A board member posed a seminal question: What do we want to accomplish?
Answer: We want to improve education for all students through building strong bridges between peoples and their ideas.
While the answer is simple in theory, it's not as simple in practice, so here is what we plan to do right now:
- We plan to build partnerships with local students, educators, and school communities. In practice, this will involve developing and supporting affiliated student-run groups at local high schools. Our most actionable conversations are currently underway with George Washington High School (GWHS). Along with students and administrators at GWHS, we are looking to build an affiliated group that will be able to develop and execute community-based initiatives. Pride is a word that comes to mind. Students, families members, and educators who take pride in their communities yield enhanced achievement through education, and we at EPOG wish to support such community betterment in whichever ways we can. We will support and empower student-run affiliate groups - like the one we plan to build with GWHS - in those groups' efforts toward pride in community and betterment for all. With additional help from EPOG, students will have a prominent place in conversations and access to mentorships and resources. We can support students in their efforts to improve their communities through community-based projects. We can build relationships and empower scholarship through the law. We can highlight successes and address challenges. Together we can. Please stay tuned for information on advances, and if you have ideas about other schools or initiatives, please reach out.
- We plan to provide a sustainable forum for conversation about education. EPOG was formed, in part, to provide a face for P-20 education at the Sturm College of Law. Education law and policy impact all of us, and we of EPOG believe we all can solve our problems through getting together to challenge and build. Intentional action best stems from conversation and, in the words of Vernā Myers, we must "walk boldly toward" our biases, not away from them. Through closely following and addressing local policy and law, and through sustaining an ongoing forum for honest conversation, we can find answers. Stay tuned: EPOG members will be posting reports, articles, and media to this blog on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and EPOG will be sponsoring meetings and speaker series to address the virtues and challenges of our contemporary systems of education. If you have ideas, please reach out.
- We plan to maintain a robust web presence. A unified front is important to our efforts, and this website can help us all to stay connected. All posts to this blog are automatically pushed to our Facebook page and Twitter feed, so pick your favorite social media outlet and follow what we're up to. You can also get in touch with us through email or our Contact page; please believe us when we say it . . . we want to hear from you.
Where do we go from here?