Inside The Office: Color of ED Special Issue by C-Suite Space

INSIDE THE OFFICE

COLOR OF ED SPECIAL ISSUE

INSIDE THE OFFICE

CONTENTS

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Editor’s Intro

Why I created this “Color of ED” special issue

Inside the Office

Wendy Edwards Early Childhood Academy

What I’ve Learned Wendy Edwards Early Childhood Academy

Inside the Office

Mashea Ashton Digital Pioneers Academy

Inside the Office Natasha Warsaw Sustainable Futures

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Inside the Office

Shawn Hardnett North Star College Preparatory Academy for Boys

Contact Information

Connect with these inspiring leaders on social media and the web

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EDITOR’S INTRO Images of Lydia by Rhonisha Franklin Lydia Kearney Carlis, PhD

Founder and Principal Photographer Eyemagination Imaging | C-Suite Pics®

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My goal in starting C-Suite Pics® was to help female executive, entrepreneur, and creative leaders - especially leaders of color - show up in the global marketplace as their best selves. My focus on women, and women of color, was strategic. I do not identify as a feminist, and my first identity, after follower of Christ, is as an African American, then as a woman. I care deeply about issues of equity and social justice. Research tells me that a dismal 4.2% are CEOs of Fortune 500 companies are led by women. And, as of Ursula Burns’ retirement from Xerox, not one Fortune 500 company is led by a black woman. A focus on female leaders, then, especially female leaders of color, was not a leap. A Division of Eyemagination Imaging

However, I don’t aspire to lead a Fortune 500 company, and neither do the majority of leaders I work with through my education research or photography arms. In fact, likely because of my longtime work in education, many of my photography clients are also education leaders. Recent work from Bellwether Education Partners highlights that diversity, equity and inclusion in leadership are also aspirational ideals in the education sector. So, when Shawn Hardnett reached out to me for professional branding images to help launch his new school, North Star College Preparatory Academy for Boys Public Charter School (PCS), I immediately knew I wanted to interview him as the first male Inside The Office featured leader. When Shawn told me on the day of our photo session that he had made his last founding leadership team hire, and now had a founding team comprised of all black males, I teared up with joy, then got myself together to finish his shoot :-). Right after my shoot with Shawn, I was contacted by Mashea Ashton, founder and CEO of Digital Pioneers Academy PCS, about capturing her leadership team. Next came an email from Natasha Warsaw, founder and CEO of Sustainable Futures PCS to capture her team. I was ecstatic! Three black leaders approved to open charter schools in the District in the past two years were all going to have C-Suite Pics® for themselves and their leadership teams.

About a week after all of the initial planning with these three new leaders (literally, all three are affiliated with New Leaders for New Schools), I received a request from my longtime edufriend and client Wendy Edwards, Executive Director and founding principal of Early Childhood Academy PCS, to capture images at her school. I don’t believe in coincidences, so I knew I was supposed to do more with this opportunity than create marketing collateral to send out to other schools. As Issa Rae unapologetically stated from the 2017 Emmys red carpet, “I’m rooting for everybody black!” And, the researcher in me was so intrigued by what characteristics, experiences or mindsets, if any, these leaders might share. So, when presented with this unexpected but welcomed opportunity, the idea for a special edition of Inside The Office was immediate. I want readers to know these leaders are doing this work. I want readers to be inspired by their visions of excellence. And, I want readers to open up their virtual checkbooks and invest in these leaders’ work, today on “Giving Tuesday” and beyond. Because what I know from working in “ed reform” for the past 10 years is that this work is hard, this work is expensive, and per student funding formula does not allow for the experimentation, innovation, and mistakes necessary to truly prove what’s possible for our children who are most at risk. These four leaders know quite a bit about experimentation, innovation, and the inevitable mistakes that come with risks. Nelson Mandela once said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” The four African-American leaders featured in this special edition of Inside The Office are looking to change the world. They’ve embarked on journeys to impact trajectories for Washington DC youth many often neglect. Each of these extraordinary educational leaders has experienced failure or setbacks, but understands that these obstacles are instructive. A passion for engaging and impacting young minds is the thread that binds them. They each believe that creating transformative education opportunities for students who need them the most is their life’s purpose. As Shawn Hardnett puts it, “African Americans have to step out and lead. We need to be at the table when the decisions are made. We can’t sit back and complain about those decisions when they don’t work out for our kids.”

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WENDY EDWARDS EARLY CHILDHOOD ACADEMY

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As a popular black saying goes, “She’s not new to the

game, she’s true to the game.” Wendy Edwards has known she wanted to be a teacher since her early years grading papers and creating learning games for her mother’s first grade students. In fact, Wendy is a third generation DC educator. In her own career, Wendy started as a teacher in DCPS, and, after 20+ years of teaching and leading in the city’s traditional public school system, has been at the helm of Early Childhood Academy Public Charter School in Washington, DC’s Ward 8 since its inception in 2005. She has shepherded the small school – fewer than 300 total students grades preschool through three into the Public Charter School Board’s coveted “Tier 1” status for the past two years straight. Early Childhood Academy’s story reminds me of one of my favorite childhood books, The Little Engine That Could. Wendy doesn’t believe leaders have to know that ability is in them from childhood: “The traits that I possessed as a child that I can remember really don’t necessarily stick out as the traits of a leader because I was very shy. I was an introverted child, I think. It was difficult for me to do any kind of public speaking or to be the first one to jump up and be the life of the party. I never necessarily thought of myself as a leader in that way. However, I always felt I was very artsy and creative. I liked to write. I was an art student in high school. In that way, I showed leadership qualities, not so much in what I said or in my outgoing personality, but in the things that I could create.”

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When asked about traits of teachers she experienced as a child that she now looks for when adding to her team, Wendy focused on passion for the work and compassion for the students. “The quality that Miss Debose had was that she seemed to love what she was doing, and she made it very palpable. When she loved it, how could we not love it? When you love having us come in the room, how can we not be happy to be here? That, yes, I think has definitely impacted what I look for in a good teacher and how I interacted with my kids when I was a teacher in the classroom.” In a mainstream culture that still demonstrates its belief that black citizens should be seen and not heard, Wendy is seeking to change the narrative – and who is doing the talking – at Early Childhood Academy. “We talked about one of the common core standards, which is ask and answer questions. We talked about the fact that many black children traditionally are used to answering questions and not asking any. That really is a shift in how we instruct, to help children understand that, “No, I’m not going to have all the answers ... do you have questions?”” I had plenty of questions for Wendy, and she answered them all with the confidence of a 61-year old seasoned educator who is completely comfortable with “I don’t know.” I think you’ll find, though, as I already understood, that she does know quite a lot.

“I’M NOT GOING TO HAVE ALL THE ANSWERS. DO YOU HAVE QUESTIONS?” What is your day job? I’m the Executive Director at Early Childhood Academy public charter school. We are a charter school in the District of Columbia that has been in operation since 2005. We service children from Pre-K3 to third grade with a strong focus on language and literacy. Our goal is to have our children leave us in third grade as proficient readers, writers and critical thinkers.

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Tell me your best childhood memory. Wow. My best childhood memory is probably at home with my mom, my sister, my brother, and my dad. My mom was a teacher, and she is probably the main reason I went into education. I remember, many nights, her coming home with papers that the children had done. She was a first grade teacher. I would sit and help her correct the papers. She would ask my assistance with tasks and make-andtake games for her phonics center in her classroom. While my sister and brother were engaged in other stuff because they weren’t particularly interested in teaching, and while my father was usually downstairs entertaining a friend, I was with my mom, and we were doing stuff that made me feel like I was already immersed in education. That was really special for me, and I think that helped me make some of the decisions I’ve made for my career.

What traits did you possess as a child that resemble traits of a leader, and do you have a funny story? The traits that I possessed as a child that I can remember really don’t necessarily stick out as the traits of a leader because I was very shy. I was an introverted child, I think. It was difficult for me to do any kind of public speaking or to be the first one to jump up and be the life of the party. I never necessarily thought of myself as a leader in that way. However, I always felt I was very artsy and creative. I liked to write. I was an art student in high school. In that way, I showed leadership qualities, not so much in what I said or in my outgoing personality, but in the things that I could create.

What teacher in school made the most positive impact on you? Tell me about a teacher that made a negative impact on you. The most positive impact was a teacher at Backus Junior High School named Mrs. Debose. She was a math teacher. At that time, math was okay. I always loved reading and writing, and math was okay, but I never had any real fondness for it. She made math so interesting and so much fun that it changed my perception of math. She was always positive in her approach to us even when we were dead wrong and didn’t know what we were doing. You felt good coming in her classroom because she greeted us as if she was happy to see us every single day. I’ll never forget her. She was absolutely my favorite teacher. Probably my least favorite teacher was a teacher at

Jefferson Junior High School named Miss Q. I don’t know if I should be saying these names. Miss Q was a science teacher, and I hated science, always hated science, and she-Miss Q reinforced my hatred for science because she did not really help me understand it. I felt very lost in her classroom. I didn’t feel like I was learning anything. She was a bit caustic in her approach to us. It just made me feel the way I’d always felt about science that I just was bad at it. I was never going to be any good.

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Did either of those teachers in your experiences with them play into your approach to teaching, or play into how you think about who you wanted to have teaching kids at your school? I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know that they played into my approach, but perhaps subconsciously, I thought of those teachers and the qualities of the teacher that I really felt made me feel like I was a good student and made me feel like I was important. I think that the quality that Mrs. Debose had was that she seemed to love what she was doing, and she made it very palpable. When she loved it, how could we not love it? When you love having us come in the room, how can we not be happy to be here? That, yes, I think has definitely impacted what I look for in a good teacher and how I interacted with my kids when I was a teacher in the classroom.

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You knew you would be an educator from an early age. How? As I said, I really thought about being a teacher from a very young age because of my mom. Actually, my entire family was really in education. My father was an administrator in DC Public Schools. My mom was a teacher in DC Public Schools. My grandmother was a special education director in DC Public Schools. My great uncle was an assistant superintendent in DC Public Schools. My uncle was a principal at Seaton Elementary School. Lots of educators in my family. I was just in it from the beginning. I knew from the time I was about seven years old.

Tell me then since you didn’t always see yourself as a leader when you were young, when did you decide that educational leadership would be your path? I decided that education leadership was going to be my path through the support of some really good mentors. When I became a teacher, I just knew that’s what I was going to do, I wanted to be in the classroom. I wanted to work with my kids. I was pretty much satisfied. I had some really wonderful mentors at about three different schools, Veola Jackson who was the principal of the Capitol Hill Cluster School. She was actually the first principal of the Capitol Hill Cluster Schools when Watkins Elementary School, StuartHobson and Peabody came together. She started by trying to push me in another direction.

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I went to Brookland Elementary School, and Elaine Gordon was my principal. She also was encouraging me to think beyond just the classroom. There was a point when I realized that I could make an even greater impact out of the classroom as an administrator than the impact I was making in the classroom with 25 children. I discovered that, wow, I can still feel fulfilled even though I’m not working directly with children, if I work as an administrator in the local schools. My last mentor was Burnell Howard, who was the principal of Parkview Elementary School. I was an assistant principal at that time. When I became an assistant principal, I said, “Okay, I’m done. I’m going to be an assistant principal until I retire. This is all I need.” Burnell and I worked very well together, but then he went on to be an assistant superintendent. He said, “Every principal you work with is not going to have the same relationship that we have.” He was right. The next experience with the principal was not the same. I realized I wanted my own school. That’s how I became a school leader.

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Wow, okay. Tell me about a time a student really surprised you. What did you learn about yourself and this work from that experience? Wow, that’s a good question. A time a student really surprised me. Well, probably the most recent time was in working with one of our more troubled students, who really has emotional issues, hard time self-regulating, and was always in trouble. Always walking out of the classroom, and we’re walking around the building trying to find him. In sitting down and talking with him in a calm moment, I was really amazed at the brilliance that he had that gets missed because of the turbulence in his life. It really helps me to understand that there are so many gifts that our children have that oftentimes we don’t see. Working in early childhood, we tend to see their gifts a little more clearly because a lot of the icebergs that develop over time have not gotten to the point where you can’t see the gifts, the

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talents, the intelligence of the kids, but I do worry about our kids as they get older in middle school and life takes over, and all of that good stuff that’s in them just goes deeper and deeper and deeper inside. Yeah, for me, I think it’s just having those calm moments to talk to children, especially, those children that are troubled, and really see the goodness and the intelligence that they have. It’s very eye-opening.

If you could travel to learn about schools anywhere in the world, where would you go? If I could travel to learn about schools anywhere in the world, I would love to go to a ... I don’t know where exactly, but I’d love to go to a very rural community in a developing country. What I’ve noticed with a lot of the children that we serve that come from other countries, especially developing countries, is that there’s often a much greater love of learning, a much greater value that’s put on learning, than is put on by people who live here in the District of Columbia, or in the United States for that matter. I think that there is a lot to learn from families and children who don’t have access to education the way we do, to help us understand the benefit we have of living in a country where education is free. I would love to have good conversations with poor people who live in poor countries who truly value what we take for granted.

Something that’s always stuck with me is you don’t have to make the mistake to learn from it. What’s the toughest lesson you have learned that you hope another educator can learn from you? I don’t know if it was a tough lesson ... Well, it was a tough lesson. I think what I’ve learned is that it’s important to pay attention to the feedback that you receive from others in becoming a good educator and a good leader. We all have a perception of who we are. Oftentimes, our perception is not real. It’s just our perception. What I learned over time was that if enough people whom you lead are telling you to look at something that you do or a way you behave that is not really conducive to a culture that’s warm and nurturing, then it’s time to stop and look at it. That took a while for me because I’m hearing people say things about me, and I’m like, “Oh, no, they don’t know me. They don’t know what they’re talking about.” Then when you hear it over and over and over, you’re like,

“Okay, well, wait a minute. Maybe it’s true.” I think just paying attention and shutting up and listening to what other people have to say and accepting that sometimes what they say is the absolute truth.

What’s your favorite book, and what are you reading right now, any genre? My favorite book, was a novel called I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb. It’s just a beautiful story about a family who dealt with a lot of hardship and overcame it. The book I’m reading right now, is a novel called The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey. But I haven’t really started it. It’s still sitting on my nightstand.

What’s the last book you read? The last book I read was Charlotte Danielson’s Enhancing Professional Practice, which provides a framework for teaching that we’re now using at ECA.

What’s a skill you want to learn and why? Well, this isn’t really a skill that I want to learn, but this is a skill I’d like to pursue. As I said, I was an art major in high school, and I haven’t really done anything in art in decades. I keep saying, “I’m going to go back. I’m going to take some water color classes. I’m going to pursue it again.” Of course, I haven’t done it, but that’s something C - SUITE PICS® MAGAZINE - INSIDE THE OFIFCE

I’d really like to do again because I think it’s something that I was good at, at one time. It was very fulfilling, but I just dropped it. That’s something I’d like to do again.

Could you see yourself incorporating art more into Early Childhood Academy’s curriculum? I’d love to see art incorporated because I think it’s so important with young children to just expose them to so many different types of communication and modes of expression. I don’t know if we have the money to do it, but we do have a great music program. I think a great art program would really be complementary.

