Kent School District students met with Senator Joe Fain, Tahoma “We The People” team honored

Exceptional students from the Kent Student Leadership Council visited the Capitol last week to discuss fully funding education, how to attract young people to the teaching profession, and of course homework.

February 12, 2016 3:56 pm

Exceptional students from the Kent Student Leadership Council visited the Capitol last week to discuss fully funding education, how to attract young people to the teaching profession, and of course homework.

Kent School District Superintendent Dr. Calvin Watts and Kent School Board Director Agda Burchard, along with Auburn Superintendent Alan Spicciati and school board member Ray Vefik accompanied the students.

To see more photos from their visit click here!

 

State champion Tahoma High School students recognized

Tahoma High School’s “We the People” team was honored by the Washington State Senate with a resolution I co-sponsored.

Last month, the Tahoma team won the state “We the People” competition marking the team’s 20th state championship. In April, the team will represent the state of Washington at the 29th anniversary “We the People” Finals in Washington D.C.

One of my favorite things to do each year is join the students in the Senate gallery to have an open discussion about issues facing our state and country.

“We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution” is a national civics education program that has had more than 28 million student participants since the program’s creation in 1987.

 

Protecting student free speech

Student journalism provides an incredible learning experience for young people to ask questions about the issues that are important to them and their peers.

Under a proposal I sponsored, Washington would join nine other states that place the responsibility for content directly on student editors, who are learning how to participate ethically and honestly in the conversations of a civil democracy.

More significantly, we’ve witnessed many troubling examples in recent years where campuses have become hostile to freedom of speech. The words in our constitution’s first amendment are meaningless unless we teach future generations to value, protect, and responsibly exercise this right.