I'm Heading to Austin for the First Time, and Made a Slide to Explain Why I've Operated the Way I Have for 30 Years: The Brown School

It's funny to leave K-12 teaching, do a doctorate, play the academic game of publishing or perishing, and maintaining my ties with K-12 classrooms through workshops, youth conferences, and professional development. I try my best to stay on top of new publications and to follow national trends, but when it comes down to it, I simply am Brown School to the core. Some of the elementary school teachers had students commit the shared values to memory and from time to time the high school folk would build projects to revisit the mission so that we felt the work in all that we did. 

I always loved the photographs taken my Alice because she put into camera work what I wanted kids to do with writing. This was a scene of a graduating class I never had (because I left) and their hand in hand walk into the Atlantic Ocean on the Senior Trip in St. Augustine. Kids from all backgrounds, multiple zip codes, with all sorts of talents, united as a cohort who just happened to be aligned in the same grade. 

Each. And. Every. Year. Scenes. Like. This.

And it's funny to me because this mission began in 1972, the year I was born...long before authors scripted the texts I'd read and review in journals, calling for the importance of diversity, equity, inclusivity, and accessibility. Fortunate for me, it was written into the foundation of the K-12 school where I taught. High standards for all kids. Respect for humanity. Self-directed learning and accountability. Differences used as bridges rather than barriers. 

I always thought the United States was a larger replica of what we were accomplishing at the Brown School, but as so many of our graduates reported to us for years -- out there, is not like inside here. 17 years later, I see what they mean. The world should be more aligned to democracy, dialogue, cultural histories, and a blending of many people, but it has gone the other way...almost turning its back on integrity and dignity. 

Yes, I cite many articles and stay true to the mission of doing good work for all kids, while trying my best to close opportunity gaps as Milner names them. 

In the end, though, I always returned to the intentional design of one particular school in Louisville, Kentucky, which I was fortunate to call family for so many years. If I had one wish for others it would be to experience such love, commitment, and hope in what is possible when working together.