Why did you decide to open or run your own school? I was in DC Public Schools for, I don’t know, about 20 years and had gotten a little disillusioned with the limitations that are put on school leaders about what we can do and we can’t do with children, and who we can hire and who we can’t hire. When this opportunity came along, it was just the right time for me. I think I had been in the school system long enough to have a good foundation for what I needed to do. Opening a charter school really helped me grow and develop by leaps and bounds as an educator.

Tell me more about that. I think that I learned so much from many of the partners that we had like AppleTree Institute that just gave me a different perspective about teaching children. I learned to look at this job as a holistic endeavor. I learned that what a population in one part of the city may need is very different from a population in another part of the city. That’s something I knew, but in DC Public Schools, everyone gets the same. It was really helpful to have that opportunity to design a program and to find educators who specifically wanted to work with the youth that we were entrusted with.

Tell me about any challenges that you faced that you would caution or even maybe encourage new school leaders to avoid. You have to prove yourself as a charter school. The community doesn’t know you, the charter school board is looking at you a little skeptically because 14

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they don’t know whether you’re going to make it or not and you’re using taxpayer dollars. I think that it’s important to be aware of all of the challenges that are out there and make sure you are addressing the concerns of all of your stakeholders. Make sure you are drawing in your community, making the community aware of who you are and why you’re there, making sure that you’re crossing your t’s and dotting your i’s with your authorizing entity, so that you don’t have to worry about them slapping your school with a Notice of Concern or calling you in for a hearing or a meeting because you haven’t fulfilled some area of compliance. You have to wear all kinds of hats at one time, and you can’t get stuck just looking at one area of your school. You can’t just look at test scores and think that’s the only gauge because it’s not the only thing. You’ve got to really have a global view of leadership.

How do you get the support that you need to have the global view and to be able to actually act on what you see? I think part of it is just having a great team. I feel that I have a wonderful team at my school. Thann Ingraham is a great principal. We’ve worked together for decades now. I think because we

have a similar philosophy, a similar view of what our jobs entail, it makes our work together very seamless. I think that’s important. I think your team has to have the same beliefs, the same vision.Beyond my principal, Debra Foster is our stellar financial and human resources manager who ensures that we remain financially solvent and in compliance with Public Charter School Board regulations and state law. I have wonderful directors who guide and support a really hard working and dedicated group of teachers that, we try to make sure, have the same belief structure that we have. I just think that it’s important to surround yourself with good people because you can’t do it all by yourself.

What’s something that you struggle to let go of? I struggle with micromanagement. That was one of the things that I was told as I was trying to understand how others see me. I think there was a time, especially when the school first opened and I was just crazy, like what’s going on, what are we doing here, that it was hard for me to let go and let other people do what they do well. It was hard for me to accept the fact that I don’t have to do everything, and I don’t know everything. That’s something that over time I’ve done better. Even when I see someone doing something and think, “Wow, I wouldn’t do it this way,” I realize that it’s still okay. Yeah, that’s come over time. I think I’m really growing with that. I’m not micromanaging like I once did at ECA.

Okay. Tell me a little bit more about ECA and your vision of excellence for your school.

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We are in Washington Highlands in Ward 8, Southeast DC where we service children who come from homes that are mostly low income. We have a lot of working parents, but lots of parents are working minimum wage jobs or more than one job. We have a lot of singleparent households. We have parents who have full plates. We recognize the fact that for parents who have full plates, they want a school where they feel comfortable leaving their child, not having to worry about what’s happening at the school and feeling that their children are being well taken care of and educated. We are striving, of course, as all schools are, to do well. In this climate, in the 21st century, doing well means doing well on assessments. We’ve done well over the past few years, this year being one of the highperforming schools in the District of Columbia and last year as well. However, I will say that across the city, we’re not doing well in terms of assessment. Although, our school is above the state average, the state average is very low. My goal is to continue to work toward our students being proficient, as readers and critical thinkers. I’m very proud of the progress we’ve made, but I still think there’s a lot more to be made. It’s a difficult job. Certainly, when you work with children who come from impoverished backgrounds, there’s a lot that you have to consider when they come in the classroom. There’s a lot of time that you need to spend doing things other than teaching them reading and writing. Because of that, working in low income communities is difficult. It’s not for everybody. I tell my teachers all the time that pretty much anybody could teach west of the part and sit in the classroom and the children would do extremely well on state tests. It doesn’t necessarily matter if you have a background in education. That’s how I feel having worked in a very affluent school. In the inner city, you have to be on your game, you have to know what you’re doing, you have to be able to consider the whole child when they walk in your classroom and decide whether it’s time to launch into some academic work or it’s time for me to sit and have a conversation with them. My goal and my vision is of a school that is excellent academically and where children feel that we have more to offer than just academics.

Tell me more about that. I like the fact that we’re a small school and that the children who attend ECA and the parents feel that

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it’s a part of the community. They know that my door is always open. Thann’s door is always open. We don’t require appointments. The kids walk in to my office and to Thann’s office whenever they have something they want to tell us, and I like that feeling of community. That’s what I want to maintain and to sustain, a school that feels like part of the community to our children and to our parents.

What’s been your biggest struggle leading Early Childhood Academy? Probably the fact that I think education is changing in terms of teaching careers. When I started teaching back in 1978, teachers became teachers as a career. Even teachers who did not stay in the classrooms generally stayed in education in local schools. I think it’s different now. I think many young people go into education for a period of time not for a career. You have a turnover that doesn’t always support your mission as a school.

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When I was younger, there would be teachers who had taught the child, taught the child’s parent, everybody in the neighborhood knew them. That’s very different now. There are many schools where not only the teachers come and go, the heads of schools come and go. It’s not necessarily a good thing. I feel that at my school, even though our leadership has been very stable since we opened in 2005, our teaching staff has changed over time. That is a challenge. It’s a challenge providing professional development and helping the teachers grow and develop as instructors when they’re coming and going.

With all the choice available to families in DC, why would a family choose ECA? Because I think we have, at this point, in the past 12 years really proven ourselves as a school in Washington Highlands that is highly desirable for a number of reasons, because of the culture that we are trying to maintain of a nurturing and child-centered program, because our test scores are improving every year, and because we don’t want to be anywhere else. I think those are great reasons to choose ECA.

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There is a lot of research still coming out about the importance of diversity in school leadership. Tell me about your experience as a leader of color in education? I worked in DC public schools most of my career. There was not a lot of diversity. There were probably many more African-American teachers and leaders that I encountered than any other ethnicity. I think diversity is important. I think perhaps the pendulum is shifting in the other direction now. As I look at school leaders and teachers in DC, I’m seeing many more white educators than I ever saw before. It’s a concern. I know that for many years back in the ‘50s and ‘60s, education was one of the few areas that black college graduates really could enter. For that reason, a lot of black men and women went into teaching. Now, African American young people can do whatever they want to do. I think that is beginning to create a void. I’m just concerned that people of color are working with our young people, especially in urban communities.

Why do you think that’s so important? I think that connections are important. Anyone can be a good teacher, but anyone can’t necessarily make that connection that really helps the child feel that this is an important thing for me to do, learning. I remember when my mom used to talk about growing up in segregated DC. She lived in LeDroit Park area. Even with all of the racial injustice of growing up in a segregated city, she talked about how it was so meaningful that in her black community, there was the garbage collector, there was the doctor, there was the man who barely could eke out any kind of living, there was the attorney. Everybody was living together because DC was segregated and there were only certain places where you could live. Because of that, she was able to make that connection. Her parents didn’t go to college, but she was able to make that connection that, “Hey, the guy next door is a doctor. Why can’t I be a doctor? I could go to school.” That was important for her. I think, by the same token, for a black child to see a black teacher and a black principal, there’s a connection that they can make to their own life that they can’t necessarily do with someone of another ethnicity. I just think it’s important that there is continued diversity, including people of color, working with our young people. C - SUITE PICS® MAGAZINE - INSIDE THE OFFICE

You were an African-American who started a school that serves primarily AfricanAmerican students. What does diversity look like at ECA if it’s not necessarily racial diversity, what did it look like there? Yeah, there’s not a lot of racial diversity, but I think there is diversity in terms of the kinds of families that we serve. As I said, we serve a lot of working poor. We serve a lot of families that are out there, trying to make a living, going to one or two jobs every single day. We serve families that are just absolutely dysfunctional, where the parents are just lost and by extension, the children are lost. We serve some families that are not struggling at all, that are doing fairly well, that are providing for all of the needs of their children and just looking for us to educate them. There’s a lot of diversity in terms of the socioeconomic makeup of ECA, which I think is important and really helps our children understand how to get along with each other and understand that we’re not all alike, and we all bring various gifts to the table.

Tell me about any challenges or opportunities that you found inherent to being an African-American school leader? As I’ve said before, I think that as an AfricanAmerican school leader, you are able to connect with members of the community more easily. I think parents see you as someone that they can trust to take care of their child for seven hours a day. I think there’s an advantage to that. I think that there are common experiences that we have as African-Americans that allow us to have conversations with parents that help them see that, hey, I’ve dealt with the same problem myself or this has happened in my family just like it’s happening in yours. I think that is an advantage. I think that sometimes, when you are trying to make that connection with someone who is of another race, there’s a wall that you have to penetrate first before you can start having those more relaxed conversations. Oftentimes, that wall is not there when you are working with others in the African-American community.

Tell me about any challenges? The challenges, I think, are just proving yourself sometimes. I think, I’m a fairly intelligent person. Oftentimes, in an arena where there are more of 20

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another race and less of me, there seems to be a perception that perhaps I’m not as intelligent or I’m not as knowledgeable as they are. That can be a challenge because I think you come to the table knowing that you have to speak a certain way and you have to contribute to this conversation in certain ways, so you can show everyone there that, “Yes, I know these things, too. I’ve had the same education. I’ve done this for a long time.” Yeah, I think that can be a challenge but I’ve been black all my life, I’m accustomed to it. Certainly, I think we approach challenges working with others in a professional setting probably differently as African-Americans.

Tell me, have you had any challenges with access to funding, to events, to ... Just have you had any issues of access that you think maybe attributed to being an AfricanAmerican school leader? Well, perhaps, but I think probably, the limitations that I felt have more to do with us being a small school that’s not affiliated with any larger organization, that’s been difficult in terms of us having access to resources and being able to market ourselves as a successful school. Because we are not a national program - we are very small even by DC standards, we serve less than 300 children. It’s hard to help people know who we are and what we do. We don’t have the resources to have all kinds of marketing going on, doing it 365 days a year. We just don’t have the money to do that. We don’t have the resources to necessarily get our name out there as much as the larger charter school. That’s C - SUITE PICS® MAGAZINE - INSIDE THE OFIFCE

been something that we know we have to figure out especially as the charter school movement gets larger and larger, in the DC area, because we want to make sure that parents have an opportunity to see us and compare us to the schools that they’ve heard about over the years.

What are your top personal values in how do those show up in your school’s values? My top personal values, I think, I truly value compassion. I think that the older I get, the more clearly I see that we all are very much alike and probably more alike than different. What makes us different is what we’ve had to endure in our life. I think oftentimes, people see people for what they’ve had to go through as opposed to who they are inside. That’s true of adults as well as children. As I get older, I realized that everybody has a story that goes with who they are. If you understand that story and get down to who they really are, you find, “Wow, we’re not that different.” I think that’s what we’re looking for when we’re looking for educators, teachers who really can understand the children’s stories and get down to who they are inside and see that we’re all much more the same than we are different.

If you’re giving your staff or school families a user’s manual to you, what would you include in it? A user’s manual to me. Wow. Well, one thing is I’m not a demonstrative person in terms of showing joy and elation. I think that’s something that the people with whom I work had to learn because they would always make the comment that I would come in their room and I’d have a stone face. They didn’t know if something was wrong or if I saw something I didn’t like. It never was that. It was just I’m just looking around. I think one thing in the user’s guide would be don’t worry about the look on my face because it doesn’t necessarily indicate anything. I think another part of the user’s guide would be that I’m a pretty straightforward person in what I say. If there’s something that I need to say to you, I’m just going to say it and not to hurt feelings, but just to make sure we’re clear. I don’t know. I guess, those will be the two big things in my user’s guide.

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at the school, but the bottom line is I don’t really know how to effectively lift that weight.

Well, that’s a very honest answer. I have a follow-up question. How easy is it for you to say you don’t know as a school leader? Do you tell your staff that? It’s very easy. Because I’m 61 years old and I’ve been doing this for many, many years, and because I think I am a competent person, I feel comfortable with who I am. I don’t really have a problem saying I don’t know because if I don’t know, I don’t know. I think it’s difficult when you are still trying to find yourself and still want to prove yourself to people. It can be difficult to say you don’t know because you question how people are going to receive that. When you feel like you know what you’re doing and you feel like you’re good at what you’re doing, it’s really easy to accept what you don’t know as a great learning opportunity.

You have a board of directors to help govern your school effectively. Who’s on your personal board of directors? My personal board would have to include my family and a very few lifelong friends. My husband of 27 years is a good listener who gives me great advice even when I’m not really asking for it. My sister and brother both are two of the most socially conscious and giving people I know. And I have wonderful support and love from friends that I’ve known from the age of six through high school and college. Those relationships are priceless in my life.

What keeps you up at night? Usually, it has to do with ... in all honesty, test scores, because test scores are just everything now. Being a Tier 1 school, there’s been a big weight off of our shoulders, but it’s a continuous concern and source of anxiety. I wish that it wasn’t test scores that kept me up, but they do.

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Awesome. We’re doing this special interview series because there are three new schools that have been approved with black leaders. What’s advice would you give them? I would tell them to pay attention to the culture of the building. I think the culture of the building can make you or break you. There was a period where I think there were so many schools that adopted a very regimented way of dealing with children and with teachers. I just really think that’s flawed. I think that we have to, as a school community, support each other, accept that things are going to go wrong and know that it’s really okay, it’s part of growing as a school. I think that developing a strong and supportive school culture, including all your stakeholders, your parents, your children, your teachers and your leaders is probably the most important thing in creating a successful school.

How do you all at ECA listen to your children? How are children’s voices seen or heard in the fabric of the school? As I said, we’re a relaxed atmosphere, so children feel very comfortable stopping in, talking to me, talking to the principal, stopping in the main office. We walk in and out of the classrooms all day long and have conversations with children. I think because we try to create an environment where children have the permission to ask questions and express opinions in a respectful way. It’s encouraged. Now, having said that, it’s a work in progress to encourage teachers to slow down and take the time to really listen to our students. Teachers are so often driven by staying on schedule and completing their planned instruction, stopping to allow students to express themselves sometimes puts them at odds with their objectives for the day, But we’re working on that.. We talk about one of the common core standards, which is ask and answer questions. We talk about the fact that many black

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children traditionally are used to answering questions and not asking any. That really is a shift in how we instruct, to help children understand that, “No, I’m not going to have all the answers ... do you have questions?” We really have to change the way we teach.

If your life were a movie, what would be your theme song?

That’s still a work in progress. I’m not saying that our kids are now all consistently engaged in wonderful, high-level question-and-answer discussions among themselves. I think that we realize that, that is our job, and that’s what we’re trying to achieve, slowly but surely.

