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Tuesday Talks!
Join me for weekly discussions about ALL things education...from preschool through high school! As a mom, Speech Language Pathologist, and educator, I share my personal experiences related to each week's topic in relatable and informative ways.
My message about education is powerful: Reflecting on what is and making waves to cause change!
Tuesday Talks!
From Status Quo to Shake Up: Changing Our Schools
Send us your thoughts about this week's episode!
What does it mean to be an "equity conspirator" in today's educational landscape? In this thought-provoking conversation, veteran educator Klarissa Hightower reveals how she leveraged her 18 years of experience—from classroom teacher to executive leadership—to transform school systems from within.
Drawing on her powerful concept of the "privilege wheel," Klarissa explains how she strategically used her access to decision-making spaces to advocate for marginalized students. Rather than simply speaking from personal experience, she demonstrates the importance of building relationships with communities outside your own to ensure authentic representation. Her approach combines hard data with human stories, showing administrators exactly how their policies affect real students.
Parents and educators will find practical strategies for creating change at any level. Whether forming coalitions with unexpected allies, asking specific questions about budget allocations, or transforming a single classroom, every action creates ripple effects. The most powerful insight comes at the conversation's conclusion: our educational systems are functioning exactly as designed—just not for everyone. True equity requires us to question fundamental assumptions about how and why we educate.
Ready to become an advocate for meaningful change in your school community? Listen now, then share your thoughts on how small shifts can create big impacts for students who need them most.
Tuesday Talks—Real conversations sparking real change in education.
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Tuesday Talks is hosted by Dr. Tiffany. She has been a Speech/Language Pathologist for 20 years. She's also a speaker and educational consultant. Dr. Tiffany hosts webinars and in-person workshops for teachers and parents.
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Welcome to Tuesday Talks, your educational podcast, helping parents become strong advocates for their kids and teachers to make big impacts on the classroom. Here we go. Hey, welcome everybody to another Tuesday Talks. Thanks for joining me again for another great episode. Talks. Thanks for joining me again for another great episode. All things education, remember. Go ahead and like, subscribe, share, follow all the things that, whatever you do on the platform you're looking at, do those things and share this with a friend because, as always, I have another amazing topic in store for you all.
Speaker 1:Tonight we are talking about shaking up the school system. We all know there's lots to be changed. If you're a parent or a teacher or both, or even school adjacent, you know there are some things going on at your child's school, your friend's school, that need to be changed, and sometimes they go deeper than just the day-to-day, sometimes they're systemic. I mean, it's been going on for a long, long, long time and things really need to change. And I have a very special guest tonight who is going to be joining me for a great Tuesday Talks I'm going to bring out shortly Clarissa Hightower. We go way back to high school days. While our lives have taken us in different directions Literally. She's on the opposite end of the United States from me. She and I have been in education in some form or fashion, and Clarissa is not only a mom and a partner, sister, friend, educator, a fierce social justice advocate. She's also a passionate equity conspirator, and I love that description. Her life's work had been dedicated to equity and eliminating the predictability of outcomes by demographic groups, and during her 18-year career in education, she served as a teacher, teacher leader, school administrator, the assistant director of the English of the ESL department in Portland Public Schools and the executive director of equity and inclusion for Evergreen Public Schools in Washington State. In fact, she established Evergreen's first equity inclusion department and was part of the superintendent's cabinet and executive leadership team. Talk about going up, up, up in education. She reached the tippy top. She was in the room with the people who make the decisions that we all say in the schools, like now, who decided that? She was in the room with those people and we're going to talk to her about how that impacted her career and how she was able to impact the area where she was working. So I'm going to bring her out. Hey, hey, hey, hi. Thank you for joining me tonight. I really, really appreciate it. This is going to be a super special episode. So, again, if you haven't already shared this, please do so, because we is going to be a super special episode. So, again, if you haven't already shared this, please do so, because we're going to talk about shaking things up and it's going to be a very dynamic conversation because Clarissa is passionate, very passionate.
Speaker 1:I love how you called yourself an equity conspirator. That is such a powerful phrase. So what does that mean to you and why does education need conspirators instead of just advocates? Yeah, when I talk about being an equity conspirator, I'm referencing this idea of the privilege wheel. Have you ever seen a privilege wheel? I have Describe it for the listeners who haven't. It is a circular, it's a wheel and it is cut into these slices like a pie, and towards the exterior of this wheel, it shows the folks in our community who have been the most marginalized, and the closer you get into the center, it shows the folks with the most privilege. And so, because we are multifaceted people and our experiences are different, we can live in any one of those pies at any point, inside or outside, towards the outside of that wheel. Instead of focusing for me when I'm.
