The Alt Ed Teacher Exchange

We invited Gina McMurray to the blog to share a wonderful new initiative for alternative educators in the Austin area. Gina works as a mentor at Integrity Academy and is volunteering her time to coordinate this effort. If you know educators at alternative schools who could benefit from the exchange program, be sure to pass along this post! 
                        

Collaboration and idea sharing among mentors are daily events at Integrity Academy.

We are all on the same mission: to change how we as a culture approach education.  Let’s join together in a new form of collaboration with a Teacher Exchange Program!

Mentors/teachers/guides at two different schools can switch places for the day, and learn—through direct interaction—what makes those schools awesome! We will experience what is successful and unique at another alt ed school and bring it “home”: putting into practice new ideas that we gain from other educators and learning environments.

Integrity Academy and Whole Life Learning Center are spearheading this movement, and we are in the planning stages of our first exchange date. One of our mentors will spend the day at WLLC, while one of theirs will come work with us. We all get the benefit of sharing teaching ideas and alt ed culture—without having to hire a sub!

If you are interested in participating in a Teacher Exchange day, please contact me at gina@integrityacademy.org, and I will help facilitate it. Thank you!

Gina McMurray
 

Media Monday: Hurricane Harvey and how your family or school can help

Our area is experiencing such an unprecedented disaster that it’s hard to know what to say or do first. Our focus here is always kids and education, so we decided to use this Media Monday post to boost organizations working to help children and families in the Gulf and Central Texas region.

Please let us know through Facebook or Twitter (@AltEdAustin) if you are a school or group of students volunteering, raising money, or doing other Hurricane Harvey relief projects, and we will try to get the word out.

Donations

We strongly endorse sending money donations to the groups on the ground who are supporting first responders and local shelters, including, but not limited to, the City of Houston’s Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund, All Hands Volunteers, and The Red Cross of Central and South Texas. A long list of voluntary organizations in Texas that are active in disaster relief is available here.

A two-week-old infant safe in a shelter where Circle of Health International is providing vital services

Of special note is Circle of Health International (COHI), which provides medical assistance and other services to women, babies, and other highly vulnerable populations in places of climate disaster and armed conflict throughout the world. We know the organization personally as it is headquartered down the hall from Alt Ed Austin’s office at Soma Vida Work Life Balance Center (which is doing its part by offering free work space this week for those in need during the Hurricane Harvey crisis). We can’t say enough good things about COHI’s heroic work and effectiveness.

Another initiative near and dear to our hearts here at Alt Ed Austin is KoSchool’s student-organized donation drive inspired by Austin Mayor Steve Adler’s call to “do our chores” and create Welcome Kits for Hurricane Harvey evacuees. In partnership with Attendance Records, Capital Factory, Lee Ann LaBorde State Farm Insurance, and Alt Ed Austin, KoSchool students are accepting donations that they will assemble into Welcome Kits. If you’d like to participate, please see the image below and get more details on the Facebook event page.

All area food banks are accepting contributions, including the Central Texas Food Bank (Austin and surrounding areas),  Houston Food Bank, the Galveston County Food Bank, and the Corpus Christi Food Bank. They all take online donations.

So many families are in dire circumstances now, with only the bare minimum of clothing, medicine, diapers, and other essentials, that we especially want to highlight groups that are focusing on children. Many groups will need help over the long term to support people who have lost nearly all their material possessions and will take months or years to rebuild and make themselves whole again.

• Texas Diaper Bank (just what you think it is: an organization providing babies, seniors, and the disabled with essentials for health and hygiene)
• Convoy of Hope (a faith-based nonprofit focused on feeding children and disaster response)
• Save the Children
• Portlight (for children and adults with disabilities)
• Driscoll Children’s Hospital in Corpus Christi 

Volunteers

Many churches and nonprofit groups in Austin are looking for volunteers, and we know that plenty of students and people in the Alt Ed community are eager to help.  A general clearinghouse for volunteers to assist in projects related to Hurricane Harvey is available at the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster site. Locally, the Austin Disaster Relief Network has a constantly updated list of trainings. And of course, the American Red Cross is seeking volunteers now and always, and will train you in disaster relief protocols.

Finally, we understand that many hospitals and trauma centers are experiencing blood shortages, so consider heading to a local blood donation center this week.

