January 27, 2020
Media Advisory
What: SAISD students curate exhibit in observance of the state’s first Holocaust Remembrance
Week (Senate Bill 1828)
Today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day
Who: State Senator José Menéndez (who sponsored the bill)
Sixth-grade International Baccalaureate students
When: Jan. 27 (Mon) – 3 p.m.
Where: Harris Middle School, 325 Pruitt Ave.
Sixth-grade students from Harris Middle School have curated an exhibit based on a 25-day Holocaust Remembrance social studies project, which culminated with a visit to the Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum last week Friday, Jan. 24.
Today’s event is being held on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, and the first day of the state’s first Holocaust Remembrance Week.
In June 2019, Gov. Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 1828 into law establishing Holocaust Remembrance Week throughout Texas public schools. Sen. José Menéndez authored this bill, which passed unanimously in the House and Senate Chambers allowing Texas to join 11 other states that require some form of Holocaust education in public schools.
During today’s event, Harris Middle School students will honor the memory of six million people of the Jewish faith who perished in the Holocaust and will recognize the subsequent genocides that have occurred since World War II. The program will feature poetry, music, and student exhibits.
Teachers from two SAISD International Baccalaureate Schools – Harris and Longfellow middle schools – developed the supplemental curriculum as the result of a two-year grant over the summer. Longfellow students, who visited the Holocaust Memorial Museum of San Antonio, will display their exhibit in the Longfellow library from Tuesday through Friday of this week.
The educational programming was made possible by Rene Plessner, through the SAISD Foundation. Mr. Plessner is passionate about educating students of all ages about the universal lessons of the Holocaust as a means to create a more humane, just, and peaceful world.