What would you like your epithet to be?

What do you do for you that brings you absolute joy or peace? Well, right now, it’s spending time with my grandchild. I have a little one-year-old that is the most adorable child ever to walk the face of the earth. That is just the most relaxing, peaceful time for me because it just takes my mind off of everything else except him.

Oh my gosh. Wow. I have no idea, Lydia. Maybe Smokey Robinson’s Quiet Storm. My demeanor is usually pretty calm but there’s always something brewing inside.

I’d love it to be that I tried my best and I did it with kindness.

That compassion is showing back up here. Is there anything else you wish I had asked you? No, I believe you asked it all! Thank you, Lydia.

Wendy Edwards Founding Principal and Executive Director Early Childhood Academy

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WHAT I’VE LEARNED One of my favorite quotes comes from the marvelous late educator Rita Pierson, who said, “Every child deserves a champion; an adult who will never give up on them, who understands the power of connection and insists they become the best they can possibly be.” In one powerful sentence, without mentioning growth and achievement, highly qualified teachers, orbest practices, Ms. Pierson has succinctly described the educator I strive to be and strive to have in my school.

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We’ve learned a lot about what doesn’t work in teaching and reaching children. Mid-century teachers believed in students’ strict conformity to rules and the consumption of one-size-fits-all, knowledge-based learning. Students were expected to adapt to the instruction, rather than instruction being tailored to the needs of students. During the last quarter of the twentieth century, many schools in DC were embracing the Responsive Classroom, which emphasized a balance of academic success and social emotional learning. These classrooms promised to be child-centered, in which the holistic needs of each child were addressed in the curricula. However, test scores did not fare well in the District of Columbia during this initiative. As we entered the twenty-first century with assessment data in the United States continuing to show a decline in achievement, the mantra became data-driven instruction. Student data were prudently gathered and meticulously analyzed before any decision could be made about a child’s educational program. The national Common Core State Standards were adopted by DC and most states. The federal No Child Left Behind act mandating that all students show proficiency in reading and math by the year 2014 was a lofty, yet ultimately unrealistic goal. Students in DC demonstrated minimal growth from spring to spring on the DC Comprehensive Assessment System and, more recently, on the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers. The struggle continues. So, what lessons have I learned about teacher efficacy from my decades of work as an educator in DC schools? I’ve become a firm believer that the most effective teacher is one who embodies “The Cs”; is a competent and caring champion of children. Competency, of course, is at the foundation. Teachers must be clear on not only what they need to teach, but also on how they will effectively convey instruction in a way that ensures that students “get it”. Competency takes thoughtful planning, preparation, reflection, and revision. A competent teacher is at the core of all learning. With the skill must come the will. A caring teacher is one who is relentless in the pursuit of students’ growth and progress; one who is tenacious in ensuring their achievement; one who embraces a failure as a challenge to attain success. A teacher who cares will find the solution. But, sometimes overlooked is the critical need for teachers to be steadfast champions of children. All children deserve that personal connection in the classroom, someone who instills in them a sense

of pride and joy in learning. All children deserve to walk into their school and light up at the sight of a teacher who will encourage them profusely, support them sincerely, and help them unconditionally. The power of championing children in creating a school environment in which students thrive academically, socially, and emotionally is immeasurable, literally. It’s not a data-driven approach; it requires no published products on building social skills. It’s not a behavior management plan or a research-based intervention tool. Championing children is simply being the best cheerleader that you can possibly be for each student whose life you touch. Imagine a school in which every teacher, every staff person, was a competent and caring champion of children. Imagine the possibilities that would present for their future. Wendy S. Edwards

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MASHEA ASHTON

DIGITAL PIONEERS ACADEMY

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You might think that someone who failed kindergarten wouldn’t want to be in school, let alone go on to lead one. You obviously haven’t met Mashea Ashton. Mashea became a star student-athlete and scholar, and later set aside her dream of becoming the next Diana Ross to study and teach special education. In fact, Mashea has been working in and on behalf of schools her entire career. Mashea, an identical twin whose sister was also failed, recently proudly watched her own twins enter and successfully navigate kindergarten. Mashea is the founder and CEO of Digital Pioneers Academy, a DC public charter high school opening in fall of 2018, “to prepare the next generation of innovators, students who will not only consume the digital economy, but who will create the digital economy.” Mashea has had lots of opportunities to observe schools all across the country in various national leadership positions, and she believes we don’t need to travel to distant lands to find out what works for children. “I actually think we know what to do. We think that traveling and visiting other schools or visiting other countries that we’re gonna find some magic solution or some magic sauce in terms of “this is what we need to do”. I think on the edge of innovation we’ll be able to find new ideas and be able to create, but the reality is ... in my experience ... we actually know what to do to make sure that all students, particularly kids in low income and working class communities, have access to a high quality education.” Mashea is an avid reader…now. After going through high school only reading one book that was not required, Mashea now sleeps with a book on. “My team, my family, they joke because I listen to books, I read books, I go to sleep listening to books. I actually think I can hear the words when I’m sleeping and I wake up and I’m like oh yeah I got a new idea.” Another thing that has changed since Mashea was younger is her belief in her own potential. Mashea went through college – at William and Mary – and graduate school thinking she was not smart because of her kindergarten experience: “It impacted me so much that as a 25 year-old, if you had asked me if I was smart, I would have said no. It was because I failed Kindergarten. Here I was a college athlete, I was a captain of my soccer team, I went to the College of William and Mary, I got a Masters degree in special ed, and still at twenty-five, I would have said, “no I’m not smart, because I failed Kindergarten, no one in my family went to college”. I just didn’t realize that smart was about effective effort and not about where you’re born, or who your parents are, or where you’re from. It’s really about the effort you put in.” Mashea is committed to helping other students learn this truth a lot earlier than she did.

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What is your day job? I have the privilege of being the founding CEO of Digital Pioneers Academy, a DC public charter school that will open its doors to students Fall of 2018. Thanks to a grant from CityBridge Education and Education Forward DC, I am able to take this year as a planning year to help ensure a successful launch.

Tell me, what is your best childhood memory? My best childhood memory was winning the national championship for under sixteen ... girl soccer. We were from New Jersey and we ... who did play against? Arizona. We were unexpected, but we won four-zero and it was a huge accomplishment.

What traits did you possess as a child that resembled traits of a leader? Do we have a funny story? Traits as a child that resembled me as a leader now? I can’t remember when I was a kid. I can’t remember yesterday. Well if my daughter is anything like me now, as a 7 year-old, that I was as a child, it is very opinionated, strong willed, clear leadership skills. I don’t call her bossy, but she has real

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leadership skills, so I think I must have had those as a kid. Strong opinion, very confident, very clear about exactly what I wanted to do, which meant everyone else should want to do it. That was probably me.

I love it. What teacher in school made the most positive impact on you? Negative? The teacher in school that had the most positive impact is actually not a teacher. It’s actually a coach, who wasn’t in school, but my coach ... my soccer coach, Jerry Geiger from Willingboro, NJ, he really inspired me. He told me, I could be great. He told me that I could be a leader. It really changed my whole perspective on being an athlete, being a student athlete, and really just opened my mind to the possibilities of playing soccer at high school level and at college level, which I was able to do.

And, is there a teacher or coach who had a negative impact? A teacher or coach who had a negative impact on me, personally ... I’ve had lots of great coaches and great teachers. I think the teacher ... honestly, it’s like a negative impact, but totally changed into the best thing that maybe, could have happened ... and that is failing Kindergarten. My sister and I both failed Kindergarten and my parents took us out of the public school and put us into Catholic school. We went to Catholic school for twelve years and I really think that made all the difference. This absolutely informed my belief that every parent should chose the best school for their child- no matter of zip code or socio-economic status. I can’t think of that teacher’s name, but it was probably a bad teacher and a bad decision, but it really changed my trajectory. It impacted me so much that as a 25 yearold, if you had asked me if I was smart, I would have said no. It was because I failed Kindergarten. Here I was a college athlete, I was a captain of my soccer team, I went to the College of William and Mary, I got a Masters degree in Special Ed., and still at twenty-five, I would have said, “no I’m not smart, because I failed Kindergarten, no one in my family went to college”. I just didn’t realize that smart was about effective effort and not about where you’re born, or who your parents are, or where you’re from. It’s really about the effort you put in.

When did you know you would be an educator? That this would be your journey? As a kid ... my mother ... and lots of people said, “you have a lot of patience, and so you should be a teacher.” As a kid, I thought, I’m either gonna be Diana Ross and a singer, or I’m gonna be a teacher. I really couldn’t sing so teaching seemed like the best, next choice. As a teacher, I love working with kids, but what I really understood is that I didn’t have the patience for adults who had low expectations for students.. The adults had such low expectations or they made excuses, so being with kids was a lot of fun; really hard and has inspired me to be the leader that I am today.

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Tell me about a time a student really surprised you. What did you learn about yourself and this work from that situation? The student who has impacted me the most is Nicholas S. Nicholas was my student, when I was student teaching in Williamsburg, Virginia. He had been clearly labeled, “that kid”. The kid you should leave alone. The kid who was trouble. The kid who wasn’t going to amount to anything. In fact, my mentor teacher said to me, “Don’t worry about Nicholas, he’s just going to wind up in jail like his father.” It was heartbreaking. The simplest of things, like when you ask a kid what they’re interested in, and you really invest in them ... how the light bulb can turn on so quickly. They know if you care. They know if you have expectations for them. They will challenge you and push you. Nicholas was that. He knew who cared bout him. He knew who was pushing him, and I was pushing him. This was very early on in my career. I realize now that I did not actually serve him well. Because I cared and I showed interest, I’m not sure that I focused on giving him the skills that he needed. He needed to read, write, and do math, and think critically. I was focused on making sure that he cared about himself and that he had high esteem. So Nicholas is the student that I often think about. Being a young teacher, wanting to have high expectations, but not actually knowing how to make sure that he had what he needed as a fifth grader, to become an adult that was full of passion and purpose, and so much potential.

There is often a false dichotomy that teachers and leaders put into their mindset that you either care or you have high expectations. So, tell me about how you maybe shifted that in your own work as a teacher, or how you think about that now, in the work that you’re starting with your school? I do not believe in false dichotomies, as well, and I think that is a real challenge. The way that I like to think about it now is that I want to create a school, and I think that every school should create a community where every child feels known, loved, and respected. And that, to me, is the combination. And when you know a child, you can challenge a child, and that means pushing them to reach their full potential and helping them finding their purpose and their passions in life. Which means thinking critically, reading, writing, doing math. But also having fun and being excited about learning. Like, the idea of the love of learning is something that I did not even experience as a student but as an educator. That is so critical to what we do that we’ve gotta find that right balance.

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If you could travel to learn about schools anywhere in the world, where would you go? That’s a good question. I often think about that, and the reality is, I actually think we know what to do. We think that traveling and visiting other schools or visiting other countries that we’re gonna find some magic bullet or some magic sauce in terms of “this is what we need to do”. We can definetly learn from one another and sometimes seeing is believing. I think on the edge of innovation we’ll be able to find new ideas and be able to create, but the reality is ... in my experience ... we actually know what to do to make sure that all children, particularly children in low income and working class communities, have access to a high quality education. Sometimes this idea of going elsewhere; the reality is do we have the political will and the courage, and quite honestly the commitment to do what it takes to meet children where they are and allow them to reach their potential.

And what are some of those things? It starts with just high expectations. In today’s world, this digital economy, students have the content, they have access to information right at their fingertips. Students are clearly digital natives. They have the information, so really our job as educators is to help them learn how to learn. Help them to love learning. Making sure they have

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those foundational skills around reading, writing, thinking critically. And in this digital economy I am one who believes that every child should have computer science. The idea of being able to have a specific skill around coding and computer science is not just being a computer scientist and a coder. It’s a way of thinking and processing the world. Being able to think about a problem, take in all the information, put a plan together, try a solution and then if it fails take the feedback and try again. That whole process of learning and problem solving and planning to me is exactly what every child in the country should be doing.

Something that’s always stuck with me is “you don’t have to make the mistake to learn from it”. What’s the toughest lesson you’ve learned that you hope another educator can learn from you? Gosh, I’ve made so many mistakes. I could write a whole book about all these mistakes. I think ... this is what comes to mind, and it was one of my students who was a seventh grade student who told me he was going to be an NBA

basketball player and I, in my infinite wisdom and glory, I said to him, “You’re like five feet two tall and the data says that even one in fifteen kids gets to play high school basketball. The clear data around you becoming a successful NBA player, the data says you may not. And I’m not saying you can’t do that, I’m saying you also have to have this other thing, like school, and being able to read and write and do math.” And I am telling you, when I said this to this kid, the light bulb went off and he totally checked out, and I had no credibility with him for the rest of the year. I, as an adult, was trying to manage his expectations, quite honestly, in feeling like I didn’t want to set him up for failure. I really did believe that you can do whatever you want but make sure you have a Plan B. I guess the lesson is never take away anyone’s dream. Never take away ... Help our children dream big, pursue what they want to pursue and how they want to pursue it. It might take longer, or we need to make sure they have the other skills or the experiences, but never take away a child’s dream.

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What’s your favorite book, any genre? And what are you reading right now? I love books. I read one book in high school on my own that wasn’t required reading. As an adult to be able to read... my team, my family, they joke because I listen to books, I read books, I go to sleep listening to books. I actually think I can hear the words when I’m sleeping and I wake up and I’m like oh yeah I got a new idea. So I love books. Gosh. What I’m reading right now is Radical Candor by Kim Scott. It talks about what makes a great boss and the role and responsibility of a boss to really care personally but challenge deeply. And that is something that I am really trying to live every single day in terms of being the best leader for DPA, but also bringing out the best on my team. So that book right now is my go to sleep with it, go back and read it over and over and over again. My favorite book of all time ... I have so many. Let me think. I’m actually not sure if it’s called Courage or Integrity. It is Integrity- which means the courage to meet the demands of reality. No, let me think. This is not a fair one. Okay. One of my favorites is Master of the Senate by LBJ who, I don’t think was “radical candor.” I think he was obnoxious aggression. But the focus and precision and the intentionality of learning your audience, your environment and becoming really excellent at being a legislator…that book definitely stands out. I also love all the ... you’re not gonna get one. All the Brene Brown books are my favorite. So Daring Greatly is ... I think that book specifically inspired me to be more vulnerable and that idea when you can really just take down some of those walls you can be your best self for yourself and for others. Those are my three right now that I’m sticking with. But I have to add my daughter’s favorite book, which I just love reading to her, she loves reading to us, and that’s The Book with No Pictures. If you haven’t read that book, there’s lots of funny words, but actually reading that book to her ... every year for her birthday that’s what she brings to school because it has funny words, the pure joy and excitement she has reading that that book is my all time favorite with her for sure.

What’s a skill you want to learn and why? I want to learn how to code. If I want to ask my students to be able to do it I’ve gotta actually struggle and learn that with them. So that’s something I’m working on. A skill I’m constantly working on is just how to dust the ... what’s it called that word? Brush the dirt off my shoulders. And I mean just keeping it moving. Taking the feedback, taking the lows, taking the highs and 34

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quickly responding and keeping it moving is probably the thing that I am focused on now because I’m focused on computer science which means there’s lots of failures, lots of setbacks. So the quicker brush the dirt of your shoulder, you can reflect and learn and try again the better off I will be and the people around me will be. I’m working on that.

