Episode 3: The Right to Teach Truth: What K-12 Teachers Need to Know

In this third installment of The Lower Frequencies we host educators, lawyers, and activists who share practical advice and inspiration for teachers to defend the presentation of vital topics in K-12 schools. In response to the intensification of attacks to censor the teaching of genocide and queer and trans lives, for example,  Lupe Carrasco Cardona, Mark Kleiman, Tracie Noriego and Liz Jackson discuss how building community, knowing legal, employee, and union safeguards and responsibilities all protect our right to teach truth and defend student’s rights to a full and liberatory education.

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Transcript

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Welcome to the Lower Frequencies, a podcast brought to you by the uc Ethnic Studies Council. I'm Darlene Lee, former K 12 teacher in Los Angeles, and currently a teacher educator at UCLA, working with ethnic studies educators, and also a member of the uc Ethnic Studies Council. I will be hosting this podcast with Trish Gallagher Gersten, who is a member of the uc Ethnic Studies Council, and a lecturer at UCSD and uc, Santa Cruz in ethnic cities and education. Trish is a former bilingual elementary school teacher, Trish. Both Darlene and I have been supporting teachers who've been under attack for doing their jobs in schools, despite their essential role in educating the next generation to make the world a better place. The low pay tremendous workload and stress teachers carry yield, disproportionate burnout, and turnover rates. The intensification of assaults on K 12 teachers for teaching content that right-wing groups would like to censor. Paired with tepid or outright complicit responses from school and district administrators has left teachers defend for themselves. Teachers know the target of political attacks, content, and teaching that their most vulnerable students need, for example, content about queer and trans lives, the genocide and Gaza, and anything that is deemed DEI has brought the ire of groups who mean to dehumanize these oppressed groups, erasing them from past, present, and future. This episode will focus on what K 12 teachers need to know and will be a conversation with attorneys, community activists, teachers and administrators. We aim to bring you practical advice so you can keep doing your job with more confidence, safety, and hopefully inspire you to continue to bring the truth to students even when it might be a little uncomfortable. We are so excited and honored to have the guests that we have with us today for this podcast. First up, we have Lupe Carrasco, Cardona educator, organizer, and activist from Los Angeles. Lupe, could you introduce yourself please? Hello, I am Lupe Carrasco Carona, and I'm one of the co-founders of the Liberated Ethnicities Model Curriculum Consortium. I'm a 26 year educator. I'm also a chair of the Association of Rasa Educators in Los Angeles. I'm on the Central Committee of Rio. My specific position is I'm in charge of the, and overall, I'm a organizer, grassroots. I am very active in my union and I'm an educator. Thanks, Lupe. We really appreciate you being here. So what would you tell teachers who really wanna teach the truth, but they're afraid to do so? The first thing that I would say is everything that we need to teach can be supported by standards. Whatever your subject matter is. And of course there's the standards on how to incorporate reading, writing, language, et cetera, into your lessons. So I would label everything that you teach, especially if it's gonna be controversial with some type of standard, because that really protects you. I would put that on not just in my lesson plans, but I would also make sure that they're on my board. I would put cutouts of the standards next to posters and other things that you have posted around your classroom. I think that would be probably the most practical and logistical way to protect yourself to be able to teach truth. Now, the other thing that I would really advise is to spend your first few weeks of your class, regardless of what you're gonna teach, regardless of the content, really building a a humanizing classroom environment where not only are the students humanized, but you. Are also humanized. Ensure that your pedagogy is not just one of love, but is understood to be of love by your students, that they can really understand who you are and where you come from with that pedagogical practice. I would say to also build in the right for students to not have to agree with you, to leave that leeway where students can know that even if they're not on the same page as you, that they know that they can come to your class and dehumanized as long as they are not engaging in dehumanizing practices and saying dehumanizing things. I think for me that kind of gives you a little bit of protection because students won't feel like they're being attacked. Definitely. They should be enlightened, definitely they should be open-minded, et cetera. But the reality is, is that some students are coming to your classroom after. Like really learning some really hurtful, harmful, and even racist things. And so I think that would be a way that you can protect yourself, you know, especially those teachers who are teaching in more conservative districts with conservative students. I think that really is just a way to, to help protect yourself and honestly, in the end, ultimately create an environment where students are open to learn and open to one day shifting over to the side of truth, right? And just letting go of those things that are harmful to themselves and to this community. And that goes for those that are on the side of. Truth on the side of beauty and anti-racism. You know, we should also be supporting with evidence as well and be supporting a classroom community of rigor. I think the more that we plan and that we are very transparent about what we're doing with students, that we're not there to brainwash or create these little molds of ourselves, the better it will be in terms of not having pushback. And it's difficult because there are some people that are just so, not even. Caring about what truth is, they do not care about people of color. But I think that you're closer to having the opportunity to be able to reach those in your classroom who are, you know, willing and open or maybe never even realized that they were closed and are become open to learning about truth. To give them that classroom environment where they feel safe to learn and be and think, and to make mistakes, et cetera. Thank you. That's so helpful, Lupe. So thinking back on your career and that you have been attacked for teaching the truth so many times, what have you learned over time about those attacks and how to respond in ways to ensure you can continue to do so? Yeah, I mean definitely. I think for one, when I was a younger teacher, I think I was a little bit naive in terms of how I perceived others to be willing to be open to truthful ideas that are like hidden, purposely hidden. That was one part I think that I did not have the pedagogical tools to navigate, that I was much more teaching about the movement educator than being a part of the movement. And the first two times that I was attacked for teaching truth, I really didn't have my networks, my systems of people to be there for me. To ensure that I was