Moderator:

Barbara Mullen, Chief Equity & Diversity Officer, Providence Public School District

Panelists:

Linda Nathan, Executive Director, Center for Artistry & Scholarship

Jessica Tang, President, Boston Teachers Union

Jeanette Taylor, Alderwoman, Chicago City Council

Rodney Thomas, Vice President of National Programs, Surge Institute

Thursday, October 22nd
6:00 - 8:00 PM EST / 3:00 - 5:00 PM PST

Taking it Personal: Leading for Systemic Change

Our institutions of public education are deeply intertwined with our public health, political, and economic systems. The intersections of education with so many aspects of our lives make the success of our schools deeply personal for all of us. From beginning to end, the change we seek for systems stems from the transformative engagement of individuals who take systemic change personally. Yet, too often, education leaders see themselves as dispassionate technical interventionists without thinking about or being supported to develop the capacities necessary to lead in the multifaceted space of public education. Beyond technical education expertise, leading for educational equity and justice requires the organizing capacities of trusting community expertise, agitating toward social justice values, building power to make change, and developing the leadership of others. Hear from systems leaders and/or changemakers who take it personal and have adopted some of these capacities as they respond to questions like: What do you do, how do you do it, where has it worked, how has it failed, and how can we learn from your work to support a social justice vision for schools in our local contexts? How do you collaborate to improve the education system for students, families, and communities?

Moderator:

Maria C. Fernandez, Senior Campaign Strategist, Advancement Project National Office

Panelists:

Ni'Keah Manning, Member & Program Coordinator, Black Organizing Project 

Veronica Rodriguez, Youth Organizer, Brighton Park Neighborhood Council

Jonathan Stith, National Director, Alliance for Educational Justice

Nancy Xiong, Lead Organizer, Alliance of Rhode Island Southeast Asians for Education (ARISE)

Friday, October 23rd
3:00 - 4:30 PM EST / 12:00 - 1:30 PM PST

#PoliceFreeSchools Are Possible: Lessons from Grassroots Organizing Leading the Movement to Abolish School Police

For decades, Black students and students of color and their families have been organizing to end the criminalization and policing of young people in schools across the country. After years of bold and consistent organizing and amidst uprisings against police violence, the movement for #PoliceFreeSchools is gaining momentum and winning. From Oakland, to San Francisco, Denver to Madison, Milwaukee, and Rochester, organizers are terminating school policing contracts, eliminating school police departments, and defunding school policing programs that criminalize and push students into the criminal legal system. Fights to remove police from schools, grounded in police abolition, are happening in all of our cities – generating a new vision for the safety and wellbeing of school communities. Join organizers for a discussion on lessons learned and explore the roles students, families, educators and school leaders can play in building a liberatory education system free of policing. We know that police-free schools is not the end of struggle, but the beginning.

Moderator:

Leigh Patel, Professor of Education Foundations, Organizations, and Policy, University of Pittsburgh School of Education

Panelists:

Shawn Brooks, Advisory Council / Summer Research & Policy Leader, Hearing Youth Voices

Shineika Fareus, Alumnae Outreach Coordinator / Co-Director-in-Training, Hearing Youth Voices

Friday, October 23rd
3:00 - 4:00 PM EST / 12:00 - 1:00 PM PST

Schools That Work for Us

Schools That Work for Us (STWFU) is a framework for thinking comprehensively about school transformation and what needs to be taken down and what needs to be (re)built in order for schools to be sites of true growth, development, and freedom for Black and Brown young people. The framework was developed in 2018 when young people from New London, CT compiled 6 years of Hearing Youth Voices (HYV) research and data that had been collected via surveys, interviews, and hundreds of youth meetings since 2012. Organized around 8 themes—Mental Health, Relationships, Freedom to be and to Move, Full Safety, Teaching and Learning, Collective Power, The Struggle, and Resources—STWFU is a guide that we can all use as we dig into the necessary work of re-designing our society’s institutions so that they are infused with anti-racist and anti-poverty policies and practices. This session will feature leaders (now HYV alumni) who helped develop the framework, as well as current HYV youth leaders who are organizing in their communities to make Schools That Work for Us a reality.

Moderator:

Jennifer Cheatham, Senior Lecturer on Education, Co-Chair of the Public Education Leadership Project, Harvard University

Panelists:

Pious Ali, Director, Portland Empowered

Lucia Rico, Parent Lead Organizer, Portland Empowered

Grace Valenzuela, Executive Director for Communications & Community Partnerships, Portland Public Schools

Friday, October 23rd
3:00 - 4:30 PM EST / 12:00 - 1:30 PM PST

Portland Empowered: Shared Space Cafés

Parents and families need to be in contact with their children’s school and to understand the school system in order to make an impact on education policies, practices, and decisions. In Portland, Maine—a small city that has over sixty languages in its schools—Portland Empowered and the Portland Public Schools have implemented Shared Space Cafés. With Shared Space Cafés, parents plan, design, lead, and facilitate conversations in their native languages in small groups that include both other parents and school staff. Interpretation is typically provided primarily for school staff to allow them to understand non-English conversations. Born out of parent organizing efforts, Shared Space Cafés have become important forums for Portland Empowered staff and organizers and Portland Public Schools educators to hear concerns and dreams of parents and families when it comes to education. In this workshop, panelists from Portland Empowered and Portland Public Schools will share the origins and history of Shared Space Cafés and discuss some of the lessons learned.

Moderator:

Nancy Gutiérrez, President & CEO, The Leadership Academy

Panelists:

Cesar Alvarez, Principal, Frances Willard Elementary School, Kansas City Kansas Public Schools

Tracy Leathers, Principal, Ocala STEAM Academy, Alum Rock Union Elementary School District (San Jose, CA)

Marlon Williams, Principal, Dr. Daniel Hale Williams Middle School 180, New York City Department of Education

Friday, October 23rd
7:00 - 8:30 PM EST / 4:00 - 5:30 PM PST

Culturally Responsive Leadership

Education leaders play a crucial role in identifying and addressing inequities in schools and school systems. To do that work effectively, what do leaders need to know and be able to do? In this workshop, Nancy Gutiérrez from The Leadership Academy will present a list of six equity-focused leadership dispositions that The Leadership Academy embeds into their Culturally Responsive Leadership Framework that are crucial for leaders to build a path toward creating a school community by, with, and for every student. The presentation will be followed by a panel discussion with three school principals about how they push for/prioritize equity in schools, what barriers they face, and how organizing dispositions can help overcome them.