My identity as a leader for social justice has deepened and molded over the course of this year. My transformation took place in two-folds. The first step was more about being real with myself and being introspective; I began to unpack my life in bits and pieces to better understand my positionality and my various identities as well as my lived experiences. I felt that this is where healing took place; I got to name the institutional harm and trauma done unto me by schools, but/and it also allowed me the opportunity to dream about what it could be like and my experiences in the school institutions had to be the case for those after me. As Megan Franke and Dr. John Rogers challenged us back in June of 2022, if we could radically reimagine schools, what could/would it look like?

 The second step was the academic piece of the program. I was challenged by the coursework, readings, discussions and rich reflections that took place in our classrooms and on my drive home. Readings pushed my understanding of what justice looked like and sounded like in our schools and the larger society. It gave me insight to systemic issues that go unresolved and unaddressed, the language to speak up against the harm, and narratives of school leaders and scholars who navigated the murky waters. Various courses gave me the tools and skillset to identify root causes of problems seen on micro-levels (ie. our school sites). Skillful facilitation by our professors and lecturers allowed for fruitful discussion among the cohort members. Our assigned Home Groups and table discussions allowed us to make sense of the teaching and the reading– thus, allowing us to own the knowledge and transforming us at the core of our hearts.

you entered pli with a set of leadership skills & knowledge. how has that evolved over the year?

Prior to PLI, I prided myself in being a teacher leader on campus. Though I did not carry an official role, I worked towards building strong connections with my colleagues, families, and students and worked towards creating a positive school culture. However, my understanding of connections deepened as I was challenged to think beyond my own four walls of my classroom. Within PLI, I was challenged to think at a school systems level as a future school leader rather than a classroom teacher. I began to recognize that this idea of connection, at a larger capacity, was closely linked to what Dr. Cooper referred to as the “Institutional Culture of Care.” This had me rethink many of the school policies and practices I had come to accept as the norm over the years. Additionally, this notion of creating  authentic caring relationships expanded on john powell’s idea of expansion of “we” he had brought forth in his work, “Building Belonging in a Time of Othering.” We, as a school system, had excluded and marginalized certain voices and populations through the years. Powell challenged us to expand this wing further and see to it that there is a growing “we.” Though my idea of caring for my students and building an authentic relationship with them came from a good place, it was far from enough. However, it did lay the groundworks for building a school community that is built and rooted in distributed leadership– ensuring that our stakeholders including students, families (including those who may not “show up” in traditional ways) and staff find ways to be lead and be heard. 

What are the next steps in your leadership journey?

Though I am open to leadership opportunities, I also am in no rush to leave the classroom. I want to take all that I have learned from this program and take small, but mighty steps at my school to examine, disrupt, and transform systems at a micro-level. One opportunity I have is with the Reciprocal Learning Project I began with four of my colleagues. We focused on lack of consistent support for our ELs. I had an opportunity to present the findings with my site leader early June, and she was equally receptive to change ideas and surprised by the data we had collected. I will have an opportunity to share it with our incoming Assistant Principal and the ELD Coordinator to make sense of quantitative and qualitative data our group was able to gather, as well as our noticings and our takeaways. 

Currently, our district has put together an elementary level DEI team and a secondary DEI team that habve been working closely with outside consultants to help examine our respective school climates, instructional practices, and teacher biases. I began as a site facilitator when working with Facing History and Ourselves back in 2021-2022 and continued on this year when we worked with Florence Culpepper. My colleague and I took this opportunity to hone in on anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and narrative that was rampant in our immediate school families and community members. Much of these hateful words made their way onto our campus and classroom teachers and our school librarian were pushed and questioned about LGBTQ books in circulation. We have worked closely with Florence this year and have also sat with the Superintendent and the district leadership to ensure that we are being proactive in our steps to ensure safety and sense of belonging for all students and families including our LGBTQ families-- epecially in knowing what took place at Saticoy Elementary in LAUSD and GUSD BOE meetings. 

This upcoming year, I will also be serving as one of the two teacher representatives on the Student Affairs Governance Committee along with two Burbank Unified School District's BOE members, two California School Employee Association (CSEA), 2 PTA representatives, 2 BUSD administrators, and 2 BUSD students. We will be overseeing areas of student activities, fundraising, wellness, student discipline, school culture and climate, and DEI components of the district. It is my hope that this space would be where voices are heard and amplified.

which leadership standards, skills, and/or dispositions do you feel you would like more experience with and why?

I would like more experience and insight in addressing the everyday operations at a secondary level. As someone who has only taught in an elementary school, I would like to see what challenges may arise at the secondary level. Many of Dr. Roger's Center X News / Data for Democracy work was done with secondary students, families, and school leaders, and I saw and read about anti-Blackness, racism, racial tensions within student population groups, and etc. These issues are deep-rooted and I would like to experience and sit through dialogues around these tough issues in school spaces. On the same note, I would like to grow in my the practice of Culturally Responsive Pedagogy; the knowledge is there, but I wonder what this looks like at a secondary level. I am gently reminded of what was said during our orientation. We are teachers first. As a school leader, I want to connect with each student, affirm their identities, and ensure that they have an entry point into his/her/their learning.