Donald Trump is now president again. Asylum seekers, refugees, and transgender people immediately began to .
How can educators respond鈥攊n both blue and red states鈥攖o his presidency?
Based on my 19-year community-organizing career and my 23-year high school teaching career, here are some ideas:
- As of the second day of his presidency, schools to ICE officers. School district officials everywhere can no longer delay providing training to administrators, classified staff, and teachers on how to respond to them if they enter school grounds or student drop-off/pick-up zones. If your district, like ours, has not provided this support yet, you can read up .
- Given widespread on how fear of a family member鈥檚 deportation can negatively impact student mental health and academic achievement, and the fact that there may be over 4 million students with an undocumented family member, districts everywhere should be providing professional development to its counselors and teachers on how to provide support to these students. If your district, like ours, has not yet provided this kind of support, you can read up on some ideas and .
- A polarized atmosphere in many communities can transfer over to inside a school鈥檚 four walls. One way to reduce the chances of this happening is creating something like what we did at our school, . Students from English-language-learner classes presented their personal stories in a 鈥渟peed-dating鈥� style to English-proficient students, with strong encouragement for them to ask questions (except ones about legal status were off-limits). These conversations reduce the odds of student conflict and can enhance a sense of community and connection.
- Incorporate in classes, with a focus on grappling with community challenges. Teachers can facilitate lessons in which students learn the importance of having to work together鈥攅ven with classmates who seem different or who have different priorities鈥攖o achieve solutions. These examples of 鈥溾�� can be models for student future behavior in public life and, perhaps, for adults now.
- Incorporate lessons on the (which appears to guide much of today鈥檚 political discourse) and that power is not a finite pie鈥攖hat the more it鈥檚 distributed, then the more opportunities are created for everybody. Invite student feedback and act on it (I have my classes complete a weekly ), model accepting responsibility for mistakes, and demonstrate .
- Start or support a gay鈥搒traight alliance, gender鈥搒exuality alliance (GSA) or queer鈥搒traight alliance (QSA) at your school. The Centers for Disease Control 鈥�3.3% of U.S. high school students identified as transgender, and 2.2% identified as questioning.鈥� There are over 17 million students in American high schools, which means over 850,000 students fit in those possible transgender categories, and they need . And, teachers, if you have any reservations about using students鈥� preferred pronouns, get over yourselves. I have always had a policy of calling students by whatever they want to be called, including pronouns. I鈥檝e called students 鈥淧rince,鈥� 鈥淗ot Wheels,鈥� and 鈥淜obe.鈥� Come on, they tend to not have much agency in their lives鈥攚hy not call them whatever they want to be called?
- When teaching about large-scale traumatic events affecting specific groups of people鈥擭ative American genocide, the Holocaust, the imprisonment of Japanese-Americans, slavery, etc.鈥攎ake sure to include lessons exploring how people who were not members of those groups responded to those events in different ways and how they are remembered by history.
- Publicize the actions taken by Trump and his administration, including and especially as they related to education, and what you think of them provided you have the administrative support to speak freely or, if not, you鈥檙e willing to deal with any potential negative reactions. As educator Paul Bruno commented several weeks ago, his administration will be taking so many actions in so many areas, it鈥檚 possible that his education actions will get lost in the chaos.
- Get involved in your teachers鈥� union or associations. These kinds of 鈥溾�� are bulwarks fighting for democracy. These institutions 鈥渕ediate鈥� between individuals with little power and government or other larger entities such as large corporations. Schools in many communities have historically acted in similar ways, and you might want to read a previous post, With Trump in Office, Schools Should Ask Themselves These Questions, for ideas on what that looked like in the past and what it could look like today.
- When the movie is freely available, which should be soon, use it in your classroom (if you feel like your local political environment will allow you to do so). It鈥檚 about legendary organizer Fred Ross Sr. (mentor to Cesar Chavez) and his son, Fred Ross Jr. I had the privilege of working alongside Fred Jr. during my organizing career. I haven鈥檛 been able to help create the accompanying classroom guide because of time constraints, but I know some top-notch educators are almost done with one.
These 10 ideas are just drops in the bucket, and I welcome hearing more on Twitter (now X) , on BlueSky , or via email at lferlazzo@educationweek.org.
of this post appeared on my Websites of the Day blog on January 21, 2025.
