Subject: IMPORTANT: help needed and December 2009 meeting
minutes
From: "Reis, Beth" <Beth.Reis@kingcounty.gov>
Date: Thu, 31 Dec 2009 16:43:38 -0800
To: "SAFE SCHOOLS: post to \"IMPORTANT NEWS\" list"
<importantnews@safeschoolscoalition.org>, "SAFE SCHOOLS: post to main list"
<news@safeschoolscoalition.org>
Dear Safe Schools Coalition Members and Friends:
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Last chance to support YOUR Coalition in 2009 here: https://www.safeschoolscoalition.org/secure/donate.asp
PDF of the minutes (also in text below):
<<12-09minutes.pdf>>
Minutes 12-15-09, 3-5
p.m. PDT
Safe Schools Coalition Meeting
Facilitating: Kyle Rapinan; Recording: Matt Munson
Help needed requests are in RED.
Present:
Ben Ibale, Washington Education Association
Beth Reis, SSC co-chair, Public Health – Seattle & King County
Briana Herman-Brand, SSC OUTSpoken Speakers’ Bureau Manager
Frieda Takamura, Individual not representing a member organization
Gabi Clayton, SSC WebSpinner, PFLAG Olympia, Youth Guardian Services, Families United Against Hate
Jeff Soder, Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction
Kyle Rapinan, SSC co-chair, Casey Family Programs
Matt Munson, SSC co-secretary, Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest
Stefanie Fox, Mental Health, Chemical Abuse & Dependency Services Division, King County
(1)
SSC LEADERSHIP TEAM
a)
15 minutes of
SHARING TIME,
where each person says a little about a current project, for networking
purposes.
·
Gabi shared that PFLAG Olympia
was chosen to be part of a pilot project on diversity outreach and that they
will be screening the film
Brother Outsider: The Life of
Bayard Rustin at Evergreen and at S.
Puget Sound Community College as part of that effort.
1 Jeff has completed his doctoral dissertation re: 4h leaders readiness to support gay and lesbian youth. He’ll present the findings at the January 19th SSC meeting. Also reported that Kevin Jennings, Director of the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Safe & Drug Free Schools visited Jeff’s office recently (Jeff’s office oversees the Safe & Drug-free Schools program in Washington State).
2 Matt is on the newly formed gender committee for Planned Parenthood of Greater Western Washington which is currently revisiting how they frame their family nights, historically entitled Growing Up Male and Growing Up Female.
3 Stefanie is working with Kickin’ It For Peace, a youth violence prevention program, which is developing a series of workshops on knowing your rights and daily interaction with police. They’ll be utilizing a theater-of-the-oppressed model, especially focusing on youth of color and immigrant youth. Contact her if you want to bring the workshop to your workplace or school…Stefanie@safeschoolscoalition.org. She also reported that Sid, one of the producers of the amazing film Put This on the {Map} has met with Debra Chasnoff at Groundspark for technical assistance regarding “marketing” and film as a youth development tool. Stef also reported she’s been working with the Ingraham High School “peer mediators” (actually peer leaders) re: reducing bullying at Ingraham.
b) 15 minutes on a DEEPER QUESTION each month … this month: people shared their thoughts about how youth friendly SSC is, and what we can change about SSC to become more youth friendly. Beth shared that historically, SSC was formed to fill a gap that was seen in the community. GLSEN traditionally trained youth, but there was no organization that was actively training or educating adults on Queer issues and schools, so SSC took on that role. Kyle thought that this is an important distinction, but also shared that it may be time to shift SSC to more youth engagement and connecting with more youth through the speaker’s bureau. He also suggested that it may be time to increase our work with GSAs, as there is not a working GSA network from his perspective. This may be something that SSC can work on, and if that happens, youth will come to us. Stefanie shared that SSC has lots of youth engaged through the speaker’s bureau, but they are not represented at meetings, and that we have a strong opportunity to engage with the youth that are already working with us. We may be able to accomplish this through restructuring SSC meetings to be more youth friendly and giving youth a decision making voice in the meetings. Briana agreed and shared that there is a difference between adults with authority and youth with real leadership responsibilities. We need to use our power to empower the youth that are engaged, and this may take some education with the adults that are a part of SSC to shift our paradigm and how we can be allies in youth liberation. A local model that may be a viable partnership is Seattle Young People’s Project, perhaps they can provide some training. Briana also said that she is willing to help design a training for SSC adults, and Matt said he is interested in helping with that process. Ben said that in terms of training educators, they must be brought into a school or district with enthusiasm, vibrancy, and intention. Through this process, they become bought in and empowered with knowledge about what expectations. Train them and then give them responsibilities. Ben believes these lessons are transferrable to bringing youth on board. Beth added that another way is to do more community presentations, to Planned Parenthood Teen Councils, GSA’s and other youth organizations.
c) HELP NEEDED: The Coalition is in need of a 3rd Co-secretary, since Paul stepped down. Could you attend and take minutes at Coalition mtgs 4 times a year, occasionally participate in decision-making by email, and attend quarterly dinner meetings.
