The Long Beach Unified School District unanimously approved a resolution to offer a state seal of civic engagement to high school graduates.
The seal will recognize students who are knowledgeable and actively participating in democratic and civic opportunities such as voting and speaking at board meetings. Upon completing the award, students can add the seal sticker to their diploma.
“This award is really a component of a student showcasing what they know about civics, [in] state as well as federal democracy and election systems, but it’s also more importantly about engagement,” History, Social Science, Ethnic Studies Curriculum Leader, Alan Sheppard said.
Qualification for the award is broken down into five criteria:
- Making academic progress toward graduation.
- Completing grade-level history and social science curriculum
- Participating in a “civic-engagement project” that deals with and provides solution actions to real-world problems.
- Demonstrating civic knowledge and skills through self-reflection
- Showcasing character traits that reflect civic-mindedness and a commitment to positively impact the classroom, school, community or society.
In September 2020, the State Board of Education adopted criteria to award a state seal of Civic Engagement to California students. Upon approving the resolution at their April 17 board meeting, LBUSD district staff will be working towards implementing and creating awareness of the award.
Sheppard said that by offering the seal, the district hopes to encourage students across all schools to become civically engaged.
“Students beginning in ninth grade can really start to plan for the achievement of earning this award. They can think about what type of projects that they’re interested in and also what projects align with their pathway of choice,” Sheppard said.
Applications for the state seal are currently open to the class of 2023 seniors and will be open to all students in the 2023-24 school year.
“I am very excited about this opportunity for our students. I think that planting the seed of democracy and engagement in our democracy at a young age for our students is going to be a good opportunity, especially [for] our communities of color that are often overlooked and devalued,” board member Erik Miller said. “To make this a part of our district and what we represent I think is going to be just really cool.”
Miller also said he is a proponent of showcasing “democratic passions” responsibly with care and empathy. He referenced the different ways in which people protested during the movement around George Floyd and said that it is important for the district and board to support responsible behavior.
“I think that it is very easy to misconstrue civic engagement to just behavior that isn’t incumbent upon the true cause that you want to represent, so that’s just something that I wanted to make sure was stated,” Miller said.
Students can apply for the state seal of civic engagement through the LBUSD website.
