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CFA Nears Unanimous Support from SPS School Board

Current Seattle School Board of Directors Supporters (Dec. 2015)

• Sue Peters, Seattle School Board Director, District 4
• Leslie Harris, Seattle School Board Dir., District 6
• Jill Geary, Seattle School Board Dir., District 3
• Rick Burke, Seattle School Board Dir., District 2
• Scott Pinkham, Seattle School Board Dir., District 1
•  Betty Patu, Seattle School Board Dir., District 5

 Exciting news::All four of the four new school members have publicly committed to getting CFA adopted as soon as humanly possible!

Together, we need to ensure ALL school board members are engaging the active support of superintendent Larry Nyland and SPS administrative staff to support and adopt Civics for All in time for the 2016-2017 school year, to avoid the risk of losing our $250,000 King County grant for mock elections. 

 Our School Board members are THE only elected, representative voice of the public in the school system.  They play THE crucial role in leading and convincing SPS staff to make curriculum and instruction adoptions like Civics for All.

Ways you can help get the initiative passed:

1. Sign the Civics for All Petition 

   on any page of this website or click above

2. Email  SPS & School Board Members –

   To Send a Letter/Email of Support, Simply:

1. Write a brief “power letter” of support for adopting Civics for All to Superintendent Larry Nyland and School Board President Betty Patu, cc’ing it to the rest of the school board
2. Send your formal letter as an email to “Email Addresses” below
3. BCC your emailed letter in PDF format to me, Web Hutchins, and to our website manager, Tomo Kuman-Lesher, Nathan Hale High School parent, for posting on the website – not: yes/post, no/post
4. See examples of other letters here

Email Addresses:

To:  [email protected]; [email protected]

Cc: [email protected]; [email protected];  [email protected]; [email protected]

Bcc: [email protected]; [email protected]

Heading/Address for Letter:

Superintendent Larry Nyland, School Board President Betty Patu, et al

Seattle Public Schools

2445 3rd Ave South

Seattle, WA 98134

1. Post Your Letter to the Super and Board Online!  To have your “Formal Letter” posted online here please send your letter to the superintendent and  cc it as a PDF attachment to Civics for All director Web Hutchins via [email protected] .  I will post your letter along with the others.
2. Contact your school board director directly – Map and contact info here – and talk with them via phone, in person, or via email.  Encourage them to actively support Civics for All adoption for the 2016-2017 school year.  Listen to their views if they oppose CFA and tell them your view.  You might find help in countering their excuses by consulting either the school board page or the FAQ page.  Note: “Piloting” it for a few years is not necessary or helpful – mock elections have been done in American schools for centuries!!
3. Social Media – Like Us on FaceBook and Spread the word about Civics for All, verbally, electronically, and otherwise! LIKE US ON FACEBOOK AND GET ALL OF YOUR FRIENDS TO SIGN THE PETITION, ETC. 
4. Email CFA director Web Hutchins ([email protected]) and ask him to list you as a “Supporter of Civics for All” on the website itself – among very good company.

Extra-Credit Level Civic Actions!

1. Commit to asking five fellow citizens who support civics education to visit this website and send emails and more.
2. Testify at the school board for Civics for All – great for any supporter to do but especially powerful for parents or teachers to offer testimony. Here is info/directions to testify.  Please consider testifying at the School Board in the coming months on behalf of Civics for All.  Public Testimony is taken every other Wednesday – you must sign up on the Monday prior – directions are here.  Upcoming dates for public testimony are:  November 4, November 18, December 2, December 16th, January 6th, January 20th, February 3.

Honor – Roll Level Civic Actions!

1. Get your children involved. Kids love civics. Utilize the petitions found on this pedagogy page. Let us know if you need any help with this. Ideally, the Civics for All Initiative would be a student-led movement – you can help make it happen – build a parent-student coalition!!!
2. Contact  any Civics for All board member, to help with publicity, strategy, and implementation plans. We need help building a social media campaign via Facebook and Twitter. Let’s review: we really need help with these hi-tech systems!!!
3. Write an op-ed for the Seattle Times, or CrossCut.com, or your neighborhood paper, or the NYT – why not?!!  Judi Billings and I had one published last summer about CFA.
4. Write a Letter to the Editor of these papers when related topics present themselves.  The Seattle Times has constant coverage of education topics, including in it’s Education Lab, that you could easily relate to civics education and Civics for All.
5. Create and develop other ideas and let us know!

The time is now to give our kids tools to live in our democracy! They are counting on us to be up to the test!   Thank you for your interest and support!

Sample email or snail mail: Dear Superintendent Nyland et al, 

Please support the Civics for All Initiative. Too many Seattle youth know too little about their government and, what’s worse, many of them don’t even care. Our school district must do a better job of educating its 50,000 students about the duties and the joys of educated citizenship.  The recent 5 year grant of up to $250,000 for mock elections is an amazing gift.  I am sure you support using this funding to teach kids how to vote.  Civics for All can make this happen – and with your support it WILL happen!!! Sincerely,

Superintendent Larry Nyland                                                                                                                     c/o Seattle Public Schools                                                                                                                          MS: 33-180                                                                                                                                                    2445 3rd Ave                                                                                                                                          Seattle, WA 98134

Feel free to contact us directly to get involved, ask questions, make connections, etc.

Web Hutchins, Executive Director – Civics for All
[email protected]

Tim Ames, Advisory Board – Civics for All

[email protected]

Judith Billings, Advisory Board- Civics for All
[email protected]

Margit McGuire, Advisory Board – Civics for All

[email protected]

 

Contact us.  Our automated contact feature is out of whack at this time.  Don’t bother with it for now– email us instead.

If you’d like to contact Civics for All founder Web Hutchins directly, please email him at [email protected]

If you feel the Civics for All idea should be considered at the state level as well, please contact your legislator.  Also, feel free to email any of the Legislature’s education reform leaders, including:

• Rep. Eric Pettigrew, Majority Caucus Chair (D-Seattle)- big supporter!
• Rep. Sharon Tomiko-Santos, Education Committee Chair, (D-Seattle)- big Supporter
• Sen. Steve Litzow, Chair, Comm. on  Early Learning & K-12 Education (R- Bellevue)
• Senator Rosemary McAuliffe, Ranking member, Comm. on Early Learning & K-12 Education (D-Bothell)

Volunteers are welcome!!!

“Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.” 

— Aristotle