Controversy—A Way of Life for the School Leader: Gun Control, Safety, and Walkouts
/Controversy—a way of life for the school leader.
Sometimes we create controversy. Sometimes it finds us. Such is the case with the national call for school walkouts for school safety and gun control.
Everyone is for school safety. The controversy lies in the call for gun control and in the political groups behind the call for the school walkouts. Some parents and staff support more gun control, others do not. I venture that most of my readers do not wish to support many of the political groups behind the call for a national walkout. We also do not want our students manipulated nor do we care to lose class time. At the same time, we do want to take advantage of every teachable moment. We want to give our students an opportunity to appropriately express themselves. We also want our worldview teaching to be practical, timely, and relevant.
What to do? We could take the stance that our students will not participate and if they do there will be school discipline. We could decide that we will ignore it and see what happens—a bad idea. We could embrace the walkout and encourage students and staff to participate—many public and private schools have taken this approach.
Each school will need to determine what approach fits its mission, values, culture, community, and context. As you consider or reconsider your approach—and as you deal with the inevitable controversy—perhaps the communication that we sent to our parents outlining our goals and approach will be helpful ...
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