(2) INLAWS & OUTLAWS PARTNERSHIP – Drew, Beth
Inlaws & Outlaws has been licensed to be sold to schools and institutions. With this exciting news, that film’s producers are willing to share some of the proceeds of the sale of the film with SSC. The producers need a testimonial from an educator or a High School student activist about the film. This testimonial will be used to help market the film to schools. Jeff and Gabi agreed to write testimonials. They would also like assistance with writing lesson plans and a study guide to go with the film. Matt is willing to help with this, and Gabi will e-mail contact info for the producers to Jeff and Matt.
(3) WEB SITE REPORT – Gabi
Comparison of statistics between Nov. '09, Oct. '09 (a month before), and Nov. '99 (10 years ago)
November 2009 October 2009 November 2008
Total Page Views 57,372 52,307 4,327
Total Visitors 37,240 26,544 2,495
Avg Visitors per Day 1,241 884 144
In our listserv archives: http://www.safeschoolscoalition.org/listserve/
There are 233 listserv messages sent in 2009 (so far) which is just under 20 a month average. This counts ones that go to both NEWS and IMPORTANTNEWS as one.
There were 217 listserv messages sent in 2008.
Two new member applications were approved by unanimous affirmation. Welcome to:
a) Gay Straight Educators Alliance of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE)
2 years (through 2011) - paid $60. Based in Clay, NY, the Gay Straight Educators Alliance of the National Council of Teachers of English provides resources for English instructors at all grade levels seeking to incorporate LGBT literature and writing into their classes and to create safe spaces for themselves and their students.
http://www.ncte.org/assemblies/list#GSEA
b) Inlaws & Outlaws Hearts + Minds Campaign
1 year ( through 2010) - asked to be invoiced for $100. Based in Seattle, WA, our award-winning documentary Inlaws & Outlaws is being used in schools, community organizations and congregations to bring people together to recognize our common humanity: everybody wants love. http://www.inlawsandoutlawsfilm.com
(5) INTERVENTION TEAM REPORT – Penny
Among other interventions this month, the Intervention Team is involved with a family in Louisiana, working to make their school safer for/with their child.
(6) SPEAKERS BUREAU REPORT – Briana, Joyful
Speakers Bureau & Training Team
Date: Location: Trainers: Audience Total:
11/30 Monroe School Improvement Day Heather Carter
12/4 Notre Dame Americorps Briana Herman-Brand, Nathan Shara 27
Upcoming:
Mercer Multi-Arts 1/15
GLSEN Summit 1/18
South Seattle Community College – late Jan.
Edmonds Community College – Jan.
City Year 2/5
Mt Vernon High School 2/27
Tabling
Date: Location: Tablers:
12/11 Voices Rising Kyle Rapinan
Upcoming:
Bellevue Community College 2/9
AFSC Panels
Date: Location: Audience Total:
12/1 Bush School 17
12/4 Notre Dame Americorps 27
Upcoming:
Arts and Academics 12/18
Youth Advocacy Event 1/5
Roosevelt Panels 1/15
b) The future of the AFSC LGBTQ youth program and of youth panels
There was lively discussion about the future of OutSpoken, the partnership speaker bureau between SSC and AFSC. As of 12/16/09, AFSC has accepted a city grant to keep the speakers bureau funded and going in the short term. SSC has committed to standing behind the speakers bureau and is investigating other partnerships to help make this valuable program sustainable. Congratulations to Joyful for all of her hard work in securing a city grant! Frieda also said that this is a great time to push the speakers bureau’s visibility to the new incoming city administration.
c) Storage space for SSC speakers’ bureau and tabling, with ERW moving ERW is moving to a downtown location, and SSC must move its speakers bureau and tabling items. HELP NEEDED- can your organization donate some storage space? This is an urgent request, as ERW is moving with in the next couple of weeks. Ben will check with SEA, Stefanie will ask Seattle Public Schools, and Beth will continue conversations with PPGNW. [editor’s note: Turns out Planned Parenthood can’t house us. SSC needs cabinets or shelving that can hold about 20 large cardboard boxes. SSC needs occasional use of a desk (10 hours a month maximum) and occasional photocopying (averaging <500 sides/month).]
