Teachers, administrators, and staff across Florida’s schools are reaching us and asking how they can create safe and inclusive schools while following current statewide policies.
At the Broward County Equity Summit, the YES Institute’s education team led a training on gender, orientation, and race. School staff shared that they learned: “Awareness of just how much our kids are struggling and dealing with in today’s time, as opposed to our time as children.”
At the end of our conversation, one teacher was inspired and shared her reflection stating, “I don’t teach my students my religion because that’s for me. When I’m at school, I listen to the students and even if I don’t understand what it means to be gay, I listen. Because I’m here for them. It is more important to me that they stay alive than to preach what I am taught. School is for them, not for me.”
When we allow ourselves the space to reflect, own our biases, and connect to our humanity, we can create opportunities for children and teenagers to belong.
