Amid our many differences, we focus on nurturing ALL the kids in Central Bucks
Last Tuesday’s Central Bucks school board meeting, where a number of people bore passionate witness to the wounds inflicted by the conflict in the Middle East, illuminated the deep hurt and pain of many in our community.
Both our Muslim and our Jewish families are suffering. The question that confronts us is the obvious one: how can we help ALL the students feel safe enough to learn and thrive? How best can we fulfill our mission to educate each and every child?
Last Tuesday’s public comment was heavy, at times tearful, and very difficult for many in our community. These are tense and trying times. Uncertain of how public comment will unfold over the next several months, we ask for the Board’s continued strength and leadership—as exemplified in Board Director’s Mrs. Reynolds and Dr. Mahmud’s remarks last week (excerpts at the end)—in responding to antisemitism and Islamophobia.
A number of speakers identified themselves as Jewish and/ or had Israeli relatives. We also had a number who identified themselves as Palestinian, Syrian, and /or Muslim, some with relatives in Gaza. They spoke about a recent controversy at CB West, where the fliers posted by the Muslim Student Association brought out inflamed and raw feelings among our Jewish community. Questions arose about the role of the faculty advisor to the MSA, which we understand are being answered by our district administration, as they properly should.
As we listened, we learned that many Muslim students have experienced years of isolation, discrimination, and harassment. These children and young adults have been blamed for international aggressions and held up to ridicule for their identities, by other students, by national figures, and many people in between. Many spoke of their deep gratitude for a teacher whom they see as an ally who provides a safe space, a place to belong, and a bridge to the larger community.
We also know that CB has a long and troubling history of antisemitic bullying, and Jewish students also face significant issues of isolation, discrimination, and harassment. This stands against a backdrop of rising willingness to voice openly hate-filled and violent rants among politicians, talk show hosts, podcasters, influencers on social media, and in every other forum.
Jewish and Muslim students, like all kids, want to fit in at school, be accepted and belong, but the outspoken prejudices of some of the people make that difficult.
Central Bucks shares the same challenge as every other school district in the country—the same challenges the nation confronts. Those in power (and those who wish to gain more power) worldwide have found it useful to set us against one another, to distrust and hate one another, to feel justified believing that any human being is less than human and has no human rights. We see it in some states’ and districts’ banning of some people’s books, their suppression of some people’s history, their erosion of some people’s rights, and their rhetoric that some people are not really people and could “poison the blood” of the real people. This is a fool’s road and we know where it leads.
And here is where Central Bucks can truly lead the way. We can unite. We can regard each other as equals. We can treasure each and every one of our children, hold faith in their future, and educate ALL of them to lead us along a better, higher path, where ALL American citizens are created equal.
Case in point: the CB faculty advisors of the Jewish Student Union and MSA convened both groups for a conversation and they plan a joint cultural event later in April. Surely this is a model for how we can foster and encourage divergent views and critical thinking.
But this does not mean that there will be no teasing, no discomfort, no challenge in school. Quite the contrary.
On learning
Education is inherently challenging. Education brings you face to face with your own ignorance. If kids are entirely comfortable, they may not be learning. A trivial, nearly universal example: Algebra, Physics, Shakespeare, and the subjunctive mood make kids uncomfortable—students can become actually angry at “having” to learn these things. Yet we patiently require them to overcome this discomfort in order to learn. A more sensitive example: many incidents from our shared history as Americans make them—and us—uncomfortable. Some push back on our accurate historical record, wishing it were not true, wishing to avoid the pain of turning toward tragedy and injustice with curiosity and courage. Yet we know we must forthrightly face the truth.
Another uncomfortable challenge arises with the views of students with whom they disagree. Yet we expect in full confidence that we and they can turn toward the discomfort, summon those allies in learning—curiosity and courage—and hear another view. Sometimes we might say or hear something that we do not understand, that strikes us as offensive. We can put our humanity front and center. We can hear what challenges us and grow in understanding, even if we do not change our own views.
This is why we supported the presence of Pride symbols in classrooms, for those teachers who chose to display them. In the same way some teachers wear Autism Awareness buttons and ribbons to support the neurodivergent, and some teachers wear teal or pink ribbons to signal their compassion for those dealing with certain cancers, the goal was to reach out to students who feel isolated and alone in their identity that this teacher was open to their story. We want to provide a sympathetic listener for beleaguered young people so that they feel connected enough, that they belonged enough, to learn in school.
The ideal state of mind for learning is what Lev Vygotsky called “the zone of proximal development.” That’s when you’re a little off balance, a little uncomfortable, confronting the right degree of challenge, but not fearful, ashamed, attacked, or alone in your suffering.
Make no mistake: the optimal level of challenge is not the same as being bullied or harassed for who you are. Your color, heritage, faith tradition, background, gender, degree of ability, physical size or appearance: these are things you cannot alter and about which you must not be insulted. These are off the table. We must work to keep them off the table. Yet our beliefs, views, opinions, assumptions—these can properly be challenged, questioned, defended, or changed by the person who holds them and who is responsible for them.
Both our school board meeting and the conflict at CB West serve as perfect examples for why we opposed policy 321 as the old board had revised it. It presumed that teachers seek a sinister agenda rather than raising students up to their highest potential. It required teachers to present every issue in a “balanced” way, without guidance about what that would require. How could a teacher know if it was sufficiently balanced to satisfy all participants? Policy 321 made anyone’s discomfort the signal that someone was in violation of the policy. It was safer for teachers to avoid the whole problem by tamping down any debate. Issues swept under the rug help no one to greater understanding.
