Najmah's Reflections

Najmah Messiah, LT'22, Virginia Mason Franciscan Health

Our co-facilitator, Shomari Jones, LT'10, opened the day beautifully by intentionally calling out the harm that Blacks endured due to slavery and acknowledging the stolen land upon which we reside. I loved how Bill Kallappa introduced himself by naming his parents, relatives and community connections as a way to keep himself present and accountable to his behavior and community agreements. I felt safe to be curious and learn from others while I eagerly anticipated hearing from the panelists and especially the brilliant Dr. Keisha Scarlett, who is my first cousin on my daddy’s side of the family (smile). 

Like all other Challenge Days, we prepared ourselves by reviewing the curriculum sent to us many weeks in advance. The pre-work for the Education Challenge Day hit differently for me. I connected with "A Partial Timeline of Educational Oppression in the U.S.," which demonstrates how Black and Brown students and their families have historically been oppressed. The student voice panel, "Modern Day Racism in Education," was powerful as we heard from student leaders who shared their stories of racism and hurt experiences, as well as their recommendations to the Washington State Board of Education in an effort to highlight racism and inequities and humanize the national and state performance measurements and data. 

This led me to reflect on my personal experience attending a predominantly white high school in Bellevue nearly 40 years ago. One of my proudest memories was being a member of the small Black Student Union, and we presented the school with its first assembly honoring Martin Luther King Jr. I also recall experiencing anti-Blackness and racism daily, when my senior class English teacher refused to learn how to pronounce my name and referred to me by my last name only, while other students were addressed by their first names.

Challenge Days always leave us with more questions, and these resonated with me: What would it look like if school were year-round and school days/weeks were shorter? If Black and Brown students went to their learning facility and their teachers were a reflection of them? If traditionally marginalized students were given access and prepared with skills for graduation? How can School Boards become more diverse with shorter terms? Why are north-end teachers paid on average $20,000 more than south-end teachers? How do we give power to students and their families so their needs are heard and met?

Youth are the future. What I’m learning in LT is we must reach back and acknowledge our history of anti-Blackness in order to dismantle racism and build equitable systems and institutions (including the education system) that were originally built to oppress. With intention, we must collaborate, disrupt the norms, change policy, and give power to the lived experienced voice.

Melanie's Reflections

Melanie Lyons, LT'22, Summer Search King County

As part of my Lab Team work, I interviewed Eric Pettigrew, LT'93 – former Democratic member of the Washington House of Representatives and now VP Government Relations & Outreach for NHL Seattle. In our conversation with Eric, he shared that one element of his leadership philosophy is the importance of recognizing and leveraging windows of opportunity. Eric encouraged us to consider the power of shifting our energy toward the windows that are open at any given time in history and to seize the moment before the window of opportunity passes. 

This insight was top of mind for me as I listened to a group of talented, inspiring and hard-working education leaders share their vision for our community and our young people at our Education Challenge Day.

They powerfully testified to just how much they experienced professionally and personally over the last two years of the pandemic and racial reckoning. They spoke to how “tattered and tired” our talented caring professionals are in our education system after holding it all together over the last two years. They lifted up the game changing roles the Family Advisory Committees and Student Advisory Committee members have played through volunteering their voices to make education better for young people. They reminded us that schools have always been on the leading edge of social movements. They encouraged us to join them in a “conspiracy of care” to ensure our young people have the teachers as well as the social workers and counselors needed to tend to and nurture the social and emotional needs of our young people. 

All these points are particularly important to me as the proud Executive Director at Summer Search King County. We partner with high schools in South King County so young people have the support of our professional full-time staff who practice a model of Depth Mentoring that prioritizes critical consciousness, social emotional development, trauma sensitivity and adolescent development. 

Top of mind for these leaders is the worry that we will squander the window of opportunity we have right now to stick with the innovative student and family centered approaches we had the push and the bravery to put in place during the pandemic that had been needed decades earlier.

To seize this moment in history I am aligning myself in support of these education leaders – both those in positions of power as well as those family and student advisory groups. I am dedicating time, rigorous learning and vocal advocacy to disrupting and rebuilding the education funding system in Washington state reliant upon unequitable regressive tax system. Join me! Here are some resources: Equity in Education Coalition of Washington, The SHOUT Experience – Bellevue School District, The BOOM Experience – Bellevue School District, Summer Search.