WEBVTT - Can a School Board Teach Us to Overcome Division?

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<v Speaker 1>What's the Wednesday, April sixteenth, we are dropping our third

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<v Speaker 1>story in this week of citizen ing, this how to

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<v Speaker 1>Citizens story sprint, and this one is about division allegedly.

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<v Speaker 1>So I was talking with John Alexander. We have like

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<v Speaker 1>a group chat going with me, him, Elizabeth and Shira

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<v Speaker 1>to run this little sprint, this project, and he hit

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<v Speaker 1>me with a note that I want to weave into

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<v Speaker 1>the setup for this story. And he's like, look, there

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<v Speaker 1>is this nationalization of the story of division, and we

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<v Speaker 1>have these big old.

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<v Speaker 2>Headlines about how divided we are.

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<v Speaker 1>But when you zoom in at any local level, in

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<v Speaker 1>any community, you find people who trying.

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<v Speaker 2>To live together, trying to work it out. And that's

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<v Speaker 2>what this story is today.

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<v Speaker 1>I mean, we are obviously divided, but I remember some

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<v Speaker 1>of you may remember Tim Phillips episode of How the

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<v Speaker 1>Citizen audio podcast where he talks about these consistent studies

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<v Speaker 1>that we think we're more divided than we are. We

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<v Speaker 1>think the quote unquote other sides hates us more than

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<v Speaker 1>they do, and that's a perception challenge.

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<v Speaker 2>It's also a manipulation.

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<v Speaker 1>Experience that there is benefit to someone from making us

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<v Speaker 1>think that we're not aligned here. So part of what

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<v Speaker 1>we need to do is drop down a level, get

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<v Speaker 1>literally closer to the ground, closer to where we live, locals,

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<v Speaker 1>where it's at.

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<v Speaker 2>And I mean I remember when I was even doing.

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<v Speaker 1>Campaigning for Obama local, it was much harder to be

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<v Speaker 1>you know, talking trash on people's front porch, like to

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<v Speaker 1>their face, and so the coarseness of the dialogue that

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<v Speaker 1>is so easy to perform on social media and at

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<v Speaker 1>a distance, you know, slinging mud at states far away,

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<v Speaker 1>at Washington, It's just harder to do that in community.

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<v Speaker 1>People you see at the market, people you see when

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<v Speaker 1>you drop your kids off at school, and that those

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<v Speaker 1>zones have been infected with that.

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<v Speaker 2>Same poison of division.

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<v Speaker 1>And there's an antidote, which is investing in relationships. That's

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<v Speaker 1>one of the big pillars of how the citizen. Those

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<v Speaker 1>who've been on this feed for a while know that

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<v Speaker 1>we repeat it ad nauseum. If you're new, we got

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<v Speaker 1>one of these principles of citizen as a verb is

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<v Speaker 1>to invest in relationships with yourself, with others and the

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<v Speaker 1>planet around you. And once you establish relationship, it's just

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<v Speaker 1>harder to demonize and vilify and see someone as an enemy,

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<v Speaker 1>even as they may still be your opponent, even as

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<v Speaker 1>you may still have real disagreements. So that's the spirit

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<v Speaker 1>of today's offering. I think the story is shorter than

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<v Speaker 1>my setup for it, but I'm just going to use

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<v Speaker 1>this audio feed to provide a bit more context and

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<v Speaker 1>lay the ground for what you're about to hear. Please

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<v Speaker 1>go to story howtositizen dot com. Join the email lists.

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<v Speaker 1>We will do some kind of summary wrap up thing.

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<v Speaker 1>We're dropping an update every day to drive to these stories,

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<v Speaker 1>their video stories. So you're obviously on an audio feed

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<v Speaker 1>here in this and you can find those video stories

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<v Speaker 1>linked right from those email newsletters. They are linked in

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<v Speaker 1>my own substack newsletter dot baritunday dot com.

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<v Speaker 2>Be very easy.

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<v Speaker 1>I'll keep them archived there, and they're linked on social

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<v Speaker 1>media on LinkedIn for me and John, and on Instagram

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<v Speaker 1>for me, baratun Day for how to Citizen the account,

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<v Speaker 1>and for the citizens guy plural that's John. So giving

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<v Speaker 1>you a lot of places to engage. Please comment, please share,

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<v Speaker 1>Please lift up other examples where you see people building bridges,

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<v Speaker 1>building deep relationship across division to move the community forward,

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<v Speaker 1>and in today's case, that community it's for the cheering

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<v Speaker 1>it's about school boards. So enjoy and I'm liking this

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<v Speaker 1>voice memo mode.

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<v Speaker 2>No big studio, no big.

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<v Speaker 1>Mic, just talking louder than I should into my smartphone.

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<v Speaker 1>Let's get smart. We'll deal with all the noise and

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<v Speaker 1>the nonsense in a real good way.

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<v Speaker 2>Love.

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<v Speaker 1>If we only see stories of how divided we are,

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<v Speaker 1>we're going to be divided.

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<v Speaker 2>That's the national story.

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<v Speaker 1>But when you zoom in on any community, you find

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<v Speaker 1>people trying to live together, neighbors who want to be neighborly.

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<v Speaker 1>This is the story of two neighbors who built relationship across.

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<v Speaker 2>Their division as members of the school board.

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<v Speaker 1>This local story is happening all over the nation, which

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<v Speaker 1>kind of makes it a national story.

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<v Speaker 2>It makes you wonder why you're not hearing it more.

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<v Speaker 3>It was very contentious. There was a lot of tension

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<v Speaker 3>on the school board, to the point where the communication

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<v Speaker 3>had really broken down and the board was not able

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<v Speaker 3>to address the shoes that school boards need to address

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<v Speaker 3>and make the kinds of decisions they need to make

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<v Speaker 3>because they couldn't have hard conversations in a productive way.

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<v Speaker 3>I had been on the board for like five seconds

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<v Speaker 3>and he was like, yep, you're gonna be the brig

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<v Speaker 3>builder us. Like Lance, that's a lot of pressure in here.

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<v Speaker 2>We've got some different viewpoints on some things.

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<v Speaker 1>When I realized over the courts of time, maybe our

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<v Speaker 1>viewpoints wasn't as far apart as what I thought.

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<v Speaker 3>Lance and Steph were both participants in our Uniting to

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<v Speaker 3>Prevent Targeted Violence in South Central Pennsylvania program. He would

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<v Speaker 3>not characterize himself as a liberal, although he leans liberal

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<v Speaker 3>on a lot of issues, particularly the kinds of issues

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<v Speaker 3>that tend to face school boards. Steph is also a

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<v Speaker 3>community member in Chambersburg. She would characterize herself as conservative.

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<v Speaker 3>In our Uniting for Action programs, we intentionally teach the

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<v Speaker 3>community members who are participating to develop active listening skills

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<v Speaker 3>and to explore each other's perspectives across difference from a

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<v Speaker 3>perspective of curiosity. They built this really enduring relationship such

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<v Speaker 3>that when Steph was elected to the board, the existing

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<v Speaker 3>board members expected that she would join the right leaning contingent,

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<v Speaker 3>and Lance was already on the sort of left leaning contingent,

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<v Speaker 3>if we can call it that. But they refused to

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<v Speaker 3>buy into that narrative. They resisted this intense pressure really

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<v Speaker 3>to polarize and to demonize, and were able to really

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<v Speaker 3>shift the dynamic on the school board to make it

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<v Speaker 3>much more productive.