Shelley Sperry and Teri Sperry
 

Raising Resisters

We invited Antonio Buehler back to the blog to tell our readers about a new group that is working to nurture and strengthen the next generation of effective anti-oppression activists. Among his many other roles, Antonio is founder of Abrome, a local school centered on self-directed, meaningful learning for ages 5–19.

The 2016 presidential election campaign reminded many Americans that while our society likes to boast about its commitment to equality, justice, liberty, and tolerance, an often stronger undercurrent of bias, bigotry, oppression, and hate courses through the veins of American culture. Prior to the election of Donald Trump, and coming off two terms of America’s first black president, both the political left and right were generally dismissive of what appeared to be a rising tide of hostility toward immigrants, black and brown communities, Jews, Muslims, the LGBTQ community, and women. However, since the election, the hostilities against marginalized and oppressed groups have continued to rise, while fascist and white supremacist organizing has moved out from the shadows and into the streets. Although the fabric of society may have changed very little over the past year, the aesthetics have changed significantly.

As organic and organized protests began to grow after election day, and leading up to the inauguration, it became apparent that many previously inactive people were looking for ways to become engaged. While more established political and nonprofit entities were eager to pull those people into their organizations, a small group of Austin activists came together as the Oh Shit! What Now? (OSWN) Collective to find ways to introduce those people into more radical activist circles that focus on direct action tactics. OSWN has since helped organize and plan study groups, discussions, trainings, and workshops aimed at building a diverse community of resisters, and equipping folks with radical skills that they can share with others to push back against hierarchical and oppressive forces within society.

The younger generations have historically been one of the drivers, if not the primary ones, of radical social change, while their caregivers or guardians, as well as those who contribute to the development of the younger generations (e.g., teachers), help shape whether the youth believe that they can drive social change. That’s why OSWN came together with Abrome, the Crustacean Zine Library, and Austin Yawp to launch Raising Resisters, a discussion group that focuses on anti-oppressive parenting and education tactics.

Parenting, education, and activism have a long history of interrelatedness. Radical leftists and anarchists have often understood that oppression is more easily dismantled within the family than within societal institutions, and that young people could be spared being conditioned by mainstream schooling into accepting authoritarianism, capitalism, nationalism, and other hierarchical belief systems. For example, in the 19th century, Henry David Thoreau, Louisa May Alcott, Leo Tolstoy, and Francisco Ferrer Guardia all led alternative schools that were the precursors of radical free schools and democratic schools wherein children had full control over their educational experiences. In the 20th century, in conjunction with the rise of the free schools, writers such as Paul Goodman, George Dennison, and John Holt helped introduce the notions of deschooling and unschooling as a means of resistance into a wider counterculture that was already questioning American foreign policy, racial segregation, and assumptions about social norms. Holt, the most influential of these thinkers, even forewarned of today’s rise of fascism and the inability of system reforms to effectively stave off that rise.

OSWN, Abrome, the Crustacean Zine Library, and Austin Yawp invite parents and educators to join us at our monthly Raising Resisters discussion group meetings to continue the tradition of marrying parenting, education, and activism so that we can build community to resist, and create something better.

Upcoming Events (meetings at 6:30pm at Austin Yawp, 4548 Page St., Austin, TX 78723):

• Thursday, June 15th
• Thursday, Jul 20th
• Thursday, Aug 24th
• Thursday, Sep 21st
• Thursday, Oct 19th
• Thursday, Nov 16th
• Thursday Dec 14th

Antonio Buehler

The Alt Ed Library: Open 24 hours

Nowadays, what people call learning is forced on you, and everyone is forced to learn the same thing on the same day at the same speed in class, and everyone is different.

—Isaac Asimov in conversation with Bill Moyers, 1988

What Mr. Asimov said almost 30 years ago is still true for many students, but in Texas, the United States, and the world, the sameness of learning is now being challenged in myriad ways every day. If you’re interested in how students, educators, and parents are revolutionizing schooling and unschooling, a trip to the education section of your bookstore or library is a good place to start—but we know from experience that sifting through all those titles isn’t easy.

We often recommend books to our clients, so we decided it would be useful to bring those recommendations together in one place. Today, on Independent Bookstore Day, we’re happy to introduce a brand-new feature on the website: our Alt Ed Library!

