How Does Your School Define "Political"?
The devil is in the details - discuss widely, including with the trustees!
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Hi everyone!
We’ve got a little over five weeks to the election and judging by the response I had to last week’s article, things for some schools are simmering. I recently spoke with Julie Fay, partner at Shipman and Goodwin about one aspect of the simmer - what is defined as “political” at your school? You may have come up with firm boundaries for conduct during this political season but if this term hasn’t been clearly defined, it can be a minefield. So this week’s post is short, but important.
I touch on some of this in the post below from last week, if you missed it, but I also thought people might appreciate more detailed thoughts on how to move forward in these conversations. (And that link leads to other links with other election resources…)
And first - if you haven’t developed a set of guidelines for institutional responses to national and world events, get that done or at least start to get that done. It will be a continual work in progress but start somewhere. Reinventing the wheel every time something happens is incredibly draining.
And once you have developed a set of guidelines for institutional responses to national and world events or if you’ve been having conversations about how to handle conversations about the election at school in a mission-centered way, the devil is in the details.
Talk over potential points of vagueness or potential conflict in your senior team meetings and pick a few to discuss with the entire faculty. There may be an instinct to hold your breath and trust everyone will act like an adult but - that is not a bet I would take. Ignore that impulse. And don’t underestimate the power of modeling - putting some of these complications on the table and having candid conversations will go a long way towards preventing them from ever happening. You don’t have to pick the most contentious, but just putting a few in front of the faculty can be a very healthy exercise.
You don’t have to do this at a full faculty meeting. You could ask department heads to have these conversations at a department meeting or figure out some other way to break it down so that smaller groups are exchanging their thoughts. But I strongly advocate having these conversations in some form - don’t just write up an email and tell people to avoid political conversations or what the expectations are for the day after the election. Remember my third rule of administration is People Don’t Read Anything. And even if they do read it, there are many questions about what defines “political,” what defines “hate speech,” and what free speech means that are all specific to your community.
And if you’re worried about conflict, check out this article:
So here are some ideas for conversation topics, for both your senior team and for faculty and staff:
Apparel or stickers or posters that are provocative but don’t contain a candidate’s name
I knew a teacher many years ago who would wear a t-shirt to school with the Woody Guthrie image where he is holding a guitar where “This Machine Kills Fascists” is written on the body.
Is that political speech? Is it hate speech or advocating violence?
What if it’s worn under a blazer?
What if it’s on a sticker on a faculty’s laptop?
What is the response if a parent or student complains?
A MAGA hat, sticker, etc.
Political speech? Hate speech? Etc.
Role play responding to a student, or a group of students, asking “Who are you voting for?” and make it a situation where the student is persistent and keeps reframing the question.
What are the expectations for the day after the election?
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