gonna land on my feet. I had students, I had parents. But you know, by and large, the students and parents that I have worked with in my career have been those that are hustling, like on the Daily to survive. They'll rise up and they'll come to you to support you, but they're also limited in time and resources of what they can do. So fast forward to more recent attacks. I was part of networks of people both in my union spaces and also in my grassroots organizing spaces. So that when I was attacked for something that I didn't do, but was just being accused of because, you know. People who are repressive that get in seats of power, in this case was a school board. They will not have any evidence. They will not come to your classroom. They will have no idea what they're talking about, but they will still sling different accusations at you and take you down with the power that they have. And when that happened, I had not only parents, not only students, but I also had community members. I had fellow educators. I had so many people on my side that I was able to. Within a few weeks was being interviewed at four different schools and getting four different job offers, and ultimately took one and am currently in that district doing good work, humanizing work, et cetera. But literally the difference was that I was not just teaching about the movement, but I was literally a part of it. And the movement came to my defense, and that includes the lawsuit that was waged against me because I was going to stand firmly in solidarity with our Arab siblings who have been demonized in history and in contemporary times. They did the same for me. And for those of us that were also in this lawsuit, they ensured that we had attorneys who were gonna be at our defense. That were going to give us the best legal representation possible. So I'm very proud of that, and I think that's a huge learning lesson that anybody out there that wants to teach truth, make sure that you're plugged in. You cannot be alone. You cannot be alone wolf. You have to have your people. And your people will absolutely be there for you. And I think that's also a lesson for all of us in general in these dark times, is. We must stay together in solidarity. I'm not necessarily in completely either in agreement or someone else's movement. Might not necessarily be my movement, but we have to be in solidarity. And what I mean by that is I personally am a Chicana and my area of focus has been more of the Chicanex, Latinx studies and also the community that I work with. But the fact that I'm in solidarity with other groups means that I may not be organizing as a leader in those different circles, but I definitely show up when they need me to be there for some type of action or some type of solidarity, either statement or actual my physical body needing to be somewhere to show my support. I'm there and then I'm in other circles, I'm a leader. And I think that's what all of us have to really think about is sometimes we're organizers and sometimes we're activists. I'm tired a lot of the times, but I am dedicated to doing both of those things in those respective communities. Well, your dedication is so apparent and we all get so tired. So how do you find your energy and, and your resolve? What do you do to reinvigorate yourself and keep doing the work? Honestly, like for me, I love to read and so I just love fiction, but I love fiction that's rooted in like understanding more about like La Cultura, the culture. I love Afrofuturism, Chica and, and Latin American futurism. I just find it so powerful and beautiful. So if I don't have time to physically sit down and do the reading, which I try to do, but, but just doesn't always pan out. What I do is I listen to audiobooks when I drive. I spend a lot of time driving so. I've knocked out a lot of awesome books that way. What a beautiful way to recharge. So what is your inspiration? My inspiration is literally one another. When we're together in community and just in our spaces together, reassuring one another that we're not alone. That's when I get juiced up. I get empowered again and keep going. That's literally how it keeps me going. Thank you so much. Is there anything else that you'd wanna tell teachers who need a boost or some energy or feeling fear, anything else at all? All I would say is thank you for doing that for your students. They deserve it. Keep doing this for them. The next generations depend on it. Thank you so much, Lupe, for your words of encouragement and advice and all the ways you've already been standing with your students and with other educators. Next we have Mark Kliman, a movement attorney who will be sharing a little bit about how teachers can be protecting themselves. Mark, could you introduce yourself and share a little bit more about what brings you to this work? My name's Mark Kleiman. I am a high school dropout, actually, I'm a high school kickout. I got expelled from high school for passing out anti-war leaflets. I had written in 1965 and have been somewhat at odds with educational administrators. I am a great believer in. Free and aggressive speech in the classroom, and a great believer that having benefited from the Council and protection of teachers to whom this stuff mattered while I was a kid, that I am thrilled to be able to try to do what, do whatever I can to protect teachers from these depredations. Now, I've been a lawyer for 40 years. I mostly represent whistleblowers, but have of course been doing a ton of civil rights and constitutional law cases, especially as it relates to people under attack for their speech about Palestine, and I'm still out of custody, so it's all good. I also am grateful to you for all the work that you've done for the Liberated Ethics Studies model. Curriculum consortium and the federal lawsuit. We've learned so much from you, and I guess we've been blowing the whistle really hard. I'd love to hear your perspective on what teachers should know from the legal victory in the Liberated suit, first of all, was so important to see teachers and their unions standing up so clearly and aggressively for these principals in the first place. The major takeaways from the lawsuit are that number one, there is simply no justifiable reason for these issues to be hashed out in court. The place to hash them out is with your colleagues, talking to people at the school, figuring out what the community needs and working with them. This is. Not really a fit matter for litigation. More importantly, the fact that this suit was thrown out means that there are courts that recognize that these sorts of lawsuits are really groundless and that yes, in fact some outside group can come in and threaten to sue the school district and even sue them. But with a fair judge and a fair forum, these cases are going to get tossed, which means that the school districts don't need to cower and crouch in fear simply because somebody says, I'm gonna sue you over this case in point, although the appeal is still going on, the plaintiffs in the ethnic studies suit have been ordered by the judge to pay. Over half a million dollars in sanctions in the form of attorney's fees and fines. To the lawyers, to lawyers for the union, the lawyers for the ethnic studies Coalition, me, et cetera. So when you have a district that says, well, yeah, but even if we win the lawsuit, we're gonna spend a hundred thousand dollars on this case. The answer is you don't