MARCH: EDUCATION + BOSTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Take me to:

  1. Program Day Information
  2. Follow Up Discussion Information
  3. Optional Thursday Social Information

Program Day

Date: Wednesday, March 9th
Time: 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM
Location: Zoom (see reminder email or the YW Boston Connect event page for meeting details)

Objectives

Our objectives are to

  • Experience the promise of and challenges for Boston Public School students
  • Understand the complexity of urban school leadership 
  • Understand history of segregation/de-segregation in Boston Public Schools 
  • Be able to articulate barriers and opportunities to providing a high quality education for all children 

Agenda
  • 9:00 Welcome & opening
  • 9:45 Education and Socialization
    *Break*
  • 10:10 Small Group Discussion
  • 10:30 BPS Expert Panel: Edverette Brewster, Emmanuel Allen​, Velecia Saunders
    *Break*
  • 11:40 Inclusive Leadership and Education
  • 12:25 Final Discussion
  • 12:55 Closing & Survey
Pre-work

Complete the following readings before our program day:

Additional recommended:

Module 2: Patterns of Oppression

Watch the YW Module 2 video on “The 4I’s of Oppression” (6:28)

  1. As you watch, take notes and answer the reflection questions in your LeadBoston journal.
  2. Once you’ve finished the video, share your response to the Post & Share question below as a comment to the pinned post on the YW Boston Connect LeadBoston 2022 group page.

    Post & Share: In your workplace, who has the privilege to speak from an individual perspective much of the time? Who is expected to speak for⁠—or is seen as the only member of⁠—a group much of the time?
Expert Speakers

Edverette Brewster, Principal, Holmes Innovation School, Dorchester, MA

Edverette is a native of Memphis, Tennessee and a graduate of Vanderbilt University where he earned a Bachelors of Arts in Public Policy. Edverette entered the teaching profession as a Teach for America Corps Member and relocated to Boston to teach middle school English Language Arts at the Lilla G. Frederick Pilot Middle School, where he taught Humanities and served as the Humanities Team Facilitator. At the Frederick, Edverette served on the Instructional Leadership Team and coached the LGF Step Team. In 2016 Edverette earned his Masters in Instructional Leadership from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. During his career, he has worked with Teach for America as a Curriculum Specialist during regional Institute and a Content Team Leader. In 2018 Edverette received Honorable Mention for the BPS Educator of the Year and taught course through Teach Plus that focused on Culturally Relevant Pedagogy. Currently, Edverette is the proud principal of the Holmes Innovation School in Dorchester. His passion is to provide culturally relevant instruction and quality support for students in public school settings.

Velecia Saunders, Special Education Disproportionality Specialist, Boston Public Schools Office of Opportunity Gap

Velecia Saunders is currently the Special Education Disproportionality Specialist for Boston Public Schools. Prior to this appointment in July of 2020, she spent 28 years at McKinley schools as a paraprofessional, teacher and finally Headmaster. McKinley is a substantially separate public day school within BPS that serves students in grades K-12 who have been diagnosed with moderate to severe behavioral, psychological and social emotional concerns.

Velecia comes with wealth of experience around improving outcomes for students in alternative schools and in healing centered and trauma informed student engagement. For the past 12 years, Velecia has also been an adjunct professor working under Dr. Lisa Gonsalves in the Teach Next Year Program at UMass Boston, teaching sociocultural perspectives and classroom management and child psychology. She resides in Milton, Mass., and is a proud mother of two beautiful girls ages 10 and 28.

Emmanuel Allen, Director, Boston Public Schools Re-Engagement Center (REC)

As a lifelong resident of Boston, Emmanuel Allen is dedicated to the success and achievement of urban youth. For the past seventeen years, he has worked to create programing and pathways for a variety of populations, ranging from homeless youth, to high school dropouts and those at risk of dropping out, to first-year college students.

Emmanuel helped design the Boston Public Schools Re-Engagement Center, a full service center that actively recovers students who have left school. He has also managed and organized programs targeted at reducing violence in urban areas. Emmanuel holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Fitchburg State University in Computer Information Systems and a certificate in Nonprofit Leadership and Management from Boston University. He completed his MBA at Northeastern University. Emmanuel currently works for the Boston Public schools as the director of Boston’s Re-Engagement Center.

Follow-Up Conversation Information Lead By Leadership Commitment Prep Group

Date: Wednesday, March 16th
Time: 12:00 PM to 1:30 PM
Location: Zoom (see YW Boston Connect event page for Zoom info)

Optional Thursday Social Information

Date: Thursday, March 24th
Time: 5:05 PM to 6:00 PM
Location: Zoom (see YW Boston Connect event page for Zoom info)