Nashville Non-Profit to Present “AntiRacist Classroom” Event

From a Press Release:

July 24 at 1:00 PM (CT) The Educators’ Cooperative will host a virtual conversation titled “Antiracist Teaching, Learning, and Leading from the Classroom” in an effort to openly address the legacies of segregation, white-flight, and white supremacy in schools. The teachers of EdCo are dedicated to facilitating this essential antiracist work cross-sector, for the benefit of all students. Registration for the event will open Tuesday, July 7 at 8:00 AM (CT) at educatorscooperative.com

Tickets, priced from $15-$60, are limited in order to ensure active engagement by all participants.

The event will feature four expert panelists:

José Luis Vilson is a Teacher, Activist, Author of This is Not a Test: A New Narrative on Race, Class and Education (Haymarket Books, 2014), and Executive Director of EduColor, an organization dedicated to race and social justice issues in education. Vilson asserts, “The recent murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery at the hands of police, plus the ensuing uprisings across the world have created a level of urgency among white educators to become more aware of their complicity. I’m choosing to engage this new set of subscribers with a huge sense of responsibility and awareness of the moment.”  

Ansley Erickson is a Columbia University Professor and Author of Making the Unequal Metropolis: School Desegregation and Its Limits (University of Chicago Press, 2016), an exploration of educational inequality in Nashville from World War II through the end of Nashville’s court-supervised school desegregation in 1998. History of Education Quarterly called the book “a comprehensive history that explores how factors both within the school system and without have interacted to increase inequality.”

Christiane Buggs is an MNPS Board Member, graduate and former educator. She serves on the EdCo board and on the founding board of The Equity Alliance, where she actively works to equip African Americans with tools and strategies to engage in the civic process.

Alecia Ford is an award-winning MNPS Teacher. She will facilitate a post-panel workshop for teachers to share resources, connect with accountability partners, and make concrete plans for implementation. 

EdCo Executive Director Greg O’Loughlin is “honored to host this distinguished panel of activists, authors, public servants, and educators for what promises to be a meaningful and thorough discussion.”

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The Educators’ Cooperative is a Nashville, Tennessee based non-profit organization that provides a professional learning community for K-12 teachers. EdCo provides professional development and support for educators to collaborate across sectors, disciplines, and career stages, aiming to revolutionize teacher development and leadership by focusing on the common ground all teachers share.

For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport