Parents spend so much time and energy advocating for their children. It is emotionally draining, you constantly second guess yourself as a parent - and at night when everything's quiet, exhaustion sinks in as you try to fall asleep
knowing there was still more work ahead of you...
Advocating for one child at a time will not create systemic change for our education system.
The individualized advocacy often done by white privileged families isn't moving us forward towards equitable schools.
The outcomes of this type of advocacy does little to help the children of families that don't have the resources and are left even more vulnerable for discrimination and segregation.
Instead we need systemic change which means policies that affect MULTIPLE children not just ours.
On today's live training we will talk about widening our circle of allies in order to create the systemic change that is needed for our education system.
We'll be using an example from a school district in Billings, MT that is refusing to have a high school student with Down syndrome be able to finish her senior year.
Raise your hand if you can swear that students get special ed. services at least until they are 21? (I'm raising my hand)From the Billings Gazette, "Billings School District2 policy 2050 states that schools don't have to enroll students who have reached age 19 on or before Sept. 10 of the school year in question."
SAY WHAT?
Join our conversation for a special edition of The Art of Advocacy on Tuesday, March 29th at Noon Mtn. Time, 2 pm ET, 1 pm CT, 11 am PT. We'll be on my Visions and Voices Together Facebook page.
Is the school district in Billings not following what’s written in IDEA?
How does this district decision affect other students?
What advice do you listen to?
What can you choose to do today to be a part of this collective advocacy movement?
PLEASE NOTE: Emily Pennington is not a guest. We will be talking about her situation.