have to. The plaintiffs wound up having to pay the defendant's legals fees in this. This is really an effort to stripe fear into the heart of school districts and bully them into bullying you. And that doesn't mean that there will won't be all of the collateral stuff that goes on the efforts to. Docs teachers, the efforts to try to bring in outside hate groups and falsely claim that somebody who doesn't like genocide and the starving of children in the bombing of hospitals is therefore antisemitic. That's always going to be there, but they don't get to make the school districts complicit in it. That's really the biggest takeaway from this, I think a quote from Judge Olgan that is related to what you're talking about. He says it would be a great concern for the educational project and for academic freedom if every offended party could sue every time they did not like a curriculum or the way that it was taught. And you know, he really took great pains to explain that not only was there no evidence of harm to the plaintiffs, but if a curriculum just makes you feel uncomfortable, it isn't necessarily discriminatory, nor does it. The inclusion of anti-Zionist material precludes students from exercising their religion. I think that's something that teachers need to know, and I was just curious what your thoughts are about that. Well, what the judge said was consistent with a long line of judicial opinions that have said the same thing. The courts basically said, yeah, if you're not gonna let somebody upset you in a classroom, where can these discussions take place and what forum can they be in? The courts said, listen, this is pedagogically sound. It doesn't keep people from practicing their religion. If it makes them uncomfortable, it makes them uncomfortable. So yeah, what Judge Kin said is extremely important. It's completely consistent with what, what the federal courts have been saying for a long time about this. It's important to underscore this because just like every one of their Trumpian allies. The people who filed this lawsuit are trying to portray Judge Ogin as some sort of outlier for having recognized the uh, importance of an open dialogue about what goes on in the classroom. Thank you so much, mark. You know, in addition to threats of lawsuits and being sued, another way that people are trying to chill educators is by using public records requests. And I'm wondering if you can just share a little bit about what are public records requests, why do people send them, and what are some of the best practices and tips that teachers should be aware of? Sure thing. Let me start with a bit of background. The Public Records Act in California sometimes. Gets confused with the Freedom of Information Act, which is a federal statute. They both work in very similar ways, but they do proceed along different tracks for requests to a school district, to a particular school. Anything in the state of California, its subdivision. We are talking about the State Public Records Act. The law's a really important one. As we learned just from this week, the University of California behind everybody's back has sent information about hundreds of professors and staff and students to Steven Miller and Christie. No, and God knows who in the federal government, and you know, we found out about it basically through AIC Public Records Act. Requests really work at a break on abuse of government, so they work in our favor much more than they. Work against us that hasn't stopped right-wing and racist elements from really trying to weaponize the public records Act. What the act basically says is somebody can write a letter to your school district and say, I want all of the following documents about any teacher who is teaching an ethnic studies course, has taught an ethnic studies course, has expressed sympathy for ethnic, et cetera, et cetera, and I want it within 10 days. And they list all the documents they want. There are a whole bunch of things that are important for you as teachers to remember. The first is the districts don't have to give it to them in 10 days. They can do to the right way. And what they always do to me, which is say, okay, within the 10 days, we have acknowledged your requests, we've got bunches of requests, so you're in line. They just really count on the intimidation effect. So that's thing number one. Don't let somebody stampede you into thinking there's a fire here, and this has to be responded to immediately. It does not, number one. Number two, there are a ton of exceptions to things that people can compel school districts or other government agencies to turn over. Compel the production of personnel information. That means your personnel files are safe. The school district should not cooperate in doxing you, your evaluations or your evaluations. They've got no business knowing or getting these things, drafts of things. Are subject to what's called the deliberative privilege, as in we're thinking about putting together a curriculum and we have a draft of the curriculum, but it's a draft. It's not the final document. And there's good law in California saying the drafts are not up for drafts, they're not subject to discovery like that. Even more important is what I call sort of the catchall exception at the end of the act, and this is where lobbying the district and lobbying the district administrators matters and we're getting help from your unions or help from your union's lawyers, or help from local lawyers will matter. The catchall exception basically says, you know. We thought about giving you this and on balance the costs of it, not monetarily in terms of producing the documents, but the collateral costs of releasing this information exceed any possible benefit we think you're gonna get, so we're not giving it to you. I think that's really helpful to understand what's being asked and understand the timeframe that's actually required and not the sort of artificial one that's placed. Any last tips for teachers? Things that you would like to let ethnic studies and social justice oriented educators know? There's a recent book, it just came out two or three years ago on the McCarthy era called The Red Scare. If I had something that was required reading for y'all. That would be on the list because one of the points the author makes, and it's a really good history of the whole Red Scare freakout in the fifties, is that outright racist, complete misogynists who used the hysteria, they were able to drum up about communism as a vehicle for attacking anybody who believed in human rights and equality and human liberty. Oh, I'm sorry to interrupt, mark, but that's, that's what we're experiencing right now. Right? That's exactly what here first with the attack on all of us who are working on human rights for Palestinians everywhere in the world, the biggest thing I'd say is walk orange with your brothers and sisters, even if there are points where you're not entirely at unity with them, because. Even if you're slightly the right of the people you're being used to align with, you're next. So don't let it happen that way. Thank you, mark. Appreciate the book recommendation and the lessons and all the tips for teachers. We really hope this podcast, after we pull in lots of folks to share their advice for teachers, that they'll be able to take it and keep doing what they're doing with more tools in their arsenal to feel confident and inspired to keep doing the work