Wednesday night, I had the opportunity to participate in a Twitter chat on #BlackMaleEducators. The questions were poignant and spoke to current and aspiring teachers as well as potential allies in leadership positions in...
Schools have a responsibility to support students in their overall growth and development. You often hear that schools aren’t just expected to teach the traditional Rs (reading, ‘riting,’rithmatic), but they must...
Several of our state legislators have demonstrated time and time again that their constituents’ kids, at least the ones who are blessed with a permanent tan, aren’t a budgeting priority. In response, our city recently...
I was recently asked which of my former students most inspired me. I have literally thousands to draw from for both good and heart breaking reasons. One of the kids who has inspired me the most is now dead. The other young man...
“An educator in a system of oppression is either a revolutionary or an oppressor.” –Lerone Bennett, Jr. There is a war going on. When war is mentioned, most folks will immediately think about what is happening overseas or...
Mark Twain once quipped that schools should not get in the way of educating our youth. When schools and/or districts choose to ignore massive forms of oppression because it is not convenient or comfortable to discuss, another...
More Black and Brown men have been lynched by the state. It is the American way. And, too many educators look away from and are silent about the carnage. Whether lynchings occur on the trees that led to “Strange Fruit” (sung...
Anti-education reformers are some of the most interesting people I know. They often reminisce about and allude to a time when schools and systems worked for our communities. I try to follow them, but their recollections seem to...
Recently, our School District’s Charter School Office recommended that the School Reform Commission, (Philadelphia’s school board) accepts Shoemaker’s charter renewal application. This means that the Shoemaker Campus’s...
For many years, the School District of Philadelphia, anti-charter groups, and even high performing charter schools, demanded that charters be held accountable for student achievement. They are right to demand this. Just as...
