This is such a strange time.
Such a strange time, in fact, that it’s already a cliche to even call this a strange time.
And the problem with calling it strange, I suppose, is that strange doesn’t even begin to describe 2020 — not to mention what might come next.
Read MoreBy Matt Halvorson
A common misconception exists that tells us our school system is “broken.” The idea is that inequity in our schools — whether that’s racial inequity, gender inequity, or any other sort — can be “fixed,” and that our public schools are inherently good and well-intentioned.
Read MoreBy Matt Halvorson
In a time of uprising and upheaval, an education that is truly honest, culturally compentent and child-centered is itself an act of revolution. The foundation for this journey is the revolution within each of our selves. Remember, if things as violently inequitable as we know they are — in our schools, in our cities, in our world — the solution might seem radical at first. We might not fully understand it yet, and it might feel uncomfortable. It might even sound like something our schools conditioned us to fear.
Read MoreBy Matt Halvorson
How do we educate our kids during a pandemic? How do we educate our kids during an uprising? How do we educate our kids without conditioning them? It will require new and unfamiliar ways of thinking, living and parenting.
More Zoom calls for kids and remote learning through a historically inequitable public school system are not the answer… but what is? It is becoming more clear every day that we will have to create it ourselves.
Here are a handful of books and ideas that have influenced me and my family as we move away from traditional public schooling, committed to making sure our kids are educated without being schooled, valued without being graded, and loved without being conditioned.
Read MoreBy Amanda Williams
Advocacy takes on many forms. As leaders within communities fight to have equitable representation for all children in schools, we have the power to stand behind them and demand authentic response and actions from school district leaders.
Read MoreIn case you missed it, there will be no police presence in Seattle Public Schools moving forward.
Following the lead of student activists, SPS ended the practice of having police officers — known as “school emphasis officers” — stationed in five middle schools. This announcement came days after Seattle Police used a middle school parking lot as a staging area for anti-protest response without permission
Read MoreBy Matt Halvorson
It’s been one of the great joys of my life to share so much time with my son doing something we both love. Deep down, I think we had both known that this season was already lost, but still. It was a sad moment when we finally had to feel and acknowledge it.
What better place to be than on the first baseball field liberated from the Empire?
Read MoreBy Matt Halvorson
If you are a parent, George Floyd named you by name. We are on a path toward abolition. Consider that it took a Civil War to end chattel slavery, and that the Montgomery Bus Boycott alone lasted 382 days.
How committed are you to this? What will you do? And what will you keep doing?
Read MoreBy Matt Halvorson
As we consider how and when formal education will resume after this period of quarantine, we must ask ourselves: is what we are doing liberatory? Or is it oppressive?
Read MoreBy Marcus Harden
We may have experienced the Last Class in the world we once knew, but from adversity always comes opportunity. I hope we use this time to create a new world of opportunities and access for students of color and the educators that continue to support them.
Read MoreBy Matt Halvorson
Seattle Public Schools announced that all high school students will receive an “A” in every class for the spring semester, a move that quietly eliminates — for the time being — one of the primary ways an unjust education system sorts and tracks our kids.
Read MoreBy Christopher John Mead
In the early weeks of online learning, a Portland middle-school teacher finds that his students’ personal growth is inspiring hope for the future and offering certainty during unsteady times. Through this necessary period of solitude, of living simply in shared sacrifice, people young and old “are learning about themselves and what is important in life.”
Read MoreBy Matt Halvorson
What new world will we create for students and families in the wake of a pandemic that, for now, has only just begun? What are we learning as COVID-19 brings tumbling down the illusions and excuses that propped up the old system? How will our system of education change? How will we move forward as parents and teachers, school administrators and students?
Who will we choose to be now?
Read MoreBy Matt Halvorson
It’s been 10 days since my kids were last in school here in Seattle, and as the COVID-19 pandemic continues its systematic shutdown of, well, the entire system, it’s time for us parents to get creative. That’s why I’m glad to be helping my son and his buddies produce a sports-talk podcast about their own youth baseball league.
Read MoreBy Matt Halvorson
I have so many thoughts to share amid all of this, and I will be posting as often as I can find the time to write amidst the many quarantined kids in my house.
For today, with schools closed in so many states, let’s talk about the fact that so many of us parents are suddenly homeschooling our kids.
Read MoreBy Amanda Williams
Monika Mathews is the founder of QueenCare in Columbia City, but QueenCare is more than just a skin-care shop. It is a training ground for future entrepreneurs. They are the Young Queens, trained and mentored by Monika as part of a personal development program. The program teaches middle and high school students of color about self-care, entrepreneurship, and a variety of life skills. The girls participate in a series of business workshops aimed at building economic empowerment, and they create, market, and sell skin-care products, which they sold at community markets until the QueenCare store opened in December 2018.
Read MoreBy Reese McGillie
Abiola Akanni, certified yoga instructor, wellness influencer and Trap Vinyasa™ founder, has been sharing her gifts as a yoga teacher for more than 10 years, offering studio and community classes in the Seattle-Tacoma area and leading yoga and wellness retreats nationally.
Read MoreBy Amanda Williams
The longer you serve children in a community, the smaller the world seems to become. Eventually you start to hear certain people mentioned over and over — the after-school counselors, the coaches, the neighborhood-parents. The mentors who’ve made an impact connecting with those around them. Ms. Melba Ayco is one of those people.
Read MoreBy Lindsay Hill
Ashley is a riveting storyteller, community convenor, researcher, and media guru for organizations committed to social change. As a leader capable of compelling both the head and the heart, she bridges divides, and she has deep experience shaping perceptions within ambivalent or disconnected audiences. If you are looking for a badass communications and campaign leader, with a refined social justice lens, Ashley is your person.
Read MoreBy Stephan Blanford
A frequent critique of the way that Black History Month is celebrated is the manner by which school teachers, librarians, corporate advertisers and others will use their platforms to narrowly focus on only a few African-American history makers during February, selectively promoting a one-sided and self-serving narrative and erasing a rich history of African American activism and dissent.
Read More
