The Integrated Schools Podcast

 We were thrilled to have two interns working on the podcast over the past summer. One of them, Jaden González, found an episode of the Teaching Hard History podcast from Learning for Justice that spoke to him, so he joined us to talk about it and play a portion of it. In it, we hear from Dr. Aisha White who has studied how children, especially young children, understand and learn about race. It d...

Like many of you, we were blown away by Richard Rothstein's The Color of Law for the ways it unveiled institutionalized racial segregation and its lingering impacts on our country. His methodical unmasking of the explicitly racist policies that led to the creation of the suburbs, the wealth gap, educational disparities and more helped expose the idea of "de facto" segregation, or segre...

 Our focus on this show is often on parents and caregivers and the choices we make, from where to send our kids to school, to how we show up in those communities, to how we advocate for our kids and all kids. We have also talked about students and teachers, and national level policies. However, we have not previously spent much time talking about the district level decision makers, from school boa...

 Gentrification sucks . . . yet change is inevitable. We're joined today by Young Adult author, Jade Adia, whose first novel, There Goes The Neighborhood takes place in a fictional neighborhood in South LA being wracked by gentrification. Through a story of friendship, found family, and coming of age, Jade invites us in to a neighborhood deeply worth saving, and three friends who set out to sa...

The son of a Black father and a White mother, John Blake grew up in a deeply segregated, Black neighborhood in Baltimore with a great mystery - who was his mom? Until he was 17, all he knew about her was that she was White, her name was Shirley, and her family hated Black people. Meeting her, at age 17, began a journey of racial understanding and changed his life. Mr. Blake has been writing about...

 We're back!! After a wonderfully busy summer, we are back with a whole new season and we have some great stuff planned. To kick things off, we're talking about where we find ourselves as this school year starts, and the themes we are focusing on this season. These themes feel relevant in this moment and will guide us through the season. They are: The importance of public schools The power...

As Season 9 comes to a close, we reflect on some of the amazing conversations we had over the past 16 episodes, and hear from you about what you’re grappling with. From the  Heather McGhee’s episode  in the very beginning of the season through  Episode 15 on school lunches , we tried to focus on solidarity and elevating voices that have been missing from our conversations.   Cathryn and The Savior...

 Do you remember waiting in line at school for square pizza and chocolate milk? This seemingly everyday ritual holds the key to significant and meaningful change within our education system. Today, we delve deep into the fascinating world of The School Lunch Program and its potential for transformative impact. We’re joined by  Dr. Jennifer Gaddis , an associate professor at The University of Wisco...

We often talk about school segregation from a racial and /or class perspective, but an equally concerning issue is the segregation of kids based on dis/ability. And while many disabled students are marginalized by our educational system, it is particularly true for students of color. It’s an overdue conversation for us on the podcast, and it’s an important one, because, as the conversation makes c...

The schools conversation happens everywhere – the playground, work events, even in line at the supermarket. However, it is often focused on K-12 education. The pressures of getting your kid into the “right” school, moving somewhere with “good” schools, and playing the system to gain as much advantage as possible, usually revolve around K-12. However, despite the lack of guaranteed preschool in man...

When you think of school safety, it’s hard not to think of school shootings. And there is no question that gun violence in schools is tragic, harrowing, and gut wrenching. It shatters our vision of schools as a sanctuary. And yet, gun violence, while way too common, is still exceedingly rare, and there are many ways that kids are harmed in our schools on a daily basis that don’t generate the same...

For a long time, we at Integrated Schools encouraged parents to “Show up, shut up, and stay put”. This was a pushback to the ways that White and/or privileged parents often interact with global majority schools. And yet, simply showing up and shutting up, while an important first step, isn’t enough. We have to speak out against the inequities that plague our schools. However, knowing when to speak...

Housing and school segregation are closely intertwined, yet the story of how that came to be is rarely taught. The students at  EPIC Theatre Ensemble  were commissioned to write a play about this topic through the  EPIC Next Program . Through extensive research, starting with the  Segregated by Design website  (an exploration of Richard Rothstein’s  The Color of Law ), and including interviews wit...

