California Equity Leadership Alliance Launches New Toolkit for Educators to Support Undocumented Students and Families
California State PTA along with other members of the California Equity Leadership Alliance, comprised of eight organizations, have created a new toolkit designed for educators to better support undocumented students and their families.
The California Equity Leadership Alliance also issued the following statement on California’s undocumented students and their families:
California is a state sustained and enriched by immigrants in a nation founded by immigrants. As such, the California Equity Leadership Alliance (CELA) wholeheartedly supports the fundamental right for all children – regardless of their immigration status or the status of their family members – to receive a strong, equitable education. This commitment not only reinforces the legal right to education, it is in the best interest of California and our continued leadership as a state at the forefront of innovation, industry, and progress.
Our roles as leaders in education – from administrators and educators to parents and policy advocates – compel us to reaffirm our dedication to these students and offer guidance for a more equitable California. We believe this means not only supporting efforts to keep our students safe, but also ensuring we do all we can to offer them the best chance to graduate prepared for college, a career, leadership, and life.
For too long, the arena of education advocacy has been siloed from the arena of immigrant rights advocacy. It is imperative that education organizations such as ours bridge this divide and do all we can to support the educators, administrators, and advocates who work with these students and their families every day. As such, we have launched a new initiative to provide resources, support, and stewardship for educators in order to understand our undocumented student community.
Collectively, we ask that the California State Legislature promote and use this toolkit as a resource when working with educators, school district leaders, and community members to support the unique needs of undocumented students and their families. We also ask that greater attention be paid to creating professional development opportunities for entire school communities to understand the resources that exist to support immigrant families.
Living our values as Californians means standing up – and standing with – the hundreds of thousands of undocumented students in our schools and the 1 in 8 California P-12 students who have an undocumented parent. Our students deserve nothing less than our steadfast support.
The California Equity Leadership Alliance (CELA), is an action-oriented group committed to the educational success of all California students. California State PTA is proud to take part in this effort to support the educational success of Latino, African American, Asian Pacific Islander, Native American, and English Language Learner students as well as at-risk students, low-income students, and students with disabilities.
CELA thanks all the organizations, institutions, and groups who have published the resources and materials within our toolkit. This toolkit was created in consultation with various groups and organizations and it is not meant to be comprehensive. Within the toolkit one can find classroom tools and strategies, fact sheets, guides and legal resources, sample resolutions, and social/emotional support resources. We hope this toolkit will help educators, school support staff, administrators, school board members, and other education stakeholders better understand, talk about, and support our state’s undocumented students and families.
What makes the “PTA difference” so much better for schools? There are many other parent groups, but only one PTA. For more than one hundred years, PTA has made a difference in the lives of all children and families. And only PTA offers your members, school and community the connected network of leaders and experts.
California State PTA has a variety of great resources — many in multiple languages — that you can download and share with your parents, families, teachers and school communities!