Now that old policy 321 has been suspended, we see a willingness to air our differences and to discuss them. This is a crucial gain. We’re better off as a community than we were.
So how do we help all kids learn and thrive in school? How do we help them become critical thinkers who can listen to views other than what they already agree with?
We must teach students and all school personnel the vital importance of accepting ALL identities. We embrace the children as they are, as they tell us they are, and we do our utmost to challenge and support them. They will not always be comfortable, but they will be welcomed and accepted.
We teach them that no child in any of our schools made any decisions about global policy. We do not allow anyone to accuse a student in our schools of complicity in any government or public policy.
We must remind students and all school personnel that kids are not responsible for the actions of their country of origin, their faith group, their ancestors, those who share their skin color, those who speak their language, nor anyone other than themselves. We must teach and model the truth that in school, ALL are welcome. While we are free to speak and to disagree with each other’s speech, we are prohibited from linking anyone’s identity, culture, values, faith, gender, or any other facet of identity with actions of others outside of school.
This is how we teach kids how to think, not what to think. Even better, it’s how we free them to think for themselves and how to learn. And it’s how we safeguard the dignity—and therefore the freedom to learn—of every child.
Each child in our community is respected and cherished. The world needs ALL of them to find safety and respect in school, so they can learn and grow into their highest potential. Whoever they are, we need them.
Some action steps we would like to see:
When someone tells you about their difficult experience, believe them.
Teachers need consistent, proactive training in how to handle difficult issues that complements their undergraduate and graduate training. To learn more, we suggest reading former Board member and educator Tabitha Dell’Angelo’s recent article where she details how teacher preparation programs prepare teachers to handle controversial issues.
Teachers need clear guidelines about their social media and keeping their work life and their outside-of-work life separate.
Students need to know that we see them, we hear them, and we care about them, ALL OF THEM.
We all need to reaffirm that while there may be chronically tragic circumstances in the world, in school it’s simple: everyone belongs. We need to let every child know that this means them, and we do that through increased representation of marginalized populations through clubs, events, books, curriculum, and hiring more diverse teachers.
We say to every person in our district: we can unite around our children’s need to be valued just as they are. This is how we overcome our differences. This is how we turn away from division and hatred and move toward mutual respect and hope for the future. The conflicts raging around us are complicated, but our children’s needs are simple: to be accepted, even cherished, and to be educated to their highest potential. We can meet those needs—for EVERY child, for ALL of the children.
For the final word on last Tuesday night’s meeting, we turn to the remarks by board members Heather Reynolds and Mariam Mahmud.
Dr. Mahmud:
Many things have unfolded in the last several months and unfortunately have escalated to the point of Islamophobic attacks on students and one of the minority teachers in our district. I also want to acknowledge that anti-Semitic hate is at an all time high and that too is deeply disturbing and something we all need to stand against in a united manner.
It is important that students see themselves in their teachers. In a growing population of diverse, multilingual, special education and minority students, representation in the district matters; now more than ever before. Recruiting and supporting a diverse group of teachers, treating them well and uplifting them is our role and I take that seriously. We all do.
In addition, for those who feel that support for one student group, teacher, or minority group means the lack of support for another: I assure you that it does not. I believe there is enough love and support in this world for everyone, most certainly at Central Bucks, and I know that the majority of the district and community exemplifies that. Let us look for those who are hurting, marginalized, or are being attacked especially with racial and bigoted tropes.
Stand up and ask questions in respectful ways - I and my fellow board members, particularly my dear Jewish colleague Ms. Reynolds, have had many enlightening and important conversations on this topic. We are all learning and there is much beauty and at times challenge in that.
Mrs. Reynolds:
Throughout my life I have been on the receiving end of antisemitism and understand what that feels like - how hurtful and harmful it is.
I know what it is like to be othered, to be different. However, my otherness does not give me a free pass to cast aspersions or judgment on anyone else. In fact, quite the opposite is true. I see my otherness as a call to join hands and use my voice to support those who are also othered and marginalized as a result of who they are - It also compels me to listen and consider to all sides of an argument or an opinion.
One of my favorite quotes from Brené Brown’s book Braving the Wilderness: “People are hard to hate close up.”
Having said that I urge all of us to step back and sit with the feelings we have when we see something that makes us uncomfortable. When we read something that makes us uncomfortable and resist the urge to react and embrace the necessity to lean in, ask questions. BE CURIOUS.
Specifically, as it relates to the issue at CB West and largely as a district with regards to Policy 321—I firmly believe we do not need a policy of neutrality—quite the opposite! Ignoring the real world, and avoiding conversations and situations our students will find themselves in is not helpful or realistic.
We need to encourage robust conversations that center our students' needs and prepare them for the world outside of Central Bucks. Give them the skills and tools they need to engage and interact with their peers and others in meaningful ways navigating through tough conversations and difficult topics in order to create critical thinkers.
Over the last year or so, I heard prior board leadership often repeat this sound bite: We need to teach kids how to think not what to think. And while that sentiment is true, Yes! We need to teach kids how to think—not what to think—it's impossible to do that without teaching our students the necessary skills and giving them adequate tools to work through challenging conversations.
Our educators are the ones to do this. They should be and MUST be trusted to facilitate these discussions and allow our students to grow, learn, and explore their views —allowing all to feel safe, valued and supported.