Dear LWEA Members,

The elected LWEA Executive Committee will present a letter regarding racial equity progress and policy action in our district to the LWSD Board of Directors at their meeting on June 22, 2020.

Racial equity work is central to education and the labor movement, and to LWEA’s values of advocating for human rights, promoting the professional growth of our members, and increasing support of public education. Black people are leading this movement in our country, and, as an organization with predominantly white members, we are following their lead. We encourage our members to get involved, seek out training, or tell us what trainings that you feel you would benefit from. The community always looks to educators for guidance and inspiration. We have the power to force change or reinforce the status quo. What will we do on behalf of all our students, but especially our Black students, their families, and our Black colleagues?

Especially for white Americans, race is a taboo subject. Many people lack the language necessary to speak about race without burdening our colleagues of color; without language we will struggle to address racial bias in our schools and our organization. For some, these conversations will be uncomfortable. It is time to put personal comfort aside and confront both personal and systemic issues of race in our community.

Our Executive Committee will be presenting a letter to the Board calling for systemic change, and our action will be sustained. This is not the first action, nor will this be our last. We encourage members to participate in this virtual meeting with us.

Participate by watching the meeting. Though the Board meets remotely now, the meetings are live streamed on the LWSD website, and they are also recorded and posted to the website within 2 days of the meeting. If you are unable to live stream the meeting, you can call in and listen to the meeting. Read about these changes and find the phone number here.

Participate by submitting public comment. Additionally, though there is no in-person public comment, the Board still takes public comment, and these submissions are read aloud during the meeting. Public comments must be submitted by 3:00 pm on the day of the meeting. There are two ways to submit public comment:

• Submit written comment of 300 words or less via email to djenkins@lwsd.org
• Leave a phone message of 3 minutes or less by calling 425-936-1257

Participate by emailing the Board. You are always welcome to email any individual Board member or the entire Board at any time outside of public comment at boardmembers@lwsd.org.