Breastfeed Orange NC reached out to our Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Board of Education candidates for their insights on how our school district can support breastfeeding, chestfeeding, and human milk feeding families. We believe that creating a supportive environment for lactating families and employees in our schools is vital for the health and well-being of our children, families, and community.
Allison Willis
Candidate for the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Board of Education
Below are Allison’s responses to our four questions about ways to create a more breastfeeding-friendly school district.
Written Statement of Support
Do you support a written statement from the school board that actively supports breastfeeding and is routinely communicated to all stakeholders, including staff, parents, and students?
I do.
Welcoming Atmosphere
How do you propose that our schools create and maintain a welcoming atmosphere for nursing families?
The three most important things we can do are:
- Have clean, comfortable, and well-maintained separate space for new mothers to pump.
- Work with new mothers returning to work to understand their pumping schedule and how their school schedule align.
- Advocate for 12-week paid parental leave for all new parents allowing ample bonding and recovery time before returning to work.
Returning to Work
Support after returning to work is crucial for continued breastfeeding. Will you actively promote employment support for lactating employees in your role on the school board?
Yes.
Normalizing Breastfeeding
How do you plan to advocate for and encourage the inclusion of breastfeeding-friendly curricula at all levels of education within our school district?
I would need to learn more here. From my experience, health, puberty, and sex-education curriculum are typically not inclusive of post pregnancy infant care. If there are sample resources you could share with me, I’d be interested in reading more to better understand what this looks like.*
Editor’s Note: Breastfeed Orange NC looks forward to working with the CHCCS Board of Education on breastfeeding-friendly curricula for all levels of education.
Check out all the posts in this series on the insights of our Board of Education candidates relating to lactation family friendly support in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools.