A couple of years ago, Noor, a young high school student who was interning at a local radio station, reached out to me for an interview. She was researching topics that she wanted to delve into and became intrigued about the...
Author - Sharif El-Mekki
Often, you hear about leaders, far earlier than you meet them. Sitting in a café near the school where I lead as principal, Mastery-Shoemaker, I was approached by a beaming waitress. “My granddaughter, Tatiana, is coming to...
“Until the lion tells his side of the story, the tale of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.” While many Americans are waiting with baited breath for July 4, today Black people around the...
During my eleven years as the proud principal of the Mastery Charter Schools – Shoemaker Campus, I had the distinct honor of celebrating nine graduating classes. Below are my final remarks to the graduating class of this...
Our 9th graduating class walked across the aisle this week. It represented my final graduation as the principal of Mastery Charter – Shoemaker Campus, was, of course, so special to me. I am grateful that our sister...
Districts and schools search incessantly for meaningful, sustainable, and effective school-based interventions — and those efforts often fail. Tons of money has been spent on countless concepts. Professional development on...
Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders said he would use his power and platform to temporarily ban Black families from exercising the right to make choices about their children’s education. It would be disheartening...
You aren’t always able to choose family, but even if I were able, I would have still chosen most of my cousins. My little cousin, Nina Wallace, represents a legacy of resistance, brilliance and activism. Her parents, like my...
We, as a nation, are chasing the wrong things. From Boston to Birmingham, we have seen the ferocious and virulent reaction of white people to the thought of integration. From throwing bricks at school buses full of black kids...
I walked by a TV a couple of weeks ago and heard the news reporter mention affluent people — not satisfied with the opulent wealth which already placed them at significant advantage in our faux merit-based system — choosing...