In this special episode recorded live at SXSW EDU 2024, host Mike Palmer moderates a powerful panel on breaking down silos in education. Featuring multilingual learning consultant Dana Gastich-French, special education expert Dr. DeShanna Reed, and parent coach Punam Saxena, the conversation dives into the trifecta of community, culture, and collaboration. Learn how to be a link, while busting silos across the K12 ecosystem.

The panelists, who first met serendipitously at the prior year's SXSW EDU, explore the problems caused by working in isolation and offer solutions for bridging disparate worlds. They advocate creating networked improvement communities, fostering authentic connections through presence and effective communication, and prioritizing the crucial work of humanizing diverse stakeholders.

Punam stresses meeting parents where they are by providing vocabulary and support. DeShanna shares powerful stories of cultivating trust through home visits and communicating in families' native languages. Dana suggests stakeholder groups, documenting processes, empathy interviews to shape school culture, and valuing the "unsexy" moments that truly build community.

With vulnerability, passion and decades of frontline experience, the panelists make a clarion call for a paradigm shift - moving away from inefficient siloing towards meaningful collaboration that embraces the strengths of students, teachers, parents and communities. An inspiring listen for any educator striving to create equitable, inclusive environments for all.

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