they know is right for humanity, for liberation. So thank you, mark. Thank you so much. Yes, thank you so much, mark, for all that you're doing to advise and defend educators who come under attack for their work of Teaching Truth. Next, we have Dr. Tracy NoGo, who will be sharing the legislative and ed code context of this work in ways that ethnic studies educators can best prepare themselves by understanding their rights. Tracy, welcome and could you please introduce yourself? My name is Dr. Tracy Noriega. I am faculty for Liberate Ethics Studies Model curriculum consortium. I also had the opportunity to serve students in California in multiple roles as a teacher, principal, elementary principal, specifically a director in a few capacities, assistant superintendent of educational services, adjunct professor. And now I get to support administrators statewide through my role with, uh, axa, the Association of California School Administrators. So happy to be with you all. Thank you, Tracy. It's really wonderful to have you here. You know, there's so much you can offer teachers who wanna teach the truth. We're hoping that you can give us a little bit of a rundown about existing California Education Code, existing law that protects the teaching of ethnic studies, the teachers and their teaching, and their desire to teach the truth. There's a few different codes that come to mind. One is Ed code section 200, and I'll talk about that. And then the other is ED code section 48 9 0 7. And then the third thing that came to mind was really around what board policies are in place. And also through union contracts. So, but first, let's talk about Education Code 200. That code establishes the state's policy of ensuring equal rights and opportunities, right? So all individuals in public schools, regardless of disability, gender, nationality, race, ethnicity, re religion, or sexual orientation. So with this particular code, it aims to combat bias and prevent hate violence in public schools. This section was actually based on California's constitution, and it was just updated out of a bill in 2000 that added gender identity and orientation. So again, I just think that's really important to know that this bill actually aims to create equal rights combat bias, and prevent hate violence in public schools. So that's from Ed Code itself. So when I think about what protects teachers in terms of teaching ethnic studies, know that this particular code actually protects everyone, all individuals in public schools and students specifically. So I want teachers to know that they're included in this code and they're also part of ensuring that what we teach in schools are as meant to combat bias and prevent hate violence. So there is a section. Ed Code 200, that's specifically Ed. Code two 20, part of Ed, code two 20. I mean, it's actually written into Assembly Bill 1 0 1, which was interesting because ED Code, again, ed Code 200 is meant to combat bias, prevent hate violence, a means to equal rights and opportunities. So Ed code two 20 written into Sunday, bill 1 0 1, the ethnic studies graduation requirement says this. No person shall be subjected to discrimination on the basis of disability, gender, gender identity, gender expression, nationality, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or any other characteristic that is contained in the definition of hate crimes set forth in section 4 22 of the penal code, including immigration status in any program or activity conducted by an educational institution that receives or benefits from state financial assistance or enrolls pupils who receive state student financial aids. That signals to everyone in education that if you are in any of these categories, you are protected, but intentionally it's being reversed. It's being misconstrued and it's also being weaponized. So as much as I want teachers to understand that this code protects them and protects their students in terms of learning ethnic studies, it also has been weaponized to a particular extent. Another one that comes to mind, and I did mention this earlier, was ed code section 51 500. So this one specifically says, A teacher shall not give instruction and a school district shall not sponsor any activity that promotes a discriminatory bias on the basis of race or ethnicity. Gender, religion, disability, nationality, sexual orientation are because of a characteristic listed in section two 20, knowing that some of this could be weaponized because we take into account race. What are the protected classes, right? This aspect of maybe white fragility or white discomfort comes into place when you think about a, a activity that promotes discriminatory bias, uh, religion, right? What's this definition of antisemitism that particularly comes in place? But we just need to understand the intent of these particular languages. Know that it is meant to protect particular marginalized communities, but also know that it's becoming weaponized. So those two came to mind, and I said that there was actually a third one. So this third one. Is California ED code 48 9 0 7. And this one is really in regards to what we call, or we think about when we, when we think about freedom of speech. So the first part of this says that pupils of the public schools, including charter schools, have the right to exercise freedom of speech and the press, including, but not limited to the use of bulletin boards, the distribution of printed materials or petitions, the wearing of buttons, badges, and other ex signia and the right of expression in official publications. Uh, but it does accept the expression, which is obscene, libelous are slanderous. What is considered obscene? How do you define that? What's considered libelous and what is considered slanderous? Also prohibited are materials that incites pupils as to create a clear and present danger. Of the commission of unlawful acts on school premises or the violation of lawful school regulations, or the substantial disruption of the orderly operation of the school. So here's gray area, right, in terms of interpretation. So when we think about what types of freedom of speech could incite a disruption or substantial disruption, that's up to an administrator to determine. You have to take into account your school population and think about who is there. We've had a number of walkouts and protests in high schools over the last however many years, and as teachers we're told, as administrators told, we need to work together with the students that might be planning this for safety reasons. But we would definitely want to encourage. Their critical thinking, a civic engagement, right? Civic engagement has been a huge talking point in the last how many years when it comes to school safety. There are things like that that we need to be able to take into account. I know that there's also been talk recently and instances of Palestinian flags on school campuses or in classrooms that teachers have been told to take down because maybe it has nothing to do with a curriculum. If that's the case, then there has to be policies at the board level that say what can or cannot be up in, in classrooms. That also relates back to pride flags. You know, many teachers put up pride flags to signal to students that their classrooms are safe spaces. All of these things start to get broken down. And this is where, at the district level, there has to be conversations about what it specifically