Email summary:
Good afternoon all,
I haven't been able to review the minutes yet, as I was out of town all day yesterday and the doc is telling me I don't have access to it. But I read the flurry of texts yesterday and have been constantly processing everything (I tend not to talk a lot and/or it takes me awhile to chime in because I listen a lot, ponder and process, and get my thoughts organized).
While our discussion on Saturday was admittedly a bit all over the place, I thought a fairly clear multi-pronged approach is emerging, as follows:
Keep pressure on the school board - keep rallying the troops to email, attend meetings, and speak at meetings
Support students and teachers - we have some great student leaders who can organize activities, but they may need some support from time to time, likewise teachers need moral support
Keep the media coverage going - this one is closely related to #1 and #4
Explore legal action - open records requests, potential legal action against discrimination
Expose the radical agenda - opposition research, media coverage, social media, speaking at board meetings, school board electionsFind good candidates for school board
Develop a plan for supporting said candidates that is legal, ethical, in line with our values and desired approach, and hopefully effective
Organize an army of volunteers to get out the vote for our candidates
I think we need a single point person per project for items 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 8. I know there are more than one of us who have contacts and ideas related to most of these items, but it would be good to have one person in charge of moving it forward, gathering others to assist, and reporting on their progress. We can share contact information for people each of us knows and have one person in charge of contacting people about a particular topic or project.
I think items 6 and 7 require group strategizing sessions, with other people who have expertise they can share but may not be able to be in charge of that effort for our group. We will have to be very creative since we don't want to operate the same way that these other groups are operating. I read recently about an approach that is really good for developing creative ideas, called the narrative approach. Instead of brainstorming and throwing out lots of ideas, you work with an idea and keep building on it, following through how it would work specifically, like you're telling a story. I have been trying this lately with my work, since I'm trying to resolve some difficult problems facing my client municipalities, and I've found it very helpful.
I agree we need meeting agendas and a person to chair the meetings and keep us on task. Building on all of the above, I'm thinking perhaps the next agenda includes designating point people for specific items.
That's all I've got for today and I apologize if I'm covering too much ground that's already in the meeting minutes. I know this is daunting, but to reiterate, I'm so glad we're finally coming together to do something. I was feeling despair back in February/ March when I became aware of the Millard and Brown campaigns, but now we're doing something!
Thank you,
Christy
