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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Dear COE community,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">This email should have gone out last week, when I heard the news of another tragic and unnecessary loss of life in the most recent school shooting. But honestly, I was struggling. How do I
write “another” email on such a horrendous topic?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">The latest school shooting corresponded to my children’s first day of school (and likely your kids’ or students’ first day in the classroom). This event shook me to my core. I clung to my 5<sup>th</sup>
and 7<sup>th</sup> grade children last Wednesday night and wouldn’t let them go. And now…one week later, and on this 23<sup>rd</sup> anniversary of 9/11, I find myself struggling. I have a visceral response when I think about sending out yet another email
about another tragedy. It’s just so much. Too much. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">But this email is different.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Our return to the Fall quarter and to the school year is colored by the grief of another school shooting, uncertainties surrounding the national presidential election, and so much more. I’ve
struggled with how to channel my grief, my anger, and my fear. Our college feels this pain in a unique way. Not only do we experience these tragedies alongside a traumatized nation, but we also experience these tragedies from a unique professional perspective.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">As I step into the grief as both parent and dean and use its momentum to lean further into the solutions and levers at our disposal, I wanted to share some of the specific values that took
shape for me in light of this most recent event. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Ownership and solution-focused:</span></b><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"> I choose to enter this year embracing the solutions-side of this issue. As we watch national leaders
volley to point fingers and distance themselves from ownership around the big issues that plague our nation, I would like to be among those who courageously raise their hands to acknowledge our place in this fight.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">As colleges of education, we do not have the luxury of distancing ourselves from this terrible phenomenon. As preparers of the educators each of whom must take some action either in response
to these in-school events or to prevent them (the educators who populate school buildings, district buildings, think tanks, non-profits, departments of education, and who occupy the highest political offices as candidates and spouses), we can no longer afford
to count ourselves among the bystanders in this issue. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">This is our fight.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Colleges of education like ours, in partnership with those we have trained previously, and those we are currently training, have a role in generating solutions for this issue. While legislative
solutions are necessary, and we are each obligated as citizens and as institutions to push for legislative solutions that serve to remove the threats of gun violence from our schools (without adding new dangers that we are ill-prepared to face), we must also
accept that accurate and hard-hitting legislation on this issue has been slow-moving, that the solutions to date have been insufficient, and that at the end of the day, any solutions that are proposed, will require competent implementers to put it into action
to achieve success. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">This is us. <o:p>
</o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Action focused:</span></b><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"> I also enter this year with my focus on action rather than on unifying us around a single approach. As a community
of educators, I am confident that we are unified in our shared desire for safe schools for our families, friends, students, and colleagues. But I am no longer convinced that we must wait until we are united around a single lever to take action. Instead, I
see value in not letting this topic lie fallow while we rally around a single solution between events, and sadly, we are between events. Each of us as educators, as faculty, and as future educators, can incorporate this reality into our practices courageously.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">I’m hoping we can courageously examine the levers at our disposal and begin to push on them based on our expertise, our experience, our research, and our passions towards that shared goal of
school safety. Whether these levers influence: Youth mental health in schools, social emotional learning, parenting / parental supervision, social media, loneliness, video-games, legislation, metal detectors, phones in schools, diversity, inclusion, or something
else, there is information already available that <u>we as scholars</u> have access to for implementation, that we as
<u>researchers </u>can use to advance prior knowledge into action, and that <u>we as instructors</u> can use to prepare future educators. There is no need to wait.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Action generates action.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">I offer these reactions out of my own grief, in my own frustration, and from my multiple perspectives as leader, parent, educator, and concerned citizen. I support you in your own unique reactions
and encourage you and all of us to heal in grace so that we have the professional strength, tools, and approaches that will get us through the year ahead and allow us to feel efficacious in addressing this issue in our schools. I’ve added some resources below
and encourage you to share others with your colleagues and friends. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Please take care of yourselves and check-in on each other regularly. I stand with you in this fight. I am ready to move with you in action.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Resources:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<ul style="margin-top:0in" type="disc">
<li class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:0in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><a href="https://counseling.uoregon.edu/">Counseling Resources</a>: For support in processing, please reach out. We know that in order
to join the fight, take action, and move our levers, we also need a strength that steels and readies us while we take back our schools.
<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:0in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><a href="https://www.nea.org/resource-library/gun-violence-prevention-response-guide">Curricular Resources</a>: As we prepare our educators
to step into classrooms in 2024 and beyond, please share any curricular content you have with your colleagues and your students to identify strategies that our future educators should be familiar with. While
<a href="https://www.socialstudies.org/tssp/teaching-resources-about-gun-violence">
K12 schools prepare and develop strategies</a>, we recognize that many will be looking to us to share the resources that support solutions.
<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:0in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Us: I will be raising this issue with my fellow deans of colleges of education around the nation.
<o:p></o:p></span></li></ul>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It is with both sadness and empowerment that I hit send.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Laura Lee <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:.25in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:.25in;margin-left:0in;background:white">
<b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Source Sans Pro",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none">Laura Lee McIntyre | Dean & Castle-McIntosh-Knight Professor</span></b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Source Sans Pro",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none"> </span><span style="font-family:"Source Sans Pro",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none">(she/her)</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Source Sans Pro",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none"><br>
</span><b><span style="font-family:"Source Sans Pro",sans-serif;color:#737373;mso-ligatures:none">University of Oregon | College of Education</span></b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Source Sans Pro",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none"><br>
</span><span style="font-family:"Source Sans Pro",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none">230 Hedco Education Building | Eugene, OR 97403-1215<br>
<a href="mailto:email@uoregon.edu"><span style="color:blue">llmcinty@uoregon.edu</span></a> |
<a href="https://education.uoregon.edu/"><span style="color:blue">https://education.uoregon.edu</span></a></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Source Sans Pro",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none">
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://www.uoregon.edu/"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:blue;background:white;text-decoration:none"><img border="0" width="150" height="21" style="width:1.5625in;height:.2187in" id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image001.png@01DB0465.3840F230"></span></a><span style="mso-ligatures:none"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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