Parents
What Happens When Even the 'Best' Neighborhood School Treats Its Students With Disabilities Horribly?
The New York Post recently profiled Wesley Clark, a 9-year-old fourth-grader at PS 8 in Brooklyn Heights. The article describes a “supposedly progressive Brooklyn Heights public school that talks a...
Parents
If You Give White Teachers Guns, I'm Pulling My Black Son out of School
On December 14, 2012, a shooter walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, and killed 20 children and six adults. My firstborn son was 9 months old. At the time, kindergarten...
Teaching
Here's How ESSA Can Create Strong, Diverse School Leadership
When I became principal of Ranson IB Middle School in 2011, one of the first challenges I faced as principal was one that never came up in my training: There was a power outage on the first day of...
Politics
A Bullet Took My Student and I Want to Remember Him by Saving Other Lives
Take a moment and think back to when you were 12 years old. See life through the eyes of your 12-year-old self. What were you most excited about? What did you dream about, what were your hopes and...
activism
I’m Feeling Some Hope and Outrage Here on #NationalWalkoutDay
I’m starting a new thing here called “Hope and Outrage.” A lot of us wake up every morning with the goal of rallying people to fight for better educational options for our Black and Brown youth. When...
Teaching
Our Country’s Addiction to Guns Is Endangering the Lives of Our Students
On March 14, students across the country will walk out of school to demand action on gun violence. They are telling elected officials, “Enough!” They are saying what most people know but are reticent...