S11E1 – Season 11 Kickoff: Recommitted

S11E1 - Season 11 Kickoff: Recommitted

Andrew: Welcome to the Integrated Schools Podcast I'm Andrew, a White dad from Denver.

Dr. Val: And I'm Val, a Black mom from North Carolina.

Andrew: And this is Season 11 Kickoff: Recommitted.

Dr. Val: Oh my gosh. We're back, friend.

Andrew: We are back, Val, season 11. It is not the 11th year this podcast has been going, but it is your third year hosting this podcast with me which is very exciting.

Dr. Val: I cannot believe that it's been three years and I cannot imagine my life without you, so I am glad that we share this space and friendship and life.

Andrew: It has been such a, such a gift to get to Co-host for three years. So long time listeners, thank you. We are so glad to be back for another season in conversation with you all. New listeners, welcome. We are glad to have you, hit that follow button wherever you're listening so you don't miss an episode of what we've got planned this season. There's great stuff.

We're gonna talk today about some of our themes for this season. We're gonna talk about the election, we're gonna talk about where we are right now and, just really excited to get into another season of the podcast.

Dr. Val: Yeah, I wanna say something to our, our new listeners because we'll always hopefully have new listeners as there will be new caregivers stepping into the space and making decisions whether their kids are in preschool or in high school, having conversations and being awakened to these ideas in a nuanced way.

So, want to definitely welcome you to the space. You're always invited wherever you are on the journey. And even if you end up taking steps like outside of this journey and wanna come back and be recommitted like we are, we wanna invite you back.

And then of course there are veteran listeners. You all know what this work is about, and you understand that this recommitment is something that you have to do and choose every day because you'll often be presented with options to choose like status quo or the more difficult path, and so we hope that you continue to choose the path that is best for all of us.

Andrew: Absolutely, we are recommitted to this podcast, to the mission and the vision of Integrated Schools and to continuing to engage in these, hopefully thoughtful, nuanced conversations about race and parenting and segregation in our schools. Val, you're kicking off a new school year with your two young people. Tell us about where they're at.

Dr. Val: So, I have a junior and a sophomore.

Andrew: That’s wild.

Dr. Val: That is wild. And this year my sophomore, who was attending an art magnet, has decided to go to our home school, which is our neighborhood school. And they have transitioned into the school year in a way that is like truly beautiful to me. I was taking 'em to school this morning and we were listening to a song that was like an oldie for them. It was like a 2006 song, and I was like, you know what? There are a lot of parents who complain about their teens, but I, I'm just really thankful. I like, like you all, you know, as young people. And so thank you all for, just for being awesome teens.

But, my junior has started to receive like recruiting calls and letters which is cool. He's taking like the big ACT in a little bit, which we can talk about like standardized testing and if we should play that game and how we should play that game, certainly.

Um, and then my sophomore as a new student to the school, she's really excited about getting involved, but what I love most about her revelations is that she recognizes that there's some positive change that could happen at the school. And so she wants to use her voice to take the lead in that, even as a newcomer to the space. So, dare to say, this year certainly has been off to a great start. And being rooted in community now for multiple years feels so good, I think to the entire family. That we're excited about, like forging those relationships.

So now in the, in the drop off the assistant principal's like, ‘Hey’, and I'm like, ‘Hey’, you know, and, and, and I didn't expect that as a high school parent. You know, we talk about that being possible for elementary school parents, but I get that as a high school parent as well, because my kids are so involved in school. And, um, I'm just I'm just really grateful. How about you?

Andrew: That's great. Yeah.

Yeah. I, it's, it's, I'm in a fairly different position because I've got a fifth grader and an eighth grader, so they're both in their last years at their respective schools. And going back to school has been pretty smooth because they've both been there. They know the schools, they know the people, they know all that. My eighth grader is, uh, you know, a little sick of it. She is not in love with her school, which happens sometimes. But she's there, she's finding things to be excited about.

And then my fifth grader, this is her eighth, first day of school at this same school. So we have been part of that community for a really long time. And so it's sort of wild to think about this being the last year and moving on from that school, which was such a huge part of our lives for so long.

Dr. Val: I'm curious, did you love being in elementary school, parent? How you feeling about being a middle school parent?

Andrew: It is. Yeah, it's interesting. I mean, certainly. I feel much more connected to the elementary school, even still middle school. I mean, I just sort of like came and went in a blink. And obviously there's much less, much less, room to be involved and engaged as a parent. Both 'cause you're there for less time, but also like, you know, my kid doesn't really want me in the school every day. Um, she needs her own space to settle in.