Speaker 1:As a conspirator, I focus on the aspects of my life that are closer to the center. Conspirator, I focus on the aspects of my life that are closer to the center and I use those to be able to advocate for those who have been marginalized in those rooms where they may not be as welcomed, as invited, as accessible. I'm in there and so I use those elements of my privilege to advocate. When I say conspire, there's two parts to it. So I have the privilege, but sometimes not sometimes.
Speaker 1:Usually with that privilege comes some ignorance because it is not your life experience. So, for example, I do not identify as a person who has any invisible or visible disabilities, so that means I don't have that life experience. So if I'm going to be an activist or I'm advocating for folks who do have that life experience, so if I'm going to be an educator, I'm advocating for folks who do have that life experience. I want to use my privilege, but I also want to be educated about it. So I stay in community with folks who that is their experience. I do my own research, I read, so that when I'm in the space I'm fully prepared to advocate properly and when decisions are being made I can be like. Let me ask you a question how would that decision impact this particular group of people? And just make people pause and think. And, of course, if they themselves have not done the research or spent the time, they don't know. So I got to tell them and I know you don't mind doing that, because that means that you are that.
Speaker 1:But I love that because that means that you are consciously aware of where you are situated in your community, how you have been elevated in your life. Access to good education, access to you know, extending your education through college and you recognize that is something that not everyone has access to. That is indeed what gives you privilege. I've heard a few people say you know well, I'm Black, I don't have privilege. Like my skin color takes that away, like there's only white privilege, because that's what we hear out in the world. Right, it's white privilege, but there's privilege that comes with your economic status, your educational levels, your access to things, your access to just be able to get to a grocery store that has fresh fruits and vegetables, versus everything is processed and prepackaged. They're a food desert. So that privilege looks many different ways, and so I love that you consciously decided to tap into communities and groups outside of your lived experiences to say let me get more in touch with what those needs are so I can better understand and then I can represent them better when I use my privilege to be in the room with the decision makers, that is amazing. I'm going to say this now and you'll probably hear me say it again later.
Speaker 1:I think if that was a way that everybody approached just life in general, like let me find out a little bit more about people who are not like period Right, and then allow that to guide them and even have them sit and reflect in the decisions they make, I mean I wouldn't have to conspire because everybody would be doing it on their own. But until then, until then they get me and people like me, yes, and who fight ferociously, I'm sure that's right. So was there ever a time you were in the rooms with the people making the decisions like we talked about? You were on the rooms with the people making the decisions like we talked about. You were on the superintendent's executive team and you had pushback from them, maybe not really wanting to hear it, not being interested or just not understanding it and kind of dismissing it Pretty much every time, and I don't. I say it's not flipping, I'll say it's not flippant, I'm not saying that flippantly.
Speaker 1:When you're in a space where people who are either willfully ignorant or because our society is like very time based, they don't have, they don't make the time or have the time to educate themselves, you're constantly in this state of teachable moments, right. And so since I know that and I knew that when I was in, you know, our cabinets meeting, we did those weekly I had to remember okay, clarissa, what do you want out of this exchange? My fierceness comes with some anger, right, but I have to understand that, like, okay, I didn't know that and it has its place. Anger is an excellent catalyst and if you want an outcome that's going to be helpful to the community that you're advocating for, you've got to remember who you're talking to, and so what I would do is I know at that level what they want, and that sounds like I'm saying like they and us and them. But no, hear me out. Right, at those levels of a school district, when you're in the room with people who are very outcomes-based, but only in a way that is that would make them look good, you have to use data and research to start. You don't have to stay there, but you have to use it to start an idea. So there's two sides, if you will, to leadership that I have found. There's the technical side, which includes the data, the research and books, you know that kind of thing. And then there's the adaptive or's not.
Speaker 1:Important is that we focus on this particular group. So I'll give you an example. As the executive director of equity in Evergreen, we had a small population of Pacific Islander students. They did not represent a huge part of our population, but across all of our schools they were having a similar experience, which was not positive. They were not thriving in our school. Okay.
Speaker 1:So, of course, when I see that in the data, the data is collected via standardized tests, which don't even get me started on that, that's the data we bring, that's what right now, is what they care about. So I'm like okay, so you're telling me that this is not a provocation, that year after year, over 20 years, we look at our data and every year we see the opposite of the Islander students are not thriving, and you're telling me that we're just we're not going to look into it, we're just going to ignore it. Help me understand why that's okay, and do something for me. Take your child's name. Take your child's name and insert it where you see Pacific Islander on this chart and the line is below all the other students, and tell me you wouldn't be in here trying to figure out what's going on. So I take the technical here's the data and then I take the personal and I, I take the personal and I connect it. If this was your child, would you not want us to look into it? I didn't say we're racist. I didn't say I didn't say any of that. I said it's a provocation to look into why this is happening. Yeah, so that we can make that a systemic thing, because none of us were here 25 years ago when these numbers were the same. That's right.
