Constitution Day education is required in Florida public schools, but does your school comply?
The Convention of States Florida team volunteers have begun a program to train volunteers to provide this requirement and hold schools accountable. During this year's Constitution Week, about 12 volunteers with the Florida team did just that in several schools along the Treasure Coast.
District Captains for COS Florida.
A presentation was made at North Port Middle School by District Captains. Bela Hollis and Kristian Hollis made it fun with some music and costumes. It's a great supplement to Convention of States.
Donna Tiberi has been awesome as our coordinator. She knows all the ins and out. The rest of us just come up with content and presentations. Sometimes we even use music to get the kids engaged and enlightened.
"We have an entire team here who organize and get into the schools," Donna said. "We have some teachers on our team, which makes getting into schools easier. It's always best to know someone first. Build trust and take the weight off of them for a little while. There are 12 of us so far, and we are growing."
A few years ago, Brenda MacMenamin (former Florida State Director for Convention of States) began the partnership with Donna Tiberi in 2016.
Donna is a teacher and knows many teachers in different schools. She's great at getting our foot in the door, and it helps to know a teacher at the school.
Florida has a law that compels a lesson on the Constitution on Constitution Day, as do all schools that receive federal funds. We also try to get in year-round and do classes on the Civil War and the Holocaust. We hope to expand as we go.
The Treasure Coast has a weekly meeting to prepare the team prior to a presentation. We have a pretty good media center, so it's easy for people to practice their presentations using a 70-inch screen and a PowerPoint presentation.
We all have different presentations, because we have different ages of kids. The presentations range from complex to simple and more Q-and-A based. Most times we make slides for our initial benefit and just work off the room, and it turns into an entirely different presentation.
By that time we are so prepared that we'll just use the slides as reference and for visual aid with pictures. Some of us dress up or do songs from School House Rock. We learn a little more every class.
So, get into the classrooms and build relationships with teachers. Have fun talking about the Constitution and the founding of our republic.