Dr. Val: That’s why we need wonderful middle school teachers I'm telling you This is why.

Andrew: Absolutely. Yeah and yeah, I'm excited to sort of see what high school brings, uh, next year and what sort of engagement and potential for connecting exists there as well.

Dr. Val: I hope you don't kick me off the podcast before both of my kids graduate because I do think I'm gonna need a friend to talk me through, like, whatever this is I'm feeling when they move on.

Andrew: Um, I, yeah. I hope you don't leave the podcast before that.

Dr. Val: Okay,

Andrew: I'm never kicking you off.

Dr. Val: Okay, sweet. Alright. We're aligned there. We're aligned there.

Andrew: Absolutely. For folks who are new, we wanted to tell you a little more about Integrated Schools. Folks who have been here probably know this stuff, but maybe not. So Integrated Schools. We're a national organization. We've got local chapters in 30 some odd cities around the country. We've got a book club. We've got a caregiver connection program. We have a whole bunch of resources on our website, integratedschools.org and big picture, our mission is to prepare families with racial or economic privilege to commit to integrating our children, drive new narratives about education and advocate for justice in our public schools. And as we kick off this season, we're recommitting to that mission here and using the podcast as a tool to advance that mission.

Dr. Val: We recognize that you might not have experience as educators or a lot of experience in the field, but you can certainly use whatever skillset you have to support this mission, right? And so advocating for justice might look like you volunteering and recognizing a need in a local school. It might be connecting school administrators to other resources in the community. There's many ways in which to live out this mission. Um, and it doesn't have to look one way, and you don't have to be an expert in schools or young people or education in order to make a difference

Andrew: Absolutely. Yeah what you are an expert on is your own lived experience and your kids. And that is the expertise that schools are so often lacking. And so finding ways to get your voice heard and get you into the conversation, uh, certainly one of, one of our goals with the podcast is to hopefully give some language and some examples of that. And then we'd love to hear from you about how you are engaging how you are advocating for justice in our school system.

Dr. Val: Can I ask you as my dear White friend, when you said like getting your voice into the conversation, can you talk a little bit about how yes, we want people to advocate and use their voice, but specifically when it comes to integrating schools, what are some things that they need to consider or think about when elevating their voice in those situations?

Andrew: Yeah, so certainly one thing we know is that White privileged voices get listened to much more easily in, I mean, throughout society, but certainly in educational settings. Our public school system operates from a place of fear of White flight and so is constantly looking to bend to the will of engaged White parents. We have to be aware of that before we speak up because that can lead to us advocating for things that may not actually be in the best interest of our whole community.

We can also harness that, and, once we are in community, use that to advocate for things that may be more helpful, things that may actually benefit the whole community, may be steps towards justice. But the, the key to that, we think about this in sort of a four step theory of change at Integrated Schools and that is contemplate, desegregate, integrate, and advocate.

And those things go in order. So contemplate is the self work, right? It's like, what are my own biases? Where are my own blind spots? What are the things that I don't know, that I don't understand? Let me do some work on that. And we spend a lot of time on the podcast, hopefully providing you perspectives, to, to engage with that help your own contemplation journey.

Um, the second step is to desegregate. So being in community, moving your kids to a school where they are in the minority, where the school is not concentrating Whiteness, it's not concentrating privilege, but your enrolling in that school is a step towards desegregating our school system.

But that's just about showing up. What we're really looking for is truly integrating our families into school communities. And so that's about how we show up when we get there. So we're not showing up saying, I know how to fix this school. We're not showing up, saying, my ideas of what a good school should be are the only ones that are valid, and I'm gonna go ahead and make 'em so, and use this privilege I have to make 'em so. We're talking about showing up, being quiet, listening, following, learning what the community is about, and truly integrating ourselves into the community.

And then finally taking that last step, which is to advocate, and as you said Val, that could be, that could be anything from, you know, speaking up at a PTA meeting to a school site council meeting, to talking to a school board member, to advocating at a state or or national level for policies that are that are truly rooted in what a community is looking for

Dr. Val: Awesome. So Integrated Schools envisions a racially and socioeconomically integrated public school system where power and resources are shared equitably, humanity is valued unconditionally, and all communities reap the benefits, and that was what drew me to this work. Andrew, as you mentioned, like originally the audience was for privileged and or White families to do this work. And for folks who are new to the podcast, I wondered how as a Black woman I fit into this conversation. And I think this vision for this integrated public school system is what I've always wanted and worked for.

