For many years, Integrated Schools has galvanized around the idea of “building a constituency for brave policy.” But how do we decide what to advocate for? How do we know where to look for answers? In this post, we are sharing a framework for advocacy as well as introducing a new partner in this work who is helping us frame these conversations as we continue to grow our movement.

We are announcing the creation of the Integrated Schools Network. In truth, it’s not as much a new creation as much as a formalization of what has already existed–we are a network of folks who are working to align our antiracist values with our actions and behaviors. Our vision for our network is that it is composed of people who have chosen to affiliate themselves with, and publicly identify themselves as a part of, Integrated Schools. That includes people who have already done this, and new folks we have yet to meet!

To be a parent in Boston is to be constantly bombarded with messages about the precariousness of our public schools.” As his oldest child nears the end of an integrated inclusion elementary school,” one White dad reflects on the social expectations for White, middle-class families facing the 7th grade lottery and the fact that “selective schools are distinguished by which students aren’t there as much as they are by the opportunities offered.”

A new study from an all-star lineup of researchers contrasts the hyper-competitive, win-loose kind of school decision making common in privileged parenting circles with an alternative that foregrounds mental/emotional health, perhaps as a response to the anxiety that characterizes this type of contemporary American parenting in privileged families.

When it comes to education, some argue that the ability to opt out of the public system is practically a right. An integrating White parent from Lancaster, PA, argues that “school choice” hides who suffers from policies like Pennsylvania’s educational improvement tax credit program, and shields from blame those whose publicly funded but antidemocratic “choices” cause harm.