means. And then that leads me to board policies. So board policies are really how districts interpret all of these ED codes. And it also infuses the belief system, right? The philosophies of schools and school districts. But you encourage teachers to go and look at their specific board policies. Especially the board policies that are number 0, 0, 0, 0, because those are the philosophy statements. We believe statements. And then you get into the one thousands, 2000, three thousands where it talks about students and instruction and, and then curriculum. But all of those at the board policy level is really where this ed code, right? And then the belief systems come together and they provide this how-to, if you will, in schools and school districts. Thank you so much, Tracy. You know, it's so helpful to understand what's at the state level. And then the key piece I think a lot of folks don't recognize that you have intimate knowledge of is that these board policies are the interpretations of the laws that the school boards have said they want their teachers to follow. And so I think that's really powerful advice for teachers to look at board policies and see how they probably, in many cases, support. The teaching of ethnic studies support the inclusion of marginalized groups, and so those are something that can be in teachers toolkits who wanna teach the truth is looking through their specific school district's policies to help support. The teaching of ethnic studies, the teaching of Palestine. Yeah. So I would encourage teachers to look for these three particular items in their board policies is do you have an equity board policy? Do you have an anti-discrimination board policy? Do you have a policy that talks to teaching controversial topics? And sometimes in your contract, right, your agreements, there is also addendums that might talk to what are the protections in place to teach controversial topics. I know that there are a number of school districts, and Berkeley and Unified comes to mind when it comes to an addendum in teacher's contracts that speaks to how we're protected, what are we expected to do when we're teaching controversial topics. So I'm pulling up Berkeley Unified's board policy and their union contract. And again, if you're listening to this, I want you to go and research what is there for you. In your teacher contracts, I would encourage you to look for key words like academic freedom or teaching controversial topics. Yeah, that's super helpful to look for those key words. I know you're also gonna read from the Berkeley Unified contract. You know, educators shall be evaluated for introducing controversial material or topics solely because such material or topics are controversial. A negative evaluation will result when an individual educator refuses to comply with any directive from the superintendent concerning such topics and material, consistent with present due process procedures instituted by the board to review disagreements concerning their appropriateness of certain material and to ensure no unreasonable censorship or an artificial restraint upon free inquiry, learning and academic freedom. So essentially what that means is. This looks like it's in the evaluation area, right? And so say you're a tenure teacher and you're all of a sudden getting a general evaluation that says you taught a particular topic and you know it's gonna be in your file, then I would look to this to say, okay, well what exactly is a directive? Right? And then this also could relate back to particular board policies. If you are a temporary teacher, you just started teaching, or are you still on probation? This is where if you think that there's going to be issues, then you start talking to folks around you because there's a number of instances already that went up to the California Department of Education where they've overturned some rulings, and I came to them through the uniform complaint policy. But this is again, where I think unions need to be aligned. I know CTA and CFT specifically have social justice committees and have provided their teachers with information on what to do, what not to do when it comes to ethnic studies or any other controversial, what is considered controversial topics. But those are two phrases teachers can look for in their collective bargaining agreements, is academic freedom and then teaching controversial topics, but also look to board policies as well. Thank you so much for that overview, Tracy. That was really great and I think so helpful for ethnic studies teachers. So many of them have been told things like take down that flag, take down that poster or have been put under investigation have been disciplined and so it's super helpful to hear this overview. Just wondering if you have any other words of advice or things that you would like ethnicities teachers to know as they consider all these different attacks that they're getting. Absolutely. A lot of this is just knowing your own rights, right? Like knowing the ins and outs A lot of times and rightly so. You're doing such good work in classrooms. It really is administrator's job to understand all of these policies, understand the how toss right, the administrative regulations, if you will, of ed code and, and the board policies. But I wouldn't leave it to them. If I was still in the classroom, I would want to know myself. I think that everyone now understands the assignment in terms of continuing to build critical thinking in our young ones, making sure that they really are a true part of a democracy, right? And that necessitates them being able to self determine what is right and what is wrong. So as teachers. Just be informed of everything that comes into play. If there is a supposed complaints or a supposed investigation, then understand all of the processes and what that entails there is the uniform complaint policy that is established through the state. There are timelines and processes that whoever is dealing with that in your district, whether it's the director of Student Support Services or someone in that particular department, you are apprised of what's happening every step of the way. It is really important to ask for that transparency. It is your right to do so, and again, this is where your union representation can come into play, especially if there is more than one teacher that is supposedly under investigation or there's a complaint about them for some specific reason. I would really encourage teachers to write down everything, of everything they remember, all of the nuances, and then encourage their administrators and their teacher union. To really look at everything step by step by step, because it should always be taken on a case by case basis. As educators, we need to know why we're teaching a certain thing. Right? Going back to the Palestinian flag or the pride flag in classrooms, what does that have to do with anything? The California standards for the teaching profession, you're charged with creating a welcoming environment that's in your evaluation. So what are the things that you are doing? There's this aspect of why you are teaching what you're teaching, and the classroom resources that support that, and then there's also this environment piece, the relationships that you are creating with students to provide this amazing learning environment for them. We want students to feel welcome. We want students to feel like they belong, right? We