Based on planning documents obtained through an Austin ISD open records request (see documents here - scroll to bottom of page), the "All Are Welcome" teacher training that the District is developing to replace Welcoming Schools will still be placing a heavy focus on LGBT and gender variance. The differences with Welcoming Schools are that it will be written for teachers at all grade levels (K-12), it will include training on other groups (like refugees and disabled), and it may be made mandatory for all campuses (most likely because Welcoming Schools was not universally accepted). The stated focus is on gaining "acceptance" of differences rather than "advocacy" for them. It is not clear what the difference between those will be.
There seems to be a belief that some teachers and staff have biases against certain groups of students that affect their teaching. Reading between the lines a little, it is probable that the "biases" they are referring to are religious and conservative beliefs. However, they have not provided evidence that holding such beliefs negatively affects teachers' conduct toward students and teaching ability. In my estimation, they will probably be hard pressed to find any such evidence. SEL will be conducting a survey to collect data on teachers' biases.
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Many thanks to Mass Resistance for making the following videos of our August 12 meeting and presentation! |