A motion is being brought to the school board 12/15 on a policy that would require student cameras on. I’ve voiced my opinion on this loud and clear but one thing about me is I’m always going to tell the kids this stuff & encourage self advocacy. Our journal prompt this week:

My kids were MAD.
“This would make us feel so uncomfortable.”
“My Internet connection already sucks”
“I’ll just show my fan if I have to have my camera on” (lol)

I asked them to REALLY consider who benefits because with any policy, someone benefits. And someone does not.

This criticality (citation: Dr Gholdy Muhammad) permeates everything we do in class. I ask them to think critically all the time: WHO BENEFITS? Who doesn’t? Why does that matter? And if you see an imbalance, a disparity in who a policy benefits or harms, what does that reveal?

Our data shows that the majority of students who are Black, Hispanic, Asian, Indigenous chose to remain in online learning for second semester. For MANY reasons. A policy like this is yet another policy that disproportionately impacts marginalized students.

I’m a teacher so I always have to have my camera on but I created a space in my basement to teach in because I did NOT want school/work to infiltrate my private home space. I have that luxury but many students don’t. And now we will require them to show that space to us?

I’m hopeful that this motion won’t pass and that my colleagues in the county will rally in support of our students’ humanity, well being and RIGHT TO CONSENT. We’ve worked too hard to build trust with our kids to have it eradicated. We cannot be asked to implement unjust policy.