Race is a social construct and schools are a key place where those categories get constructed and re-constructed. Dr. Laura Chávez-Moreno joins us to discuss the role schools place in race making, and, in particular, how dual-language programs impact our understanding of Latinx as a racial category.

School funding disparities and school segregation are often treated as separate issues. Brown’s Promise believes we can’t solve one without solving the other. Saba Bireda and Ary Amerikaner, the founders of Brown’s Promise, join us to discuss their work, how parents and caregivers can get involved in advocacy work, and what the world might look like if we could solve these two, interrelated issues.  

In the wake of the election results, Dr. Val and Andrew sit down to reflect on what it means for ourselves, for the Integrated Schools movement, and for the institution of public education.  

“Since the days of enslavement, African Americans have fought to gain access to quality education. Education can be transformative. Education strengthens a democracy.” – Dr. Carol Anderson, author of White Rage. In this week before the election, we are revisiting this conversation from March of 2022 discussing the White rage backlash to the Brown v. Board decision, and how it is as relevant today as it was in the late 1950s.

Dr. Sandra Mitchell was entering the 4th grade in 1963 when her family decided to desegregate Stonewall Jackson Elementary in Petersburg, VA. She joins us to tell her story of struggle and hope. We also get to hear from her father, the Reverend Grady Powell, who, at 92, continues to be a powerful voice for integration.

Janel George, a Georgetown Law professor, recently wrote a paper called “Deny, Defund, and Divert: The Law and American Miseducation”, the piece outlines historical and modern systemic educational inequalities faced by Black communities, linked to legislative actions and adaptations of White supremacy. She joins us to talk about legislative lawyering, the importance of community engagement when making public policy, and the ongoing role of systemic racism in our legal and education systems.

We’re back!!  We hope you had a wonderful summer!  We’re excited to be back in your feeds as a new school year gets underway.  As we kick off season 11 of the podcast, we are recommitting to the mission and vision of Integrated Schools, and using the podcast as a platform to invite you in to the conversation.  

As Season 10 comes to a close, we reflect on what we learned over the past 19 episodes. Digging into our themes of the importance of public schools, the power of story telling, the need for community, and stamina, we shared incredible conversations over the past season. We close the season out with some reflections and some listener voice memos.

The National Coalition for School Diversity, The Century Foundation, and the American Institutes for Research invited us to facilitate their event marking the 70th anniversary of Brown v Board.  Hosted at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, on the Oprah Winfrey Stage, we were honored to facilitate three panel discussions grappling with the challenges we face today in fulfilling the true promise of Brown.  
Joined by an amazing group of speakers, from the incredible Representative Jim Clyburn, to past podcast guests, Stefan Lallinger and Matt Gonzales, to many others, we are thrilled to share excerpts from the event today.

Seventy years after the Brown v Board decision, the unfulfilled promises of the case drive so much of the work of Integrated Schools. That work was started by Courtney Mykytyn, who was born 19 years to the day after the decision was handed down. After her tragic death in 2019, Integrated Schools found a way to move forward with her vision guiding us. To commemorate this important day, we are sharing one of Courtney’s final episodes, called All I Want for Christmas is 3.5%.

Dr. James Ford grew up in Illinois and was bussed through a desegregation plan premised on the Supreme Court case, Swann v Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education. He experienced an educational environment that felt unwelcoming, and, at time, outwardly hostile. Eventually landing in Charlotte as a teacher, he wanted to understand the history of the city and choices made by the people in power that led to him teaching in a highly segregated high school named after the superintendent who had overseen the nationally lauded desegregation plans of the 70s.

He joins us to share the history of Charlotte, and his current work at the Center for Racial Equity in Education.

Knowing the power of the Black educational tradition, and the documented impact of Black teachers on students, Sharif El-Mekki founded The Center for Black Educator Development to rebuild the Black educator pipeline that was crushed in the wake of desegregation attempts around the country. He joins us to discuss his work, and explain how it is rooted in a Black educational tradition that stretches back generations.

In Jim Crow’s Pink Slip, Dr. Leslie Fenwick tells the untold story of the 100,000 Black teachers and principals who were lost in the wake of desegregation attempts across the South. She joins us to talk about the book, her journey to writing it, and what understanding this untold history means for the ongoing quest for more teachers of color.

Local stories of desegregation hold the power to uplift those who fought for justice, the demands they made, and the ways we have failed to honor that work. Over the coming months we will be diving into several local stories, starting with Denver, CO and the court case, Keyes v School District No 1. Decided 50 years ago, the Keyes case was the first to try the standard set in Brown v Board outside of the South, resulting in massive changes both nationally and locally.

