Deciding the Future for Constitutional Tales

I have been working on Constitutional Tales for two and a half years.  The first phase was immersion in the research and development of the Tales in 2007-2008.  The second phase was giving many presentations and continuing some research in the 2008-2009 academic year and the Fall of 2009. I am now in the third phase of the project where I can devote more time but need to make decisions on the directions to take and the best ways to fund the project.  I could use your help in developing the strategic plan for the Tales.  I invite you to respond to any or all of the issues I outline below.  Although I encourage the blog as a way to get a conversation going among many, please also feel free to contact me by email, constitutionaltales@gmail.com.

Audience

I have shared the Tales with a wide range of audiences:  judges, lawyers, legislators, advocates, citizens, educators, students, policy-makers, historians, and legal scholars.  This has been intentional since the concept of “constitutional popularism” is that the constitution and stories around it should be shared by everyone.  That said, do you see certain audiences as more crucial than others?  How important is it to focus on scholarship to aid the judicial branch?  How much time should be spent developing curriculum materials that could be used in public schools or higher education?  How much should the focus be on the stories of race relations and heroes that resonate with the public and advocacy organizations?  How much effort should go into making the materials relevant to legislators and policymakers?

Media

The Constitutional Tales project so far has been available in a couple of forms – presentations and now this website.  A third effort underway is to write the tales in more of a book form (whether hard copy or ebook). 

The presentations have been important as a way to share the Tales and connect with audiences.  The one full production with actors was the most successful at this and by far, the most challenging to develop.  Should the Tales continue to focus on these live presentations even though they are time-consuming and reach relatively small audiences at a time?  Should funding for full productions be a priority?

The current website is intended to show the structure of what could be a very rich, resource-intensive site.  It could include more primary documents and links to digitized resources.  It could include videos of presentations or other media specially formatted for effective communication on the web.  It could include interactive materials of interest to individuals or that could be used in classrooms.  The development and maintenance of a rich website is time intensive and costly.  How much effort should go into this?

Many people have suggested that I write a book.  Even with eight hours of presentation materials, I cannot begin to share the richness of the stories and analysis in presentation form that I could in written form.  The first question may be, in the age of twitter, is there a sufficient audience for a book?  Does it sound like the kind of thing you might read? Can you imagine it being used for a group or a class?

Some also have suggested a documentary film or PBS program or museum display.  I expect that these may be more in phase 4 of the project, but I welcome your thoughts on these options as well.

Funds, Resources, and Organizational Structure

The website describes the kind of collaborations that have been crucial to getting the Tales to this stage of development (Go to Collaborators at www.constitutionaltales.net to read about it).  While there have been significant contributions of time and resources, the need continues.  We want to continue to find individuals and organizations who see the Tales as a worthwhile investment.

What organizational relationships do you think would best further the Tales?  Should there be partnerships in higher ed or with nonprofit or government agencies?  If you have specific ideas – particular agencies/university affiliations, please let me know.

What are potential funding sources for the Tales?  Do you know of private donors who would want to be a part of the Tales?  What foundations or other grant-issuing agencies are you familiar with that should be explored?

The Tales are currently housed in my law practice, the McColl Law Firm.  Should the Tales become a separate 501(c)(3) organization or a sponsored project of an existing 501(c)(3) organization?   Or can it create partnerships and receive adequate donations under the current structure?

I want to raise the questions here because this project is meant to benefit this state and I want to hear from people in making choices.  Please post your reply or respond by email, constitutionaltales@gmail.com.  If you think it would be helpful to have small group discussions, let me know that, too.  Thanks.

Connecting Creativity in Public Schools with the Constitution

What’s the connection between the North Carolina Constitution and creativity?  Based on what I heard at the 25^th Annual Emerging Issues Forum last week in Raleigh, the connection is both fundamental and practical. 

Governors, academics, authors and activists provided their perspective on the proposition that creativity is “America’s single greatest advantage in an increasingly competitive global marketplace.”   The conference sought to advance “policies and practices that would enhance creativity’s impact on North Carolina’s economy.”  As the conversation turned to public schools, and it frequently did, the focus was on whether our schools foster creativity and approach it as a teachable skill, or whether, instead, creativity is squelched through policies and practices like the testing program, graduation requirements, and outdated instructional methods.  The consensus was that we’ve over-emphasized left-brain skills and we need to attend more to right-brain thinking to prepare students for success.

So how does an understanding of the North Carolina Constitution advance our discussion on creativity as a necessary part of the public school education?

For starters, the story behind the creation of the fundamental right to education is, itself, all about creativity and innovation.  Reverend Samuel S. Ashley came as a missionary to Wilmington, North Carolina in April of 1865 – just as the Civil War was coming to a close  -- to create schools for Freedmen.  In situations that could hardly be more dire, he fought tenaciously for education demonstrating extraordinary resourcefulness in building schools, recruiting teachers, and raising funds.  He brought this conviction to the floor of the constitutional convention in 1868 when he moved to amend the declaration of rights by adding “the people shall have a right to the privileges of education and it shall be the duty of the state to guard and maintain that right.”

This became one of our fundamental rights and our NC Supreme Court has interpreted that the framers of the constitution (including Ashley) intended “that every child have a fundamental right to a sound basic education which would prepare the child to participate fully in society as it existed in his or her lifetime.”  This kind of standard breathes so that we get the best of both worlds:  we hold onto the passionate conviction of Ashley of the need for education but apply it to contemporary standards. 

And when we think about these standards, the North Carolina Supreme Court explicitly tells us that test scores are not enough to measure the constitutional right to education – we must use additional ways to assess whether our students are ready for further education or to compete in the job market. The experts who spoke at the Forum clearly demonstrated how participants in today’s society need fundamental right brain skills as much as left-brain abilities.  So if creativity is so important, doesn’t this mean that we must find a way to address it (and assess it) in order to meet constitutional standards? 

Our state constitution is where we have placed our fundamental principles as a state.  When Ashley became the first elected superintendent of public instruction, he often cited the constitution in his efforts to garner support for improvements needed in the system of public schools and to remind people of the agreed-upon principles.  We can continue to do so. Telling the stories helps us remember the kind of creativity and innovation that are a part of our legacy.  Being clear on constitutional interpretation allows us to see how constitutional standards are relevant to these policy discussions.  And notice that when we make these efforts to pay attention to the stories, integrate constitutional analysis, and look at issues in a new way, we are employing the kind of creative thinking that we seek to further for the state.  That’s at least part of what the Constitutional Tales are about.