NBCT Network Newsletters: January 2009

Now that 2009 is upon us, it is time to step up our efforts in engaging policymakers!

For the month of December, our focus was on helping give you ideas on how to communicate with your local school board. If you haven't had a chance to look at that information, please go back to the CSTP web site for the links. We feel we have some very valuable information for you there. If you have already made some contacts we would greatly appreciate you sending your successes to us.

With the new legislative session in full gear we would like to focus in January on developing contacts with the Washington State Legislature.  Over the past two years we have given you some worthwhile links to follow in opening up and developing yourself as an educational contact for the legislators.

 A new way to take that step is being a part of the "Stories from Schools" blog on the CSTP web site. Right now this Blog is set up for Six National Board Certified teachers to tell stories of how policy decisions impact learning and teaching in their classrooms in order to spark constructive dialogue across the education community.

So, where do YOU fit in to this?

We are setting up contacts with the most influential policy makers in the House and Senate. We will be adding a new element to this blog site. What do we need from you? We need your questions that we can directly send to the senators and legislators regarding your educational concerns. These leaders will then respond directly to your questions. These will be posted on the CSTP web site blog: http://www.storiesfromschool.org/.   Check it out!

We are asking that you formulate your questions and send them to us at the email address below by Feb. 4^th. As you write your questions, please keep in mind that the purpose of these questions is to stimulate dialogue between expert teachers and policymakers.  In that spirit, please try to ask questions that will be thought provoking and reflective, encouraging lively discussion and debate.  Please include your name and legislative district with your question.

Thank you!

Debra Howell NBCT and Andrea Peterson NBCT

WNN Liaison Coordinators

Send all correspondence to: network@cstp-wa.org