St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church on Signal Mountain will host a public forum on Sunday evening, Sept. 8, to discuss the issue of civil discourse in schools.
The forum is a follow-up to a series of forums held in 2018 on the broad topic of civil discourse. At those forums, attendees asked for another forum to discuss the issues of civility among school students.
A panel of students and educators both on and off Signal Mountain will be featured at the forum, and they will take questions from the audience.
The goal of the forum, said the Rev.
Derrick Hill, Rector of St. Timothy’s, is to find ways that we as a community of differing views and opinions can work together to foster civil discourse. “At a time when our airways, our public spaces, and even our school classrooms are filled with acerbic and demeaning conversations, we think we all need to spend some time discussing how to change that – to have discussions and disagreements based on mutual respect and common values.”
Last year’s forums were well attended and received national attention via several news services and podcasts, including NPR, which aired a segment nationwide featuring Signal Mountain as an example of ways local communities are working to foster more civility and respectful conversation
The forum will begin at 6 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 8, in the Parish Hall of St. Timothy’s at 630 Mississippi Avenue on Signal Mountain. Another forum will be held in early November with details of that to be announced later.