don't want students to have to shed their identities or conform into the space just to feel accepted, and that's really what ethnic studies is right for us to create these spaces so everyone is valued, not just tolerated, but valued. For who they are and what they know and what they bring. And I think that's another talking point too, is you're there to help care for students and build this environment so you're being responsive to the students' needs. And that's particularly what comes up. So I know that there's been complaints that have come up in schools and school districts because students want to talk about it, right? The teacher has created this amazing place where they can ask the questions, but then all of a sudden, what do you do? Do you say, oh, hold up. We can't talk about that because we can't say genocide, or we can't critique Israel, or we can't critique the United States of America when we're talking about land and the history of land. You know? So all of these. Come into play and we can't squash the critical thinking that happens sometimes out of amazing conversations. Really deep discussions. Kids get deeper and they want to know, and here's the other thing too, social media, everything is out there, but if they wanna process with an adult, if they wanna process with their peers, and this adult is really just helping to facilitate the conversation, why not? That's where education gets stalled is when there's fear that's inflicted seeping in the pores of education, and we are just squashing these amazing young minds. I'm fearful of what that does down the line when these are the folks that are going to have to vote for us and make decisions in this country. But I would say right now, the students, they actually know quite a bit. They want to do what's right and they definitely need some help in facilitating. What they know about it and what they should know about it and what decisions they want to make about it. And they sometimes need adults to do that. So shout out to all the teachers that are creating those spaces for them, because you're inspiring them, right? You're inspiring them to do with some really good things, and that's what ethnic studies is all about. Thank you so much. Yeah. That really resonates with me, especially as all of us are also moms and. I want my children to be able to go to school and to ask their questions, to be able to learn, and to not have to just turn off all the things that they're seeing on social media and just act like that's not happening, that there isn't a genocide happening right now. You know, I want them to be able to go to school and ask questions and to talk about it. W wouldn't we rather a teacher help them make sense of what they're seeing than for them to just not know and to still see all of these really violent and disturbing images on their social media platform. So it's really upsetting actually, that teachers get in trouble for holding space for students like that. I mean, I really feel for our Palestinian students, right? I feel for our Jewish students, I feel for the kids that are put in the middle, and you can't help what family you're born into at the same time, if you don't have other pieces of information. How do you make decisions for yourself? So here we have these. Laws, these educational codes, these board policies that say we are meant to dismantle bias, dismantle racism, prevent hate violence, but then we are in some places restricted from actually supporting our teachers and adults in our system with truly understanding why things are the way they are. I hope that this is helpful to our educators out there in K through 12. And like I said, I have much love for our teachers that are creating these spaces and supporting these brilliant young minds who really wanna do right by by each other. Us as humans. Tracy, really appreciate how you're reminding us about how one of the purposes of ethnic studies, education, and really education in general is to create these affirming spaces for young people to ask questions and to make sense of things that are going on in the world. And you know your points about how teachers understanding how ED code and how their contracts might give guidance on the ways they're protected as they do this critical work are so important. Thank you so much. Next we have Liz Jackson, an attorney who will be sharing more about how teachers can understand and be aware of their rights and ways to respond if they are challenged. Thank you so much, Liz, for being here to share your knowledge with teachers. We're just wondering if you could start by introducing yourself. I'm so happy to be here. I'm one of the founding attorneys at Palestine Legal, and we founded Palestine Legal in 2012 to protect the civil and constitutional rights of people in the us. We speak out for Palestinian Freedom that includes so many students and educators and parents and families. In that role, I've supported educators and students, and I co-authored the 2015 report, the Palestine exception to Free speech. That was 10 years ago. And this issue has ballooned exponentially, and I'm no longer a full-time staff attorney at Palestine Leal, but I'm still very engaged as a member of Jewish Voice for Peace and an organizer in our local parent group. So I'm a Jewish mother of two. And really committed to building liberatory features for all. Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us and offer some advice to teachers who are under attack for talking about Palestine. Also, anything that is deemed DEI as well. So we're really interested in what you can tell us about the teachers' rights. What are their rights, what should teachers understand as their protections? And then maybe once you get into that, you can talk a little bit more about how their unions might be helpful to them. Sure. I actually wanted to start with the answer about the unions, because when we think about what our teacher's rights, you know, rights are a matter of political power, first and foremost. So teacher's rights always depend on the power. Of your union or your community to protect the rights that you have. So really the most important answer is to build the power inside your union, to protect your rights, and to organize around the union with parents and community in the district. Because you know, of course we know like the best antidote to white supremacy is solidarity, and also the best protection for your rights is building the political power to protect them. And then thinking about, you know, do teachers have free speech rights? They're limited. This is real. And that's why organizing is so important. Yes, teachers do clearly have protected free speech rights outside of the classroom or outside of an instructional setting, but inside the classroom. Teachers' rights are limited and the district has the authority to control or dictate what teachers say or don't say. And that points us back to organizing because so much of what determines the rules about what teachers are allowed to say in the classroom is about what the community believes teachers should say, and who in the community is empowered to demand that our teachers teach race and that our students learn about it. Students have the right to learn and to receive accurate information and get an equal education. So much of teacher's rights are embedded in students' rights. That's why you're curious about your rights at all is because you care about teaching students who want to learn and need to learn as global citizens. People in the world need to learn about race and all the related issues. Students do have rights to equal education. The last piece is that both students and teachers have rights to be free from discrimination and so much of the censorship and repression targeting teachers, it's, it's fundamentally targeting teachers for either addressing discrimination, for trying to give students of all backgrounds a feeling of belonging and information that's relevant to them, or it's targeting teachers directly for their race, national origin or ethnicity. Those, that's kinda like the overall, the broad categories of rights that teachers have. Yeah. I was wondering if you have an example of teacher being able to defend their right to teach based in those sort of tenets that you just described. So one example is a teacher who taught a lesson about Palestine shortly after October 7th, 2023, because the students in her classroom were, this is a world history teacher, and the students in her classroom were, um, upset, curious, asking for context, and she was teaching a lesson on human rights and accountability. And she did a sample lesson. All the students were asked to do a presentation on a global human rights issue, and she did a sample presentation to model the standards. And her sample presentation was about Palestine giving context to what had happened on October 7th, then the bombing campaign that had followed. Then later on in the year during teaching the Nazi Holocaust, she included a video of a Jewish Holocaust survivor in DC protesting outside of the White House, you know, expressing anger and shame at the US government's role in the genocide, and expressing shame that Jewish victims of the Nazi Holocaust could then become perpetrators of a genocide. The video had images of the Nazi Holocaust overlaid with images of the Gaza genocide. As a result of that, she was targeted with four different complaints. She was found to be responsible for unprofessional conduct. Violating controversial issues, policy and responsible for antisemitism. No student in the classroom complained the opposite. The students in the classroom were actually really curious, you know, thirsty for this kind of critical discussion. And the students, three students stood up at the board meeting demanding that the board reconsider the allegations against the teacher describing really and beautiful just kids speak about how they had never been engaged in history before and didn't think they were very good students, and didn't feel like their opinions mattered until this teacher connected history to the current moment and made it relevant to their lives. And you know, I'm not, I've never really been good at school, but actually this teacher showed me that I could be good in school. And saying like, how could you take a teacher like this away from us? Really powerful stuff, and it was just like a mic drop. Wow. What a powerful show of support for both this teacher as well as for including important issues like Palestine into the curriculum. We actually have a clip of the school board meeting since you had mentioned that the student had given permission to use her testimonial, and we'll play that for listeners now. Good evening trustees and Dr. Wright. I was Miss Aiden Wallace's student, and I'm here to request that her appeal be heard. When I was in her class, she always created a warm and welcoming space for all students. She had a strong relationship with all of her students and we enjoyed her class. Ms. Aiden Waller always encouraged us to think critically and form our own opinions in her history class. When she brought up, when she brought up topics like Palestine, Ukraine, Sudan, or Russia, it was never to push an agenda. She gave us historical context and reminded us that our job as students was to analyze evidence and come to our own conclusions. I never felt pressured to agree with her. Instead, I felt challenged to think deeper about history and how it connects to the present. What concerns me is that outside groups who were not in our classroom are now trying to define what we should or shouldn't learn from this student's account as well as the other students who testified at the school board meeting. It is clear that this teacher was being targeted by people who weren't even present in the classroom. I mean, all of a sudden, what was this, you know, this sort of like maybe abstract or overly legalistic in an instant. All of these irrelevant issues kind of dissolved and it was like these kids are ready to learn about complex. Hard stuff. They have to, I mean, they know they have to. They're seeing it already all over and you know, on their feeds, they're like getting all kinds of complex, difficult images and verbiage and they know the world they're facing and they really need to discuss it in the classroom. So all of a sudden this teacher who had been completely demonized is on the public stage as as a hero. Well, that's such a powerful example and story. I'm wondering if a teacher finds themselves in a similar situation, what kinds of steps should they be taking, do you think? So the first step is to contact your union and send everything to the union using your personal email address. Don't use your school email address. The next step, which hopefully you've already done, is to write down everything you can think of and save all of your relevant documents. It was slides that you showed in the classroom, or just write down notes, documenting. Whatever you can think of that might be relevant to the complaint is really important protection for you. Sometimes, or often you don't know what the complaint is about, but try to just take your best guess. You may in your gut know what the complaint is about and just take your own notes. Jot down what you remember, how you responded to the student, or how you responded to the parent, what questions you asked, and if you can, in your notes, really focus on what the students were asking to learn about. Really write down everything you can about why you believe students want to learn or discuss these issues and send all this to the union and keep it for yourself. You can also seek supplemental legal support. Your union is your primary legal representative, but you can ask. Advisors or a movement attorney in your circle to work with you on helping to understand what the process is going to be and how you can organize around the complaint. So it's not only a legalistic investigation and interview and evidence, but if also the community clearly and forcefully expressing their support for you and other teachers teaching similar topics, grounded in the student's right to learn and need to learn. The other piece is to think about a counterclaim, either officially or just as part of your defense, which is making a discrimination. Or racism complaint on behalf of yourself or on behalf of the students. Because when a teacher is censored from teaching about race, the students who are connected to that issue are also censored and also experiencing discrimination. So yes, censoring teachers from providing information to students or punishing teachers for doing so will discriminate against the students related to that issue. Whether it's like Black Lives Matter or trans safety or liberation. The students are watching and they see that censorship and punishment, and they know that it