Why did you decide to open your own school, and why now? I ask myself every single day why I decided to open a school. Oh yeah, because I’m crazy. This is the hardest professional work I have ever done- and we don’t have students and families yet. So no, when my family decided to move back to the D.C. area, I was really trying to figure out how to leverage all that I had learned as a CEO of the Newark Charter School Fund, in Newark, New Jersey, Executive Director for charter school authorizing in New York City, and then travelling all over the country to support leaders in opening schools. How could I leverage all those experiences to impact the community where my family is from, where I started my early career? It became really simple, if I could open, in partnership with the community, one excellent school, that I could

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have a tremendous impact. Then, as I thought about what type of school, I really thought about the families and communities that I work with in D.C. and across the country, and a couple things were really clear to me. First is that we need more of our students, particularly low income and working class communities, to graduate from college. But also, our kids and our families need real jobs, jobs that are going to help break the cycle of poverty that many of our students and families are experiencing. Then I saw, I mean I’m not joking, one article that said, “One million high-paying, high-demand jobs in computer science.” I thought, well gee, if there’s a whole supply of talent in southeast Washington, D.C., there’s clearly this demand, how do we close that gap? That’s really what inspired Digital Pioneers Academy.

Tell me more about your school, and what’s your vision of excellence for Digital Pioneers Academy? My vision for Digital Pioneers Academy and my vision for excellence, is that right? So, my vision is that we’re going to prepare the next generation of innovators, students who will not only consume the digital economy, but who will create the digital economy. As I mentioned earlier, our students today are digital natives. They know how to work the computers. The question is, do they know what goes behind that, and can they use computer science? Can they use technology to solve realworld problems? When I think about our vision for excellence, it’s really that our students are college-ready and innovation-ready. That means that they know how to solve complex problems, that they know how to communicate, work together as a team, put together a plan, and actually they’re not afraid to fail. They’re not afraid to try, and try again, until they actually get the solution. I want our students not only to compete, but to lead.

With all the choice already available to families in D.C., why do we need Digital Pioneers Academy? Sure, that’s a great question, because parents in D.C. do have choice, but unfortunately, east of the Anacostia river parents don’t have a diversity of choices. There is not magnet, STEM, selective enrollment high school- east of the Anacostia River for example. While we will be open to all students, no admisions requirements, we want to provide a quality option, a school that is computer science-focused, that serves specifically students in wards seven and eight, in a high-quality, college prep innovation way.

What do you think your first major challenge in this role will be, and what resources do you have or need to overcome it? Oh gosh, the first major challenge, is that right? Because there are lots of challenges. There’s, I have like a list of 99 problems. I think the first major challenge, and it will be a challenge until we actually get there and our kids 10 years from now are in high school and college … When they are in 21st century jobs that are high-paying and high demand, like that challenge will be there, and that is mindset. It is the belief that our students today can achieve at incredibly high levels, while also pursuing a rigorous career, whether it’s in computer science or anything C - SUITE PICS® MAGAZINE - INSIDE THE OFFICE

want to work really hard and have high expectations and face the brutal facts while being really optimistic, then Digital Pioneers Academy will be the place for you.

What are you going to need to create this amazing space for kids? Sure, we need lots of friends; friends who are believers. We need lots of funds. We want to not just open one high-quality school, we also want to be a part of expanding computer science education across the city and across the country. That’s going to take more resources to really solidify the curriculum, and how do we train more teachers to teach computer science. The third thing is, we need, gosh, facilities, friends and funders right now, are the three things that are front and center.

Do you foresee any potential challenges or opportunities inherent in you being an African-American school leader? that they want. I think the challenge will always be like, do you actually believe? I do believe, so it’s just a matter of finding the other true believers, and really putting in the hard work to make sure our students get what they need.

Tell me something that you’re going to do to help you weed out those teachers who don’t, teachers that, leaders who don’t have that belief in our kids. Yeah, well, it’s a really great question. We’ve got to go back to what I need, because I need lots of money. How are we going to find the true believers? One, we’re going to look for people who have a proven track record of meeting students where they are, and getting results. That’s number one, and the reality is, there are a lot of really awesome teachers out there, and there are some teachers who don’t have the same level of expectations. We’re really just going to mine the field for those excellent teachers, so that’s number one, is really finding those teachers who have that track record. Once we find that pool of awesome talent, really I believe the choice is going to be theirs. We believe that Digital Pioneers is really going to be an innovative school. It’s going to require teachers to think differently, to try new things, because teachers today can’t possibly have all the answers. We actually believe our students and families have the answers, and it’s going to take a different mindset of, how do we work with students, work with families? Because they are part of the solution to preparing our students to be innovators. After that, it’s really going to be a choice. If you want to be a part of this, and you 36

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Do I see challenges particularly being an AfricanAmerican black woman? I try not to, because I have been given so much, and I feel like I need to be a blessing, but that would not be facing the brutal facts while being optimistic- Optimism is a value at DPA. The reality is that there are some really bad laws, and there are some bad people. In the face of that, I’ve got to continue to pursue this dream and this vision for our students and families. I really try not to let the obstacles get in my way, but I guess they’re out there. I’m just going to keep working hard, and breaking down every door and knocking down every door, until we get what we need for our students.

There is a lot of research coming out about the importance of diversity in school leadership. Tell me about your experience as a leader of color in education. Oh gosh, I love this question. There’s two reasons that I love the question around why diversity, particularly in leadership, and it really comes … It’s very personal to me. Gosh, as a six-year-old kid in Willingboro, New Jersey, when I saw that Pelé was black, it changed my world. It was like, “Whoa, a black man is the best soccer player in the whole world.” No, not just the country, but the world. I immediately saw myself in him, and I knew that I could play soccer. That actually inspired me to go off to college. I was the captain of my college team. I was under 16 national champ. I was a high school All-American soccer player. Really, while I had lots of support and lots of resources and worked very, very hard, that visual of Pelé being the best soccer player in the world absolutely changed my mind about soccer. My second story is really, again I kid you not, in 2000, when Rod Paige became the secretary of education, A Division of Eyemagination Imaging

Sure, another really, really great question. I think what I have really learned and appreciated is that being AfricanAmerican and being black is not monolithic, that diversity comes in so many ways. If we are really committed to preparing our students to be the next generation of innovators, that means that they must associate with all kinds of people, and that being black or African-American, there’s so much richness and excellence in being black. That’s first and foremost, is like the richness and history of being an African-American or a black person in the United States, but in the country, in the world, so excellence, number one. Number two is just making sure that the people we have on our team, one, respect the excellence, respect our history, want to bring that to our students, but also bring themselves. We want to, through our staff, through our students, bring the whole world to our students. Many of our students may not … Some of our students don’t travel across the river as much as they could, to be in the nation’s capital. For our staff and students, it’s bringing their true, authentic selves, bringing their culture, the richness of their culture, but first and foremost, it’s just respecting the wonderful, deep history of black excellence.

What are your top three personal values, and how do those connect to your school’s values? also changed my mind. In 2000, I wrote my plan for the next 50 years and the biggest job I could think about was secretary of education. That was because Rod Paige was secretary of education. I don’t want to be secretary of education, but the whole point is that I set a huge, huge goal, and everything that I have done since 2000 has been around this trajectory of how to prepare myself, or be in the position to be secretary of education. That meant learning policy, learning law, understanding funding, being able to raise manage, manage boards, like everything that I have done has been on this path of, put yourself in a position. Again, just seeing this visual image of an African-American being the first secretary of education was very, very inspirational. I tell those stories because I think seeing is believing, for so many of our kids who may not have a family member who’s gone to college, or may have not known someone who has been a lawyer or a doctor or anything, an innovator, an entrepreneur. Being able to see these roles or these positions in themselves I think is tremendously important.

So, you are an African-American, and you’re starting a school that will very likely primarily serve African-American students. What will diversity look like in your work, and how will you ensure diversity in your school?

Yes, well, three of my values are my personal values, are the school values. They’re one and the same. Number one is high expectations, that you have to meet people where they are, while never, ever, ever lowering the bar, so high expectations is number one. Number two is excellence. We really chase perfection to catch excellence, and that means that we’re constantly trying to be our best. We’re trying to grow. We’re trying to be our best individually, but also as a community, and so excellence is number two. I have lots of values, but number three, it’s about results. I believe we can talk about it, but really what it’s about is actually getting there and being relentlessly focused on making sure that every single one of our students, and I mean all of our students, really meets their potential, finds their passion and their purpose in life.

If you’re giving your staff or school families a user’s manual to you, to accelerate their getting to know you process, what would you include in it? There really needs to be a book. I actually call my former employees and ask them, “Can you come help people deal with me? What’s in that book?” What they’ll say is that you are tenacious. I want people who are absolutely relentless when it comes to pursuing whatever it is. If you want to be a dry cleaner, be the best dry cleaner. If you want to sell shoes, be the best person selling shoes. If you want to work at Digital Pioneers Academy, you have

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tors to help govern your school effectively. Who’s on your personal board of directors? Oh gosh, that’s a good question. I have access to people all the time, and it’s changed. It’s changed because I’m in a total different kind of phase in my life, and going into school requires something so different than being kind of a thought leader or a foundation leader or a nonprofit leader. I’ve had to actually readjust, but there are some similarities. He’s going to hate that I said this, but my husband Kendrick is the chair of my board of directors. There’s no one who is more thoughtful, who supports me relentlessly even when I don’t think I can do it. He is there to remind me and tell me that I can. He is definitely the chair of my board. My sister Michelle is just my number one. My twin sister Michelle is my number one cheerleader out there in the world. Don’t get in her way, or you will be in trouble.

to bring your best every single day, because our students and families deserve nothing less. Just being relentless is number one.

Another three people who have really helped me in this phase, one is Shawn Hardnett, who is opening a school with me right now. Being able to really just talk about the day to day of starting a school, and what that looks like to have a vision and take it to execution, Shawn is on my speed dial. Another one is Ben Marcovitz, who started College Academies in New Orleans. He definitely started a network of schools of high quality schools that are committed to serving all students, and because we want to not just open one school, and we have a vision of opening a network, he’s helping me think through the right now, but also the big picture down the road.

Number two is, someone told me I don’t need a lot of sleep. I actually do like sleep. I do need a lot of sleep, and what that means is, I’m always on. Because I love this work, every single day I’m thinking about a new challenge, a new opportunity, like a new way we might actually try something different. This is what I love, and so I am always on. There is no off or like, “Can you not talk about work?” I don’t believe in work/life balance, I just believe in juggling all the balls in the air and hopefully catching some. Those are probably kind of connected to relentless and excellence.

Then, Jean Desravines, who is the CEO of New Leaders for New Schools, I can call him or text him like any time of day if I have a specific question. I think he’s helping me think through like managing a board, having the balance of having them engage in the day to day, but also keeping the big picture focus. How do you make sure that they’re engaged and they’re connected, but focus on the right things as a board of directors?

The third is optimism. I just have an incredible sense of the possibilities, and that comes with facing the brutal facts, but still being incredibly optimistic for myself, for my family, for the students and families that we’re going to serve. I just think that our history is so rich and so deep, and we’ve overcome so much, and there’s still so much more to do, but I’m incredibly optimistic about it.

Besides my kids, who wake up in the middle of the night and want water or to cuddle, the thing that keeps me up at night is, are we asking the why question enough, like why not, or why, or how, and not settling for less? Is the question, I think that I’m wondering, it’s the status quo question. It’s like, “Oh, you’re so innovative, oh that’s so cool,” but why is that so cool? Why is that so innovative? Not getting comfortable, quite honestly, and making sure that we are pushing as hard as we can to achieve our mission around being college-ready, innovation-ready, in a very DPA way, it’s the kind of why in that and the how, that really keeps me up. That’s what’s keeping me up at night right now, yeah.

If you had to describe yourself in five words, what would they be? I think I know what they might be already. Five words? Relentless, optimist, candid, relentless … Oh God, five words. High expectations, that’s two words; that’s one word, hyphen. High-expectations, relentless, candid, committed, and fun with a small “f.”

I’m laughing so hard because I resemble the small “f”! All right, you have a board of direc38

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What keeps you up at night?

What do you do for you? What is your absolute joy or peace?

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Not much right now, and I’m okay with that. I know where I am in this journey, and right now is not the time to take a sabbatical or vacation. I’m in it, and I’m in it to make sure that we open up a consistently-ranked tier one school in D.C. That’s one of our goals. But, there are two things that … Well, three. There’s three things that bring me absolute joy and pleasure; it is hanging out with my twins and husband. On the weekends, I mean the things that they say, the things that they want to do, the questions that they ask, I just crack up all the time, but I have to keep myself together because they really don’t care that I’m tired. They are founders of Digital Pioneers Academy, but they don’t care that I’ve got a meeting the next day. They remind me to be present, and so that gives me a tremendous … They give me so much joy. Then, Oreo chocolate ice cream, that’s my favorite. I got a massage, that actually worked, so I don’t know, gosh, I’m not good at that.

If your life were a movie, what would be your theme song? A movie, gosh, I don’t have time for movies. Movies, hmm … Gosh, I mean “Frozen” and “Moana” are the only movies I can actually think of right now. The “Frozen” song? Yes … No, no, gosh. Okay, wait. Okay, you know, I’m thinking of “Rocky,” “the like (singing). I’m also from South Jersey, like Philadelphia is our next major city, so like that. I can hear the ringing of the bell, like I’m waiting to get in the ring and knock some people out. It’s not actual people, but like this work, to make sure it happens.

What would you like your epitaph to be? Oh gosh, she came, she saw, she conquered, I don’t know. She loved.

Is there anything else you wish I had asked you?

best days ever, but not for the reasons you think, yes. My twins were born at 26 weeks, so they were born very, very early. My daughter has had five head surgeries, and she is a total, total miracle. I am totally a hovering mom, but when it came time for them to go to kindergarten, like they ran out. All I could think of was the doctor coming in when they were born and saying like, “They’re going to need a lot of love, and they’re going to need a lot of support. They’re going to have challenges.” To actually see them running to kindergarten was like, I don’t know, that was one of my … And plus, it was all day, and you know, I had to be there, so that was a really, really good day. I don’t know.

I wonder if it was too because you knew they were going to be successful in a way that you and your sister were not, in kindergarten? Yeah, that’s a good one. Kindergarten’s a big deal, and I had not … I don’t think I fully had processed what that meant, or what that was going to look like for sure. Yeah, they passed.

What was your second? I was going to say getting the school approved, because it was so dang hard, but it was like the best day, but it was also the day that this became very real. There wasn’t any honeymoon in this. It was like, “Okay, you actually need to do this, and it needs to be awesome, because that’s what you promised a community, an authorizer, a board, family and friends.” The tremendous weight of that was very sobering and very clear, and because I love excellence and focus on results, it inspired me.

Thank you. Woo-hoo, I’m done! Thank the Lord!

Hmm, why do I have to wear these clothes? Ask me what are my comfort clothes. I’d rather be in some sweatpants and sneakers. Gosh, what do I wish you had asked? I don’t know, I’m trying to think. My best day ever?

