To the SA community and beyond,
I’m moved to both share my experience as a teacher and leader at Success, as well as respond to some of Eva’s recent communication to both staff and families. I am asking that you receive my words with an open heart, as well as reflect on what next steps can be taken to protect the many young lives that deserve to be more than collateral damage as we figure things out.
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When I brought forth my concerns in January 2017 around what I saw as a critical missed opportunity in changing the educational circumstances of the Black and Brown families Success Academy claims to serve, I was silenced. I’m shocked, but not surprised, to see the CEO continue to attempt to silence the voices of its students, employees and parents.
Before returning to school from Winter Break, I wrote the following letter to the CEO and CAO (Chief Academic Officer) at the time. This was in the same American moment as is today- we were only months removed from national headlines recounting the fatal killing of more innocent Black men by the police.
I’m moved to both share my experience as a teacher and leader at Success, as well as respond to some of Eva’s recent communication to both staff and families. I am asking that you receive my words with an open heart, as well as reflect on what next steps can be taken to protect the many young lives that deserve to be more than collateral damage as we figure things out.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When I brought forth my concerns in January 2017 around what I saw as a critical missed opportunity in changing the educational circumstances of the Black and Brown families Success Academy claims to serve, I was silenced. I’m shocked, but not surprised, to see the CEO continue to attempt to silence the voices of its students, employees and parents.
Before returning to school from Winter Break, I wrote the following letter to the CEO and CAO (Chief Academic Officer) at the time. This was in the same American moment as is today- we were only months removed from national headlines recounting the fatal killing of more innocent Black men by the police.
I received no response or acknowledgement at all from Eva herself. Though, she encouraged my principal to encourage me to take it down from my public website. The CAO addressed me via email, and I later met with her at the network office. Both her written and verbal responses were utterly tone deaf – suggesting that I should embrace a myriad of different experiences through literature.
The irony is rich.
Here we are, June 2020. I’ve since faced many moments in recognizing policies and actions that take place within the walls of an SA school that are in direct conflict with their so-called mission to “Build exceptional, world-class public schools that prove children from all backgrounds can succeed in college and life; and advocate across the country to change public policies that prevent so many children from having access to opportunity.” How can you advocate for kids across the country when you not only fail to speak on our behalf as a race war unfurls but also fail to do and provide what it takes at the schooling level? You have invested money into training and consulting on academics, most notably Math, and you can see your ROI in the data that you get to proudly own. Where is that same energy when it comes to hiring Black leaders at the network level, particularly to write curriculum? Where is that energy when it comes to hiring professionals to teach your majority white workforce what DEI is, a move I consider to be the necessary bare minimum? For someone all about “setting kids up for success,” you’ve done a horrific crime by not doing as such for your network and school based staff. Having schools receive a box of staff copies of Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain is not enough- particularly when there was little to no accountability or guidance around the implementation of that material. One to a few texts per PBL unit that address Black people in a particular context in American history at the elementary level is violent, when the classrooms and leadership offices are primarily white and many white teachers are working with an insufficient understanding of that very same context. At the elementary level there is no PBL unit on any aspect of the Black experience or that centers the Black experience- it is your responsibility that hundreds of thousands of students continue to learn to see themselves on the periphery. The scholars who attend your schools learn quickly that they don’t deserve consistency as your hiring and retention efforts fail them; as they pay the price for your resistance to creating school communities that encourage and allow teachers and leaders to stay around. Please note that none of the aforementioned issues are addressed by your recent decisions to finally provide a day of reflection and mourning and rest for the staff and to hold a town hall- actions sooner taken by other NYC charters. Realize that this is hardly the last time you will need to follow someone else’s lead.
You have chosen quantity over quality for too many years when it came to scaling up and providing entire schools that would be places where NYC kids would spend most of their time, influencing their identities and sense of belonging in the world. You staffed those schools with inexperienced and highly undertrained teachers, overlooking (willfully or otherwise) that their presence in a child’s life is not inconsequential to that child’s experience, albeit inconsequential to you personally as long as there were no visible red flags (read: bad data). You choose to claim to be dedicated to closing an achievement gap that exists on a national level when there is still an achievement gap mirroring that within our own schools. You choose to continue to accept scholars based on lottery knowing that any child could be placed at one of our schools and parents want for them to attend based on good reputation, even though we do not have the appropriate accommodations or skillset to educate any child. You choose to be defensive over the narrative of SA pushing kids out at the same time.
