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 engagement in these new schools, how we are thinking about empowering our kids to make their own choices while still upholding our family values, and the importance of continuing conversations about race with our kids as they get older.

Plus, we have many of your thoughts about this time of transition. We LOVE hearing from you, so please continue to send us voice memos – just find the voice memo app on your phone, record whatever is on your mind, and email it to us at [email protected].

For Season 9, we are thinking about action. We know the world can’t change unless we change the way we think, but we also know that simply changing the way we think isn’t enough, so for every episode, we will be including action steps that we encourage you to take after listening.

Action Steps – Ep 1:

• Have explicit conversations about who is in class with your young people, who are they hanging out with, who is in their friend group.
• Consider how we, as parents, caregivers, educators, school leaders, can facilitate cross-racial friendships for our kids.
• Connect with the Integrated Schools community, so you don’t feel alone in your fight for justice in your community.
• Send the teachers in your life a note of thanks and offer of support.

LINKS:

• Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum’s Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?
• The Integrated Schools Two Tour Pledge
• Jersey City Together – Education Team

If you’d like to support this work, we’d be grateful if you went to our Patreon and became a supporter.

Let us know what you think of this episode, suggest future topics, or share your story with us – @integratedschls on twitter, IntegratedSchools on Facebook, or email us [email protected].

The Integrated Schools Podcast was created by Courtney Mykytyn and Andrew Lefkowits.

This episode was produced by Andrew Lefkowits and Val Brown. It was edited, and mixed by Andrew Lefkowits.

Music by Kevin Casey.

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