Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/740763
History Corrected • Assembly Bill 123, which requires social science curricula to include instruction on the con- tributions of Filipino-Americans to the farm labor movement, was passed in 2013 and went into effect last December. • In July, the State Board of Edu- cation approved inclusion of the role of Filipinos during WWII in the revised history curriculum framework for state schools, fol- lowing passage of AB 199 in 2011. Activist Educators ree honored for their role in promoting Filipino history and culture T H I S S U M M E R , NEA named New Haven Te a c h e r s A s s o c i a t i o n m e m b e r s Iv a n Viray Santos, Joe Ku'e Angeles and Tina Bobadilla-Mastel as the 2016 Social Jus- tice Activists of the Year. e trio received the award for infusing Filipino culture and heritage into their activism and their decades-long fight to rename a local Union City school Itliong-Vera Cruz Middle School after two Filipino-American labor leaders. e successful effort marks the first time a public school in the U.S. has been named after Filipino-Americans. Larry Itliong and Philip Vera Cruz helped organize and lead the farm labor movement along with Cesar Chavez in the 1960s. A s m emb ers of Ne w Haven P i lipin o American Society for Education, Santos, Angeles and Bobadilla-Mastel organized community groups and inspired students to join the movement and become organiz- ers themselves. Supporters held rallies and packed school board meetings. For Angeles, a counselor at James Logan High School who has been involved in the renaming effort since the early '90s, this was a nat- ural outcome. "Social justice is really the foundation of public education," he says. The most recent campaign started as a project-based lesson in Santos' Filipino heritage studies class in the ethnic studies department at Logan (the only such full department at the high school level in the nation). Educators "had to trust that what we showed stud ents in th e cl assro om about community, organizing and move- ment-building was taught well and that the students mastered all the necessary components," Santos told NEA. "Did they ever prove that they knew their stuff." Bobadilla-Mastel , a longtime ethnic studies and language arts teacher at Logan, spoke of Filipino identity and its connec- tion to education, saying the campaign "was a huge step in providing the large Filipino population in our district with role models and a history to which they could connect. It was an effort to narrow the achievement gap by providing students with inspiring heroes and histories they can identify with and to imbue students with a sense of pride and identity." Now the educators, along with others, are working on the implementation of a state law passed in 2013 that requires the teaching of Filipino-Americans' role in the farmworkers movement in California pub- lic schools. ey hope Logan will host pilot curriculum that could then be expanded statewide and nationally. When asked what message they have for educator activists just starting out, Santos said, "Fight the fight. Don't be afraid to share your truth. "Don't ever allow yourself to be silenced, because when you allow that to happen, you'll see it translated into the attitudes of your students." Ivan Viray Santos, Tina Bobadilla-Mastel and Joe Ku'e Angeles (pictured with New Haven Teachers Association President Paul Stickland, right) were recognized for their NEA award at the New Haven Unified School District board meeting in September. Itliong-Vera Cruz Middle School in Union City. Photo: Joe Ku'e Angeles 43 October 2016 CTA & You