Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/1463867
Magret Nunes John Swett Education Association CTA Member Human Rights Award When Magret Nunes became the president of John Swett Education Association, she became a powerful advocate for social justice. She started by promoting and identifying social justice issues with administrators and the school board and updating her district's equity policy. She pushed fur- ther and established Social Justice Activists (SJA), a representative group of all stakeholders in the district, with whom she meets monthly to determine social justice issues that need to be addressed. Nunes also created district equity teams and a structure to disseminate information from SJA to school sites via site representatives as part of a five- year equity plan formulated by Nunes with the Labor Management Initiative in her district. She helped to expand SJA by creating a stu- dent branch that she advises. These meetings are designed to engage youth in social justice activism. Nunes wrote and secured a $7,000 NEA CAPE Grant to engage the school community in social justice. It included buying relevant books for stu- dents, promoting a student T-shirt design contest , and coordinating book readings and discussions in neighboring associations and union locals. She won a $20,000 CTA IFT Grant to implement proj- ect-based learning for inclusivity in social studies curriculum, including individual, small group and community service projects, based on needs and interests of students. She and her chapter received a $3,000 CTA Mem- bership Engagement Grant to develop social justice training opportunities for member educators. Sacramento City Teachers Association CTA Chapter Human Rights Award SCTA leadership has worked hard to develop and promote civil and human rights awareness, initiatives and trainings for its members, and help to eradicate discrimination within the profession. SCTA bargained and created a full-day professional learning (PL) session on white supremacy culture in education and abolitionist teaching strategies prior to the start of the 2021-22 school year. SCTA has been working in concert with the Black Parallel School Board since 2016 to bring anti-bias and anti-racist PL to Sacramento City Unified School District. This became a bargaining point starting in 2018. After hours of negotiation, the SCTA bargaining team was able to secure one of the two pre-service days to present PL created and led by teachers to address the systemic racism within our education system. The SCTA equity team created a virtual menu of options to meet all teachers' needs, from those beginning their journey to social justice warriors. The PL included a case study from a district elementary school that detailed their journey toward anti-racism; an assignment to create a transformative classroom using the work of Gholdy Muhammad, author of Cultivating Genius: An Equity Framework for Culturally and Historically Responsive Lit- eracy; individual and team action items; further readings; and a reflection form to guide the work of the equity team. The PL received great feedback, was used to create SCTA's Equity Action Plan, grew the equity team's membership, and created a space for essential conversations regarding race and racism in the district. Watch and Listen V I D E O S O F CTA's 2022 Human Rights Award winners feature the awardees and supporters talking about their work and what it means to them, their students and communities. Watch the videos at youtube.com/CaliforniaTeachers. 42 cta.org Social Justice