And so I know that work can't be done in isolation without my brothers and sisters across the economic and racial spectrum, right? And so, I hope that regardless of where you fit in, right, if you do not feel that you are part of a racial or economic privilege group, that you still know that we are all working toward the same vision, and we won't get to that vision unless we are communicating together often and having these nuanced conversations.

Andrew: Yes. As you often say, the only way we win is together. And so our hope here is to provide some examples of what together can look like, various ways of being together both in conversation and then talking about, you know, ways to take action together. Um because yeah it's the only, the only, way we get there.

Dr. Val: That's it.

Andrew: So we have 130 some odd episodes of the podcast talking about all of those things. And as we're digging in here on season 11, a new season of the podcast recommitting ourselves to these values, to this theory of change, we have some themes that are gonna guide our conversations over the course of this season.

Dr. Val: So our, our first theme, that we're gonna focus on this season is ‘from thinking to action’, and we recognize that we have to take the thoughts and the things that we are learning and turn them into action if we want to see a difference. Now that action can start small as individual choices, but our hope is that the action continues to grow to some collective work that you are doing with others in your community.

Andrew: Yeah I think White people in particular are really good at reading the books and having the book clubs and learning the language and doing the kind of interior intellectual work, and that's all important work to do, and we want to continue to provide a space for people to engage with those ideas. But change comes through action. Changing your thoughts does not necessarily mean that your own actions have changed much less that systems and structures change.

And so if we believe, as I think we do, that systems and structures are made up of the choices that we all make who contribute to that system and structure, we have to start thinking about what does it mean to actually make different, different choices.

What we can do on the podcast is provide some examples, talk about places where people have gotten involved, where things have gone well, where things have not gone well, where people have misstepped, where people have had success, and hopefully hold those up as you find your own communities and get into your own relationships and think about where that might be applicable in your neighborhood in your school in your city.

Dr. Val: Yeah, and I wanna emphasize something that you said that it's not gonna look perfect, so the actions will be messy. Sometimes you'll take the wrong action. Sometimes you'll have to go back and apologize for an action or a comment that you made, that you did with good intentions. And so what we never pretend to present here is a story of perfection. We know that this is difficult work and that most of us have not had opportunities to learn in advance of taking the action. We're learning while we're doing. And I promise you, you'll get better. Decisions will be easier. You'll find your voice.

Andrew: Absolutely. So From Thinking to Action is our first theme. Our second theme is Deep Learning and Curiosity. This fits firmly in the contemplate bucket of our theory of change. It's not enough to, to read a simple social media post and think that you've got it all figured out. We have to go deep. We have to learn, we have to be constantly curious. How did the systems and structures that exist now get there? How do they impact people?

Dr. Val: The thing I wanna add here is, I think what makes this work so fundamental is you have to be deeply curious about your own ideas and biases, to question why you think the way you think about a certain idea or a school or a way that, you think school should be, or who should be seated next to your child in class?

Andrew: Yeah.

Dr. Val: And that part I think is probably harder than picking up a book to learn about the history of a town, right? Because that is the internal work that you have to say, oh wait, I didn't even realize that I, I had these ideas. And that's one reason why proximity is really important because once you have true and deep relationships with folks, then you can continue to be curious about them in a way that's authentic and genuine, and it doesn't feel like you're using them just for information like you are genuinely curious about their life, how they experience life, and how you all can do life, together.

Andrew: Yeah, the self curiosity is really important. Why do I feel this way? Why do I think this way? And then, that genuine curiosity about people who, who you are in community with, people who may have different experiences than you, because that's, that's the way that you build those meaningful, trusting relationships. I'm curious, why do you think that, why do you feel that? What is your life like that is different from mine and, and how does that kind of impact the way that you think about what a good school is, what you want for your kids and those sorts of things. And it's out of those conversations when we bring together a, a differing group of people who are all curious about each other, that we can really build meaningful relationships that can then advocate for something that is truly good for everyone

Dr. Val: That's right. And so now you mentioned that we do this, not just talking about ourselves, but through storytelling. So can you talk a little bit about storytelling as our last theme?