Speaker 1:You have to use both to intrigue you know people, meet them where they are and then do the heartbreak to get them to be like okay, clarissa, go ahead with your program to see. I don't think, thank you, thank you. I like the way you said that, because schools do, they speak, that's what they want to see. They want to see data and so if you can grasp their attention, intrigue them through that. You have to know the rules to play the game right, so you learn that rule. Then you're able to now get their attention and then insert the message that you originally intended, because you really wanted to come into the room, sit at the table and be like listen, we got a problem and we need to do this, this and this to solve the problem.
Speaker 1:But that qualitative piece is not what they hear. They don't hear the words, they hear the quantitative piece. They want to see numbers, and we all know you spoke to standardized test scores. We can talk about grade. The numbers always have a story behind them. If you rely on the numbers, we're not really super sure that we're focusing on the right issue to create a solution to that problem. So, being able to speak their language, I'm sure that that perked their ears up and then you have the cachet.
Speaker 1:As some people say now come in, don't have to do such a deep dive, because you've established yourself as the person who can speak their language. And that is true in any industry. You're talking to engineers, you're talking to architects. Once they feel like, oh okay, this person is speaking my language, okay, now they have the credibility. Now I see their knowledge base, now I can recognize their experience. Now I can recognize their experience. So I like the way that you did that, because that really solidified your seat at the table. Quite clearly. Got it, you got it and, yes, we wish we didn't have to shape shift like that in the course. But my original statement stands what is the outcome that I want? I did sign up for the job right. I knew what I was signing up for and who with. So I had to bring all my tools and strategies to get the outcomes I wanted for the students in that period. I love that.
Speaker 1:And speaking about some challenges in the school, I know that you've seen inequity at every level, equity at every level. So where do you think the school system is the most broken and where do we even need to start? As we talk about shaking things up, you know what For me, I'm going to say, based on my experience, I think that middle school aged kids and the middle school, that middle school aged kids and the middle school that is where we should start right. So hear me out, I was an associate principal at a middle school, but I also had my own child at medical age. Remember what that's like. So if you think about, if you look across the country in general, when you start to see attendance tank, when you start to see discipline occurrences increase.
Speaker 1:That happens in the middle school, in middle school ages, right, and I personally feel like the way we do school also, we could talk about that needs to change drastically, but especially in the middle school. Okay, we could talk about that needs to change drastically, especially in the middle. Ok, we have adolescent children walking around with underdeveloped prefrontal cortex yes, also exploring new levels of independence, hormones, like all of the things if you could just put together the I don't know like the highest potency of things that can impact a body and a mind. That is what middle schoolers are going through during those years and instead of taking, in my opinion, taking advantage of the fact that they're in this exploratory part of their life and taking away some of the boxes that they at middle school pushes them into, in my opinion, instead of doing that, instead of relieving them of that, we make them tighter. I think that is what is causing the students to behave or not perform in the ways that I know that they can.
Speaker 1:If you sit and talk to a middle schooler one-on-one, well, you got to have thick skin because they can tell you, like all the things, it's an acquired taste, but I love middle school. But if you sit with a middle school age student and talk with them just about this even if it's academics or social emotional learning you may not call it that but just their interactions with their peers, they can be, they're intelligent kids, right, they're going to tell you some things about their life experiences. They know how they connect, but when it's time to make the decision, because of what's happening with them, biologically, if you will, sometimes it doesn't always get there, but if you take so, for me, if I had to put a dream-like situation together for middle school, half of the curriculum, if you will, the time that's being repeated, would be social, emotional learning. Love it. Indignity, right, you need to understand what's going on with you and how you interact with others, or interpersonal, all of that individual. And then the other half is exploratory learning, so engaging them through their interests academically.
Speaker 1:Because when you ask a student why they don't go to class, why they didn't come to school, number one, you could probably repeat it. What do you think the number one answer is from a student why they don't come to class and why they don't go to school. I'm bored, it's boring. You say it's boring and as an adult, you're looking at them like at least you get to go to school and you've got all these reasons why. And they looking at you like, yeah, and it's still boring, it's still boring. Yes, be thankful I get to go to school. And then they said, but if you had to sit in these classes that I had to sit in, you would see what I see. And so that is a space of huge MIP, of huge improvement, of huge MIP, of huge improvement.