Mashea Ashton

What’s your best day ever?

Founder and CEO Digital Pioneers Academy

The best day ever … Oh, I’ve got two. I don’t know why, but dropping my kids off at kindergarten was really one of my

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NATASHA WARSAW

SUSTAINABLE FUTURES PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL

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Natasha Warsaw learned a lot that has influenced her teaching and leadership from two of her own early teachers. Growing up in Georgia in the 70s and 80s, Natasha experienced one teacher who nurtured her promise, while another believed that because of her race Natasha did not have much promise to consider. Both teachers informed her path to and philosophy for school leadership. Natasha is the founder and Executive Director of Sustainable Futures Public Charter School, which opened its doors September of 2017 serving “at promise” youth ages 14-22. Says Natasha, “We serve those youth who have perhaps dropped out or are over age and under credited. They may be parents. They may have been incarcerated or have parents who were incarcerated and they just haven’t had the right environment to serve them yet.” Her best childhood memories, however, are of family trips. The child of a military father, Natasha fondly remembers camping by the beach and in Turkey. She is clear that her upbringing provided her with opportunities many of her students have not experienced: “I was very privileged to grow up with the kind of family that I grew up in, with two parents who were committed to each other, committed to us, and who went out of their way to make sure we had a lot of awesome life experiences. They still remain our safety net. That is what I want to be for our kids - someone who gives them those experiences and can be a safety net for them. And I want to build a school that is that for them.”

Sustainable Futures despite the risks, and amongst all of the other potential options for DC residents, Natasha shared this: “I don’t know that what appears to be choice is even choice. You have a variety of schools that do the exact same thing in the same way with different names and so it looks like choice on the surface, but it’s really not. I think there are some exceptions to that, but not many. There aren’t enough schools for the 9,000 kids that fall into the population that I serve. The last time I looked at it, there were about 3,000 seats and there are not many schools that are alternative because they’re different versus being alternative because they serve what people perceive to be a failing group of kids. Our goal is to be different.” Natasha has been doing it her way her entire career, with a little prompting from the Holy Spirit. That’s probably why she couldn’t pick just one song to represent her life, instead choosing Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” and Tramaine Hawkins’ “I Never Lost My Praise.” Despite the challenges she has already faced, and those she anticipates to come, Natasha sees this as her life’s work, and the legacy on which her name should be appraised. “My epitaph wouldn’t be words. It would be the lives of the kids. It’s them, who they become, and what they do.” In other words, Natasha plans to be data driven til the very end, a good sign of a great school leader!

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What’s your day job? I am the Executive Director of Sustainable Futures Public Charter School and we serve at promise youth ages 14-22. We serve those youth who have perhaps dropped out or are over age and under credited. They may be parents. They may have been incarcerated or have parents who were incarcerated and they just haven’t had the right environment to serve them yet. “At promise” means that your promise hasn’t yet been realized.

What do you do specifically to support at promise students? We offer wrap around services through Mary’s Center. We are working really hard to get a child care program. And we try to be there the way family would be to support them.

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Tell me about your best childhood memory. How does the childhood you were able to experience impact or inform the work that you do for students now? My best childhood memory…I have a lot of them, actually. I honestly don’t know if I can pick just one. One of my best ones is going camping with my family in Turkey and watching my mom try to cook using a camp stove. She hates the outdoors. I always appreciated the sacrifice she made for the rest of us. I was very privileged to grow up with the kind of family that I grew up in, with two parents who were committed to each other, committed to us, and who went out of their way to make sure we had a lot of awesome life experiences. They still remain our safety net. That is what I want to be for our kids - someone who gives them those experiences and can be a safety net for them. I want to build a school that provides that for them.

What traits did you possess as a child that resemble traits of a leader? Do you have a funny story? I’ve always been bossy. In the sense that I have always thought that I could look at things and see a way that made sense to make things happen and I’ve always pushed people to do those things. I was a Girl Scout until I was a freshman in college and .I became a leader. Did a lot of things as a Girl Scout in that vein. I don’t know that my funny stories are so much about my leadership as they are just about my own specialness. Things like falling into a mud pit and getting struck by lightning. I have lots of funny stories just because I have had a unique life but most of them don’t have anything to do with leadership. The story that I have that has to do more with faith is that I won a game show. A friend When I asked him where he said, “I just tried out for Greed. They asked me if I knew anybody else that might want to try out and I told them no.” I said, “Why didn’t you tell them about me?” He said, “Well you’re all the way in North Carolina.” I said, “I’d still go.” So, he said, “Wait a minute.” They called me about ten minutes and later and said, “I understand you’re interested in trying out.” And I said, “Yes.” They said, “when can you be here?” They gave me a date about a week later. So, I flew to LA and auditioned. After the audition they told me that they would call me if I made it onto the show. To audition for the show you had to take this trivia quiz. I was nervous because my friend’s quiz was all about the Simpsons other things I didn’t know about they didn’t interest me. I don’t like the Simpsons. My quiz was about Shakespeare and Dallas. The things that I was into. I finished the audition and went home.

I didn’t hear anything from them for two or three weeks so I thought I hadn’t gotten on. Then they called and said, “We want to fly you out here.” They flew me out had me picked up in a limo and put me up in a very nice hotel. I did the show and won $200,000 I prayed the whole way out...prayed for the entire six hour flight, prayed all night and went on the show and won. What I tell people when I talk about it is that I won the exact amount that I asked for. “Had I just left it alone I probably would have won a million. God would have given me the rest. He gave me what I asked for. .

That tells me that you’re willing to take risks - to take chances - and that there’s a faith component to that walk, to that risk. Tell me about what risks you were undertaking to open this school. Everything. My house went into foreclosure three times because I stopped working so I could do this. I probably would not have had a career if we had not successfully opened. Stability. Everything.

How do you see your faith playing out in the school opening and how things are happening now? I did what God gave me to do. And I have never doubted that He would get me to where I was supposed to be because this is not mine, it’s His. And if I am in His way, He will move me out of the way to get it to where it’s supposed to be. I think that His hand is visible everywhere because without him we would never have opened.

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There were too many people who didn’t want us to open right up until the vote. It was an ongoing battle with some folks. I don’t have a star-studded board,

had several full days when I could do something to make some money, so I substituted. I had so much fun that I decided I wanted to teach.

and I don’t have this amazing record of theoretical success behind me, none of those things, yet we got here. It wasn’t me.

Really though I don’t know if it was actually my choice, because I am a fifth generation educator and fourth generation principal and the second school founder in my family. I think that I only thought it was optional. I think I was probably going to end up here no matter what.

Tell me about a teacher in school who made the most positive or negative impact on you. I have two. I have both the positive and the negative. The positive was Miss McAfee, who was my second grade teacher. I went to a predominately white Southern Baptist school in Georgia because my parents were afraid that the school system in Augusta wasn’t good enough. We didn’t have terms like microaggression at that time so I didn’t have words to characterize what was experiencing. Ms. McAfee used to pull me into her room and sit me next to her desk and tell me that I was smart and that I could do whatever I put my mind to I wasn’t a reader then. Now I love reading and I know that it is at least in part because she pushed me. I think that there were only three, maybe four black children in the entire school. It was a pre-k - 12.That was it, so it was a hard experience. The negative person who actually inspired me to teach, because she was so horrible to me, was my sixth grade teacher Miss Sprouse, who was white and did not like black kids. I actually started out teaching sixth grade because she was my sixth grade teacher and I knew I could do better.

How did you know she didn’t like black kids? I heard her say something to another student about black people. She was just very mean to me. It was evident.

Tell me about a time when you were teaching a student really surprised you. What did you learn about yourself and the work from that situation? A time when a student really surprised me was when I was struggling to get a concept across to the class. His name was Nathaniel. He looked at me and asked, “So Miss Warsaw, is this what you’re trying to say?,” and he broke it down in a whole ‘nother way. And I said, “Well, yes.” He turned around and explained it to the class. One of the things that I learned from that is that I don’t have to be the expert in the room. I can give most of the work to the students and I can just be their support. And so, that also has played a lot into what I want the school to be -- a space for students to use their voices and to learn.

How does that look? We’re project based. We give students the opportunity to explore and we support them with our knowledge. We ask them a lot of questions that push them to think and we often ask their opinions about what we are doing. Their voices and the opinions drive everything from who we hire to who our lunch vendor is. We are changing vendors now because they didn’t like the food. Their

How have those two teachers impacted how you hire, how you think about what your school is going to look like and how it’s going to feel? Do you see any impact from your experiences in the way that you now lead and what you require to be as the culture for your school? I think so. Miss McAfee was a very nurturing person. She used to make us peanut butter cookies and put them in our little mailboxes. I don’t bake for people, but I do think food solves a lot of problems. I do tend to feed people and I do look for people who are nurturing. I have absolutely no patience with people who are mean to other people, period, and especially people who are mean to kids. I look for people who will go to the wall for our students and who are passionate about being an educator.

When did you know that you would be an educator? Is it because of Miss Sprouse? No it isn’t. I went to Tuskegee and I first wanted to be an attorney, and then I interned to be a journalist. I had scheduled all of my classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I

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opinion even drives how we arrange the desks. Their voices are at the heart of that. If the curriculum isn’t what they like and they say they’re not learning then we change it.

If you could travel to learn about schools anywhere in the world where would you go?

If I could travel anywhere to learn about schools, I would go to New Zealand. I would probably also go to Norway, but I would also like to go places in Africa for different reasons. I think that the idea of the village and what the village looks like in education is something that I would find in Africa and I would like to know more about that. I would like to go to New Zealand and Norway because I’d like to see more about what they’re doing in terms of almost un-schooling. They don’t do subject areas anymore, they don’t even do full days, and yet they’re still some of the top performing countries in the world. I’d like to know more about what that looks like. Something that’s stuck with me is that you don’t have to make the mistake to learn from it. What is the toughest lesson you learned that you hope another educator can learn from you? I think the toughest lesson I learned was to let people surface things and discover things for themselves. In my first principalship I went in and told them, “Well, this is where I see the problem, and here’s what the data shows.” That was a mistake. I think that had I given them the opportunity to dig into the data and do the exploration for themselves we all would have come out a lot better. I found that to be true in subsequent roles.

What is your favorite book any genre and what are you reading right now? My favorite book is Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela. Right now I’m reading about ten books. I am reading a mystery by Peter Robinson about Inspector Banks, and I am reading Start with Why by Simon Sinek. I’m also reading Reinventing Organizations and a book called Ignite by Matthew Watley. I’m reading a book by Krista Tippett called On Being. Those are books that I can think of right now but I’m reading about ten.

What’s a skill you want to learn and why? On a personal level, I would like to learn how to quilt, because I think you can use quilts to tell stories and I like the history that goes with that. I wasn’t particularly gifted when it came to learning to sew so I don’t know how that will go. On a professional level, I’d like to learn a lot more just about leadership, coaching, and supporting other leaders. I’d like to learn Excel. I’m not any good at Excel.

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Why did you decide to open your own school? I know that God gave the idea to you, but tell me what was going through your mind, and then why now is the time. I decided to open my own school because when I started teaching in D.C., I started teaching at Lincoln Middle School in 2000, and it was chaos. I grew up in schools that made sense. They weren’t always the best schools, but they made sense. School started at a certain time every day, the bell schedule was the same every day, you were assigned to a class and you stayed there. There was a rhythm and something that really made sense. Then I came here and it made no sense to me. I was an English major who got into my education classes later in my college career, I was all excited when I started. I had written this whole curriculum that I wanted to do with the kids. I thought I was going to teach Shakespeare. Then a little boy spelled until, U-NT-A-I-L. He meant until. I could not figure out what he was trying to say. I knew that I needed to learn more. I started a Master’s in reading about a year later. I kept seeing kids who couldn’t read and hadn’t mastered basic skills. I realized it was because people perceived them as bad kids and therefore weren’t teaching them. I had a 15-year-old in the sixth grade who was an awesome young man, but he kept getting put out of class and kept getting suspended. I kept thinking, ”It

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doesn’t have to be this way,” but as a first year teacher, I was trying to survive. By year five when I left the classroom and went into the New Leaders program, I just felt like there is a better way to do this. I had spent a lot of time working with Maria Tukeva and learning from other people because there was not much support in my school to support my professional development. and Ms. Tukeva took me everywhere with her so that I could learn. I started taking notes on the new ideas that I thought made sense, and I kept trying to do what I thought would make sense in the schools that I was in. That wasn’t working. I thought, “Well, maybe if I become the principal, I can make a difference.” Then I learned principals often have no voice. But I kept taking notes, and I eventually just looked at everything that I had put together, and I thought “I’m going to try to start a school,” That is the only way that I could actually see to make a difference and to do what I believe works for kids. A lot of what I’ve seen works for adults. Even sometimes when it doesn’t, we do things because that is just the way we’ve always done it. Nobody really stops to say “but it’s not working.” Then even when they say it’s not working, it is group of people who don’t know enough about African American students who have come up with a way of looking at people as numbers. We still serve people. We don’t service numbers. I needed to build something that took care of people, that gave kids real opportunity, and that didn’t take away their decision-making capacity or their ability to think critically. . I“I know that as a child I would not have thrived in those A Division of Eyemagination Imaging

environments,” and I knew the only reason I was able to come through those environments was because I had parents that, A, said I will kill you. If you can’t do anything else, you can behave. And B, because they would never let me fall. Our kids often don’t have that, so I wanted to create that school and I was moved to do it because it doesn’t exist. There is this whole group of kids that are smarter than their peers and probably everybody else, and they’re not getting served.

With all the choice already available to youth in D.C., why is your school needed? Because that choice isn’t available to the population that we serve. I don’t know that what appears to be choice is even choice. There are a variety of schools that do the exact same thing in the same way with different names so it looks like choice on the surface, but it’s really not. I think there are some exceptions to that, but not many. There aren’t enough schools for the 9,000 kids that fall into the population that we serve. The last time I looked at it, there were about 3,000 seats. Among those 3,000 seats, there are not many schools that are alternative because they’re different versus being alternative because they serve what people perceive to be a failing group of kids. Our goal is to be different.

How are you different? We are a fully competency based program, which means that students are able to progress as they master the skills that they need. When they come in, we assess them and we group them in bands. As they progress, they can move from one band to the other and graduate when they’ve mastered everything rather than being placed in a class because of when their birthday is, and having to sit through a class for a whole year losing time and relearning things that they already know.

Do you foresee any potential challenges or opportunities inherent in being an African American school leader?

anything other than meekly accept what is said with a smile, then I am “being aggressive” or we’ve “had a difficult meeting.” That’s happened to me more than once in the last couple of years.

There are opportunities, but they’re opportunities where they shouldn’t be. It should not be that I have the opportunity to be a rock star just because I’m black and there have not been enough African Americans given the opportunity to start and run schools. The flip side of that is that the challenge is that people expect you to fail. They look for the worst, so any mistake that you make is magnified. They used to say you have to be twice as good to go half as far. You really have to be three times as good, so those times that I’ve only been as good, it has hurt the school. You almost have to be superhuman. I often fall short of that standard.

