Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1472975
S FE JUST schools Catching Up With the Cadre 26 In the Spring of 2021, WEA was awarded funds through the National Education Association's Safe and Just Schools Grant. This grant funds work to remedy equity issues for students across the state and bring additional training opportunities to educators. These funds seek to promote social justice in Wyoming schools. Created with these grant funds, the Safe & Just Schools Cadre has come a long way in a short time, with no plans to slow down! WEA News caught up with Safe & Just Schools Cadre leader WEA Vice President Kim Amen to learn the latest about their work and what it means for Wyoming schools. "This is the work that keeps me going every day," shares WEA Vice President Kim Amen. "Getting to work with this group of people, the Cadre is really energizing and inspirational because they are all phenomenal. They really believe in the subject matter. They believe in equality. They believe in social and racial justice." In a little over a year, the Safe and Just Schools Cadre has developed six trainings aimed at helping education employees make Wyoming's Public Schools welcoming, safe places for all students and outlining the legal rights and protections for education employees and students around social justice issues. Recently, WEA was awarded additional grant funds from the National Education Association to help the Safe and Just Schools Cadre build more community relationships. To that end, the Cadre will present several trainings to the Equality State Policy Center (ESPC). Cadre members will also receive training in best practices for communicating with parents from the Alliance for Public Schools, a Florida-based parent-teacher advocacy organization. "Sometimes we get more traction when a message comes from parents or community members," says Amen. "Our goal is to have parents and community members sharing the fundamentals for building and respecting safe and just schools. The training opportunities provided by these additional grant funds will help us get there." "I think the Cadre's work benefits students because any person we can train on the importance of safe and just schools can help us advocate for that purpose and create those environments for students. Every time we do that, it impacts students on a day-to-day basis," says Amen. The Cadre has plans to host a statewide Social and Racial Justice conference for WEA members during the 2022- 2023 school year. They are also developing several new trainings, including a School-to-Prison pipeline training, and a training in Cultural Competency. Currently, the Cadre offers these six trainings: Implicit Bias, Coming to the Conversation, Ending Sexual Harassment in Schools: The Power of Title IX, Wyoming's Social & Racial Justice Timeline, LGBTQ+ Legal Rights in Education, and the Social Justice Umbrella. For a full description of each available training, visit wyoea.org/safe-and-just-schools-cadre. To request a Safe and Just Schools Cadre training in your local or district, contact WEA Vice President Kim Amen at kamen@wyoea.org. Captions: Top: Jamie LeJambre gives the Wyoming Social and Racial Justice Timeline training. Bottom: From left: WEA Northwest Region UniServ Director Jeny Gardner and WEA Treasurer John Fabela discuss concepts during an LGBTQ+ Legal Rights in Education training.