Celebrate our 3rd Annual #ILoveOurPublicSchools Week!

We have two shared goals this week:

1. Celebrate our students and show our public school teachers, school staff members, and school administrators that we appreciate their hard work and dedication to Wisconsin’s children!

2. Show our legislators and decision makers how Public Schools are truly the heart of our communities!

Below is our WPEN 2019 Statewide #ILoveMyPublicSchools Week Action Tool Kit!

~ This kit is meant to inspire and/or guide your efforts. It is by no means a step by step instruction booklet! Take what speaks to your community and leave what doesn’t. If you decide to do something completely new please let us know so we can incorporate and share out your victories!~

 

Click here for a downloadable and shareable PDF of this Tool Kit

Statewide Event- Monday, February 11th– Save the Date!

WHO: YOU! And everyone else you know who loves Public Schools

WHAT: I Love My Public Schools Week Kickoff with State Superintendent Carolyn Stanford Taylor – 1:00 pm at the Middleton Public Library, followed by a Wisconsin Public Education Network General Partner Meeting with New Wisconsin State Superintendent Caroline Stanford Taylor. RSVP

MAKE IT LOCAL

BE THE LOVE. Hold one or more of the following events (or think of your own!) from Feb. 11-15

Valentines or Other Tokens of Appreciation: Send Valentine’s/notes/cookies to the educators and staff in your school. Don’t forget administrators and your district office! Make a party of it by holding card-making parties with parent groups, student orgs, and other local teams. KEEP IT SIMPLE. The message is: I LOVE MY PUBLIC SCHOOL because…

Last year our partner, Parents for Public Schools-MKE, ran an AMAZING cookie campaign. Click here to see the poster they made to promote the event! The poster is also at the bottom of this page!

The event was loved by all! It was fun for the community members doing the baking, and it was a tangible way to show appreciation to our hard working public employees!

Welcome Walks: Welcome staff and students to school (ideally on the morning of Valentine’s day but whenever works for your team/s) by lining the street/sidewalk with signs telling them why you love your local schools.

Special Events: invite speakers or hold a party to honor local difference-makers in your schools

Media Message: Write a letter to the editor or op-ed for your local paper sharing why you love your schools. Contact your local paper and new stations to inform them of your events and invite them to come cover them!

School Board Actions: Make a formal resolution declaring it I LOVE ___ PUBLIC SCHOOLS WEEK in your district. See sample here.

Take a selfie with the I LOVE  MY PUBLIC SCHOOL BECAUSE…sign below. Share on social media. Use our photo frame on facebook.

 SHARE THE LOVE. Wisconsin Voters spoke loud and clear, we CARE about our public schools! 

Let local and state-level decision makers know you care!  When decision-makers see us making public schools a priority, they’ll know we want them to make public schools a priority, too. Let your legislators and local leaders know WHY you love your public school. Send your legislators a Valentine (or better yet, deliver one in person!), sharing the reasons why you love your public schools.

SPECIAL DELIVERY EVENT! Let decision makers know how much YOUR community loves its public schools!
IN PERSON: JOIN US ON FRIDAY FEB 15 on the Capitol steps (State Street entrance) at 11:30 am to deliver Valentines to the Governor and our legislators as a group – those who wish are welcome to join us after for lunch.

Details and RSVP

Can’t make it to Madison?

1.Bring them to the Monday Meeting and we will delivery them for you!

3. VIRTUAL DELIVERY: If you can’t join us in Madison, deliver your message virtually! Take photos of your Valentines and tweet them @ your elected officials, share on facebook and tag your legislators, and use snailmail to send the message.

SPREAD THE LOVE. Use the energy and momentum of the week to inspire others in our communities to get involved!

  1. Use #ILoveMyPublicSchool *and* #ILove_______PublicSchools [insert your city/district here]
  2. SHARE photos, reports, posts and testimonials on all social media platforms. Tag your district/teachers/staff and send the love out. Tag us @WiscEdNetwork (Twitter) and @WisconsinNetwork (facebook) so we can amplify the love!
  3. Update your profile picture on Facebook with a I Love My Public School Filter Week filter! Simply go to https://www.facebook.com/profilepicframes, then search “Wisconsin Public Education Network.” Then pick your favorite option and click “Use as Profile Picture” to save. These Frames will become LIVE February 1!

Here are the four options available this year!

FEEL THE LOVE. We want to be each other’s cheerleader’s and supporters!

Add your actions to our interactive map  and take a look at other things happening around the State! No matter how small the action add it to the map. Including one valentine to one teacher! We want to create a visual of all the love spreading all over!

Instructions on how to add your event to the map:

  1. Click the word map to open the Map.
  2. Type the location of the event in the search bar at the top of the page and search. This can be as specific as you make it! Simply a city or a full address of where the event is taking place.
  3. Click the plus arrow labeled “Add to Map”
  4. After the Location has been successfully added to the map you are ready to add detail! Click the edit button that looks like a pencil.
  5.  From here you can edit, the name of the location and description! Again add as much or as little detail as you would like!
  6. Finally, the last step is adding the heart icon! On the left side panel you should see the name of your event, hover your mouse over the name of the event and click on the paint bucket icon that appears.7. Pick the color you want and then choose the heart icon under the section labelled “other icons” and you are DONE!

 

GRAPHICS

Link to google drive folder with downloadable versions of all graphics seen below!