We also don’t have the same level of access to funds and opportunities that a lot of other organizations have. I have been very, very grateful to City Bridge Education because without the money that they gave me, with no evidence to say, “Oh, she can do this,” we wouldn’t have gotten this far. They have supported me in obtaining access, and I really appreciate that.

Another challenge is that as an African American woman, if I challenge something that is said, if I do

What has been your first major challenge in this role and what resources did you have, and what resources did you need to overcome it? The challenge is what any school leader would experience. I am trying to take what was a vision

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We try for gender diversity and identity diversity. I look at diversity in a lot of ways, but I have not sought racial diversity on purpose because I believe that the people that serve the kids need to look like the kids. The kids need to see themselves around them.

What are your top three personal values? Do those align to your school’s three top values? They do. My top three personal values are community, faith and reflection. Two of those three are school values, community and reflection are school values..

If you were giving your staff or school families a user’s manual to you, to accelerate their getting to know you process, what would you include in it? Bring music, leave me alone in the morning and bring good food because bad food makes me angry. and make it reality. We’re learning how to do something that no one has ever done. Not having the answers and then dealing with the frustration of looking things and saying this isn’t what it’s supposed to be, then trying to figure out how to move beyond that. I think the resources that I have are just this amazing group of other people who step up. People who I can call and say, “Oh, my God. I can’t figure this out and this doesn’t look right, and who can give me some guidance and some support.” The other resource remains faith.

There is a lot of research coming out about the importance of diversity in school leadership. Tell me about your experience as a leader of color in education. Well, I have, with one exception, worked as a leader of color in a school with others of color and in a district with others of color. In many ways, my experience was positive. It was positive in the sense that I have never been surrounded by people who thought I couldn’t do. It was negative in the sense that often I was working in not only under resourced schools, but I worked often with folks who started schools and started charters before there were a lot of standards so that they didn’t have the support to really build a good system, so they were off track. I don’t think it was any fault of their own that this was the case.

If you had to describe yourself in five words, what would they be? Smart, eclectic, spoiled, loving, and loyal.

You have a board of directors to help govern your school effectively. Who’s on your personal board of directors? My personal board of directors includes three of my friends from New Leaders, one of my sorors who I went to college with, and always my parents, always. Then my aunts and uncles, who have really laid a foundation for me, and Janel, our director of curriculum and instruction. She does not hesitate to tell me when I’m not on the right track.

What keeps you up at night? Everything! The possibility of failure…the things we’re not getting right, right now…our responsibility to the kids, many of whom have entrusted their last chance to us…

You’re an African American. You’ve started a school that likely primarily are only for African American students. What does diversity look like in your work and how do you ensure diversity at your school? Diversity doesn’t mean the same thing to me as I think that it does to others. Diversity is one of our core values at the school, but I don’t think of diversity in terms of racial diversity. I think of it in terms of ethnic diversity. I think of it in terms of socioeconomic diversity. I have everyone on my staff from people who have lived the same lives that my students have to people like me who have never been anywhere close to that life except to support the students. 48

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taking good care of my team, especially my leadership team, because they bring it all to the table and leave it all on the field…how we look to the outside while we’re figuring out how to get it right on the inside…money… everything.

Tell me what’s keeping you up at night about you in your personal, life… you taking care of you. Just finding the energy to do this. Figuring out how to sustain. How to be the right person to do this in spite of my own failures.

What do you do, for you, that brings you absolute joy or peace? I love to kayak. I bought a kayak, and I like to take it out on the water. I don’t get to go a lot, but I go when I can.

If your life were a movie, what would be your theme song? I like music, so that’s hard. My Way by Frank Sinatra.

Tell me a little bit more. Well ... I am just a little oppositional by nature. There has never been a time when I have not tried to do things my way, which does not necessarily mean being unwilling to hear or listen to others. It means that I try very hard not to allow my choices and decisions to be so impacted by someone else’s perspective that I don’t continue to follow my true north. I’ve gotten it wrong a lot, and sometimes I’ve gone the long way around. Tremaine Hawkins has this song called “I Never Lost My Praise.” She talks about how she missed opportunities because she didn’t persist or she didn’t have faith, and how sometimes she lost friends. That song has always really resonated with me, so maybe that’s my theme song, because you keep going and you stay faithful, and you have to keep praising even in the difficult times. But at the end of the day, I’m going to do what, in my heart, feels like the right thing, and it really doesn’t matter too much what anybody says.

That’s what you’re doing. You’re showing us. What would like your epitaph to be? My epitaph wouldn’t be words. It would be the lives of the kids. It’s them, who they become, and what they do.

Is there anything else you wish I had asked you? No, thank you!

Natasha Warsaw Founder and Head of School Sustainable Futures Public Charter School C - SUITE PICS® MAGAZINE - INSIDE THE OFIFCE

SHAWN HARDNETT NORTH STAR COLLEGE PREPARATORY ACADEMY FOR BOYS

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Shawn Hardnett is an extremely confident guy. He might even call himself arrogant, and wouldn’t fight you if you called him that as well. Regardless of what you call him, he has a few “receipts” to back that up. Before embarking on his journey to open North Star College Preparatory Academy for Boys, Shawn successfully led several schools through turnaround. Fixing schools is something he loves, but he now feels a particular obligation as an African American leader to start schools that start “right” from the beginning. “African Americans have to step out and be in the lead. We have to. I don’t want to just to do it because I can, but we need to be at the table when the decisions are made or we can’t sit back and complain about those decisions when they don’t work out for our kids. I’d love to go on fixing things that are broken. I loved it and got pretty good at it. Still, I know that we need to join the movement to develop and support more black leaders in moving into the C-suite where the most important decisions are made. Perhaps Shawn’s thinking was born from his experience as an early integrator at his local primary school. “You know, I always think of one teacher that I had when I was in primary school. She was a tough lady, and I’ll just say that. She was a tough lady, tough customer. We were going to a school where the black folks were coming into that school. She had been there for a very long time and it had not been that way. And so, it was very clearly, she didn’t like the kids who were getting off that bus. And I was one of the kids getting off of that bus.” Shawn definitely took positive inspiration from one of his high school teachers, Mr. Wolfe, who first told him he could be a good teacher. Shawn still counts Mr. Wolfe among his dearest friends.

North Star’s model is based on nine elements. The first one that Shawn and I discussed was Critical Exposure. Shawn credited his mother for providing him with exposure through long car trips, the memories of which he still cherishes today. Through focus groups, Shawn heard from other African American and Latino men whose upbringing was similar to his, similar to the young men who will be served at North Star: “But what came up for everyone was that at some point in time, someone took them someplace and showed them something that was not what they experienced before and that experience opened them up and created a desire within them to see more and that wanting to see more turned into a where they are today.” Shawn has also demonstrated a deep commitment to having the voices, thoughts, interests and needs of the young men North Star will serve be foundational to the program he and his founding leadership team are creating. Shawn and I talked about a lot in our nearly hourlong interview. What stuck out most for me, other than learning that he cooks great macaroni and cheese (I’m greedy! Sorry!), was his response to my standard last question, “Is there anything else you wish I’d asked you?” Shawn used the opportunity to talk about love: “I’m just glad that we’re back at a space where we’re talking about what it means to love each other, to love on each other, and to love the work that we do. And to carry that love into the work that we do with boys. So I’m just happy that we’re talking about love again.” I’m just happy Shawn grew up in the age of “If you gone talk about it you gotta be about it!” Shawn Hardnett is ‘bout it, ‘bout it. C - SUITE PICS® MAGAZINE - INSIDE THE OFIFCE

What’s your day job? I am the CEO and Founder of North Star College Preparatory Academy for Boys, a middle school serving grades four to eight here in Washington DC. We are set to open during the summer of 2018. Right now, all we can say is that we will be in the East End of town, hopefully and Ward 7. We’re aiming for the Kenilworth Eastland Gardens neighborhood.

What’s your best childhood memory? So my best childhood memory. There are a lot of them. I had a difficult childhood, but I had a loving childhood filled with energy and love and lots of fun. I do remember the times that we would be in the car, the many cars we had, when we actually had a car. My mom would be driving, and we would all be packed into the backseat of the car, fussing and

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fighting over whatever we were fussing and fighting about. There were four of us, and my mom would reach back and hand us something and everybody would go quiet and start nibbling and laughing. I remember those times fondly, just being in the car and that we were going somewhere. I don’t remember all the places that we would go, but that we were going somewhere and for some reason, going somewhere was a treat for me.

Will your school take kids places? You know, it’s so interesting that this is the next question. Our school will take kids places. Critical Exposure is one of the nine elements of the program. It comes from a set of conversations that I had with black men who all came from backgrounds like mine. Yes, there will definitely be opportunities for these young men to go places. I had a conversation with a group of black men who all come from backgrounds like the young men we will be serving in the school. We started having a conversation about what got us through. It became clear in that conversation that everyone talked about a person, in some way, shape or form. Various people at various times in their lives. They didn’t all have just one person. They had many over of time. But, what came up for everyone was that at some point in time, someone took them someplace and showed them something that was not what they experienced before and that experience opened them up and created a desire within them to see more and that wanting to see more turned into a where they are today. I know that exposure, giving young people an opportunity to add to the repertoire of experiences that they have had while they’re building their identity, is critically important. For that reason, Critical Exposure is one of the elements of the program. Our kids will travel locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally before they leave us in eighth grade. They will have experienced several opportunities to see other places.

Tell me the other elements of your program. So we’ve talked to approaching 400 boys across the nation. We looked at all the research, practical experience from a bunch of folks who’ve had positive academic experience teaching African-American and Latino boys and looked at some very specific gender research around what engages boys, and that became the focus of how we built the program out. High expectations doesn’t go anywhere. You gotta have that. You can’t take that out of a school program. A very strong school culture is also very important to young boys. They really appreciate understanding exactly how you get things done. If you need something, they need to know exactly how you get it. When that’s clear to them and engaged fairly, they’re happy. Structure actually makes them quite happy. Authentic relationships showed up as number one. Boys describe relationships as warm, trusting, caring relationships with people who will direct their path. They are offended

by teachers who are “weak.” This does not mean that they want teachers who are aggressively mean, but they want teachers who are clear, they want teachers who will say what they want and teachers who will give them exemplars of what it means to be good. They want that in relationships. They want teachers who will protect them against distractions. They talked a lot about the drama, four levels of drama, that get in the way of them being their best selves. One of those areas was home. They want social emotional learning. They want to be touched emotionally. They want to have the reality of their life brought into the space and addressed everyday so that they can let it go and do theirwork. They don’t want drama at school; they want behavior managed. They want to be able to be in a classroom where they can have fun, but also you know there is very clear set of parameters around how we learn, what we do and what we don’t do. They love that kind of space and they want that drama removed. They actually raise girls. They were like, “You know, we like girls. We don’t want the girls to go. We pay a lot of attention to them and we oftentimes choose behaviors that come from identities that may not be our own because we know the girls like it. So we find ourselves trying to promote ourselves the way girls want us to promote ourselves.” That takes up a lot of head space if you’re thinking about that. Headspace that cannot be devoted to Math or Reading or Science. And finally, they did raise the issue of technology, that technology kind of works as a drug for them. “If that thing is buzzing in your pocket, those are “likes” and you wanna check your likes. I can’t pay attention to Math if I’m still counting likes.” That is a kind of math, but not the math that’s on the board. They want teachers who C - SUITE PICS® MAGAZINE - INSIDE THE OFIFCE

understand this and will protect them against it. When that happens, they are in love with you and they feel like you are in love with them. They want to be known. They also want to be respected. These young men talk about respect a lot. How do you speak to me, how do you care for me? And they’re very clearly into trade. “If you will treat me with respect, I will do your Math, I will do your Science, I will do your Social Studies, I will do your Reading, I will learn whatever it is you want me to learn, regardless of whether or not I like it. I’ll do it because you like me and I like you back.” That trade system for boys is really important. Authentic relationships ended up being the stand out element. We are doing some personalized instruction. We’re doing some high course intervention. I think that’s very important if you’re going to do Middle School for inner-city kids. Most of the time they’re coming to you behind. We’re also going to do some athletics. The boys want to move, they want to run. We’re going to do some of that and we’re going to do a very serious personal development program. I think that personal identity is something that we know a lot about, but that we don’t talk to young men about. You are on a road to building and choosing an identity. Most of us go to college, have identity crisis and then we come to the other side of that knowing who we are. We do that because we have built our identity from the identities that we find around us. Many young people in inner cities, who live in urban environments and who don’t get the exposure, will foreclose on their identity because they’ll just choose from what they see most. These are the only things that around me, I’m not seeing anything else so I might as well just lock this in. We want to make sure that we have a deliberate program that will give them exposure to many other identities so that when they finally do choose, they choose well. We think that makes a comprehensive program for boys.

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It sounds so. What traits did you possess as a child or a teen that resemble traits of a leader, and do you have a funny story? I, from a very early age, was told by people who were around me that I was going to be a teacher. I remember getting that message, probably four or five times distinctly. I was never seen as a leader. I was kind of quiet. I was a fat kid in a skinny world. I had low self-esteem for most of my life and didn’t become this over confident and arrogant adult until I started to experience success over and over again and then began to believe in myself. I think that my faith, some very specific work on the faith side got me to a point where I said, “Okay, I’m going to believe in myself the way that my God believes in me. I’m going to think of myself the way that my God thinks of me.” Then that kind of flipped and I became arrogant. But I do recall, as a kid, being told that I was going to be a teacher. One teacher, in particular, Mr. Wolfe when I was in high school said, “You know Shawn, you’re a flake, but you’re gonna go to college and you’re gonna to be a really good teacher.” And I remember that on that day, a couple things happened. One, I decided I was going to college, and two I decided I was going to be a teacher. That’s the power of relationships. When someone who you think loves and cares for you says something to you, you take it seriously. What’s interesting is that most folks who meet me and spend time with me now will say, “You’re a natural born leader.” And its like, “No. I had to learn quite a bit of this.” But I was always inquisitive. I was always caring. I was always a thoughtful. I was always thinking about other people and how they were feeling in the space. I think that a lot of excellent leaders think that way. Those are

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traits that are within them as well.

that I told my mother the truth and she didn’t believe me.

I think you just told me the teacher who made the most positive impact on you would be Mr. Wolfe. How about a teacher who had a negative impact?

That teacher caused that. That teacher caused my mother to shift her trust. Of course, it came back because I wasn’t that kid, but that was a pretty difficult year. She also failed me. She flunked me. I passed academically, but she said I was immature and so I needed to repeat. And my parents said, “Okay,” and they sent me to an awful summer camp, a convalescent camp for juveniles where I was bullied the whole summer. But I came back at the end of summer and I guess they thought I was tougher and so I did not have to repeat the grade.