Now to speak even more specifically to your recent outreach- though “the nine-minute video was almost unbearable to watch,” you seem to prefer to maintain that this brutal act of police violence and your role as CEO of a network of charter schools are relatively unrelated. In your video message, you also offer that we serve 96% students of color and have about 50% staff of color. Knowing that “data tells a story,” I ask that you also give us the demographic data of: staff specifically holding network positions, staff specifically working on curriculum teams, principals and assistant principals which make up a school’s leadership team, school psychologists. A breakdown of how many Black school-based staff work at a given school paired with the demographic data of that school’s student body. It is irresponsible of you to take this moment and shamefully use placating stats that skew the narrative in SA’s favor, when we are 66 years from a moment where schools were desegregated and when at the same time Black teachers were fired by the score only to have Black children learn from white teachers. When we have enough history and enough evidence to know that not just students of color, but all kids, learn better with exposure to a diverse teaching staff. Let me also finally clarify- people of color are not interchangeable with Black people, and it is undeniably and critically important to acknowledge that as we need PoC in schools, we specifically and simultaneously need more Black teachers and leaders working with our very Black student population.
Your subsequent email to all rising and current assistant principals reinforce the idea that you are ill-equipped to lead this network. You say “...and the tragic and horrifying events of racial injustice surrounding us for decades, or centuries, depending on how one looks at it.” The fact that there is subjectivity in this statement is baffling and is emblematic of how much cultural gaslighting occurs in our organization...no less than it does elsewhere. This is dangerous. You lie in service of ego and even intention when you mention that “Every decision [you] have made, and continue to make, is in service of anti-racism, equality, equity, and fairness.” As far as the fact that “[you] want each of [us] to work — and lead — in an environment that feels safe and inclusive” is low-hanging fruit, and even then still a myth in certain spaces of your organization.
You go on to say “While we all have a role to play in promoting diversity and inclusion, our Chief Human Capital Officer, Aparna Ramaswamy, has responsibility for this at an enterprise-wide level. Please feel free to reach out to her with additional thoughts and ideas. You can help us improve by referring candidates of color.” As you would say- you have the most skin in this game, and by offering a scapegoat and by mentioning staff referrals, you are effectively refusing responsibility for yourself. Furthermore, naming Aparna and her job function does not explain why there are not DEI coaches working directly with the teachers and leaders that directly interface with students...unless you are also exposing that she has failed at her job function under your own leadership. You acknowledge that many are asking SA to “lead on the issue, to train better, and simply do more training, starting with unconscious bias training” but then offer the excuse that “We have done this multiple times in the past, but am happy to explore this again...I do not believe such training will magically eradicate problems.” While that is an unnecessary and unproductive thing to share, you then introduce a new and irrelevant point- “In my view, the unconscious bias of low expectations is what we must fear most. When adults doubt kids' capacity to think for themselves and think critically and creatively about the world, that is the biggest present danger we have.” How did we get there? Why are you seeking to deflect and misplace blame? You overlook one of the most important steps that can be implemented at an organizational level to combat racism in a space where doing just that directly affects a child’s life experience. I can vaguely recall a Cultural Competency session 5 years ago during my own summer training- one of the only times I heard an individual be candid with white people about their role as white people working with mostly Black and Brown kids. This can’t be something you found value in as you mention the need to “explore it again” when it was never something we could afford to lose...we needed to improve and expand upon those kinds of workshops with the help of professionals that are paid to do this work thoroughly and well.
Finally, you formally reiterate what you clearly believe- that “this” is not our lane. You say several things like, “at SA we are focused on charter and parental choice related activism….(currently in the US, 21 million children of color are trapped in mostly failing schools)...But I believe it is the only way to achieve sustained and radical change in this country, and so we must give it our all.” Once again, your willingness to acknowledge the intersection of many other issues that work together to compound the suffering of Black people and people of color, but the refusal to take an intersectional approach, is an educational crime. Maybe that is not what you signed up for, but it is the reality, nonetheless. Let someone who can, do.
You make it abundantly clear that we cannot trust you. You must know that your resources and capabilities can be helpful when you offer them to someone better suited to the role. While you may be responsible for providing a foundation, the most responsible thing you can do for New York City students, for Black New York City students, is to recruit and accept the help of a leader that deeply understands the intersectionality of our struggle and is invested in and prepared to fight for us on every front, with every policy, with the professional development you regard as such a highlight of working here. Do not allow yourself to continue to misguide leaders who then misguide their teachers, all of which “fails kids” and sullies the “mission.”
