Safe and Supportive Schools

     Last week I wrote about the future of children with the passage of marriage equality in Minnesota.  I spoke about the evolution of adoptive families and same sex couples. Of course I heard from supporters of traditional family units claiming that the care of children should be limited to their biological parents, by banning other types of family units.  They argue of course that this is ordained by tradition, history and God.  I suspect many of these people also agree that what we teach in our schools should mirror their own limited knowledge of tradition, history and religion.  Some do wish to preserve their own individual values through home schooling and I fully respect their right to sustain their own personal beliefs.  I suspect much of my own personal history, tradition, and religious experience is quite similar.

     The rest of us however, tend to realize that public schools need to take a more realistic perspective on the expansive range of cultural and religious values that exist in Minnesota Communities. This brings me to the debate over the Safe and Supportive Minnesota Schools Act.  This Bill is basically about teaching our children some good old fashioned manners, communication skills, relationship skills, and dealing with conflict.  It provides training and support for teachers and administrators and actively encourages the involvement of parents.  You’d think everyone could get behind that but the conversation tends to break down around the same arguments applied to marriage equality.

     As a parent I remember the anxiety of putting my five year old on the school bus for the first time.  I tried to mitigate those anxieties by spending as much time as possible helping out at the school but as a working mom that was difficult at best.  I had the privilege of growing up in a small community with a full neighborhood of moms looking out for the children.  Today, there are more single parents, more working parents, and less community interaction.  As a culture we are becoming increasingly more dependent on the schools to provide the kind of parenting that used to be done at home.   

     Placing this burden on our schools is a significant challenge for teachers and school administrators and their success depends heavily on community involvement.   So I encourage people to support the enactment of the Safe and Supportive Schools Act. More importantly I encourage parents to take an active role in developing and supporting the values promoted in this bill by contacting schools and becoming an active participate.

     It truly does take a community to raise a child.