Because parents know it takes a village.
Dear Teachers and Administrators, Welcome back. We hope you are well rested and ready for our babies because they are ready for you! We can’t wait to see you on the first day of school. From our average working-class family to yours, there are a few things you should know about how my family will […]
The recent National School Choice week, and the controversial nomination of Betsy DeVos as secretary of education, got me thinking about my own adventures with school choice as a teenager. I attended a high school in a notorious inner-city region. Shootings were not unheard of. My 10th grade science teacher recruited me to attend to a […]
Every Tuesday I share some key stuff I wish, as a parent, someone would just place right in my hand. I don’t want to search for it, or read a bunch of packets. Honestly, who has the time? You get them on Tuesdays because, at least for me, life is just too hectic on Mondays. It also gives you enough time to do […]
I was 14 when I came to this country and entered high school. It wasn’t until my senior year that I learned I had completed all my required course load early. I had no idea I could have participated in dual-enrollment, or even started college one year earlier. In this instance, the system failed me. Fast forward […]
Education has always been the cornerstone of my family. My parents and my sisters and I all had such a love of learning that there was never a “push” toward excelling. It was just always who we intrinsically were. I went to high school to be a surgeon and college to be a psychologist, so […]
There this phenomenon that happens in Florida: I call it the “Hurricane Effect”. A remarkable thing happens during the hurricane frenzy and you only know it if you live in this part of the world: People look out for people. We come out and help each other put up shutters, clear patio furniture that could […]
Teaching is a noble profession. Isn’t that what we say? I kinda think we say that because it’s sacrificial… like being a soldier. After all, don’t we always talk about our teachers being on the “frontlines” and “fighting” for our kids? Sounds sacrificial to me. So, are we protecting teachers? Are we showing them great honor for their “sacrifice”? I think at the very […]
I met this Trini queen over my years strolling the halls of the Children’s Services Council (CSC), the organization created by the voters to improve the lives of Broward’s children by addressing system-wide issues head-on. Being a Jamaican woman, I was immediately drawn to her familiar songbird accent, her unapologetically curly hair, and belly-filled laughs. But as we […]
She’s turning 12. And in my classic avoidance of throwing a party or hang out with a bunch of pre-teens, I planned a girls trip to New York. We will see Christmas lights and snow if we are lucky. Of course, this is coming from two tropical girls who had to buy coats and closed-toed shoes for […]
Standardized testing is a part of state law since…forever. If you want a high school diploma from a public school in this country, you must take tests. Tests reveal how much you know, how well you know it, how much you’ve grown and if you are ready to move on. I seriously don’t put much […]