To my coworkers- many of us have struggled out loud and internally with being a part of this structure. Many of us understand how multi-pronged this fight to create a radically different world, one where racism can’t be responsible for the gamut of crimes committed against black life to take place; and so we chose to do our very best for the students and families and teachers we worked directly with. That at least your own class would be told the truth about our country and their own history. That at least your own school would see what it meant for a Black person to hold a position of leadership. I have been and will continue to reflect on where I’m meant to do this work and pour into my people. I wish grace for all of us who are working through this.
To my students- I hope from the deepest depths of my heart that my influence in your lives has been supportive and affirming. That while I made my own mistakes as an educator and continued to learn and be critical of SA, you did the same. That I was at the very least one of the people who tried to offer you some truth about this country. I hope that you feel strong enough and supported enough to speak up when something isn’t right- whether you have the language for what that something is or not. You all are the biggest and most important reasons for this work, and I can’t wait to see how your power manifests as we collectively experience this worldwide reckoning. In the meantime, myself and many others are here to offer as much knowledge, guidance and healing as we have to give.
This message has been brought to you via my public website and will not be removed until and unless I choose to do so.
Here we are, June 2020. I’ve since faced many moments in recognizing policies and actions that take place within the walls of an SA school that are in direct conflict with their so-called mission to “Build exceptional, world-class public schools that prove children from all backgrounds can succeed in college and life; and advocate across the country to change public policies that prevent so many children from having access to opportunity.” How can you advocate for kids across the country when you not only fail to speak on our behalf as a race war unfurls but also fail to do and provide what it takes at the schooling level? You have invested money into training and consulting on academics, most notably Math, and you can see your ROI in the data that you get to proudly own. Where is that same energy when it comes to hiring Black leaders at the network level, particularly to write curriculum? Where is that energy when it comes to hiring professionals to teach your majority white workforce what DEI is, a move I consider to be the necessary bare minimum? For someone all about “setting kids up for success,” you’ve done a horrific crime by not doing as such for your network and school based staff. Having schools receive a box of staff copies of Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain is not enough- particularly when there was little to no accountability or guidance around the implementation of that material. One to a few texts per PBL unit that address Black people in a particular context in American history at the elementary level is violent, when the classrooms and leadership offices are primarily white and many white teachers are working with an insufficient understanding of that very same context. At the elementary level there is no PBL unit on any aspect of the Black experience or that centers the Black experience- it is your responsibility that hundreds of thousands of students continue to learn to see themselves on the periphery. The scholars who attend your schools learn quickly that they don’t deserve consistency as your hiring and retention efforts fail them; as they pay the price for your resistance to creating school communities that encourage and allow teachers and leaders to stay around. Please note that none of the aforementioned issues are addressed by your recent decisions to finally provide a day of reflection and mourning and rest for the staff and to hold a town hall- actions sooner taken by other NYC charters. Realize that this is hardly the last time you will need to follow someone else’s lead.
You have chosen quantity over quality for too many years when it came to scaling up and providing entire schools that would be places where NYC kids would spend most of their time, influencing their identities and sense of belonging in the world. You staffed those schools with inexperienced and highly undertrained teachers, overlooking (willfully or otherwise) that their presence in a child’s life is not inconsequential to that child’s experience, albeit inconsequential to you personally as long as there were no visible red flags (read: bad data). You choose to claim to be dedicated to closing an achievement gap that exists on a national level when there is still an achievement gap mirroring that within our own schools. You choose to continue to accept scholars based on lottery knowing that any child could be placed at one of our schools and parents want for them to attend based on good reputation, even though we do not have the appropriate accommodations or skillset to educate any child. You choose to be defensive over the narrative of SA pushing kids out at the same time.
Now to speak even more specifically to your recent outreach- though “the nine-minute video was almost unbearable to watch,” you seem to prefer to maintain that this brutal act of police violence and your role as CEO of a network of charter schools are relatively unrelated. In your video message, you also offer that we serve 96% students of color and have about 50% staff of color. Knowing that “data tells a story,” I ask that you also give us the demographic data of: staff specifically holding network positions, staff specifically working on curriculum teams, principals and assistant principals which make up a school’s leadership team, school psychologists. A breakdown of how many Black school-based staff work at a given school paired with the demographic data of that school’s student body. It is irresponsible of you to take this moment and shamefully use placating stats that skew the narrative in SA’s favor, when we are 66 years from a moment where schools were desegregated and when at the same time Black teachers were fired by the score only to have Black children learn from white teachers. When we have enough history and enough evidence to know that not just students of color, but all kids, learn better with exposure to a diverse teaching staff. Let me also finally clarify- people of color are not interchangeable with Black people, and it is undeniably and critically important to acknowledge that as we need PoC in schools, we specifically and simultaneously need more Black teachers and leaders working with our very Black student population.
