June 10, 2019
EDCAL 3
FROM THE
Executive
Director
I try never to speak too
soon or with too little in-
formation because words
matter. Sometimes, however, I just can’t
stay out of my own way. Some years
ago, my then middle-school-aged son, a
very proud member of the LGBTQ+ com-
munity, was telling us about a friend who
identified as non-binary. He referred to
his friend with the plural pronoun “they.”
I listened for bit and then corrected him,
“That is pronoun-antecedent disagree-
ment because the subject is singular
and the pronoun is plural.” My son’s face
turned red and before abruptly leaving
the room, he said, “Dad, sometimes you
don’t know what you are talking about.”
From left, ACSA President Holly Edds and Pamela Comfort, representing the California County Superintendents Educational Services Association, meet with the
Dalai Lama during the launch of Emory University’s new SEE Learning program to promote social, emotional and ethical learning.
Dalai Lama, Emory University partner to
create ethics framework for K-12 education
The need for strategies to support
students with their mental wellness and
social emotional health has never been
greater. In addition to the needs of our
students, the educators that support them
are also in need of additional supports and
strategies to ensure they are well equipped
to not only support their students, but
also their own well-being.
His Holiness, the XIV Dalai Lama,
invited Emory
University to partner
with the Dalai Lama
Trust to create a com-
prehensive framework
Visit the
Center for
for the cultivation of
Contemplative
social, emotional, and
Science and
ethical competencies
Compassion-
that can be used in
Based Ethics
K-12 education as
site at www.
well as higher educa-
compassion.
tion and professional
emory.edu
education. The pro-
gram known as SEE
Learning (Social, Emotional, and Ethical
Learning) is part of Emory’s newly estab-
lished Center for Contemplative Science
and Compassion-Based Ethics.
His Holiness is committed to what
he terms Ethics, the belief that as our
innate human nature is grounded in our
natural affinity for goodness, compassion,
and caring for others. He believes that
we need to nurture a shared ethical basis
in order to preserve our society. That our
focus should be on our commonalities
FYI
instead of our differences. He further
believes that public education holds the
key to ensuring every student is educated
in ethics and basic human values ground-
ed in common sense, common experience,
and scientific evidence.
Recently, the program developed at
Emory University was launched during
an event in New Dehli, India. ACSA
and California County Superintendents
Educational Services Association were
invited to participate in the launch, and
the organization’s representatives Holly
Edds and Pamela Comfort were also
invited to have a private audience with
His Holiness to further discuss the need
for resources and a focus on mental health
for California public school students.
“Our meeting with His Holiness was a
once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to discuss
the need for compassion, kindness, and
also strategies for developing emotional
well-being in our students. These strat-
egies are essential for our students to be
prepared for college and career and to
be successful citizens in our society,” said
ACSA President Edds. “I look forward to
sharing these free resources with our edu-
cational leaders.”
The SEE Learning program includes
topics such as attention training, the cul-
tivation of compassion for self and others,
resilience skills based on trauma-informed
care, systems thinking and ethical dis-
cernment. This program was initiated as
a pilot program in India and the United
“Our meeting with His
Holiness was a once-
in-a-lifetime opportunity
to discuss the need for
compassion, kindness,
and also strategies for
developing emotional
well-being in our
students.”
Holly Edds
ACSA President
States, and over 600 educators in various
countries have attended SEE Learning
workshops, many of them providing
ongoing feedback in evaluating, enhanc-
ing, and refining the pedagogical frame-
work for the program and contributing
to the development of curricula designed
for early elementary, late elementary, and
middle schools. A high school curriculum
is planned for 2020.
The materials can be downloaded from
the Center for Contemplative Science and
Compassion-Based Ethics site at www.
compassion.emory.edu.
On my way to the airport, I called my
son to apologize and share what I had
learned. Since then I have committed to
creating a safer place for my son to not
only live his life, but to share his life with
us without fear.
Similarly, ACSA members and their
students have the right to work and learn
in safe environments. Yet, many of them
do not. Half of our LGBTQ members
surveyed felt their jobs would be at risk if
they were to come out to their communi-
ties. The historic passage of the Equality
Act by the U.S. House of Representatives
puts us one step closer to making this
kind of fear a distant memory. The Equal-
ity Act would, among other things, pro-
hibit employment discrimination against
LGBTQ+ educators. This year, ACSA and
NASS will be advocating in support of the
Equality Act as part of IgnitED, the annual
NASS federal advocacy conference in
Washington, D.C. We sincerely hope that
you will join us there.
In a recent study by the Human Rights
Campaign, only 26 percent of LGBTQ
youth reported feeling safe in their class-
rooms and 70 percent said they have
been bullied at school. More alarmingly,
LGBTQ youth are 4.5 times more likely
to attempt suicide. This is precisely why
we continue to provide collegial support
for our members through equity net-
works like the recent Northern California
LGBTQ Network in San Francisco. This is
also why we continue to look for ways to
partner with organizations that can help
our members learn how to make schools
safer for their LGBTQ students.
FUNDING
Continued from page 1
parents, school board members and fel-
low administrators at the Capitol about
how pursuing her graduate degree in
Massachusetts changed her way of think-
ing about education funding.
“I went to the East Coast and was
exposed to all of these incredible learning
opportunities that the Massachusetts stu-
dents had because they had the per-pupil
funding to pay for resources,” she said. “I
said to myself why can’t our students in
California have these opportunities —
there must be something we can do to help
our students be college and career ready.”
ACSA has assembled materials and
resources that can be used in your dis-
trict to explain the push for Full and Fair
Funding. Visit and download this material
at www.acsa.org/fullandfairfunding.
I immediately felt horrible. I made an
uninformed comment and hurt my son,
who I love dearly. I grabbed my iPad and
started to research the topic and began
to feel even worse. As the UC San Fran-
cisco Resource Center explained, “Mis-
taking or assuming peoples’ pronouns
without asking first, mistakes their gen-
der and sends a harmful message. Using
the correct gender pronouns is one of the
most basic ways to show your respect
for their identity.” It just so happened that
later that week I attended an event ACSA
co-sponsored with the Anaheim Elemen-
tary School District: “Making Schools
Safe for LGBTQ Students.” There was a
workshop on “The Language of LGBTQ,”
so I grabbed a seat and continued my
studies. The amazing presenters urged
that when we don’t know, we should ask,
“How would you like to be addressed?”
or “What pronouns do you use?”
By the way, I would like to thank the staff
at Woodcreek High School for intention-
ally fostering an inclusive, safe environ-
ment. My son recently attended the
senior prom with his partner and had an
amazing time.
Azusa Unified School District Superintendent and ACSA President-elect Linda Kaminski spoke during a Red
for Ed rally on May 22 at the state Capitol.
– Wesley Smith