7 minute read
CHAMPIONS OF EQUITY
Here, we celebrate the standouts who are making a true impact for equity in schools throughout the country.
There are so many wonderful educators out there — far too many to list in a publication like this — but we want to do our part to showcase the work of as many as possible.
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Donald Bender Dessie Bowling Brice Cockfield Isabel Govea Jemma McMenamin Shaun Nelms Minerva Pardo Evan Whitehead
Know someone who would make a great Champion of Equity in a future issue?
Take a minute to fill out the nomination form! If your nomination is selected, we’ll contact both of you to get the information we need.
NOMINATE A CHAMPION
DONALD BENDER
Donald Bender is in his 40th year of education for migrant and bilingual education. He serves as the Migrant Family Engagement and Student Leadership Coordinator for the regional Educational Service District #105 that serves Central Washington State. The ESD 105 Migrant Office is dedicated to supporting school districts by working together to meet the varied needs of migrant students, families, and their educators.
“The cultural and linguistic treasures that equity families bring to our schools and communities are like a natural resource that should be cultivated for the benefit of all.”
— Donald Bender
Donald was the leader in the development of an innovative home visiting summer school program for school-age children for migrant education. Instead of bringing children to the school, home visitors bring culturally responsive learning activities to the home. This program has been replicated by many school districts in the region.
DESSIE BOWLING
Dr. Dessie Bowling, Associate Director of the Kentucky Valley Educational Cooperative, is believes all kids and educators deserve access to resources and opportunities to engage in learning experiences that cause them to be passionate about taking ownership for their future story.
“The quality of life for any person and for any community should never be dictated by their zip code. That belief inspires and motivates me to continue my work as an educator.”
— Dessie Bowling
An outspoken champion for all learners and a fierce believer in providing access and opportunity for marginalized children and families, Dessie has worked tirelessly to focus effort on sustainable innovation for diverse career readiness opportunities. She has helped to lead multiple national initiatives that focus on the social-emotional well being of poverty-level children and families. Her drive and her commitment serve as an exemplar to educators across the country.
Learn more: esd105.org/domain/56
Learn more: kentuckyvalley.org
BRICE COCKFIELD
Dr. Brice Cockfield wanted to help his staff deepen their understanding of equity. He, his leadership team and their digital learning created badges and t-shirts to encourage faculty to complete the self-paced Equity professional development course in the 7 Mindsets portal.
“Creating equitable opportunities for students, regardless of circumstance, is the real work of public education - it is the American dream. It is difficult, messy, and sometimes confusing work that requires patience, perseverance, and resilience. There is no easy way. If it was, we would have solved it by now.”
— Brice Cockfield
The badges bore the slogan “All Means All” while the T-shirts sported the words: “All Means All Equity Hero.” Those badges represent what Dr. Cockfield calls “a micro-credentialling program for staff.”
Dr. Cockfield is looking forward to more courageous conversations with the staff as they lean into the importance of these discussions on equity, diversity, and inclusion.
ISABEL GOVEA
Dr. Isabel Govea is the Principal of Harkness Elementary School in Sacramento, Calif. She uses the Leader in Me program in her school to address social-emotional needs in both kids and adults that are so essential. When it comes to students, Leader in Me provides a process for working with each learner regardless of individual needs
“In order to get academic gains, you have to develop the whole person of everyone in the building―staff, faculty, kids. Everyone has aspirations and when you infuse support in everything you do, you have that intrinsic motivation for people to flourish.”
— Isabel Govea
To ensure her school is continuously improving its ability to meet all students' needs, Isabel focuses on developing the leaders in her school. She's passionate about coaching potential by finding and fostering talent in the adults around her. Dr. Govea deeply believes that developing the whole person is more important than a narrow focus only on academics. She believes that to achieve academic gains, you have to develop the whole person of everyone in the building — staff, faculty and students.
Learn more: schools.lexington1.net/CSMS
Learn more: harkness.scusd.edu
JEMMA MCMENAMIN
An advocate for excellence and equity, sixth grade Palm Beach County, Florida teacher Jemma McMenamin routinely uses culturally relevant teaching practices to promote social emotional learning and rigorous learning opportunities for her students.
“2020 was a historical year for many reasons. Iit brought up a lot of sensitive issues for so many people. I knew going into this school year, I had to really prepare, not only my students, but myself as well. I just wanted my students and their families to feel supported and ease any anxieties going into this school year.”
— Jemma McMenamin
To bridge the digital divide experienced by many disadvantaged students during distance learning due to COVID-19, Jemma hosted a series of summer virtual meetings with her incoming 6th grade students and parents to increase their capacity to navigate digital learning programs. Upon completing a summer course in Culturally Relevant Teaching, she also hosted summer virtual forums for students to talk about the civil unrest that took place during the summer as well as their anxiety about transitioning to middle school.
SHAUN NELMS
Dr. Shaun Nelms is the Superintendent of Rochester, New York’s East High School. Beginning in 2014, he has led a transformation effort at East HS that started with establishing core values to change how students engaged with one another, as well as establishing a culture and climate of which all stakeholders are aware. When everyone understands the culture, “they call out when actions don’t match the culture they seek to establish,” he says.
“I just want to make sure that there’s someone being a guardian of equity and a champion of equity for those kids, and if I can provide that, then great.”
— Shaun Nelms
As a result of culture-first efforts, the school has had a tremendous decrease in suspensions, to go along with equally impressive increases in graduation rate and parent engagement.
Shaun and his team also focus on building capacity in others, ensuring opinions are truly valued, giving support so people can take chances without operating in fear, and celebrating their competency daily.
Learn more: palmbeachschools.org
Learn more: rcsdk12.org/east
MINERVA PARDO
Minerva Pardo, Family Engagement Coordinator for the West Valley School District in Yakima, Washington and a national trainer for the Strengthening Families Five Protective Factor Framework, worked with the Children’s Trust Fund Alliance to translate all training materials into Spanish.
Minerva led the first cohort of bilingual trainers in the nation. Minerva leads the “Stronger Together * Más Fuertes Juntos” Initiative to proactively remove systemic barriers and create opportunities for student success.
The goals of this initiative are:
1)Build resilience among students, families, and communities
2)Build leadership skills for parents as the first and most important teachers and advocates for their children
3)Support school staff to lead family-friendly schools and culturally responsive classrooms.
EVAN WHITEHEAD
Evan Whitehead is the Director of Special services for a PK–8 school district in Illinois. He’s also a national consultant, trainer and presenter with Dr. Ruby K. Payne’s aha! Process, Inc., providing local and national trainings, presentations, and speaking engagements.
“We must change the narrative of martyrdom in our profession. As educators, we are compassionate, empathetic, givers and fixers by natute. We sometimes more about hose we serve than we care about ourselves.”
— Evan Whitehead
Over the course of his 20+-career, Evan has served as special education paraprofessional and teacher, Latino parent outreach coordinator, dean of student discipline, community outreach coordinator, Director of Tile 1, Special Services, Bilingual Education and ELs and Assistant Superintendent.
He is also a passionate mental health advocate, mindfulness practitioner and proponent of equity, diversity and intercultural competency. His 3Bs, Balance, Boundaries, and Breaks, promote a lifestyle of self -advocacy in the areas of mental health, mindset, self-care, and well being.