Speaker 1:We could just revamp what our middle school age kids are going through, because then we prepare them for that high school experience where a little more development appears happening. But they have now a four-year time period between learning really deeply about themselves and others and then planning for their future and how those things actually interact and are impactful after they leave this institution of education. But we miss that whole opportunity. And then we wonder, like why we need all these freshman programs and why don't we get to senior year. Kids may graduate but are not prepared for the world. Are y'all looking at the same? What do you mean Exactly? That was long-winded, but I'm so passionate about that middle school age area. A lot of people don't like it, it is an acquired taste. But if we took advantage of that opportunity in our youth's lives, it could have such impacts. For young adults yeah no, it is definitely an acquired taste. Adults yeah no, it is definitely an acquired taste.
Speaker 1:I've only done a small maternity leave. I covered as a speech therapist for another speech therapist that went out on maternity leave at a middle school and while I wanted her to bond with her new baby, I wanted her to come back on the exact day that she told me she was coming back, because that was an intense eight weeks. Oh my gosh, they are just, like you said, changing hormones. They think, of course, everybody. They think they know everything In speech therapy.
Speaker 1:Arguing with me about why he needs to be here, and I want to say, my dear, your IEP is like 20 plus pages long. Please let me help you so that things might not be as challenging in the classroom. Of course you know I don't say that and that's so eye-opening the way that you described it and why that need needs to be focused there, because I'm on the opposite end and I'm thinking early childhood education. That's my area of passion we got to get when they're little. That's fertile ground. They're like three and four years old. We get to shape and mold them and also, at the same time, the parents too. This is how you need to be involved with school, when they carry that on with them. But I definitely see the need for that at the middle school level as well, because it is very challenging and when the kids are there and it's challenging for them, they can, in turn, become a challenge in the classroom a hundred percent. I have teachers who are like and I'm out, yeah, yes, and that is the cycle. The turnover for teachers in middle school is a lot higher and and it is because of that but, like I said, it's because we're trying to force a structure on students that it doesn't work for them and there's data and there's all these things that show that and we're just like they only be there for three years, it'll be okay.
Speaker 1:I think that that has shown itself in the way that now parents are seeking out different methods of schooling for their kids. I have friends who have maybe decided to homeschool. I have friends who have gone through the process of school choice and using state funds to be able to send their kid to a better school, and most times when I ask them what makes this other school better, you know maybe it's aesthetically more, you know just a nicer, newer school. But a lot of times what they describe is well, my kid gets to study about insert. Whatever their personal interests are, they get to explore that, they get to take a class about this. That's outside of your traditional reading, writing, arithmetic, like they used to say, and that is the part. It's the performing arts school that I put my child in the lottery system for to see if they could get there, because really they're musically inclined and they fit into this box at school where they get music whenever that rotation comes around for them to have music and so they want to seek out a school that helps feed their kids' interests.
Speaker 1:So I think there's such amazing points there to what you were just sharing about. It's boring for kids, but we're stuck in this mindset that it has to look this way and it has to be regimented. I just was talking to a friend today and she's talking about her I think fourth or fifth grade kid and she's like, yeah, I'm just working on algebraic equations and in my mind I'm like dang, is Uriah working on algebra in the fifth grade? Then I was like, no, he's not. And then my next thought was but does he need to be? Like? When was the we took algebra in high school? I'm in college. When was the last time I did an algebraic equation? You talk to so many people who are like I learned all that stuff and never used it again. What is the purpose of what I'm in this class for, of what I'm in this class for?
Speaker 1:And so I think, if we can get school systems to shift. But that takes a lot of work because, back to your original point, we're looking at outcomes, we're looking at data. And how do you measure that? Because I knew full on going into the position of executive director of equity that that question was going to come to me, and I also know that people love data. I was like, hey, one of the ways we can measure our students' experience in our schools is through perception data, right, perception, debt, right. So I don't know how many schools on the East Coast or in the South are now utilizing some kind of perception survey with students and I mean at all ages to talk with them about what their school experience is like whether they do it in a focus group or a survey.
Speaker 1:But you can't, you definitely can't change or influence something that you don't have data on, that you don't have a baseline for. If you will, right, but what will happen is is because that is on the adaptive or responsive side, folks are like, well, how am I supposed to like I can't, I can't make a child be happy at school, right. But so I said, well, I haven't asked you to do that. What I'm asking you to do is make sure you pick quality questions but ask students questions about their experience so that you can tailor their environment to positively impact their experience In a district where they want to see you know numbers go up. If you will, I'm like, okay, so let's create a baseline, because they didn't have one.
Speaker 1:They knew that there were parents who complained about their student experience and they knew that there were students that, when given the right support, would vocalize, right, their experience. When it was negative, they knew that was happening, but for them it felt like these one-offs, right, it's like, oh, that's just their experience. Okay, so let's test that. Let's do a survey and we use the particular you know platform. You can, there's so many ways to collect it, but we use from third grade, right, so the age you can, you should be able to read to learn third to 12.
