Parents have a right to be part of their child’s education and schools have a responsibility to be partners -- both have an opportunity to unite for our students
November 1, 2021 The pandemic and contentious politics have left our state with lingering division. Now, more than ever, it is essential that our classrooms stay free from this divisiveness, and remain safe havens where our children can learn, connect, and grow. ‘We the People’ is more than the first words of our founding document; it symbolizes a common criterion, a common cause, and a common commitment that we can only hope to achieve together. Separating us out and pinning us against one another is fraying the threads that bind us together and keep us unified and strong. The charge of public education is to educate every child that comes through our doors. It is a charge that I take very seriously as State School Superintendent, and is the very reason I chose to became an educator and spent my life dedicated to public education. Those who seek to divide us will create more and more ways to sort us, fracture us, and weaken us as Americans, and as Georgians committed to the care and education of all of our children. They will continue to pursue their own agenda, ignoring the fact that each and every child has a name, hopes, dreams, challenges, and, most importantly, potential. The educators and staff I worked with in my two decades at the school-level and the educators and staff I have spent time with on the frontlines of the pandemic do everything possible to meet the needs of their students. I cannot accept that these fellow educators and staff have innate behaviors or desires to do their students – their children -- harm. I cannot accept that those who answered the call to teach also answered a call to hate. I also cannot accept that our children begin their educational journeys with hate in their hearts. |
The charge of public education is to educate every child that comes through our doors. It is a charge that I take very seriously as State School Superintendent, and is the very reason I chose to became an educator and spent my life dedicated to public education. -- Richard Woods, State School Superintendent |