Back to School, Back to Advocacy

Whether it’s with new students and parents or returning colleagues, back-to-school is the time to build new relationships and strengthen existing ones. The foundation of productive advocacy is relationships, making the back-to-school season a perfect time to exercise your local advocacy skills.

While much of ATPE’s staff-driven advocacy efforts focus on representing you at the State Capitol, building a strong local advocacy presence—both personally and with your fellow ATPE members—can be just as impactful to your and your students’ ability to thrive day to day in your local school. The keys: Get informed, get personal, get a crew, and get engaged.

Stay Informed and Get Personal

While trying to stay informed can seem daunting in this era of never-ending news cycles and a constant barrage of social media, there are tools and strategies to help you stay informed while also staying afloat. Pick trusted sources of information and filter out the noise by focusing either on the things that bring positive energy into your life or the things that truly impact your personal and professional world.

ATPE offers valuable tools to support your advocacy, including media literacy training through the ATPE Member Advocacy Program (ATPE-MAP) and trusted information on issues that affect your profession. Your district, campus, and local PTA/PTO can also be valuable sources of information to support your local advocacy journey. Keeping informed of the key issues that impact you and those around you is an important part of building strong advocacy relationships.

Your principal, superintendent, school board members, and even state legislators are just people. We tend to separate ourselves from those whom we view as authority figures or “in charge,” especially the “higher up” we perceive them to be, but the truth is, they have many of the same motivations, anxieties, and hang-ups as the rest of us. You are more than your title, and so are they.

We all generally appreciate people we can both be real and relaxed with and who we feel see and respect us. The same goes for the individuals you hope to build advocacy relationships with. You can be polite and professional without being impersonal. Take the time and interest to get to know the person behind the title and to let them know you. You’ll be glad you did.

Build Your Advocacy Crew

Pretty much everything in life is easier when you tackle it with friends, and local advocacy is no different. Staying informed is a lot more fun when it involves a conversation with friends. Inviting the school board member to coffee—or some other social interaction—is a lot less daunting when you bring a friend. When you and your ATPE crew decide to take on local advocacy together, it becomes easier and a lot more fun.

ATPE has a ton of tools to help you and your crew be more efficient and effective when it comes to advocacy and so much more. Who doesn’t want that?! So ask your work pals who aren’t yet members of your ATPE crew to join the association, and invite the members around you to become part of your local advocacy journey. The bigger and stronger your crew, the more you’ll accomplish—and the more fun you will have doing it.