The Pennsylvanians for Welcoming and Inclusive Schools (PA WInS) Coalition formally announced its launch at a virtual press conference on Jan. 24. The group is a collective of students, teachers and guardians from various school districts across the state and leaders from organizations known for working against discrimination.
Although many of the coalition’s members were first inspired to take action following book bans in their local school districts, they’re also fighting back against other forms of censorship, discriminatory policies — including those targeting trans and other LGBTQ+ students — as well as systemic racism, disinformation and other aspects of extremism.
A group of organizations “came together to form the beginnings of the PA WInS coalition with a goal to unite individuals and organizations that were all working against extremists in school boards and legislation,” said Alex Domingos, an advocacy and policy strategist with the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania. “Although we are a diverse group of orgs that focus on different issues, we decided to unite in order to help create effective strategies, legislative (i.e. school board) policies, and mostly to support the already ongoing efforts by parents, students and advocates to create equitable and inclusive schools that foster belonging and success for all students.”
Some of the organizations represented at the coalition’s press conference included the ACLU of Pennsylvania, the Education Law Center of Pennsylvania, the Human Rights Campaign, a Pennsylvania chapter of Red Wine & Blue (a grassroots community of suburban parents), the Pennsylvania School Librarians Association, the Pennsylvania School Counselors Association, and Education Voters of PA.
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