Black Lives Matter at School Week

tmpuppress
May 28
2 min read

In February, we celebrate Black History Month, a time to recognize the achievements and important contributions of African Americans. This week, schools around our district are also celebrating Black Lives Matter Week. This week grew from the Black Lives Matter movement which began in Seattle schools and quickly spread to Philadelphia, New York, and other large cities around the country. This week is a time that teachers will teach lessons addressing some of the thirteen principles of the Black Lives Matter Movement. This year, our overarching theme is Allyship.

Our staff created lesson plans related to our theme each day. A brief overview of our lesson plans follows:

Day 1—Introduction to Allyship and the Black Lives Matter Movement

Day 2—Allyship as an Upstander

Day 3—Antiracist Superheroes

Day 4—Planning for Action—why people march to create social change.

Day 5—Day of Action—Our day will begin with an assembly followed by an all-school march. Families are welcome to join for both the assembly and the march.

We choose to celebrate Black Lives Matter Week because we want all of our students to feel that their identity is affirmed at school. We also have a schoolwide year-long focus on empathy, learning to consider another person’s experience and the feelings of others. We believe that creating an identity-safe environment is the first step to closing the opportunity gap.

Our district’s Strategic Plan, Seattle Excellence, is focused on supporting students of color who are furthest away from educational justice, beginning with African American boys and teens. This strategic plan is not about changing students but changing broken systems and undoing legacies of racism in public education. We know that by actively becoming an anti-racist educational system and ensuring that students furthest away from educational justice thrive, conditions in SPS will improve for all.