News from Capitol Hill

Today I found a common thread between the first session with Mike Hiestand from Student Press Law Center and Alan Weintraut's session. 

When Alan was discussing best practices, reading newspapers was mentioned a few times. His quiz about the news took some of us for a loop. Yet, this morning the information about student press law, copyright laws, and libel law really intrigued us. Hiestand presentation was three hours yet, I know he just touched the basics of everything we really should know.

My question is, why is it that so many teachers do not pay enough attention to what is going on in the news that concerns our profession? 

A simple example of this is from the National Education Association:

http://www.nea.org/home/19449.htm

Cheers to: 

Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI), a member of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, for issuing a statement in support of educators in the wake of the Vergara v. State of California ruling: “We all want the best education for our students and high-quality teachers are the backbone of our education system. Unfortunately, the Los Angeles Superior Court ruling merely strips away key workforce protections for teachers while doing nothing to improve student learning.

Jeers to:

Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD), who suggested the Head Start program is a failure and backed private school vouchers during questioning of Education Secretary Arne Duncan during a hearing of the House Appropriations Subcommittee for Labor, HHS and Education.

As teachers of journalism we need to lead the way. We need to be current on what is happening in education. Not just for student press laws but for our entire profession. When we see something that isn’t right we need to take action. We need to contact our senators and our representatives.

We are powerful.

I have emailed my Michigan State Representative, Earl Poleski many times this year. I‘ve attended his open forums, asked questions about school funding. I’ve picketed.  I’ve expressed my view points.

Representive Poleski once stated, schools should have 75 students in a classroom and have 2 teacher’s aides. It would save money. Is this ludicrous?  

We teach this idea of being a watch dog of government to our students but do we contact them ourselves? 

It’s the job of our lawmakers to represent us. We have to stay informed and be active in shaping legislation. They are the ones who cast the votes that affect our jobs and our students.

We need to walk the talk; we need to communicate our issues to them, just like what we are trying to teach our students.

Student press law and best practices are definitely tied together. 

Shelley Job
Hanover-Horton High School
Horton, Michigan