I always think of one teacher that I had when I was in primary school. She was a tough lady, and I’ll just say that. She was a tough lady, a tough customer. We were going to a school where black folks were just starting to come into that school. She had been there for a very long time and it had not been that way. It was very clear that she didn’t like the kids who were getting off that bus. And I was one of the kids getting off of that bus. I will also say that my brothers had been at the school before me, and they raised hell. My two older brothers raised plenty of hell. When she found out that I was Curtis’ brother, she made it her business to engage in that thing that we say about teachers - ‘Don’t smile until December.’ She decided to be very mean to me and I spent the year in the shadow of my brother, whose behavior was never anything like mine. She also was the first teacher who made my mother not trust me. She called my mother and told her I had done something that I had not done. A friend of mine had done it and he was proud about the fact that he had done it. But I was a kid so I wasn’t going to tell. She blamed me for it . Because my mom had had so much trouble out of my older brothers, she was like, “Okay, I’m now gonna start worrying about your behavior too.” It was the first time

Tell me about a time a student really surprised you. What did you learn about yourself and this work from that experience? A student surprised me when I was teaching the sixth grade. A young lady who was in my class was a very tough girl. She was tough. She had tough life. She didn’t consider herself pretty. The people around her didn’t consider her pretty so she acted in the way that they treated her. She was actually quite a powerful young lady. She surprised me because she didn’t do very much work. That wasn’t what she because she was trying to protect herself all the time. She spent all of her time protecting herself. One day I decided I was going to stay up all night getting this lesson right. Nothing was going to go wrong with this lesson. And I did just that. It was a phenomenal lesson. All the kids were engaged. And I remember thinking, “This is too much work for anybody to have to do. I cannot do this every night.” But it was worth it, because I wanted that lesson to be good. And at the end of the lesson, I remember her smacking her

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hand on the desk and saying, “Mr. Hardnett, that was some good teaching. I’m gonna do this homework. I’m going home and I’m gonna do this homework. I’ve been in my classrooms my whole life and I know good teaching when I see it and bad teaching too, and that was some good teaching.” She really surprised me so much with that, but what it also did was it made me go home and do that again. I started to figure out what my life would be like if I had lessons that were like that every day and rethinking how I planned. And so I thank Dominique for that. I became a good teacher because of Dominique.

If you could travel to learn about schools anywhere in the world, where would you go? I struggle with the notion that we’re going to go to other countries that have other ways of doing things and other sets of beliefs. I am struck by how much we talk about Finland, where 100 percent of the people are white, and 90 percent of them are not poor, and only four percent of their population is free or reduced. They’re all married, they all have the same religion and they all have the same beliefs. I struggle with the notion that I’m going to go there and learn what should be happening here in a country like the United States of America, with the history that we have had and the way that we treat children, especially certain kinds of children. We can’t do what they do in Finland in Southeast DC. So I struggle to even think of what country I would want to go to learn. I would say that I have become intrigued by what’s going on in places like England and places like

France where they have populations of people who have come in from different places who don’t feel like they’re a part of that community. They are trying to find ways to educate them and they are struggling with some of the same issues that we are struggling with - to teach a population of people who we treat like refugees.

I want to go nations that are educating refugees and educating them well and figure out what they’re doing to make these people feel good about who they are so they will then learn. I think that those are places that I’m most interested in, with the caveat that I struggle with even the notion of importing practice from another country. I think I should go to Mississippi to learn about what’s going on there. Right? That’s somewhere in the world I think I should go to. I should go to Mississippi and figure out what they’re doing and go to other places in the United States where we see African American and Latino males learning and knocking it out of the park. I think I want to learn from those places. Something that’s always stuck with me is, you don’t have to make the mistake to learn from it.

What’s the toughest lesson you’ve learned that you hope another educator or educational leader can learn from you? Oh one of the most difficult lessons that I have learned that I’m still learning, right, that I would hope that people who come behind me, I certainly have tried to fold it into the learning from our protégées, is that we do have a responsibility to reach back and you know ... this notion of mentoring, what it means to mentor, to grab people who are behind you and pull them up. If you see it that way, it’s going to mean more than, ‘I’m just occasionally talking to you on the phone, walking through the building with you, and helping you to learn some things that I learned.’ That was a mistake. That was a horrible mistake that I made as a leader. I now know and understand that to really be a mentor, if I’m going to really mentor someone, it means I’m going to give them the knowledge that I have, I’m going to tell them the mistakes that I made, I’m going to tell them the people who I made those mistakes with, I’m going to tell them the lifestyle and appetite issues that have gotten in my way, and I’m also going to provide my resources for them. That last one is so important. I’m going to bring the resources that are in my own hands, and I’m going to begin to

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expend those resources on their behalf, because they don’t have resources. The people behind me don’t have the resources that I have. They don’t have the relationships, they don’t have the reputation, they don’t have the results. I have to literally give them some of mine as they move. That is a real mentor. I talked to people a lot and they were like, “You’re so amazing,” and, “thank you so much.” No, here’s the mistake that you’re making. Here’s the money that you need. Here’s the grant- I’m on a grant, I’m going to pass the resources of that grant onto you so that you can make this thing that you’re doing happen - and make sure that you are fully able to move to the next level. It is hard for us (African American leaders) to move in education reform. We are viewed a certain way, we are seen a certain way, and our intelligence isn’t seen as the intelligence that others have. For those of us who get to a point where we are seen, we don’t necessarily have to ... we not only have to talk to people about the table, we have to push the chairs over, bring in another chair, and sit the person we are mentoring in the chair next to us. Then, we have to push and nudge them to speak. We have to help them earn their seat. But we also have to realize they’ll never earn a seat so we have to make one for them. We have to sit them in it and encourage them to speak from it as if they earned.

So, how did you learn that lesson? I learned that lesson because a series of folks who I had mentored, and I mean I had poured into them my experience, failed miserably. And they failed because they didn’t have resources because of connections that I had that I didn’t make for them. What I know is that if they had that connection, they would not have failed that way. They failed because they made a mistake that I made. They engaged in behavior that I engaged in, and I didn’t tell them, “This is going to hurt. This is not going to work out the way that you want it to work out.” I called myself mentoring them, but I didn’t help them to understand there’s dirt. One of my oldest white mentors who started an organization that I spent many years with said to me, “Shawn, if you’ve been in this field and you’ve done good work, there’s dirt under your nails. You’ve gotten dirty. You’ve done some things you probably shouldn’t have done and you need to make sure that the people who are behind you see and understand that so they can make that choice wisely.” But, if a drink special still draws you out at night, you probably shouldn’t be responsible for the lives of children - and certainly not the lives of adults. And so, how do I help you to understand that you’ve got to be able to manage your appetites as you begin to move into leadership in this work. I think that for some of us, of a specific hue, those mistakes stick longer. They will stick to us longer in education reform in particular, a place where people traffic in information. And information

traffic about some of my white contemporaries, it falls fast and is left behind, but for those of us of a different ‘hue’ it holds fast and sticks tight. I am eight to ten years away from some of the stuff that I did and I’m still answering the question, “Why did you leave that place?” You know, I’ve left five other places since then so why am I still talking to you about the fact that you know someone or something or some relationship that didn’t go well in a partnership that I had before? I think that it’s critically important that we be able to create a space where we share that and we help the people we are mentoring, especially those of similar backgrounds of ours to understand how these things will play out.

What’s your favorite book, any genre? And, what are you reading right now? My favorite book is on Malcolm X. The Autobiography of Malcolm X is the first book I read from cover to cover. And he is the quintessential American story of change. He is the American story. He is more American than anybody who is American, in terms of being raised and having an experience in this country that shaped him and then growing to a point where you allow that to become a part of your story and a part

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of your definition, but not your definition. He became more American than many Americans will ever be and has all the dirt to prove it. I think that his story continues to inform me today. I am reading, right now, quite interestingly - The Life and Story of Eva Moskowitz. She is the founder of Success Academy. A tough lady with a tough experience and tough critics. She is sharing how she built out Success Academy, which is a phenomenal set of schools that has a little bit of dirt and a lot of bit of dirt depending on who you talk to. This is the story of how you do something incredible and how ugly it is to do something that is incredible. I’m only halfway through the book, but she’s quite a character. I’m learning quite a bit about her. Another person who, because she’s telling her own personal story as well as her professional story, you’re coming to learn that she is another American. You know she’s been impacted by being in this country and growing up with certain beliefs, growing up with privilege and growing up with a heritage that has informed the work that she has done. But also, in some ways, it gets in her way.

What’s a skill you want to learn and why? I am working with a team of young gentlemen who I brought on and what I do with my teams is I try to lead with vulnerability. It’s one of the principles of leadership that I promote with all the leaders who I work with. It’s this understanding that you are amazing, you are incredible, and you’re a mess. The best thing that you can do is to put in front of the people who are on your team, your mess. One of the things that I have them watching me for is how I respond initially to ‘no.’ All of us are living in a world where we have to manage ‘no’ all day long. We want something to happen and it didn’t happen the way we wanted. We wanted something and we didn’t get it. Someone did something and it wasn’t the way we wanted it to be done. So how we manage ‘no’ is a big deal. I think it is the ultimate personal leadership character trait. How do you manage ‘no’? So I have my team helping me to manage ‘no.’ I find that it’s very interesting that in certain spaces someone will say something or they will do something and my entire physique demonstrates that I do not like that, that I am not happy with that decision. And being a charismatic leader, I’m rated ten for inspirational leadership. It means that people love you and if they determine that I am not happy with them, they can fall apart. That’s not what I mean to happen. I’m just mad about this or that thing, and then I’m not mad about it anymore. For them, it went real deep. So I’ve had to learn how to manage how I say, “I want that to be done differently.” or, “I have some questions about how you made that choice.” And to start with, “So let me tell you all the reasons why I really love this and then we’ll have some questions about some things we want to do differently.” And the better I am at that, the better people work.

How are they helping you? They are letting me know when it happens because the issue is that it happens in my whole being - that I am not happy with something. I wear it on my sleeve. Recently, the team worked very hard on our social media, right? And you know, with some of those handles, you can’t get the whole word in. They decided to shorten the name to abbreviate it, but they abbreviated it in a way that would create a misspelling. 58

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I was like, “Unacceptable.” So I looked at it and my face was like, “Who thought it was okay to say that we’re going to be ‘NrthStar’. We are North Star. They insisted, “Well you can’t get it all in so we had to shorten it. This happens with social media all the time.” My response was – “so you took out the ‘o’? And my funders and the people who are with us, they’re going to see a handle called nrth. Can we do ‘NStar’ or something else? And, I said all of that before saying, “Oh my god, this is beautiful. And look at what you all have done. This is amazing.” And it was amazing. But what I saw was ‘Nrth” and I was like, “Okay.” They tried. They spent five minutes trying to explain to me why this version was okay. Finally I said, “I hate to do this and I promise you I’m not going to do this often. The answer is very simply no. We are not going to be ‘NrthStar’ ever. Please correct it now. Now that you all know that that’s a no, let’s talk about how we make it a yes. How we make this something that we can be proud of.” Fifteen minutes later, we had ‘NStar’ something and we were all happy about it and it was the right thing to do. But my initial response, which I didn’t think was that off, was more like, “What? Have you all lost your minds?” It was the ‘this is trash’ response. I am learning to manage my initial response, take 30 seconds with the emotion before you say anything. All of a sudden you free your mind up to think about, “How do I diplomatically approach solving the problem?” First thought, no. First thought no.

Why did you decide to open your own school and why now? That’s an excellent question. Why this school and why now? Why separate from all the partners I’ve worked with before, right? There are a couple a reasons, several reasons. One, African Americans have to step out and be the lead. We have to. I don’t want to. I’d love to go on fixing things that are broken. I love it. Like I’m a turnaround work and have gotten pretty good at it. We have to be the CEO. We have to be the founder. We have to be at the front of the line. We have to be at the table. We continued to see across this nation, that people leading this work were people who don’t look like the kids who they were serving. And the truth is, as much as I love all of my white contemporaries doing this work, they have mindsets that sometimes are difficult. They have beliefs about the community that are sometimes difficult. They have an aversion to talking to people on the ground that is sometimes difficult. And because of that, they make decisions that are sometime devoid of those people. The end-user, the most important person in this, is often times not a part of the design. I keep finding that people are coming into the community and they are building the solution that they can provide. They’re building the solution that they would be good at providing and then stuffing that solution down the throats of the people who need a problem solved, but when we go into the community and we love that community, we learn from them all of the ways that they have been trying to solve this problem on their own. We come to learn more about them and we can build them and their experience into the solution, which means that they’ll be

more amenable to that solution. There’ll be less of the work that we need to do to get the buy-in from the community because they were a part of the solution. What we’re finding is that we’re going in and talking to people and saying, “This is what you said. These are the problems that you say you have. This is what you say you want, and so this is what we’ve done to provide that.” And we’re still going to send them to college. And they’re like, “you know what, I kind of like you. I kind of like you, so I’m going to go with you on this.” I feel like when we are able to create Success Academy style success, and it’s coming from black leaders, from communities, we’re going to find that they’re going to shift their attention and they’re going to shift how they are engaging in this community. And were going to see that Ed reform is going to turn into equity and reform in the way that it should.

So you told me about your school, a little earlier. What’s your vision of excellence? One of our mottos that is – and it is not yet a public motto is – “The design is that these kids take my job . . . and yours. It would be excellent when I’m fighting to keep my job, because they are coming for it and when you’re fighting to keep yours because they’re coming for it. When the kids who we have educated are standing in front of us arrogantly saying, “Get out of the way so that we can do it.” Right? There are many different ways to get excellence, but excellence is the result. Excellence is when they have taken this job from me and they’re taking your job on the way to taking this one. When they’re reshaping this community, their own community, with a plan of their own design, then excellence has been accomplished.

So you’re not educating laborers, you’re educating leaders at North Star? I’m educating people who are already leaders. They don’t need me to tell them. They just need me to put them in a place where they can do it. They need me to give them the resources and the tools so they can do it well.

You’re giving me chills. But, I know folks will wonder with all the choice already available to families, here in the district especially, why are you needed here? With all the choice and all the options and all the ed reform, with 20 plus years of commitment and billions of dollars fully invested, boys in the district are 60 points behind white girls in reading. If that’s not enough to say that we are needed and we are needed now, nothing will be. Despite the fact that we’re doing all boys and some people have an issue with that, despite the fact that we’re focusing on Black and Latino boys and some people say we need to not do segregation and despite the fact that other say that we are hurting girls, if an unsegregated environment would do for these young boys something other than 60 points behind white C - SUITE PICS® MAGAZINE - INSIDE THE OFIFCE

girls, I’d be more than happy to surrender this notion. But right now, black males across this city are proficient and advanced at a rate of under 20 percent, whereas many white females sitting in the same classes and in the same buildings and in the same schools with the same teachers, education is working for them. Education as it stands is not working for black and Latino boys. So yeah, even in Washington DC, with all the options, still we need another one.

