Out d’Coup LIVE | Sharon Ward, Senior Policy Advisor for the Education Law Center, on school boards, hostile environments, extremist threats to our schools, and the fight back

On this week's show, I welcome Sharon Ward to the show. Sharon is the Senior Policy Advisor for the Education Law Center, a statewide nonprofit legal services and advocacy organization that works to secure quality education for Pennsylvania children with an emphasis on students who are most underserved. She has worked for 30 years, inside and outside of government, to secure quality schools, affordable health care, and people-serving budget priorities and to empower advocates to work for economic and social justice.

We'll be talking about the ongoing attempts by school boards across the country to ban books, limit teachers' ability to provide welcoming environments to LGBTQ students, and enact extremist agendas in our schools. Last week the ACLU of PA filed a lawsuit against Central Bucks School District for creating a hostile environment for LGBTQ students and the Pennridge School District seems like it wants a lawsuit of its own as it bans books, limits expression, and demands schools be stripped of Pride flags. We'll talk with Sharon Ward about the work of the Education Law Center in defending the rights of ALL students and the legal hot water Bucks County Schools find themselves in.

Sharon served two terms on the Albany, NY City Council, directed Governor Tom Wolf’s Budget Office and led a government-wide transformation initiative to help state agencies use technology, data, collaboration, and social policy innovation to deliver better and quicker services to Pennsylvanians. She is the founding director of the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center; Pennsylvania’s premier progressive policy think tank and led the fight for an equitable state tax system. She has served as an advisor on state legislation, policy, and advocacy for the School District of Philadelphia, the Montgomery County Intermediate Unit, the Impact Project, Education Voters of Pennsylvania, the Voter Project, and the Keystone Research Center.

LINKS:

• Education Law Center: https://www.elc-pa.org/
• ELC Back to School Guide 2022: https://www.elc-pa.org/back-to-school-guide-2022/
• ELC | Advocating for Inclusive Schools and Honest Education: https://bit.ly/3ToM9lU
• Advocates for Inclusive Education - Bucks County: https://advocatesforinclusiveeducation.org/
• Upcoming trainings: https://bit.ly/3S7rdib

REPORTING:

• "Central Bucks School District’s Cruelty Toward LGBTQ+ Students May Finally Get The Scrutiny It Deserves," Cyril Mychalejko, Bucks County Beacon: https://bit.ly/3yDWOkL
• "Book Bans And A New Era Of American Totalitarianism," Garen Meguerian, Bucks County Beacon, https://bit.ly/3MnvywF
• "In Pennridge School District Where They Banned Banned Books Week, I Read As A Form Of Protest," Robin Reid, Bucks County Beacon, https://bit.ly/3yBOu4Z
• "ACLU files federal complaint against Central Bucks School District, alleging discrimination against LGBTQ students," Emily Rizzo, WHYY: https://bit.ly/3Tj7YDE
• "A school where even Banned Book Week was banned," Will Bunch, Philadelphia Inquirer: https://bit.ly/3rPgL4h

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