Speaker 1:And we gave a perception survey where students told us about their experience. I mean whether they belong in their classroom, in their school, whether they felt like their teacher cared about them, whether their learning was relevant and applicable, all the things that I'm going to say. An excellent, well-seasoned teacher would love to get their hands on it and be like, yeah, so how can I use this? Okay, once we had it and you're talking about me and the eliminated predictability without seeing the data I knew the students that the data was going to show that they weren't having a good experience. So I said, oh, okay, so here we are, we see this, we see this. Now how do we want to influence it? What are our levers that we can pull and push to possibly impact the students? Well, we had this small but mighty social emotional learning team, okay, and so they immediately became my staff. They were like, oh yeah, they're over here by themselves. Do you want to? I sure do. Go ahead, go ahead and bring them on over. Who are they? Let me see, let me know who they are and let's see what they're working with.
Speaker 1:Well, I found out they were an amazing group of people educators and I had to push my own lever to say, okay, if we have this data that shows that when a student is having a positive experience at school, that that will then increase this other metric that you care a whole bunch about, which is their academic success. Right, okay, we have to do this, we have to do this, and in order to do this, we have to set aside the time during the school day. And then all these alarms start to go off. What do you mean that's going to take away from math and reading and science, because they're not engaged. They're not, they don't have the interpersonal, so they're not. That time is already being taken away. Just let me, let me look at the data. Actually, it's telling you that that time is already not being spent well. So we have to implement this part so we can see the other thing that you're trying to see, and so the system. So, since we know we're working against the system, then we had to then embed in the system, this time for for that learning, and we did it. We did it k-12 oh wow, I'm gonna have social emotional learning time k-12.
Speaker 1:We gave the teachers many lessons to do with the students that they could adapt based on their kids. We did not say there was not a scope and sequence, if you will. We didn't put them in this box. We're like, hopefully you're getting to know your student and build a relationship with them and you can take this lesson, this curriculum that we've given you and you can adapt it for them. But taking that specific time to build a relationship with your kids and allow them to do that with each other, I promise you, like I said, I said it just I promise you you will reap the benefits of that if you do it right.
Speaker 1:We have teachers who are like this is it's all this fool, fool. You know social emotional learning stuff. Let's just get to the academics. And then those would be the same teacher that had the quote unquote discipline problem. But do you not see the correlation? Just try it for me. You like to do studies right, you want. You like you want to collect your own data. You're that kind of teacher. Do this study for me. Try these lessons for three months and tell me you don't have a decrease in the discipline problem that you are naming, and if you don't come back to me, let's talk about it. How you know how many teachers came back to me? Zero, zero teachers say okay, all right, I don't want to do this because I don't see the impact. Okay, well, then carry on.
Speaker 1:Now the things need to be, I would say, the thing in that they needed to probably have a little bit more time to develop is the lessons themselves, because there's so much data out there about what's a what's age appropriate. So I talked about, like, what middle schoolers need, what elementary, what high schoolers need. But other than that, this dedicated time to just connect did it was highly impactful. And then at the beginning of the following year, we did our perception survey again. Lo and behold, those numbers go up right. And so now again, it's a dance, right, but the results for me are worth the uncomfortable conversations I have to have with people about their perception of school and kids and what they should and shouldn't be doing. It's like all right, well, meet me on the other side after we've done this and let's have another conversation. Yeah, I love that you all took into consideration the time, because we've done episodes on here when Val was with me at time in school the pacing guide that teachers are put on to get X amount taught in X amount of time and everything is squeezed in so much so for you to give teachers the tools to kind of chart their own course within the SEL realm I think was really important, because you're giving teachers the ability to use what they know about their students in their class to make adjustments to this framework not a script to read to students, because teachers have gone on, they've gotten a higher education.
Speaker 1:So you should be able to take this framework and then develop it into something that's very specific for your class, and I think you can hook teachers in that are on that fence, like I don't have time for this. You want me to look into this and I've got to get through this standard or this you know strand of the standard before this date, and I think that that can get some buy-in from them to at least try it out. And, like you said, you set a three-month time period on it to say give it a try, show them how they can fit this into their day, and then you see the results. So was the district open to continuing that? Yes, the district was, and I say you hear my hesitation. The district was open to continuing that.