Andrew: Yes. And storytelling was a theme from before. It's sort of been a theme throughout the whole history of the podcast. We view this space as a place to tell stories, both our own personal stories, and then to bring on parents, caregivers, experts to tell their stories. So we often spend time with a guest who's written a book or something, asking them what is it in their past, what is it in their upbringing, the people who poured into them that led them to this place.

Because I think that stories get to your heart, right. We can do the intellectual work, we can read the statistics, but if that statistic doesn't hang on the story of a person, on the story of a relationship it's much harder for it to get to your heart and change how you actually feel

Dr. Val: Right, I think what is also important is for folks to know their own stories. We provide an opportunity to be in, in a nuanced conversation with maybe an expert or another caregiver. But I think what we also do, Andrew, because we have the opportunity, is to think about the ways what we've learned has impacted our own stories. And we continue to tell the story of how we're growing and evolving. And so we challenge each of you, to not only to take in other people's stories, but also to to know yours and be willing to share yours regardless of how mundane you think it might be.

So we have stories from people who have integrated schools and they're like, yeah, this was just my life. No, no, no. This is a big deal. Right? And so recognizing that your existence, your story is a big deal. There's something in it that people can learn from and we wanna hear more of them.

Andrew: Yeah, over the course of the season, we'll be telling some more local stories. Last season we had some local deep dive stories on Denver, on Charlotte. So we'll continue to tell local stories as this new season goes along, stories about people developing allyship, ways that it's working, ways that it's not. Those stories are all really important, for us to elevate because yeah that's, that's where the heart shift begins.

Dr. Val: That's right. Now we wanna build a story bank. Can you talk a little bit about that?

Andrew: So we are starting what we're calling our Integrated Schools Story Bank. If you've ever listened to the podcast, you know that we are constantly asking for your voice memos.

Dr. Val: Constantly!

Andrew: We still want voice memos. speakpipe.com/integratedschools. Drop us a voice memo, But sometimes that might feel a little overwhelming or I don't know that I have this idea fully cooked in my mind. I don't have a really clear, articulate way to say it. There's just this thing that's kind of going on or this thing that happened, maybe it's not a full story. I'm not sure. We want to hear those too. So you can send us a voice memo. You can send us an email podcast@integrateschools.org and tell us about a conversation you had, an aha moment. Something that happened, maybe you heard an episode and decided to have your kids start eating school lunch and it changed something for them or maybe you were deciding between a couple of different elementary schools and something you heard, a conversation you had with somebody made you change your mind.

We wanna know about that. send us an email, send us a voicemail. We will reach out to you if you wanna talk about it further. We will include your voice on the podcast if you want or not, if you don't. We are constantly looking for ways to, you know, bring your stories and your experience of this journey into the conversation.

Dr. Val: And if you know someone who has a great story, nominate them as well. We will absolutely cold email somebody and tell 'em that we heard wonderful things about them and invite them on the show.

Andrew: Yes. Some of our best episodes have come from listener suggestions, that have either turned into great guest suggestions or just conversations that we've had or listeners who've ended up having a, you know, a whole episode on the podcast with us because of some question they asked. So, email us, send us a voicemail we want to hear from you.

Dr. Val: That's right. Now it's also a big year.

Andrew: There's something happening in November that will certainly impact education in big ways.

Dr. Val: About. That's right. So it is a presidential election year. An election year for many, elected officials. And so we wanna encourage you to make sure that you're registered, to stay informed, and to vote. And to encourage others to vote as well. As you know, every election is an opportunity to elect someone who will be influential in policy that impacts young people and educators in your community. And so we believe it's important to stay engaged in that work.

Andrew: Absolutely. I mean, obviously the big presidential race is certainly going to consume a lot of the airtime as we get closer and closer to the election. But there are lots of local races happening, including lots of school board races and in your community, that could be an opportunity to really have your voice heard. So going out and asking candidates. I certainly am not gonna get a chance to ask a question, of either of the presidential candidates, but I can definitely find a way to be in conversation with people who are running for school board and having an opportunity to ask them what are their thoughts about school integration? What are they doing about disparate resources or about discipline policies that unfairly target certain groups of students? Where do they stand on things like book bans?

I mean certainly who you vote for makes a big difference. But even just engaging in the conversation, elevating these topics in small local races can really shift the conversation in your community, can shift the conversation that's being had at your school board level, can encourage a school board candidate who may not have thought much about school integration to go think a little more about it and maybe come up with some potentially better, more helpful policies if they feel like there is some, some energy behind that and that they're gonna be held accountable for what they do about that.

