WASB resolution supports curriculum about Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders

PROTECTED CONTENT

If you’re a current subscriber, log in below. If you would like to subscribe, please click the subscribe tab above.

Lost your password?

Username and Password Help

Please enter your email and we will send you a password reset link.

← Back

By LeAnn R. Ralph
COLFAX — One of the resolutions presented at the Wisconsin Education Convention January 19 to 21 concerned establishing curriculum and professional training to teach the history, culture and contributions of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
Ken Neuburg, a member of the Colfax Board of Education, talked about the resolution at the school board’s January 17 meeting.
Neuburg is the school board’s assembly delegate at the convention.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Colfax Board of Education decided not to attend the convention sponsored by the Wisconsin Association of School Boards this year.
The delegate assembly, when the resolutions are considered, was operated as a hybrid this year so that delegates could attend in person or on-line.
Asian American and Pacific Islanders refers to people who trace their origins and ancestries to the countries of East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia or the Pacific Islands.
Between 2010 and 2020 the population of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders increased in Wisconsin by 36 percent, Neuburg said.
According to the resolution, the number of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders increased from 131,061 to 177,901, which is consistent with a nationwide growth in the population of 35.5 percent.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have been targeted in Wisconsin, and across the country, by incidents of hate and harassment, Neuburg said.
Anti-Asian hate incidents from March of 2020 to June of 2021 totaled more than 9,000 across the United States, with 4,533 occurring from January to June of 2021 alone, the resolution states.
Wisconsin legislators officially recognized the contributions of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in 2021 by recognizing May 2021 as Asian Pacific Islander Desi American Heritage Month and by designating May 14 annually as Hmong-Lao Veterans Day. Both of the legislative resolutions received bipartisan support, according to the WASB resolution.
The WASB resolution is encouraging public schools in Wisconsin to develop curriculum and professional training to teach the history, culture and contributions of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and requests that state legislators provide sufficient funding to develop appropriate curriculum and training packages.
“I firmly back this resolution and will do a support vote,” Neuburg said.
Safe harbor
Another WASB resolution supports state legislation to protect young people who have been victims of child sex trafficking from criminal prosecution for prostitution.
All 72 counties in Wisconsin have reported incidents of child sex trafficking, and there have been about 100 incidents per year, the resolution notes.
Victims, on average, are 13 years old when they are trafficked for the first time. The traffickers target homeless children and runaways. It is difficult for children to escape from sex trafficking because they face potential prosecution under child prostitution laws, according to the resolution.
When a similar Safe Harbor law was enacted in Minnesota, the conviction of child sex traffickers quadrupled, mostly because victims were more likely to testify against their abusers.
Adopting a Safe Harbor law in Wisconsin would bring the state into conformity with the federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act. Thirty other states have already enacted similar provisions, the resolution states.
Other resolutions
Additional resolutions included support for annual increases in per pupil spendable resources for public schools that meet or exceed inflation as well as:
• Converting special education categorial aid from a sum certain appropriation to a sum sufficient appropriation, which would guarantee a specified percentage of support, which in this case is 60 percent.
• Encouraging schools to focus less on identifying “gifted” students and more on identifying and addressing unmet learning needs of students capable of high levels of achievement.
• Supporting legislation to broaden the scope of Department of Public Instruction-issued pupil services licenses eligible to qualify for state categorical aid for school mental health programs to include school social workers, school counselors and school psychologists.
• Supporting legislation to broaden the scope of mental health service professionals eligible for reimbursement from the state to include licensed mental health social workers, licensed mental health counselors, licensed mental health psychologists, and community mental health coordinators.