Speaker 1:But in both Oregon and Washington we have very strong and needed teachers strong and needed teacher union and so the teacher's union was not necessarily on board with continuing in it, because this is probably not written down anywhere, but what I will say the reason it was is because there were more teachers who felt like they would rather spend the time on the academics and deal with the discipline problems than to have to sit because it was an uncomfortable space for them to live in. A math teacher who is like I just want to teach math, to have them open up a lesson they have to, like talk about feelings and do in a personal they were like I don't want to and I'm adult and I don't have to and I'm gonna go tell my union so we don't have to. It continues to to be because I retired from there in 23, but it continues to be a conversation. What I can say is that at the school level and that's one of the things I hope parents understand really well too is there are some things, decisions that can be made, like in the classroom with a teacher who's just going to close her door and do her lesson with the kids because she sees that this SEO work is very, you know, impactful. And then there are things that you know a principal and district level leaders will, you know, enforce and make sure you do or not do.
Speaker 1:But there were some schools who continued with it and others who didn't. Did not, yeah, and even on a classroom basis. So going and saying like we require you to do something is a little bit harder in in the united states, and it's for good reason. So that's you know. I'm not mad at it, but it just now. We have variation and right. So the data that I'm really strong about looking at is it's not consistent now, because it's not happening everywhere, Right, and I think that gives freedom of choice, too Correct.
Speaker 1:The people who are on board with it are now going to implement it with a different ferociousness, a different passion, versus one who's like, oh, we got to do this, so all right, cool, tell me what makes you happy. You know what I mean? Very lackluster, I do. Everything changes. So I like the idea of teachers having that choice, because as soon as you say something is mandatory or required, you turn off a lot of people because they feel like, okay, you can't tell me what to do, you're not in my classroom every day and kind of speaking of that, like there are a lot of times that districts write all these beautiful equity statements that really don't translate into actual change. So, in talking about just even this, you know perception study that you did.
Speaker 1:What does it take to move from that slogan of here? You know, everyone is equal. You give to students. Students are our highest priority. You won't find a school district that won't say that, that kids are our highest priority. And I always say kids are the highest priority until the budget is on the plate of the board to approve it and then districts start making decisions based on money and not kids Every single time. I don't care what they say. So how do you go from the slogan to the actual change happening when there's so many players You've got superintendents, you have school boards, you have teachers union, you have parents there's so many people chiming in how do we make it go from that slogan to something real? Well, you, you pretty much already hit the nail on the head, but I'm going to elaborate on it money talk.
Speaker 1:So a school district who has that slogan if behind that slogan isn't the funds to continue the work that they are professing to the community, that they, you know their values. It is literally pretend and that, and and we've had the one of the things at the table that I told you that I said that that I had to really make sure folks understood is that I understand? I actually, the local newspaper out here with the community, who was not very happy that our district had adopted an equity and inclusion department, proceeded to post a very, very negative article about me and the work I did and then posted my salary. Oh wow, they didn't call me, didn't ask me anything. But the thing is, as educators, everything is public information. So if they wanted to know what I made, it's out there and I wasn't trying to hide it. I also didn't get to pick my salary, but whatever. But my department and the work that I did and the salary that I made if they made that very clear all indicated that our district meant what they said.
Speaker 1:They were putting their money where their mouth was, and so if you have a district who is very public with how they're spending their money, like ours was and like I said, stuff is public knowledge but sometimes you have to decipher. It's like what is this report? Did you try to make it for anybody to read besides the finance lady? But if they put their money where their mouth is, that is how you make sure that those words aren't just pretty things on the paper. And if that's all it is, then they need to say that, or you need to get them to say that. You asked that question.
Speaker 1:I love you all's equity statement. I think it is beautiful. What percentage of your budget is going towards making sure this is happening? I like that, and they should be able to tell you that because they have numbers to report. They know where that money is going. Me, as an executive director. We had to submit a budget every year and then it was checked up on at benchmark times throughout the calendar year to make sure, so you know exactly how much money is going towards that. Please tell me. And if they cannot and if they do not, then they're not about any of them words they put on that paper. Yeah, I like that.
Speaker 1:Show me how you are making this statement, your mission, your equity statement. Show me how you are making this come to fruition through the budget. Like where's the money going to promote this, and I would say, you know, school board meetings are great. I've spoken at those a couple of times. They're not at the most convenient time, so at the time I was speaking at them I didn't have a kid. You know, whatever it's Thursday at five o'clock, sure, I can come for an hour. You may get the chance to speak, may not get the chance to speak, but you know we don't all have the privilege of time and resource to be able to do that. So every district has a public forum that you can go and ask questions whether you're able to go to the school board meeting. Maybe you send an email to the superintendent, maybe you send an email to just your kid's school. Maybe you post something on social media and just ask the question. Show me you said this is what your mission was. Now show me how this is being done, and then listen for the response.
