Wisconsin Communities Celebrate I LOVE MY PUBLIC SCHOOL WEEK

A pdf of this release is available here.

From “Cookies Across the City” from parents in Milwaukee to giant Valentines from the school board in Eau Claire, communities are uniting to send a simple message: this is why we love our public schools. 

In Sun Prairie, the local public library hosts a station where people can write their reasons on paper hearts, which will be collected and made into a giant Valentine to deliver to the Capitol, to “share the love” with lawmakers. In the Fox Cities, advocates have organized to send letters of appreciation to teachers, administrators and staff. “You don’t need to have children in school to participate,” write the Fox Cities Advocates for Public Education. “Our public schools belong to all of us, and we need to show our love, care, and respect.” Lake Mills students and community members are collecting reasons why people love their public schools to share out with the community. In Shorewood, community members are writing postcards that will be delivered to lawmakers to spread the message statewide. School boards are passing resolutions declaring Feb. 12-16 I LOVE MY PUBLIC SCHOOLS Week, and a TwitterStorm from 4-6pm on Monday Feb. 12 will officially launch #ILoveMyPublicSchool week.

I LOVE MY PUBLIC SCHOOL Week was started by grassroots public education advocates in 2017 as a way to send a positive message of strong support for local public schools. The idea caught on, and this year, individuals and groups all across the state plan to participate by sharing the love at their schools, in their communities, and with local and state level decision makers. Actions range from social media posts to paper Valentines, in-school events to a gathering at the Capitol on Friday at 10:30am, when parents and community members invite anyone who’s interest to meet at the State Street entrance to make a “special delivery” of positive messages supporting local schools to elected officials.

“Amazing things happen every day in every public school across the state. Our public schools transform our children, connect our communities, change our lives for the better,” said Heather DuBois Bourenane of Wisconsin Public Education Network and Support Sun Prairie Schools. “I LOVE MY PUBLIC SCHOOL Week is about naming those things, and celebrating the successes of our students, our schools, and our remarkable and dedicated educators, administrators, staff, and school boards. We encourage everyone to participate – whether you have time to organize a local appreciation event, or just want to use social media to send an #ILoveMyPublicSchool message to your community. Our schools are worth celebrating!”

A toolkit for celebrating I LOVE MY PUBLIC SCHOOLS WEEK is available at https://www.wisconsinnetwork.org/blog/action-toolkit-i-love-my-public-schools-week-2018. 

The Sun Prairie Public Library hosts a station to collect hearts sharing the reasons people love their local public schools. The hearts will be made into a community Valentine to deliver to the Capitol on Friday.

The Eau Claire Area School District Board handprinted Valentines to deliver to each of its schools during I LOVE MY PUBLIC SCHOOL week Feb. 12-16. 

Citizen Advocates for Public Education shared this acrostic created by Megan Solis, a teaching assistant at Lake Mills Elementary School.

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Wisconsin Public Education Network is a nonpartisan coalition of supporters of strong and thriving public schools that provide equal opportunity for all students to succeed. The Network is a project of the Wisconsin Alliance for Excellent Schools, a 501(c)(4) charitable organization. Learn more at WisconsinNetwork.org, or contact Heather DuBois Bourenane at hdb@WisconsinNetwork.org for more information.

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