A bill to ensure professional development resources for educators reflect the diverse experiences of Washington students passed the Senate Monday.
Senate Bill 5177, sponsored by Sen. T’wina Nobles (D-Fircrest), directs the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) to include the perspectives of historically marginalized and underrepresented groups when identifying training materials for educators.
The bill, brought to Nobles by students, specifies that these resources must consider the experiences of students with sensory, mental, and physical disabilities. It also addresses the needs of neurodivergent students, LGBTQ+ youth, students experiencing homelessness, and students from diverse racial, ethnic, and immigrant backgrounds.
“When educators have the right tools, schools become places where every child can thrive,” Nobles said. “This bill ensures professional development prepares teachers to meet the diverse needs of their students and create truly inclusive classrooms.”
Building on existing requirements for OSPI, the bill incorporates these additional perspectives into training on topics such as social-emotional learning, trauma-informed practices, and culturally sustaining teaching.
The bill now moves to the House for consideration. Follow its progress here.
Pathetic, woke please leave Tacoma we are so tired!
Jon, I can’t agree with you more. Any politician that will be running from now on, if they are “woke”, I will NOT vote for them and I will let 100’s of friends and aquaintances in Tacoma/Lakewood know.
How about demanding and encouraging students to elevate themselves to a higher level of productive usefulness, than the confused state at which they currently are?
How about telling students that no matter how much they want to be a unicorn, they cannot.
In case you haven’t noticed, the Federal government is dissolving decades of unnecessary jobs, which produce nothing.
A meaningless degree will no longer suffice for an unnecessary job which no longer exists.
You should all be sued mercilessly for the irreparable harm you have caused these young people, and everyone who has to deal with this delusion.
While China has become the world’s greatest producer of pretty much everything, we make excuses so that our up and coming citizens produce nothing.
Who in the hell voted for you?
All I needed to read was Equity and Diversity to know this bill is absolute woke BS.
The people have resoundingly rejected DEI em-masse over and over again. The president was elected to end it as the will of the people. And yet, our “representatives” continue to NOT represent the will of the people. At some point the people have to rise up and say enough is enough. It’s long past the time when we need to start throwing tea in the harbor….