Adult Ed Staff and Supporters!
Good and urgent news:
because let's face it, right now at this point in US history, everything has to be measured ---
community "success" --- specifically immigrant integration metrics.
Why is this important? Because in order for something to get funded, legislators need to see and measure it. That's how things work. If we want something funded - we need to show a need, show how the need is met, measure results, etc.
If we can measure immigrant integration, it will be possible to get it funded.
Some schools promote college, career, and community --- but officially, statewide, the mission of Adult Ed is essentially college and career.
AB2098 COULD CHANGE THAT!
We Need to Support AB 2098
What’s AB 2098?
AB 2098 is legislation sponsored by
* Kevin McCarty - a former Adult School student out of Sacramento -
* and co-sponsored by Tony Thurmond - out of West Contra Costa, who has been a big supporter of Adult Ed and is running for Calif Superintendent of Education ---
that requires the California Department of Education to use immigrant integration metrics.
From CCAE: This bill would require CDE to categorize the various EL Civics COAAPs into eight categories that paint a complete picture of effective integration into American society.
Let’s break that down:
- metrics are a way to measure something.
- Immigrant integration is when immigrants successfully merge into US culture.
Examples of immigrant integration:
- Disaster preparedness - earthquakes, fire, etc.
- Attending a PTO meeting at your child’s school
- Attending a parent-teacher or IEP meeting regarding your child
- Attending a City Council meeting
- Getting a library card, accessing educational resources
- Volunteering - at the Second Harvest Food Bank, SPCA, Neighborhood or Beach Clean-Up, etc.
- Learning how democracy works
- Participating in democratic systems, including Student Council
- Becoming a citizen
- Voting
- Getting involved in local community events and organizations
- Safe health practices - individual/public health
- Safe driving, safe disposal of motor oil
Info from CCAE and Allies
You can read all about AB2018 here. in this info sheet from CCAE - California Council of Adult Education.
Read about Immigrant Integration on the Allies website.
Urgent News
The Chancellor of Community Colleges is pushing back on AB2098. This is a big problem. We need to act now to show our support.
What can you do?
- You can - and should - write a letter or email and share a copy of it with CCAE
What to do:
- Write a letter or email in support of AB2018 - explain why you think immigrant integration is important
- Give examples - disaster preparedness, civic engagement, understanding and participating in democracy, volunteering to help elders, people in need, children, animals, the environment, etc., support and engagement in children’s education, using the library,
- You can write one letter that you send to the same people
- Send the letter or email to Kevin McCarty, Tony Thurmond, and the state legislators who represent you and/or our local San Mateo reps (listed below)
- Send a copy of your letter or email to Dawn Koepke who is spearheading support for AB2098 for CCAE --- dkoepke@mchughgr.com
Sample Letter
Don’t worry about it being perfect. It can be brief and to the point.
Legislators generally already have a lot of facts. What they need is
- To know who you are - teacher, staff member, former student
- to know how much people want something - is there a big need for it?
- Stories that illustrate why something is needed and/or why it works
- Offers of help - it’s hard to get legislation pushed through into law
- Lists of organizations, schools, people who are behind something - that helps when they are talking about it, making a case for it
Sample Letter
Dear ------------------,
I’m a ESL teacher at San Mateo Adult School writing in support of AB 2098. I know how important immigrant integration is - I see it every day. When our students learn how to volunteer in the community, participate in events at their child’s school, or become an officer in our Student Council - everything changes. From even a single one of these events, they grow in confidence and then begin to seek out new opportunities to participate in and contribute in civic life, their child’s education, and day to day interactions with neighbors and co-workers. It changes how they view themselves and the community in which they live. They become real participants and contributors - empowered and empowering. That benefits everyone.
Right now, we can’t measure that - and we need to - because it’s a vital part of what we do in Adult Education. It needs to be recognized and funded - and measuring its success is part of how that happens.
Thank you for sponsoring this bill. Please push as hard as you can for it. If there is something specific staff at my school can do, please let us know. We are very much in support of the bill.
Sincerely,
Cynthia Eagleton
ESL Teacher at San Mateo Adult School 20 years plus
Other possibilities
Provide a bullet point list of immigrant integration of your students
Note that this needs to be measured because Adult Ed is not just career and college readiness - that doesn’t capture everything we do.
Provide links to blog posts about student accomplishments.
Provide student quotes.
To see a fancier type letter which really goes into the facts and lays out a case for AB 2098, here’s the South Bay Consortium for Adult Education’s letter.
Don’t stress out about writing a perfect or fancy letter.
- Write your own letter.
- Brief is okay.
- Writing an imperfect letter is more effective than stressing out about not being perfect and then not doing anything and then rationalizing that your letter wouldn’t have been good enough anyway.
- Think about what you tell students, friends, and family when they are afraid of making mistakes.
- And then take your own advice.
Contact Info for Legislators
Bill Sponsors McCarty and Thurmond:
Thank them and give them evidence to use pushing the bill forward
Assembly Member Kevin McCarty https://a07.asmdc.org/
Capitol Office
P.O. Box 942849, Sacramento, CA 94249-0007
Tel: (916) 319-2007
District Office:
915 L Street, Suite 110, Sacramento, CA 95814
Tel: (916) 324-4676
Assembly Member Tony Thurmond https://a15.asmdc.org/
Capitol Office: State Capitol, P.O. Box 942849, Sacramento, CA 94249-0015, Tel: (916) 319-2015
District Office: Elihu Harris State Building, 1515 Clay Street, Suite 2201, Oakland, 94612
Tel: (510) 286-1400
Remember to email a copy of what you write and to whom to
Dawn Koepke: dkoepke@mchughgr.com
Writing your own legislators
- Tell them who you are
- Tell them you support AB 2098
- Tell them why you support it
- Remind them you are a constituent or work in their area
Find your legislators:
Local legislators for San Mateo area:
- Senator Jerry Hill:http://sd13.senate.ca.gov/
- Capitol Office State Capitol, Room 5035, Sacramento, CA 95814 Phone: (916) 651-4013
- District Office 1528 South El Camino Real, Suite 303, San Mateo, CA 94402 Phone: (650) 212-3313
- Capitol Office: State Capitol, P.O. Box 942849, Sacramento, CA 94249-0022 Tel: (916) 319-2022
- District Office: 1528 South El Camino Real, Suite 302, San Mateo, CA 94402 Tel: (650) 349-2200
3. San Francisco area legislators
4. Hayward area legislators
Capitol Office: State Capitol, P.O. Box 942849, Sacramento, CA 94249-0020
Tel: (916) 319-2020
District Office: 22320 Foothill Blvd, Suite 540, Hayward, CA 94541
Tel: (510) 583-8818
Remember to email a copy of what you write and to whom to
Dawn Koepke: dkoepke@mchughgr.com
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