targets them. So I'll oftentimes, the union will hesitate to make it about racism, but I strongly encourage you to think about what if you know how to articulate that and really be assertive with the union to get them to assert that. And you should assert it yourself and the community can assert it on your behalf. Then really connect this to the broader issues of censorship book burning, eliminating basic information on race history from our classrooms. This is not just a small issue in your district, only. This is a national crisis. Don't hesitate to relate it to the broader issues. And then the other pieces get clear very quickly if this is about censoring Palestine to get clear and articulate and get support on us as soon as you can about distinguishing between criticism of Israel versus criticizing Jews or, and, and really being able to articulate how being anti-Zionist or criticizing Israeli policy or criticizing its Israel's unspeakably brutal genocide is separate from criticizing Jewish people. You wanna prepare to be very articulate about that in the investigation. You can also think about filing public records requests to understand more about what is behind the complaints against you. I am curious though, for the example that you offered, it was the board, right? The school district who charged that teacher. What was the outcome after the outpouring of community support and student support for the teacher? The short, short-term outcome was really positive. The board voted to reconsider the decision against the teacher, and we'll see. The final outcome is to be determined. I, I'm sure people be on the edge of their seat wanting to know. Yeah. So in the right direction, you've already addressed this a little bit about ways that teachers might think about engaging their community, and that's so important. I'm just wondering if you could say a little bit more about how teachers can garner that type of support for teaching the truth and also what communities like, you know, I'm also a parent. What can community members do to support teaching the truth in classrooms? I was, that was gonna be my first comment about how to garner support, is that this idea that teachers are somehow separate from the community or not. Also, parents, of course, like most teachers, are just integrated into a community, either as a parent or as an auntie or a grandparent or a sibling. A neighbor. The answer is a little nonspecific and just be, have relationships and know who's around you, and it's hard to do in a moment of crisis if you haven't connected with the community groups, the PTA parent groups organizing in support of teaching, so-called controversial topics in our schools. So find the groups in the community organizations that will support you. What I've noticed is that in a crisis, it's really important to have one or two kind of close advisors who can be your sort of rapid response organizers to try to connect. Supportive parents with, with supportive union representatives, with supportive community organizations so that you don't have to do all that yourself. I like to suggest that a teacher organize a small support committee with someone who can try to work on media and someone who can try to work on the legal piece and someone who can try to work on connecting with all the organizations. Essentially, find the public forum where all of your people can come. Usually it's a school board meeting, can come with visual signs and give public testimony to insist that our children need this education and that you are being unfairly punished for doing the basics of what we need our teachers to do. School board meetings with visuals and turnout of supporters can be really effective. This just came to mind. A lot of teachers are concerned about what they should be doing or not doing on social media and wondering if you have. Advice there for teachers who are teaching the truth, want to teach the truth, who might be unsure? Okay, so your speech on social media is definitely protected by the First Amendment and your school district should not be able to punish you for what you say as a private citizen on a matter of public concern. However, it can subject you to plenty of harassment from bigoted parents or community members, and their argument will be that your speech makes their children uncomfortable in the classroom and disrupts your ability to teach. It can be that being vocal on social media. Can make you a target for bigoted parents to harass you, but you should know that speech should be protected. And it's sort of a matter of political power to make sure that the bigoted parents are not able to create a fake news story or decide what is disruptive in the classroom. So much of, like I said, your sort of protection and is, and your ability to really teach is about your relationships and your ability to organize support around you and be connected to the support around you. And so often social media may be the way to be connected. So if you find that being silent on social media makes you feel isolated and unconnected, then no, I don't think that's a good strategy. Actually, the most important thing is to have real relationships with the people in your district, and if social media helps you do that, then I think it's important to overcome the fear, but knowing that it can also make you a target. The most important thing is real relationships. Anything else that you would want teachers to know? Words of wisdom, advice, encouragement, inspiration. The words of encouragement and inspiration are that the reason white supremacists and MAGA are coming for K 12 teachers is because they know that they're losing this generation. That the youth actually are, um, really naturally on the side of justice and liberation. And they're coming for K 12 schools as a way to overcome social change and revert back to an era of white supremacist patriarchal control. So that's why they're coming for us, and it's just really beautiful to, to see that reinforced about how important the teacher's role is. Thank you so much. I think that's so right on that teachers wouldn't be getting attacked in this way if they weren't effective. If nobody cared what they were saying, then they wouldn't be getting the attacks, and so I think it is a sign of the social change that is coming. Yeah. Thank you. Amazing. Yeah, that's why I love to focus on this. We hope that this episode of the lower frequencies has been informative in ways that allow you to feel affirmed, supportive, and brave. In this time of repression, it is all the more important for ethnic studies educators to remain resolute. Recent developments like the passing of California's AB seven 15 are designed to scare teachers into sanitizing and watering down the truth. We are so grateful to Lupe, mark, Tracy, and Liz for sharing their words of expertise and wisdom so that ethnic studies teachers can understand their rights and protections to continue the important work of teaching the truth about genocide, gender, and sexuality, immigration, and other important topics. In a time when the uniform complaint process is being weaponized against teachers, educators must be prepared to defend their right to teach the truth, and we hope that this podcast will help you all feel prepared to do so. Please follow us on Instagram for links to resources for teachers. Our toolkit for defending your right to teach truth will be coming out later this month.