The College of Education Winter Forum: Educators and School Boards Respond to Disinformation, Censorship and Disruption, organized by the Coordinator of Education Issues Forums
Diane Horwitz, PhD, was held virtually on March 2nd. The attendees heard from an informative and engaged panel, Jennifer Berkshire, a nationally recognized education writer and podcaster, provided a concise overview of the contentious political environment many educators and parents are confronting; Robert Bruno, PhD, the president of a suburban school board gave a primer on what school boards do and shared his experiences with the disruptions re: pandemic mitigations that his board dealt with this past fall. Laine Pehta, a middle school librarian, talked about book censorship and bans, and Lindsey Di Tommasso shared her experiences being challenged in her teaching of American history. The panel offered hopeful and helpful strategies for navigating these contentious times.
Professor Hilary Conklin, PhD wrote: "For my secondary social studies pre-service teachers, this panel was incredibly helpful - many of my students have been, understandably, so worried about teaching in the current political environment, given that their content is at the heart of many of these debates."
Another faculty member commented, "what promised to inevitably touch on the really difficult part of teaching, left my students encouraged and inspired."
Thanks go to Associate Professor Marie Donovan, EdD who moderated the forum, Meredith Gioia for expertly organizing the virtual event, and to Erin Rice and Camille Laxamana for providing administrative support.
A recording of the forum can be viewed on the DePaul College of Education YouTube channel. The Spring Forum will be held in May.