We’re Forming a Board of Directors!!

We are excited to announce the next stage in our organizational evolution.  We are forming a board of directors and we are looking for volunteers to help shape this next chapter of Integrated Schools.  Read on to learn about how we came to this decision – or cut to the chase and apply for our new board-to-be!

A little background…

In September 2021, we shared Integrated Schools’ intention to “undertake a transformation from a primarily White organization to a true multiracial one.” We had just emerged from a transitional period following the death of founder Courtney Mykytyn with an organizational structure we hoped would sustain our day-to-day work while growing our movement. We started United People of Color (“UPOC”) for Integrated Schools as a space to begin exploring what a multiracial future for our organization might look like.

The day-to-day volunteer-driven work – podcasts, social media, book club, caregiver connection, chapters – has continued. And, as illustrated by a recent blog post from community member Allison Joe, we know that work is making a difference: raising awareness of the impact our educational choices have on our society, giving people the language to articulate anti-racist values and the courage to test those values against messy reality. But as we began to explore the implications of becoming a multiracial organization, and with the ramping up of existential threats to the very public school systems we are working to integrate, it became clear that our organizational structure needed to evolve.

In June of 2022, we hired Point B(e) Strategies (PBS) to conduct an organizational assessment and work with a task force (consisting of volunteers with institutional knowledge of IS, newer leaders, and UPOC members) to explore and gain clarity on Integrated Schools’ “North Star” and desired direction. PBS presented a final report in March of this year. With input from the task force, the Caregiver Advisory Board adopted most of PBS’ recommendations with some modifications, and created a working group to develop a more comprehensive recommendation and preliminary implementation plan for a new governance structure.   

Clarifying our Mission and Theory of Change

Integrated Schools still 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.

Additionally, we have revised our mission and theory of change statements for the sake of clarity about our purpose and audience – and in particular, that while we continue to hold White people accountable, everyone has a part to play in fighting White supremacy.

Mission:

Integrated Schools prepares families with racial or economic privilege to commit to integrating our children, driving new narratives about education, and advocating for justice in our public schools.

Theory of Change: 

By providing a network of support and a range of resources, Integrated Schools helps parents and caregivers with racial or economic privilege:

• • CONTEMPLATE – engage in and drive new narratives around parenting, race and public education that center anti-racism and equity and decenter Whiteness.
  • DESEGREGATE – enroll our children in public schools that don’t concentrate privilege
  • INTEGRATE – practice joyfully, humbly and intentionally integrating our families into existing school communities
  • ADVOCATE – for educational justice at the school, community, state and national levels.

This new language serves to guide our programming and staff development.

We’re Forming a Board of Directors!

A key set of recommendations that came out of the consulting process are directed at strengthening our governance and staffing structure to expand our capacity & grow our impact. Our initial focus is on establishing a new board of directors with clear governance responsibilities:

• Enhancing the organization’s public standing and developing and supporting partnerships and community relationships
• Selecting the chief executive/executive team, and supporting and evaluating them (the volunteer leadership team will continue to function as Integrated Schools’ operational executive team in the interim)
• Approving strategies, ensuring effective planning, and monitoring and strengthening programs
• Ensuring adequate financial resources, protecting assets and providing financial oversight
• Recruiting, developing and sustaining a competent board into the future
• Ensuring legal and ethical integrity

We are looking for dedicated people who are passionate about our mission and interested in investing in our movement to help us grow in our next phase!

The Board we are building will ideally include people with: 

• Organizational development experience who will look at key decisions through that lens
• Background in finance
• Fundraising experience
• Institutional knowledge of our movement and a sense of the opportunities now before Integrated Schools
• Nonprofit management skills
• Standing and experience to push us toward equity/anti-racism

We are recruiting now, with the hope of seating new board members late this fall or early in 2024.

If you are passionate about our mission and interested in investing in our movement to help us grow in our next phase, please consider applying for a Board position, or contact hello@integratedschools.org to learn more.

And if you know someone else committed to helping us advance the Integrated Schools mission with relevant skills and experience, please help us by reaching out and encouraging that person to apply!