This interactive workshop uses the Confronting White Nationalsim in Schools Toolkit to deepen participants’ understanding of the complex pressures educators and administrators face when confronting organized bigotry and anti-democracy movements in their schools. Grounded in the real-world challenges of each participant’s unique context, the session provides space for honest reflection, peer dialogue, and collaborative problem-solving. Through scenario-based exploration, participants will engage with the emotional, political, and logistical dimensions of responding to hate-driven incidents. They will design actionable response plans that address three critical phases: proactive measures to build resilience and readiness, immediate steps to take in the wake of an incident, and long-term strategies for restoring trust, repairing harm, and rebuilding a more inclusive school community.

Speaker:

Jay Breslow, PhD, Education Program Manager, Western States Center

Dr. Jay Breslow is the Education Program Manager at Western States Center. He has been an educator for over 20 years and his resume is eclectic and multifaceted. He was the principal of a small charter school in Eugene, OR for 8 years, ran a community school in Portland, OR and had various stints in graduate school. He is the founder and director of an organization called the Community Creativity Collective (3C) that seeks to activate local and community knowledge in service of more creative teaching and learning opportunities in schools. When not at work, you can find him playing with his children, mushroom hunting, or in a boat on a river somewhere.