We’ve put together a curated list of books on a wide range of  topics, from forest preschools to DIY higher education, and from the slightly unconventional to the radical. We’re including links so you can take a look at reviews, and if you’re interested, buy the books from an indie bookseller or from a certain ubiquitous mega-retailer. (Just as we celebrate small, independent schools, we love supporting small, independent bookstores, and IndieBound makes it easy to do, either online or at your local brick-and-mortar shop.)
 

We plan to expand the list and hope our readers will contact us with recommendations for additions. Please check out the AEA Library here, and enjoy the read!

Shelley and Teri Sperry
 

Media Monday: “Care and concern for Texas kids, not a cheese sandwich”

Children should never be shamed when their family falls on hard times. If a family loses the ability to pay for lunch their child should receive care and concern, not a cheese sandwich.

—Celia Cole, CEO, Feeding Texas

In the rush of news stories that fly by via TV, radio, social media, and in traditional magazines and newspapers, one that captured a lot of attention recently was New Mexico’s ban on “lunch shaming.” A lot of us were shocked to discover how often kids are subjected to humiliation of various types because they are unable to pay for their lunch at school.

We often see statistics about the high percentage of public school students who receive free or reduced-price lunches, but not as much about those who are not signed up for those programs but still find they can’t pay for a standard hot lunch when family circumstances suddenly change. School districts might require these students to do chores in exchange for food, toss unpaid-for food in the trash, or serve the kids cold cheese sandwiches, all practices that may single children out for taunting or worse by their peers. New Mexico’s Hunger-Free Students’ Bill of Rights Act, signed April 6, 2017, strives to ensure that all kids have access to the same nutritional lunch without shaming of any kind.

In Austin and school districts across the country, thousands of people responded to these stories and campaigns via Facebook, Twitter, and blogs, with generous donations to pay off school lunch debts. As of April 11, Addie Broyles reported that all of Austin ISD’s school lunch debt was paid off —at least temporarily. AISD food services director Anneliese Tanner said that the district serves about 700 “courtesy” (unpaid) meals to students each school day, which costs about $350,000 annually.

Dallas ISD takes another route, as it declares on its website: “Breakfast, lunch, and after school meals are FREE to all students. . . . Our goal is to provide nutrition to students that fuels successful learning.”

Texas State Representative Helen Giddings (D-Dallas) responded to the media attention on this topic by pressing the legislature to pass HB 2159, a bill that defines minimum standards for all Texas public schools when a student’s lunch account runs out.

Giddings says, “I have filed HB 2159 to address this situation and ensure that every Texas child is well-nourished and focused on their education, not their next meal. Let us leave finances to the adults and keep our kids focused on actualizing their wildest dreams."

Currently there are no guidelines to ensure that children whose lunch accounts run out of money will not be stigmatized with lower-quality food or identified in the lunch line, and there is no requirement that schools contact families to check whether those children are eligible for free or reduced-price lunches.

Stay up to date onthe progress of HB 2159 here or by contacting Rep. Giddings’s office or Feeding Texas, a nonprofit network of food banks advocating for a hunger-free Texas.

Another group that tackles hunger among Austin families is Keep Austin Fed, which “rescues” surplus food from the thousands of commercial kitchens in the city and gives it to people who need it.

Both Feeding Texas and Keep Austin Fed happily welcome donations.

And in case you missed it back in January, check out the inspiring story of Kealing middle-schooler Ian McKenna, who grows veggies to donate to hungry families and the Central Texas Food Bank.

Shelley Sperry

2e: Twice Exceptional — Join us for a special movie screening and discussion

We’re proud to announce that Alt Ed Austin and SchoolFairATX are co-sponsoring a screening of an amazing movie called 2e:Twice Exceptional. The screening will be held Wednesday, April 26, from 7:00 to 8:30 pm, at KoSchool, just south of downtown Austin. Get full details and register to attend here. Children 12 and up are welcome. The film lasts about an hour and will be followed by a half-hour discussion.

The term “twice exceptional” is becoming more common among educators to describe kids who are gifted and talented in one or more areas, including the arts, language, math, science, and leadership, and are also identified as having a particular challenge—an emotional or learning disability, a physical disability, ADHD, autism, or something else. We recently did a short explainer about 2e in our newsletter (scroll to the bottom for the Question of the Month).

The film 2e, by Thomas Ropelewski, is garnering praise and awards around the country. New York Times best-selling author Steven Kotler says it’s “essential viewing for anyone interested in understanding where our next generation of game-changing outliers may be coming from.”

Check out the film site here, and watch the trailer: