Four years ago, after a divisive presidential election, Lincoln High School Principal Mark Larson walked into his building — the most diverse high school in the city — and knew he needed to do something.
A message to staff encouraging them to stress to students that Lincoln High was a safe place for all of them — even those who felt targeted by a new president’s campaign based on building a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, deporting all undocumented immigrants and banning Muslim immigrants — wasn't going to cut it.
So he shut his door and thought about the conversations he’d had with students. Then he got on the intercom and talked about Lincoln High and its history of being one of the most loving and welcoming places in the city, built on the principles of unity, how an election changed none of that.
Larson and others at Lincoln Public Schools learned something that year about elections: Planning ahead is important.
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And it’s especially important in a historic election in the middle of a pandemic with record turnout expected, in a world that erupted this summer in protests after George Floyd died under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer, in a country more divided than ever.
“I’m not making any predictions about what the outcome will be, but if we did learn anything from 2016, we as educators need to plan to be there and teach in and through what students and educators are experiencing,†Larson said.
They learned that they might not be able to control what happens outside school, Larson said, but they wanted to do the best they could to make students feel welcome and accepted within school walls.
For immigrant and refugee families, the fear and anxiety is greater than it was four years ago, said Oscar Rios Pohirieth, LPS cultural specialist and bilingual liaison coordinator.
“The backdrop has been brought to the front, and we are able to see it clearly. And that ableness to see it clearly is frightening to us immigrants and refugees," he said.
“The preoccupation of what the future holds for immigrants and refugee families in terms of equity, creating welcoming communities and establishing lasting relationships with our new neighbors is unclear. The thought of what our children will have to face in the near future when we are no longer around is unbearable.â€
LPS Superintendent Steve Joel has helped, he said, making it clear to social workers and bilingual liaisons that they need to listen to families and respond to their concerns. And Joel sent a letter to immigrant and refugee families to let them know that no matter the outcome of the election and the pandemic, they will continue to be an important part of LPS.
“That paragraph can bring about a little bit of hope, which is what we desperately need right now,†Rios Pohirieth said.
Districtwide, administrators have sent two messages to families reminding them that students can express their political views but they must respect civil expressions of differing political beliefs, that teachers cannot advocate for political candidates or ballot issues but that they can facilitate discussion in class.
They also sent to parents a link to a website to help them have political conversations with their children. Friday’s weekly message sent to all families noted that school officials had noticed an uptick in threatening language among students of different political beliefs and urged parents to remind students to respect others’ beliefs and that administrators will investigate any threats of violence.
John Neal, assistant to the superintendent, said part of the difference in this election is how campaign rhetoric has seeped into schools.
“Part of the difference is the focus on campaign rhetoric and how individuals in the buildings ... mimic the campaign rhetoric they hear from all sides,†he said. “The more a part of local political conversation, the more it becomes part of the conversation in schools.â€
At Lincoln High, Larson wanted to start before the election and made use of “connection circlesâ€Â — among the restorative justice practices the school has used extensively — to give students a chance to express themselves.
A total of 21,194 students grades 4-12 also elected Kate Bolz to the U.S. House, Ben Sasse to the Senate and approved a casino gambling initiative.
Last week, during that time set aside during class, teachers asked students to think about the school’s core values of diversity and unity, how students have found a home at Lincoln High.
The social studies department created lessons about how to analyze last week's student vote, as well as poll results. Math teachers created lessons around the Electoral College and gerrymandering, Larson said.
“This year, it’s been cool because we’ve been a little bit more proactive and been intentional about using content and curriculum to teach through what our students are experiencing and learning,†he said.
Telling them what to think isn’t their job, Larson said, but educators can help students learn how to think — to give them a chance to share their thoughts, and the tools to analyze those thoughts and reach their own conclusions.
“I think the reality is, with what’s going on, we don’t have the luxury to put our heads in the sand and just teach our subjects and our content, because we know our kids are experiencing and reading things on social media and TV and they look to us for answers.â€