(7) FISCAL REPORT – Beth
a) Dates for a phone bank (and pizza party) HELP NEEDED
WHAT: Two phone banking and pizza parties … to help raise money to keep Safe Schools Coalition afloat in 2010
WHEN: Wed, Jan 13 and Tues, Jan 19 from 5:30-7:30 pm
WHERE: office of the Seattle Education Association, 5501 4th Ave S, Ste 101, Seattle, WA 98108 (a little way south of Costco)
WHO: You!!! And a friend, a partner, your whole GSA, and your old buds at Safe Schools Coalition!
b) Joint fundraiser with Delta Lambda Phi “Inclement Sprint, and is a 5K run/walk around Greenlake in Seattle, January 30. More info will follow, but plan to run or walk and to gather pledges. It will be great fun!
c) Please donate right now, online: http://www.safeschoolscoalition.org/donate.html !!!!
(8) LAW & POLICY WORK GROUP REPORT – Beth for Jennifer and Lonnie
a) WASHINGTON STATE:
The same bill, more or less, that was introduced last year as “HB 2015” will be introduced again this year by Rep. Liias. It requires OSPI and WSSDA to update their model bullying policy and procedures and would also require school districts to, at a minimum, adapt their policies to live up to this model standard.
HELP NEEDED- Volunteer needed to help draft letter to legislator for an early hearing of this bill. Ben will talk to Jill at WEA to see if she is able to draft a letter.
b) There was also a discussion about what bills should SSC be following, and if there is way to keep our website up to date with where important bills are in their process. Kyle suggested that we ask ERW to partner with SSC and help track important bills. Kyle will talk with ERW to see if they can add this content to their website, and SSC can link to their website from ours.
c) NATIONAL: WEA is providing an attorney to draft a national version of the WA state LGBTQ Law Quiz. Thanks WEA! [Editor’s note: Lambda Legal and the ACLU have agreed to partner in the effort.]
Stay tuned for a training in January. The thinking is that this training will be open to anyone interested in media advocacy and the hope is that there will be broad representation from all aspects of SSC. Contact Stefanie at Stefanie.fox@kiingcounty.gov for more info.
(10) RAPID RESPONSE NETWORK – Beth
Beth shared a proposal for the (national) Rapid Response Network that would spring into action to help schools that are facing controversies related to LGBT people or issues. The Network is seeking member organizations (such as SSC) but needs a consistent staff person to consult with. This is a challenge for SSC as there are no staff. Briana has signed on as the person RRN will consult with, with the understanding that if participation with this network is beyond the scope of her contract, SSC will re-evaluate if the amount of work is excessive and Beth agreed to back Briana up.
(11) WELCOMING SCHOOLS PROJECT – Beth, Willa
Beth and Willa were trained on this exciting Human Rights Campaign program/curriculum to help elementary schools become more welcoming to LGBTQ families, students, and staff. It addresses family , gender and bullying. The project has been piloted in 3 different school districts and the data collected has shown that it is effective. Stay tuned for more info about when Beth and Willa (and perhaps Kim Westheimer) will conduct a workshop in the Pacific Northwest.
(12) ORIENTING NEW ATTENDEES -- Beth
Discussion about whether Co-Chairs are able to stay about 15 minutes after each meeting to give new faces an outline of what SSC is all about. Kyle suggested a SSC “Cheat Sheet” that outlines all of the committees and actions that are taking place, complete with contact info for each one. That way, a new person will be brought into the coalition more effectively and will have an idea of what areas they want to be a part of. Beth will create a “Newbie” packet for chairs to go over with new folks, and Kyle will coach Beth on using Google Docs, a way for folks to share documents more easily.
*********************************
UPCOMING MEETINGS … contact the chair if you have agenda items to suggest or if you need instructions about attending (in person) or calling in (by conference call). All are welcome - you do NOT need to be a Coalition member to attend.
Jan 19th, 3-5 pm, Pacific Time. Stefanie facilitates and ______ records. Stefanie: 206-263-8936; Stefanie.fox@kingcounty.gov
Feb 16th, 3-5 pm, Pacific Time. Frieda facilitates Heather C. records. Frieda: questions@safeschoolscoalition.org
Mar 16th, 3-5 pm, Pacific Time. Kyle facilitates and Matt records. Kyle: 206-322-6711 ext 32190; KRapinan@casey.org
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, retired from the Washington Education Association
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