organizer with Students for Educational Justice, in New Haven. Like students, she said, teachers have been instrumental in agitating for change. “I’m excited that there are teachers who are passionate, creative in their classrooms, and committed to teaching the truth,” N’sumbu said. “As long as we have teachers like these, and we support them, our children are in great hands.” Shared goals Legislators joined the discussion in a bipartisan panel of their own, emphasizing that education is an area where all lawmakers can and should come together. Republican State Representative Kathleen McCarty, a former teacher herself, expressed pride in being a ranking member of the legislature’s Education Committee. “If we keep our children centered

INCREASE IN THE NUMBER OF ATTEMPTS TO BAN SCHOOL LIBRARY BOOKS (SEPTEMBER 2020 TO SEPTEMBER 2021) 67 %

Source: American Library Association