For many, the words “civil rights” conjure images of the past, focusing on politicians, lawyers, activists. However, our guests today ask us to consider the civil rights implications we face  today  in the fight for a quality, 21st century education for all kids.  Dr. Kia Darling-Hammond  was recently commissioned to write about the importance of civil rights in the fight for educational equity, p...

While we’re on break, we wanted to bring you an episode from the  Teaching While White podcast  that we really enjoyed. We’ve been following Teaching While White for a long time, and have appreciated their focus on the role of White teachers in creating equity driven spaces for students. Three quarters of teachers are White, and they have an important role to play in antiracism. In this episode, t...

We’re celebrating 100 episodes! Over the past 4.5 years we’ve shared 100 conversations ranging from parent conversations to experts. Today, we reflect on what we’ve learned, we share clips from past episodes, and talk about what we hope for the future. If you’re new here, this is a great place to start, if you’ve been with us since the beginning, you’ll recognize some clips. We share, hopes and dr...

Back in 2020, we had the opportunity to have writer and linguist  JPB Gerald  on the podcast to talk about all the things. It was a  great conversation  and if you haven’t had a chance to listen, we encourage you to go back and check it out! Well, JPB (now Dr. Gerald) is back with Val and Andrew to talk about his new book,  Antisocial Language Teaching: English and the Pervasive Pathology of White...

School integration can be a powerful force for improving schools for all kids, but what is it like to be in a school community when newly arriving parents set out “save” your school? When the “nice White parents” arrive to remake the school in their image of what a “good” school should be? When the “haves” try to take over from the “have nots”? We’re joined by Cathryn, a low-income parent from Los...

Dr. Jasmine Clark  is a microbiologist by training, but in the wake of the 2016 election, as she says, she went from a scientist to a mad scientist. She felt called to get involved, first with the Atlanta March for Science, and then to actually run for office. As the first Black woman elected to represent a solidly suburban house district in Georgia, her perspective on the ways the suburbs are cha...

Research shows that parent engagement can improve outcomes, yet the existing research relies on a very narrow definition of “parent engagement”, and is inconclusive about  who  benefits from that engagement. It is clear that already advantaged students benefit from the presence of PTAs and other forms of parent engagement in schools. However, those benefits do not flow to all students equally. Dr....

In February of 2021, Heather McGhee’s book,  The Sum of Us  came out. With a focus on the ways in which racism harms everyone, and the potential good that can come from cross-racial coalitions, the book was exciting to us. When we realized that Integrated Schools, and  leadership team  member, Ali Takata, were featured prominently in the chapter about education, we were blown away. The book is bas...

We’re back!! Kicking off Season 9 with a conversation between Val and Andrew about transitions. We have just transitioned back to school, and this year feels the most “normal” in quite some time. Additionally, we both have kids who have transitioned to new schools, including the transition to middle school for Andrew’s oldest, and high school for Val’s oldest. We reflect on new forms of parent eng...

FROM 2019 Intensive Parenting – helicopter, lawnmower, snowplow, free-range – is often pursued by White and privileged parents as a way to protect kids from failure and to ensure that they end up on the “winning” side of the vast economic inequality in our country. However, the ways that White and privileged parenting norms impact entire school communities often end up perpetuating existing dispar...

FROM 2019:  Beth is a mom of two grappling with race, parenting and her own privilege in America. Looking back over the past year, we follow Beth as she learns how the choices she makes for her daughters’ schooling shapes how she lives in her city… where she belongs, who she calls “WE.” Part 5 finds Beth starting her second year at the school across the interstate. Meanwhile, her district, like ma...

FROM 2019:  Beth is a mom of two grappling with race, parenting and her own privilege in America. Looking back over the past year, we follow Beth as she learns how the choices she makes for her daughters’ schooling shapes how she lives in her city… where she belongs, who she calls “WE.” Beth and her daughters reflect back on the year at their new school — the challenges, the differences, the joys....