WASHINGTON — After a Thanksgiving break marked by protests across the
country, school administrators see a teachable moment as students return to
class.
Before the school year started, D.C. Public Schools provided a teacher’s guide to help instructors
facilitate the likely conversations about the shooting death of Michael Brown in
Ferguson, Missouri.
Late last month, a grand jury decided not to indict the police officer who
fatally shot him.
After demonstrations intensified around the holiday, DCPS acknowledged those
conversations from earlier in the year may resurface.
“We recognize that students may want to discuss this,” says Robert Simmons,
chief of innovation and research.
“We need to give our students the tools to have the conversation as a
fundamental tool to participate in our democracy,” he says.
Simmons is quick to say the point of the conversations is not to denigrate the
police or the protesters but to think critically.
It’s also an educational opportunity.
We can “use it as an opportunity for young people to understand what a grand
jury actually is,” he says. “I’ve had several people say their students don’t
know what a grand jury is.”
The teachers’ guide or any conversations about Ferguson are not required in any
class.
