The Integrated Schools Podcast

It is with the saddest possible hearts that we share the devastating news that our beloved Executive Director and Founder, Courtney Everts Mykytyn, passed away on Monday afternoon. She was struck by a car in front of her house and was killed instantly. The driver was sober and stayed on the scene. It is being treated as an accident.

Courtney started Integrated Schools and was the driving force behind it, but always insisted that it be about more than just her. While we will feel this loss everyday, the organization will move forward, working toward a more just, more equitable, society. It was her vision alone that inspired a grass roots, nationwide organization, and that vision will continue to guide us. We will share details on a memorial service as they are confirmed.

LINKS:

• Details about the accident from The Eastsider
• One of many touching tributes to Courtney from Garrett Bucks

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The work of creating a multiracial democracy – a democracy where power is truly shared, and equity is real – can feel overwhelming, depressing, futile even. But what if the tipping point for creating lasting change is only 3.5%? Dr. Chenoweth (Harvard University) found that no civil resistance campaign across the globe over the last century “failed after they had achieved the active and sustained participation of just 3.5% of the population.”

Now we are at a unique historical moment to harness changing mindsets, to build a 3.5% of actively engaged white and/or privileged parents practicing antiracist integration.

Join our Patreon to support this work, and connect with us and other listeners to discuss these issues even further.

LINKS:

• Dr. Erica Chenoweth Ted Talk
• Our Patreon Page: https://www.patreon.com/integratedschools
• Dr. Kfir Mordechay on gentrification
• Matt Gonzales – “White Lips to White Ears”
• Dr. Elizabeth McCrae on the Mother’s of Massive Resistance
• Professor Michelle Adams on Milliken v Bradley and the hope for a multi-racial democracy

Join our Patreon to support this work, and connect with us and other listeners to discuss these issues even further.

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 Courtney Mykytyn. It was edited, and mixed by Andrew Lefkowits.

Music by Kevin Casey.

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Albert is a Taiwanese American father of three from Oakland, CA. His parents immigrated to the United States to give him “best” education they could. As he came to terms with the school options his privilege afforded him, he found himself in crisis. How to honor his family and all they sacrificed, while also honoring the ways his faith called him to justice – called him to do something about the broken systems we live in.

He shares his journey through a broadening definition of family, a conviction that love comes close, that kids are resilient, and that all communities have gifts to share.

Join our Patreon to support this work, and connect with us and other listeners to discuss these issues even further.

LINKS:

• Dr. John M Perkins
• One Blood: Parting Words to The Church on Race and Love
• He Calls Me Friend: The Healing Power of Friendship in a Lonely World
• Howard Thurman

Use these links or start at our Bookshop.org storefront to support local bookstores, and send a portion of the proceeds back to us.

Join our Patreon to support this work, and connect with us and other listeners to discuss these issues even further.

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 Courtney Mykytyn. It was edited, and mixed by Andrew Lefkowits.

Music by Kevin Casey.

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

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 disparities.

We’re joined by Dr. Jessica Calarco, Associate Professor of Sociology at Indiana University, who studies inequity in family life and education. Her recent book, Negotiating Opportunity: How the Middle Class Secures Advantages in School, highlights many of the challenges that come with socioeconomically diverse schools.

How we show up as integrating parents, how we navigate the line between asking-for-assistance and asking-for-(expecting?)-accommodations, and how we parent our own children has an impact on the other students and families in the school.

 

Join our Patreon to support this work, and connect with us and other listeners to discuss these issues even further.

Links:

• Jessica Calarco. Associate Professor of Sociology at Indiana University.
• Dr. Calarco – Negotiating Opportunity: How the Middle Class Secures Advantages in School
• Mental Floss discussion of Dr. Calarco’s study of New Yorker cartoons
• Dr. Calarco – Free Range’ Parenting’s Unfair Double Standard
• Viviana Zelizer – Pricing the Priceless Child
• Sinikka Elliott & Sarah Bowen – Pressure Cooker: Why Home Cooking Won’t Solve Our Problems and What We Can Do About It

Use these links or start at our Bookshop.org storefront to support local bookstores, and send a portion of the proceeds back to us.

Join our Patreon to support this work, and connect with us and other listeners to discuss these issues even further.

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 Courtney Mykytyn. It was edited, and mixed by Andrew Lefkowits.

Music by Kevin Casey

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

We’re joined by Dr. Kfir Mordechay, Assistant Professor at Pepperdine University and a research fellow at the UCLA Civil Rights Project to talk about gentrification and school segregation. This kick of to season 5 is a return to our usual podcast format of casual conversations, and this is one we’ve been wanting to tackle for quite some time. Gentrification comes up in discussions of school segregation all the time and we are fortunate to have Dr. Mordechay to help us think about the possibilities and pitfalls.

Join our Patreon to support this work, and connect with us and other listeners to discuss these issues even further.

Links:

• Dr. Mordechay in City Lab
• Philly Federal Reserve Challenges the Conventional Wisdom on Gentrification
• Ingrid Gould Ellen at NYU
• Derek Hyra at American University
• Maggie Hagerman – Episode 3

Join our Patreon to support this work, and connect with us and other listeners to discuss these issues even further.

Let us know what you think of this episode, suggest future topics, or share your story with us – 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 Courtney Mykytyn. It was edited, and mixed by Andrew Lefkowits.

Music by Kevin Casey.

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

If you care about a multiracial democracy and if you believe that public schools are an important piece of this work, we need your support. This has been a volunteer effort and as our podcast is growing, and our desire to tell more stories and tell them better has grown, our costs have gone up. We aren’t interested in trying to sell you toothbrushes in the middle of our episodes, and we’d like to find new ways to engage with you, our listeners. And so, we hope the Patreon platform will allow us to do that.

Our hope is to cover the costs of hosting, remote recording software, and promotion, while also creating a new space to engage with you. We have a lot planned from monthly zoom meeting happy hours, to a Podcast Club, but we also want to hear what you want. What would add value to these conversations for you? What would help you engage more deeply? Join our Patreon, and let us know.

patreon.com/integratedschools

Also, thanks to Andrew Grant-Thomas. Please check out Embrace Race and the important work they are doing.

Thank you for your support!

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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 many across the country, is in the midst of some upheaval – declining enrollment, school closures, consolidation. Being a part of the new school community has allowed Beth a different vantage point through which to understand it all…

Special thanks to Beth, Nadia and Maya for being so honest, open and vulnerable, and then allowing us to share that with the world.

If you’ve enjoyed this series, please share with a friend, leave us a rating or a review, and donate to this all volunteer project here.

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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. The transitions may not have been easy, but they all have felt a personal growth… and are learning about different ways to be.

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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.”

In part 3, we look back at a year that has been transformative for Beth — but not necessarily in the ways she expected. From thinking about her role in the PTA, to her racial identity, to how she relates to her former school community, Beth finds herself very much in-between. And while it can be lonely, it can also be liberating…

Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions. This series was produced by Courtney Mykytyn and Andrew Lefkowits. Audio editing and mixing by Andrew Lefkowits

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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.”

In part 2, we find Beth two months into the school year grappling with the differences between the new school and the former one, trying to make sense of how she and her family fit into these two communities.

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