Speaker 1:But I will tell you, schools, they are slick sometimes because they can say a long statement and say nothing at all. Yeah, it's like it's the class to become which is not Listen, I'm a really good at it. You're not going to do it, absolutely yes. And so then I think that sometimes parents can be intimidated. Some parents can be intimidated because you ask the question, the school gives you a response and if it doesn't make sense to you, you kind of like OK, well, that's that, that's the end of it, instead of following up like no, I'm sorry, thank you for putting it in this educational jargon, but can you say that for just the everyday average person? I want to know in my kids' day-to-day activities, where is this showing up? Give me specifics. So we always encourage parents to do that.
Speaker 1:If a school says something to you and you're like what does this mean? It's the same as you go to your doctor and then handing you a report from a procedure you had and then reading it to you, you're like I have zero idea what this means. Well, full then the doctor's office. You would say can you explain that? That's right? The same thing should be done at the school level, at the district level. Thank you for putting me on this nice memo and you sent it out and all the parents got.
Speaker 1:But what does this actually mean? Hold their feet to the fire so that they can give you very concrete answers and not a bunch of fluff that really it means nothing. Does that make sense? It totally does, and I would take it even a step further. And if you think about who the actual, if you want to think of the school system as a business, which some people do, the customer is a student. So if the student doesn't it, if you get, if a student cannot articulate to you in their whatever grade level, even if it's kindergarten, and maybe you don't ask them, you know how does the school's budget represent it.
Speaker 1:But if you can't explain it to the very people that you are implementing these things for, then it is not appropriate. If what you're not, you're not doing it or you're not using the correct language, and then it can tell you it's like are you intentionally trying to make sure we can understand it Right? So in your con you have a con department at a school district who writes at the 12th grade level everything they put out're doing that on purpose? Oh yeah, that's purposeful. So you don't have to say the grade level. But you can say how would you explain this to my elementary students? Just say, how would you explain this to my fifth grader, because I really want to talk with them about how this is happening. I'm, you know, I'm really, yeah, I'm, we're so interested in it and we're appreciative of it. So I want to explain to beta girl how this is happening for her throughout the day. I just don't think I can use any of this language, so can you help me, right? I like that. I like that example. That's practical and something that people can use tomorrow. I like that so much.
Speaker 1:I know that we have a lot of parents and teachers that are part of our audience. What is one kind of radical but practical step that they could take to push their school towards real equity? We're here at the top of the 25, 26 school year, so you have some parents who are like you know what Things were, how I wanted it to be last year, not just for my kid, but I'm talking to other parents too. As a whole, this grade level, the school, the district, whatever Things, didn't end the way that I felt like they should, and we can't go another year with the same thing happening again, because the outcome is going to be the same, right. So what would be one kind of practical step that they can take to push their school towards some real equity? I would say that it would be.
Speaker 1:You know, I like twofold thing. The first is I heard you say that this is like multiple parents. I highly encourage parents to do things together. I love it. It's hard, I know in our society it's actually not even set up for us to be able to get together and do things like that, because we got to work and we got this and we got that. We're busy. But as an administrator in the school, I can tell you one parent feels like the. It's like okay, we just said earlier. It's like we have a parent who's not having a good experience. Two parents is like all right experience. Two parents is like all right. But when you get like you said, you have a grade level full of parents who take it and they don't have to come.
Speaker 1:But the fact that you know that this email is backed by 50 parents right, even me as an administrator, and it's even for parents that are asking for things that I think are harmful kids like we. We had a parent group who was pushing for us, like you know, putting the ten commandments up on the wall. Okay, so we can't do that. I cannot do that, regardless of my religious beliefs. We have muslims. Y'all even explain to you why we can't do that but the urgency to respond to the parent group and make sure that that parent group felt like their needs were heard and a solution was found was very high because of the number of parents that were requesting it.
Speaker 1:So that is always my first thing, and I almost hesitate to say it, because we unfortunately, the folks who are trying to put things in front of our kids that I feel like will be harmful have this down pat. They get together in large groups, go up, put on pressure, make a lot of noise. You know, I want, I would love it if I could see that for some of the things that we've talked about here today, but it's just don't. That's not what I see, that's what I say. I don't see it yet. Yeah, I don't see it yet. Um, so that's one.
Speaker 1:If you, if you know of one other parent, they know of one other parent, they know of one other parent, and if y'all can get together because the schedule, somebody put our email together with all of your thoughts that y'all agree on and then, at the bottom, like a petition, if you will, at the bottom, all of these people backed it. So you saying no, you saying no to all of us that we need to answer, or if you're saying, yes, we have all these people to collaborate with to make sure it's something that's gonna work Right. I like to think of it in a second way, because that's what it turns into. It's like to is like, okay, I want to do this, but I'm not actually sure how you're willing to collaborate to do it together. The other piece is is that if something that you're asking for has no data, and use that as the catalyst like I said earlier, anger can be a catalyst. You don't need data for that. Well, sometimes it's a different kind of data, but so can this.
