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Many schools enjoy celebrating a non-religious "holiday season" but clearly favor Christmas in their traditions and decor. Moreover, important non-Christian holidays that don't occur in December are often overlooked completely. This edition of The Moment offers resources that can help your school community become more inclusive by reflecting on how and when holidays show up in your hallways, assemblies and classrooms.

The February 14, 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Florida, and the subsequent swell of student activism focused our national discussion on mass shootings and school safety. This edition of The Moment explores three ways educators can join this important conversation: approaching the topic of mental health with students, getting involved (directly and indirectly) in the growing movement, and honoring the history of young change makers.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday is an opportunity to tell a nuanced story about a complicated man and movement. This edition of The Moment includes two articles that can help you teach MLK’s legacy with the complexity it deserves—even to young students. We’ve also included a downloadable, printable One World Poster featuring a quote from King’s “Letter From a Birmingham Jail.”

This week, a Texas school district is making news for requiring a student to cut his locs before graduation. We’re heartened by how this student’s family and community are supporting him, but we must ask: How many other celebrations—and bodies—are still being regulated by discriminatory school policies? This is a conversation we should be having with students, colleagues and administrators. These resources can help.

This week, we were disappointed to see wide circulation of the videos showing Ahmaud Arbery's and Sean Reed's shooting deaths. Educators have a responsibility to engage with students about this violence against Black men—and the white supremacist systems that allow it to continue. But they must do so without re-traumatizing Black students and with extra care for their mental health. These resources can help.

As we remember the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom of 1963, it’s critical not to whitewash this history. Contextualize the campaign and the struggle associated with it, including the impact of the march’s organizer, Bayard Rustin—an openly gay Black man. That also includes complicating the event’s most iconic figure, Dr. Martin Luther King, and his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. These resources can help.

With the increase in politically motivated attacks on the rights of transgender youth to receive affirming care, we must all work to create safer spaces in schools and in our communities for trans and nonbinary students. Understanding gender-affirming care for youth is an essential step, and the willingness to learn will help you counter the disinformation that endangers LGBTQ+ youth. These LFJ resources can help foster such understanding.