Dr. Val: And I wanna emphasize this is not only election year behavior, right? This is behavior that we can engage in every year, all the time. So that we can work for the vision that we have for integrated schools.

Andrew: Also, election time of year is a great time to get connected to local justice oriented organizations because lots of people are out working for elections. Those are the kind of relationships that can then sustain this work outside of election years. Right? So getting connected to organizations who are doing important work around the election and then staying connected to them is really important. And I think, you know, as we're looking at the presidential election in particular this year, the importance of building ties to your community could not be bigger…

Dr. Val: Mm-Hmm

Andrew: …than in this moment. We don't know which way the election is going to go, but regardless of what happens in the election, there is gonna be a need for community. There's gonna be a need to have relationships, to have ties, to figure out who are the people who you can advocate with because regardless of who wins the presidential election, there will either be a real immediate need for organizing to try to protect communities who may be targeted. Or there will be an inevitable backlash that will then need a response.

And so using this opportunity as we are getting closer and closer to the election to get engaged, to find community organizations to deepen those relationships and ties will give us something to fall back on when inevitably we need it in the wake of the election.

Dr. Val: Yeah. I wanna also add that those conversations don't only need to happen outside of your home, but also inside of your home. Because if you have young people who are going to school, they will be engaged in some way, in election conversations, right?

Whether one of their peers says something or a teacher brings it up because it's part of the curriculum, like, they also can't escape it. And so having conversations with your young people around what is happening I think it's really important because what you said triggered for me, Andrew, that the next day, regardless, our young people are gonna have to go to school and figure it out. You know, just like we all get up the next day and we figure it out.

And so I think that's important that the conversation isn't just outside of your home, but inside your home as well. One thing that we believe here is that starting early and often with age appropriate conversations with our young people around these ideas is really important to give them the foundation that they need to continue the action and the work as they grow up.

Andrew: Yeah. It's gonna be a big year. Gonna be lots to talk about. We have some great things planned. We've already recorded a couple conversations you'll be hearing soon.

Dr. Sandra Mitchell, who was one of six Black girls to integrate her elementary school in 1963 in Virginia, came on to share her story and actually, uh, shared some conversations with her father who's 92, who's just incredible as well. So that's coming.

Janelle George, who's a law professor at Georgetown, has been a huge inspiration to me who we actually met at our live show back in May, in DC. She came on. We’ll be talking to Michelle Adams, who's been on the podcast before, she's got a book coming out early next year about the Milliken v Bradley case, and lots of other conversations planned, but still lots of room for other episodes based on your suggestions listeners. So give us a call, speakpipe.com/integratedschools, or go to our website integratedschools.org and click the ‘Leave us a voicemail button’ or just shoot us an email, podcast@integratedschools.org. We are curious what you want to hear.

Dr. Val: I think in short, what you said was we don't wanna miss an Episode of season 11.

Andrew: That's right. So make sure you have hit that follow button wherever you're listening to this. Make sure you get notified whenever episodes come out. Make sure you're following us on social media @integratedschools, and make sure you are helping keep this podcast going, supporting this work.

It is certainly a privilege to do this work and it is a lot of work, so we could use your support. patreon.com/integratedschools. We do a monthly happy hour with listeners. We send out facilitation guides, so if you wanna have a little group conversation about one of the episodes, we've got some questions to get you started. But most importantly you can support this work with just a few dollars every month and we'd be grateful for that.

Dr. Val: That's right. We know that this podcast could not happen without the dedicated listeners. And so we really honor and we thank you all for taking the time to listen to us and to be a part of this mission with us. You know, you often wonder, like when you're in this mission driven work, like if you are alone and we're here to say that you are not alone. And in fact, you have a full community behind you. And so Andrew, thank you again for being on mission with me in this work. I look forward to learning and growing with you. During the season.

We come in at whatever spot we're in, in that moment, right, of our development. And I think throughout the season we continue to grow and change and evolve. And certainly with each conversation that we have with our guests, we learn things about ourselves, about others, about our communities, and sometimes, quite frankly, new listeners, I leave with a White supremacy headache, but Andrew's always here to help me out, you know, and because of that, because of our community, I am able to easily recommit to this work every single day. And, that's what I wanna encourage all of us to do.

Andrew: Yes. I continue to. Be grateful for the gift of you on this podcast, in my life, on this journey committed and now recommitted to this work together. I'm always grateful to be in this with you as we try to know better and do better

Dr. Val: Until next time.

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