Speaker 1:This idea of don't you want our school to be like the school that everybody wants to come to? Don't you want our school to be like the school that everybody wants to come to? Don't you want our outcomes to be? You know, as an associate principal of a school, yeah, I do want that. I want it for our community, for our students, and so if you're telling me something you're suggesting is going to increase outcomes for our kids, I want to hear about it. I do want to hear about it. So I would. I would do both of those things for sure.
Speaker 1:The third thing is that you might actually have to collaborate with parents that you're not used to to talking with. So, reaching across difference because I can. I can assure you that there's a parent that maybe you don't talk to and they they might be out of pocket on some other stuff, but y'all might actually agree on this one thing. I like that. And if you can sit and talk with them about what okay, that part we don't agree on, but this thing right here we actually do. And then make sure that point number one you have more people to have at the bottom of that list. And if an administrator or a school district sees like okay is like okay. I know this group of parents. They are normally on this tip, but we got these tears on this letter too. Wait a minute. They are collaborating, they're getting together right, and then it actually makes it easier for an administrator to attempt to implement something like that.
Speaker 1:Because a lot of the hesitancy behind administrators who I'm not gonna say who are scared, but who just are like I'm not sure if I want to touch this with a temple pole because it's going to divide my, you know, it's going to be divisive. It's like no people on this, you know, ask across all of these wants of life, ages, beliefs. This is something that we might be able to do, and sometimes that third piece is harder because you know you've got to go and be in an uncomfortable space to find that out, to find where the similarities are. Yeah, I love those. I love each of those points and, as you were talking, I'm thinking of parents that I've talked to before and I'm like you just need to do this. Go to the principal, say this, you know, write your email and they're hesitant because they don't want to become that parent. They don't want to become that parent, they don't want to be labeled that parent, and what I always say to them is that parent that you don't want to be like is getting things done for their child and that's guaranteed. So be your version of that parent, because they're getting their questions answered, they're getting some of their demands met and you're not. Take the step forward to getting together. Oh no, we need to go talk to this person. Oh no, we need to send our email here. You know what we need to do. We need to go up to the office at this time Because they've done it and gotten what they wanted for their kid. That's really great points. I love that.
Speaker 1:So, as we wrap up, I have one last question for you. I want you to finish this sentence. Education will never truly be equitable until blank. How would you end that education will never truly be equitable until what? Until we realize that that the education system is as it was designed, is actually functioning at it's, functioning how it was designed to function. So, in order to reach actual equity in our schools, we need to pull the rug out from under this so added conception education in the US.
Speaker 1:If you think about who designed it and developed it and who they designed it and developed it for and when that were, and then you look at today's outcomes and who's thriving and who's not, you're going to see a direct correlation. So it is operating for those whom it was built for. It is 100 operating for them. We have to realize that if we wanted to operate for all of us who are participating in it, we can't do it like it's like it has been done and that's scary, because the school system is actually built around a lot of stuff, like what time we get off work, what time stuff opens and closing, starting to unravel. That feels like right.
Speaker 1:Where do we start when I use the word provocation is is that not provocation to sit down and think about how we could potentially begin to chip away at the way it was built so that it can better function for all of us? Yeah, so if you're, if you're trying to get it to work how it was working, or even then it's going to continue to do that because that's what it's designed to do completely different right? So what I'm really saying is education will never be truly equitable until we shake some things up A hundred percent, we start pulling the thread to unravel what was built, and that can seem really scary and it won't happen overnight. It won't happen in one school year, but it can happen over time. And maybe you start small as a teacher, maybe you start in your classroom and pass that idea off to another teacher. As a parent, maybe you work to get that implemented at your child's school and maybe that sparks some change. But you might have to start small and then it builds out. But it is something that I truly believe can be a reality and we're not going to have to rely on lottery systems to get our kids into, you know, another charter school or perform in our school. Our neighborhood school will be what we need it to be as a whole and not just for some.
Speaker 1:I love it, love it. Thank you again for joining me tonight. This was really really good. Again for joining me tonight. This was really really good. And I heard some other topics for some other episodes in our conversation tonight, because we are like-minded on a couple of other things too, so you might just be back for some more. Thank you so much. Thank you everybody for watching, listening. Be sure to share this on any of your social media platforms. Come back, watch it again, take some points from this and implement it. Make some change at your local level. It doesn't have to be global, it doesn't have to shift the Department of Education. It can just impact your kid's classroom, and that has a ripple effect. Thank you all for watching. Have a good one. We'll see you next week. Bye, be sure to share this episode and join me next week for a brand new Tuesday Talks, see ya.