Local stories of desegregation hold the power to uplift those who fought for justice, the demands they made, and the ways we have failed to honor that work. Over the coming months we will be diving into several local stories, starting with Denver, CO and the court case, Keyes v School District No 1. Decided 50 years ago, the Keyes case was the first to try the standard set in Brown v Board outside of the South, resulting in massive changes both nationally and locally.

Local stories of desegregation hold the power to uplift those who fought for justice, the demands they made, and the ways we have failed to honor that work. Over the coming months we will be diving into several local stories, starting with Denver, CO and the court case, Keyes v School District No 1. Decided 50 years ago, the Keyes case was the first to try the standard set in Brown v Board outside of the South, resulting in massive changes both nationally and locally.

Jon Tobin, and his wife Amanda, strive to continually finds ways to make decisions that reflect their values, that support their kids, and that work to make the world just a bit more just, everyday.  With a deep belief in the power of community, in the need to be rooted in place, and the need to invest their resources, time and energy into their community, they support their local, public school by sending their kids, showing up humbly, and doing the sometimes slow work to build community.

There’s a difference between feeling like you belong in a space and that that space belongs to you.  Dr. Shanette Porter has studied schools that have created that sense of belonging, and found that not only are strictly academic measures improved (test scores, etc), but other benefits come as well.  From increased graduation rates, to decreased disciplinary incidents, to increased attendance, schools that focus on creating a sense of belonging do better for the whole child.  

Dr. Porter joins us to share some of her findings, as well as a powerful definition of belonging.  

Assistant Secretary of Education, Roberto Rodriguez, joins us to discuss the Fostering Diverse Schools grants recently awarded, and the federal government’s role in advocating for integration.

To close out the year, we share listener voice memos, an update on Integrated Schools, including our new board of directors, and tease a few of the episodes coming in the new year!

Is a child ever too young to learn about race? We’re sharing an episode from Learning for Justice’s Teaching Hard History podcast today that answers that question with a resounding no. One of our summer interns, Jaden González, brought us the episode and joins to discuss it, along with his own racial identity development as a Puerto Rican growing up in New York City with a multiracial family.  

Richard Rothstein’s The Color of Law unveiled institutionalized racial segregation and its lingering impacts on our country. The ways that we are segregated today were caused by intentional governmental policies, and we have yet to redress the harm caused.  Richard’s daughter Leah, joined him to write Just Action: How to Challenge Segregation Enacted Under the Color of Law. They both join us to talk about the books and role we all have to play in creating the true multiracial democracy we are striving for. 

As our country becomes increasingly racially diverse and socioeconomically unequal, schools are often the first public institutions addressing those changes.  Dr. Erica Turner has studied how district level leaders have dealt with this, and wrote about it in her book, Suddenly Diverse, How School Districts Manage Race and Inequality.  She joins us to share some of what she found.

Gentrification sucks . . . yet change is inevitable.  We’re joined today by Young Adult author, Jade Adia, whose first novel, There Goes The Neighborhood takes place in a fictional neighborhood in South LA being wracked by gentrification.  We discuss Jade’s personal story and how it led to her writing this novel, and we discuss ways of getting involved and finding connection in our neighborhoods.   

John Blake has been writing about race and religion as a reporter for over 25 years, and over those years he has come to discover that facts don’t change people, relationships do.  His relationship with his mother and her sister, his father’s relationships on the decks of a Merchant Marine ship, the multi-racial community he formed through church – these relationships across difference are what led to changes in racial attitudes for his relatives and for himself.  He chronicles it all in his memoir, More Than I Imagined: What a Black Man Discovered About the White Mother He Never Knew, and he joins us to talk about it.  

As we launch season 10, we are focusing on 4 themes: The importance of public schools, the power of storytelling, the importance of being in community, and stamina. We talk about why these themes feel important now, and update listeners on the start of the school year.

As Season 9 comes to a close, we reflect on some of the amazing conversations we had over the past 16 episodes, and hear from you about what you’re grappling with.  

With participation from 30 million students and annual spending over $19B, The School Lunch Program has the potential to be a massive lever for change. A world of quality food, with universal participation, less environmental impact, better jobs for food workers, and happier, healthier kids is possible. However, to get there, The School Lunch Program needs us all to participate.

We often talk about school segregation from a racial and /or class perspective, but an equally concerning issue is the segregation of kids based on dis/ability.  And while many disabled students are marginalized by our educational system, it is particularly true for students of color.  It’s an overdue conversation for us on the podcast, and it’s an important one, because, as the conversation makes clear, all forms of oppression are linked together, and destroying one will require them all to fall.  

Preschool segregation profoundly impacts children and teachers. Dr. Casey Stockstill joins us to explore the importance of inclusive, diverse preschools, race and class dynamics for early learners, and the impacts segregation has on future learning environments.