Piute County School District,

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day! What a year it has been for civil rights and having conversations about equity. I will keep it short today because I want to make sure you have a few minutes to read, listen to, or watch parts of Dr. King’s “I have a dream” speech. 

Dr. King gave the famous speech to 250,000 people at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. The crowd had congregated for what was called the march on Washington for jobs and freedom. In the nearly 60 years since the speech America has come a long way. Conversations about equality and equity can be difficult. It is hard to put ourselves in the shoes of someone else. I find watching Dr. King’s speech puts me in the moment much better than reading or just listening to the speech. Here is the link….

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smEqnnklfYs&feature=emb_logo

It’s 17 minutes long. If that is too long at least listen to the first few minutes and then jump to the 12:15 mark. That’s when he gets into the closing that is the “I have a dream” portion of the speech.

Even in little Piute County there are adults and students that feel marginalized and isolated. The feelings may not be created by any blatant racism or direct discrimanation, but by ignorance or indifference. Please be sensitive to every student's struggles. I recognize that the most tender things done for students are not done with any type of audience or fanfare. They are things that a test score can’t measure and that an evaluator can’t observe, but thank you for each one of those things. 

Dream big in Week 21,

Koby