Do you foresee any potential challenges or opportunities inherent in you being an African-American school leader? I say this, and as a part of the work that I do in the space of equity reform and in the space of diversity and inclusion. It’s so important. I am not a brown man that you want to bring on to your team to enhance your diversity. I’m never just brown. I’m all the way black, and I’m happy about that. If you want to bring me on to your team to increase your diversity, you’re probably going to find that a problem. I’m not just going to sit and be brown in that room. I’m going to bring all of what it means to be black and from the city and urban and in love with my people into that space with me. I’m not just going to offer it into the space. I’m going to contribute it with the expectation that it be moved upon. My full expectation is that if I’m in the room, what I am saying is not just a part of the discussion, but that it is heard, that it is discussed, and that it is a part of how this organization moves forward. So I’m about inclusion, not diversity. You want inclusion call me. You want diversity, call someone else. That is the opportunity that we have if we take it seriously. To significantly change how this movement is going, if we call it a movement you know? Its difficult for it to be a movement if the people who are the reason why the movement is happening aren’t in the room. At the same time, I do recognize that there are inherent challenges. And that is the view that comes with being black and especially being black and male. I think that black females have their set of issues, black males have our set of issues. We certainly have some together, so we are not against each other. We are for each other. But I do think that people often times view us as not quite as intelligent. Not quite as experienced. “You know he’s really smart and he’s so charismatic, but don’t expect him to get anything done. You know, bring him in when you want to inspire the kids, but if you really want to get the work done then you really need to have other people leading that work.” I think that there are a set of views around black men in leadership, Latino men in leadership, men in leadership, and education in particular that are challenges that are in our way. And then I always say this, ‘They are in our way and we are in our way.’ We have to manage. We have to work hard at the personal management, the personal leadership to make sure that we’re not getting in our way as we do this 60

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from a diverse background, it continues to be a surprise that I go into a space and that I speak about instruction and that people are, “Oh wow. He actually can speak about Common Core and the degree to which Common Core is actually good for our children and the degrees to which it is not and that we need to think differently about how we do it. How we engage this new approach. It’s not just content, it’s the approach. It’s pedagogy. And pedagogy matters a lot to me, because when you start talking about pedagogy, you start talking about how people live and experience the content that you’re putting in front of them. All of a sudden your race, your background, that all matters. And so I think common core has work to do to make sure that they are addressing that appropriately.

work. And being inclusive in the way that we want to be included. White females should feel like they can come to the school and be successful, especially if they understand and appreciate how difficult it is for Black and Latino males to get an education and they are about getting it done for them. They should feel openly invited to come and join me in doing this work. \ I need to create an environment where they feel like they can come in and bring their points of view and that those will be heard as well.

There’s a lot of research coming out about the importance of diversity and school leadership, tell me about your experience as a leader of color so far. I will say that I am so happy that we’re spending so much more time talking about diversity and leadership, and that the research now has born out that a diverse team is a better team. They make better decisions. They make decisions that are more inclusive and so I’m super, super happy that this is happening and that people with my experience and my background are being called upon to support some of the work that is going on in education reform. The fact is, that the rooms are still too often white and female, too often of a certain age group, too often of a certain background, and still I continue to insist that the 80 percent of teachers who are white and female in education need to stay right where they are. We don’t need them out. We just need them better. We need them right. We need them inclusive. We need them to fully understand and appreciate the work that they are doing and who they are doing that work for. We don’t need them out. We need them better. I don’t want them to go anywhere, but if they aren’t better, if they aren’t good, if they aren’t inclusive, and they move into leadership, they then create environments that are exclusive and environments that are not healthy for the children that they serve and environments that don’t get results for kids. I think that we have to continue to do that work. As a leader

I also think that I am a little bit tired of people being surprised and amazed when black men can speak about instruction. That’s because you’ve pushed us into being deans all the time. Black men and leadership are deans of culture and deans of behavior. We can be the dean. We’re going to love the kids who are hard to love so that the other teachers don’t have to deal with them in their classrooms. We’re going to do lunch detention. We’re going to do after school detention. We’re going to do the club, right? While our contemporaries are being trained in academics and instruction. They’re developing their instructional prowess. We are loving the kids. And I’m going to tell you something. We have to continue to love the kids, but I’m going to need you to be an instructional giant as well. I’m going to need you to be black and academic. I think that most of the leaders who I’ve worked with who are black men and who are black women know, I’m in your face about those academics and making sure that you can walk into a classroom and be an instructional eye. You have to be able to shift instruction for our kids. This has probably been the thing that I’ve had to fight for, as a diverse leader. I’ve had to fight to be an instructional leader, an academic leader and not just a program support. They love us to be program supports.

So, you’re an African American starting a school that will primarily serve African American students, most likely. What will diversity look like in your work? And how will you assure inclusion at North Star? This is a difficult question for me. It’s very difficult. I want to be inclusive from the start, but I’ll also know that if you’re not right, you can’t be in this right now. If your mindset isn’t right about kids, you can’t be in this work right now. I am happy to say while I did not intend for this to happen, the highest quality candidate for each position that we put out was a black male. This is important to say in DC where people say they can’t find highly qualified men of color. Everyone who knows me knows that I don’t deal with junk and so if your game is not tight, you are not on my team. I have found four additional tight and right black males who’ve had tons of leadership experience, who have taken a pay cut to come to do this work. For those of us who say we’re all about the money, we C - SUITE PICS® MAGAZINE - INSIDE THE OFIFCE

and how I invite people in to do this work. To what degree do you believe that our kids can be? I think outside of that, there is a deep compassion. A compassion goes beyond sympathy. You know - I feel for you over there. Empathy, I feel with you, but then the action of that is compassion. I will act in a way that helps you to get to the other side of this difficult thing that you are feeling and get you there better. Interestingly attached to that compassion is challenge. I’m going to challenge you. I’m going to challenge you to your best and I think that a part of compassion is pushing people. You will find all of those in the work that I do. You find those. And all of those have a dark side. All of those have a dark side and I’m working to manage the dark side of each one of those. But those are definitely things at my core. There are 27 other things. I just believe everything. My problem is that I believe everything and I’m deeply moved by a lot of different values. I find value in a lot of those things, but those are definitely primary values for me.

just trying to get paid, these folks have taken a shave to be here. My pay cut is ridiculous, but I’m going to live with it. And two gentlemen who were Tier One leaders took pay cuts to come and join me. I think it’s important to say that I’m going to start with a critical mass, a core of individuals who get what this is about. We will create a culture that we will then deliberately go out and recruit diverse people of different backgrounds into. But the screen will be, ‘Do you get this? Are you about this?’ And if you’re not, you don’t get to come. There are plenty of white females who are all about this, Asian females who are all about this, White men who are all about this. Right? And so we’re going to go and get them and bring them onto our team to help us to get this work done. But it’s going to be deliberate. The screen is the mission, the vision, the values and the philosophy. That screen will be how they come through. If you can’t make it through that screen, you won’t be in it.

What are your top three personal values and how do those infuse into the values in your school? A deep and personal faith, is number one. People have different beliefs, and that’s perfectly fine. I believe upon the tenets of Christianity, I believe that God is walking around heaven and he’s talking out his wallet saying, “Look at my baby,” and that’s a picture of me. That faith that comes from a religious faith, from a spiritual faith has informed my work. It turns into a deep faith in the people who are in front of me, a deep faith. A belief that they can be the best , because I wasn’t the best and I was believed into being into that space. Belief is my core personal value, right? I just believe. I believe and I believe that you believe until you see it. I believe that when you believe in it, you will see it. And if you don’t believe in it, you won’t see it, which is why we can’t have people in front of our kids who don’t believe in them. That has had an impact on the way that I do my work 62

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If you were giving your staff or new school families who are going to come through your doors a user’s manual to you, to accelerate their getting to know you process, what would you include in it? That is an excellent question. If I’m going to give people a user’s manual to Shawn, it would probably be that as difficult as it may be, what you see is kind of what you get. I’m going to probably find a way, though I may be practicing doing it in a way that is diplomatic, I’m going to get you to your truth. You probably want to tell me the most difficult thing right away. I got your back no matter what you have done, no matter what difficult decision you have made, I got your back. I am not as friendly about it if it’s a surprise. Tell me right away, “this is the crazy thing I said, and this is what I did.” Then I will turn my magic on and I will fix that thing. I have a little bit of Olivia Hope in me, right? I can get past a difficult thing and I can get you to the other side. And I don’t do games. This is about these kids. When I’m arguing with a parent, I’m arguing with that parent about their child. I can also love them because sometimes they need to be loved on too and I want to love you and spend time with you and do quality time with you, but this is about these kids. If you are passionate about something, you might want to show me what that is right away because I’m driven by that. I’m driven by what you are passionate about. If you are passionate about it, I want to get that thing and I want to use that thing to drive you. I am a relationships hog. My languages of love are Quality Time and Words of Affirmation. I do like for you to tell me I look good, ‘cause I believe it. I do like you to tell me that my work is good because I believe it. And I do have a little bit of a God complex, I will do a thing and decide that is good. If you will not tell me that it is good, that is fine. I will tell myself, “That is good. That is good.” Right? So yeah, those would be in the manual that says, “He’s got an ego that spreads across five state lines. It’s got a few zip codes, a few area codes. Be okay with that.” But I’m also vulnerable. I’m going to tell you what I’m bad at because I know I’m okay. I’m confident enough to know that even A Division of Eyemagination Imaging

though I’m bad at things, those bads aren’t going to stop the good that’s going to come out of this. I just believe we’re going to get there.

We’re almost done. What keeps you up at night? Oh, the consummate failure of black and brown boys keeps me up at night. Like the consummate failure of black and brown leaders keeps me up at night. This presidency and what those decisions could mean for us keeps me up at night. The degree to which we will be able to create a fully inclusive environment that really accomplishes equity keeps me up ... everything keeps me up at night, but primarily more than anything are we positioning ourselves to really be able to do good work for those who need it.

I know a lot of people I have talked to have a big issue with saying kids are failing. They want us to say the adults are failing. You just talked in a way that both can be true. Can you talk more about that? Sure. Our kids are failing. Our kids are failing miserably. 20 percent of black boys reading at proficiency, that’s failing. And so, I don’t have a problem with saying that our boys our failing. I know that there’s this body of researchers who say we have to be asset oriented, we have to be asset based. And I believe in that. I believe that this whole school is about the assets of our boys. And getting failure out of their way so they can get to those assets. But, our boys are failing. Our families have failed in some ways. Our churches have failed. Our society has failed. Education has failed with abject failure, right? And if we do not face the brutal facts with an unrelenting hope, then we’ll never get there.

What do you do for you that brings you absolute joy or peace? Oh I cook macaroni and cheese. I bake it. I bake macaroni and cheese and I fry chicken. I cook. I love to cook. I find cooking cathartic. I do not eat half as much as I cook, you know? I’ve done the very difficult work of losing 125 pounds and then now doing even more difficult work of keeping that off my body, but I love to cook. And so, I feel bad because if I could send all the food that I have put into the garbage disposal to China or to the hungry places in Africa and other parts of the world I would feel better. But I’ve talked to all of the animals and they said if I continue to educate black and brown boys, I can throw away all the food that I want to throw away. But I definitely cook. I cook and dance and party and I just enjoy people.

So your school’s going to have a board of directors to help govern your school? Effectively, who’s on your personal board of directors? Oh, right. So my favorite teacher is still on my personal

board of directors. I still interact with him on a regular basis. I have a couple of mentors who I interact with on a regular basis. I have a friend who’s also doing the work of building the schools here in DC. She is an amazing friend who knew me before I was anybody that anybody would care about. And so, does not mind telling me, “Boy, that is crazy and what you need to do is this.” I need that in my life. I need people who aren’t enamored by my charisma or concerned about my inspiration, but who will say, “That was dumb and I’m going to need you to rethink that.” There is a school founder, Mr. Donald Hense, who is a phenomenal person. People sometimes find him difficult and I love him to death. I still look at his example as an example of what it means to be unrelenting in getting a thing done. I have lots of people around me - women, men, young, and old. There’s a student who has been on my board who continues to inspire me because he is what I want for all of our young men. I take mentorship from a lot of places. Personally, I take a lot from the church. The people who were in the church. From the difficulties of their experience, the difficulties of it, the duality that we live in, in a real religious kind of space, if you’re truly a Christian, you’re both good and bad and you’re dealing with those things. And so I’ve taken a lot personally from those people as well.

And if your life were a movie, what would be your theme song? Oh what would be my theme song? “Sometimes You Have to Encourage Yourself.” Sometimes you have to do it for yourself, yeah.

What would you like your epitaph to be? He broke his neck getting it done and he got it done.

Anything else you wish I’d ask you? Love. I am so happy to see that we are talking about love in a way that we have never talked about it before. The last 12 interviews that I have done with leaders who have done good work have said, “You gotta love your boys.” And I’ve talked about what it means to love them, to touch them, to be in their space with them, to emotionally give them affirmation and to care about them, to know them, to really ... I’m just glad that we’re back at a space where we’re talking about what it means to love each other, to love on each other, and to love the work that we do. And to carry that love into the work that we do with boys. So I’m just happy that we’re talking about love again.

Shawn Hardnett Founder and Executive Director North Star College Preparatory Academy for Boys C - SUITE PICS® MAGAZINE - INSIDE THE OFIFCE

WENDY EDWARDS FOUNDING PRINCIPAL AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Early Childhood Academy wedwards@ecapcs.org

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It is the mission of Early Childhood Academy Public Charter School to foster the academic and social/emotional growth and development of each student in a safe and holistic learning environment that will equip all students with the knowledge and tools to become high achievers, proficient readers, and critical thinkers who will thrive for a lifetime as productive and caring citizens.

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Digital Pioneers Academy mashea@digitalpioneersacademy.org Opened Fall 2018 Serving: Grades 6 through 12

 www.digitalpioneersacademy.org  www.facebook.com/digitalpioneersacademy/  www.twitter.com/dpapcs FROM THE WEB

The mission of Digital Pioneers Academy (DPA) is to develop the next generation of innovators. We prepare students to meet or exceed the highest academic standards, while cultivating the strength of character necessary to both graduate from four-year colleges and thrive in 21st century careers. DPA will be a rigorous, engaging college-prep middle and high school (6th-12th grade) preparing students in southeast Washington, D.C., with the education necessary to be innovators in the digital economy and to be active citizens in our technology-driven world. DPA will combine best practices from successful schools across the country utilizing an innovative and rigorous computer science education model to create a personalized academic experience. 64

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NATASHA WARSAW FOUNDER AND HEAD OF SCHOOL

Sustainable Futures Public Charter School nwarsaw@sfpcsdc.org Opened Fall 2017 Serving: Ages 14-22

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www.sustainablefuturespcs.org/about-us www.facebook.com/SustainableFuturesPCS/ www.twitter.com/sfpcsdc 1500 Harvard St, NW | Washington, DC 20009

FROM THE WEB

Sustainable Futures is a public charter school in Washington DC with a mission to create a community of learners that reengages disconnected youth and those who have struggled in traditional school settings by providing them with a comprehensive, challenging, personalized education that prepares them to lead purposeful, productive, sustainable lives. We have a breakthrough model that is competency and project based and will allow students to progress as they achieve mastery.

SHAWN HARDNETT FOUNDER AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

North Star College Preparatory Academy for Boys shawnhardnett@northstarboys.org Opening Summer 2018 Serving: Grades 4 through 8

 www.northstarboys.org  www.facebook.com/nstarboys/  www.twitter.com/nstarboys FROM THE WEB

We subscribe to a philosophy that is founded on the core belief that bonded relationships and high expectations yield the academic and noncognitive outcomes that we want for all children. When asked, these young men say the same thing. This offers us a unique opportunity to capitalize on what the boys are saying and the research is supporting – the need for schools that completely reimagine, redesign and recreate the student experience for Black and Latino males, reshaping the school in the image of the boys themselves. C - SUITE PICS® MAGAZINE - INSIDE THE OFIFCE