Your subsequent email to all rising and current assistant principals reinforce the idea that you are ill-equipped to lead this network. You say “...and the tragic and horrifying events of racial injustice surrounding us for decades, or centuries, depending on how one looks at it.” The fact that there is subjectivity in this statement is baffling and is emblematic of how much cultural gaslighting occurs in our organization...no less than it does elsewhere. This is dangerous. You lie in service of ego and even intention when you mention that “Every decision [you] have made, and continue to make, is in service of anti-racism, equality, equity, and fairness.” As far as the fact that “[you] want each of [us] to work — and lead — in an environment that feels safe and inclusive” is low-hanging fruit, and even then still a myth in certain spaces of your organization.
You go on to say “While we all have a role to play in promoting diversity and inclusion, our Chief Human Capital Officer, Aparna Ramaswamy, has responsibility for this at an enterprise-wide level. Please feel free to reach out to her with additional thoughts and ideas. You can help us improve by referring candidates of color.” As you would say- you have the most skin in this game, and by offering a scapegoat and by mentioning staff referrals, you are effectively refusing responsibility for yourself. Furthermore, naming Aparna and her job function does not explain why there are not DEI coaches working directly with the teachers and leaders that directly interface with students...unless you are also exposing that she has failed at her job function under your own leadership. You acknowledge that many are asking SA to “lead on the issue, to train better, and simply do more training, starting with unconscious bias training” but then offer the excuse that “We have done this multiple times in the past, but am happy to explore this again...I do not believe such training will magically eradicate problems.” While that is an unnecessary and unproductive thing to share, you then introduce a new and irrelevant point- “In my view, the unconscious bias of low expectations is what we must fear most. When adults doubt kids' capacity to think for themselves and think critically and creatively about the world, that is the biggest present danger we have.” How did we get there? Why are you seeking to deflect and misplace blame? You overlook one of the most important steps that can be implemented at an organizational level to combat racism in a space where doing just that directly affects a child’s life experience. I can vaguely recall a Cultural Competency session 5 years ago during my own summer training- one of the only times I heard an individual be candid with white people about their role as white people working with mostly Black and Brown kids. This can’t be something you found value in as you mention the need to “explore it again” when it was never something we could afford to lose...we needed to improve and expand upon those kinds of workshops with the help of professionals that are paid to do this work thoroughly and well.
Finally, you formally reiterate what you clearly believe- that “this” is not our lane. You say several things like, “at SA we are focused on charter and parental choice related activism….(currently in the US, 21 million children of color are trapped in mostly failing schools)...But I believe it is the only way to achieve sustained and radical change in this country, and so we must give it our all.” Once again, your willingness to acknowledge the intersection of many other issues that work together to compound the suffering of Black people and people of color, but the refusal to take an intersectional approach, is an educational crime. Maybe that is not what you signed up for, but it is the reality, nonetheless. Let someone who can, do.
You make it abundantly clear that we cannot trust you. You must know that your resources and capabilities can be helpful when you offer them to someone better suited to the role. While you may be responsible for providing a foundation, the most responsible thing you can do for New York City students, for Black New York City students, is to recruit and accept the help of a leader that deeply understands the intersectionality of our struggle and is invested in and prepared to fight for us on every front, with every policy, with the professional development you regard as such a highlight of working here. Do not allow yourself to continue to misguide leaders who then misguide their teachers, all of which “fails kids” and sullies the “mission.”
To my coworkers- many of us have struggled out loud and internally with being a part of this structure. Many of us understand how multi-pronged this fight to create a radically different world, one where racism can’t be responsible for the gamut of crimes committed against black life to take place; and so we chose to do our very best for the students and families and teachers we worked directly with. That at least your own class would be told the truth about our country and their own history. That at least your own school would see what it meant for a Black person to hold a position of leadership. I have been and will continue to reflect on where I’m meant to do this work and pour into my people. I wish grace for all of us who are working through this.
To my students- I hope from the deepest depths of my heart that my influence in your lives has been supportive and affirming. That while I made my own mistakes as an educator and continued to learn and be critical of SA, you did the same. That I was at the very least one of the people who tried to offer you some truth about this country. I hope that you feel strong enough and supported enough to speak up when something isn’t right- whether you have the language for what that something is or not. You all are the biggest and most important reasons for this work, and I can’t wait to see how your power manifests as we collectively experience this worldwide reckoning. In the meantime, myself and many others are here to offer as much knowledge, guidance and healing as we have to give.
This message has been brought to you via my public website and will not be removed until and unless I choose to do so.