Yes, there is a big national election happening. But if you really want to improve policy in education, we need to #VoteLocal.
New York School Talk writer and New York City mom Alina Adams joins host Lisa Hollenbach to talk about how this plays out in her city and across the country—and why people who care about education should #GetEducated and focus their voting efforts.
One key takeaway from Adams’ message is that not every parent needs to know the details of every issue. People are busy enough raising families and doing their own jobs.
Adams says there are better, more efficient ways for you and your neighbors to determine whether a candidate for office understands the issues, their job’s power over the issues, and whether they are listening to the community’s demands and implementing them sufficiently.
If you have a problem with your school community that is bigger than the school’s administrators’ job, it can be difficult to figure out who you need to contact. Adams’ advice is to go local because that’s almost always where the power over your school district is. You can find your local elected representatives on this federal database.
Once you find out who the official with power over your district is, they might not be at all the kind of person you want in that job. Adams has advice on how to understand whether these folks have your family’s interests at heart.
Bottom line, though, if you don’t have much time (who does?), Adams says knowing elected officials’ attitudes toward and relationships with groups like teachers unions can be a guide. If you know where officials stand, and if they have a track record of working constructively with (but not for) labor groups to improve their sector, you typically have a pro in office whom you can work with.
Learn more about Adams’ advice by tuning into #VoteLocal above or clicking this link.
Alina Adams is a New York City mom of three school-age children and a New York Times best-selling author of soap-opera tie-ins, figure-skating mysteries and romance novels. She is a contributing writer to TODAY Show Parenting, Mommy Poppins, BlogHer, Red Tricycle, Café Mom and Kveller. After going through the New York City school application process with her own children and realizing just how convoluted, Draconian and needlessly complex it was, Alina resolved to help make all parents aware of all their school choices—and how to get them—via her books, “Getting Into NYC Kindergarten” and “Getting Into NYC High-School,” as well as her podcast, “NYC School Secrets: Parents Helping Parents.”
If you have a child with disabilities, you’re not alone: According to the latest data, over 7 million American schoolchildren — 14% of all students ages 3-21 — are classified as eligible for special...
The fight for educational equity has never been just about schools. The real North Star for this work is providing opportunities for each child to thrive into adulthood. This means that our advocacy...
The story you tell yourself about your own math ability tends to become true. This isn’t some Oprah aphorism about attracting what you want from the universe. Well, I guess it kind of is, but...
