By Aziah Siid | Word In Black | The Sacramento Observer

(WIB) – It’s been a tough year to be Black in education.

Red states like Florida, Texas and Idaho have passed strict new laws restricting how teachers can teach Black history. Conservative school districts kept important works of Black literature, like Toni Morrisson’s “The Bluest Eye,” off library shelves. White parents browbeat school officials to keep lessons about systemic racism out of the classroom because they said it would make white kids feel guilty.

Meanwhile, majority-Black school districts continue to be underfunded and underrepresented in policy making. And Black students still continue to be over-policed; one Black student even went to court after his school expelled him for wearing locs they thought were too long.

Still, there were champions who stood up and pushed back on behalf of Black students in 2024, trying to compel the country to fulfill its promise of a quality education for all. Here are six leaders in education pushing for equal education:

1. Denise Forte

A fierce advocate for disadvantaged students, Denise Forte is leading the fight for racial equity in schools, creating high-quality learning environments and pipelines for higher education. Her vision: every student has a shot at academic success in a supportive, welcoming learning environment.

Denise Forte, president and CEO at The Education Trust (photo courtesy of Ed Trust website)

The president and CEO of the nonprofit Education Trust, Forte, has a deep knowledge of education policy, honed during her time as a Capitol Hill staffer and serving in the Department of Education during the Obama administration.

Ed Trust, she says, “is mission-driven: we believe Black and Latino students, students from low-income backgrounds, students with disabilities, and English learners deserve a quality education, because it is their best opportunity to thrive.”

2. Dr. Tracie Anderson Swilley 

Leading a school of around 660 students, all while mentoring assistant principals to ascend to principalship,  Dr.Tracie Anderson Swilley, is a foot soldier in the movement for equitable education.

Under her leadership over the last 13 years, Fairfield Central High School in Winnsboro, South Carolina, has seen tremendous improvement  in math, reading, and record graduation rates. Math proficiency for Black students skyrocketed from 46% to 74%, reading jumped from 60% to 76%, and the graduation rate reached a record 90.1%.

Despite teaching low-income students — the entire class of 2024 is eligible for free and reduced lunch — every member was accepted into an institution for higher education. But her fight for education equity isn’t over.

Swilley told Education Week she wants to see more women of color, like herself, in school  leadership roles, and bring attention to the unique obstacles they face in education.

3. Randi Weingarten

WASHINGTON, DC – SEPTEMBER 18: The PFLAG National Flag Bearer Award recipient Randi Weingarten, President, American Federation of Teachers attends PFLAG National’s “Love Takes Justice” Event Photo by Paul Morigi/Getty Images for PFLAG National)

“The most dangerous person in the world is Randi Weingarten.”

That’s the opinion of Mike Pompeo, former secretary of state and C.I.A director during former President Donald Trump’s first term. He saw Weingarten, a diminutive, 65-year-old leader of the American Federation of Teachers, the influential national teachers union, as a threat because of her decades-long fight to bring fairness and equity to education.

A fierce advocate for diversity and inclusion in public education, Weingarten is a frequent target of conservative politicians, who accuse her of indoctrinating kids with, “dangerous academic constructs like critical race theory and radical gender theory are being forced on elementary school children.” as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis put it.

That hasn’t deterred Weingarten, a former educator, attorney and NAACP board member, from standing up for her 1.7 million members and the children they teach. And she challenged the second Trump administration — and Linda McMahon, Trump’s nominee to lead the Education Department, to take similar care if and when she is confirmed.

“Will Linda McMahon support us as we teach students to read? Will she protect kids and families, so that everyone in a school feels welcome and can learn?”

4. Becky Pringle 

Becky Pringle at an Oakland rally (photo courtesy of NEA website)

As leader of the nation’s largest teacher’s union, Becky Pringle wields considerable influence in national politics. But she defines herself as a mother and grandmother to public school children who cares about education. She takes that charge seriously, using her clout to improve the quality of teaching, boosting student achievement and creating safer, better learning environments.

When the pandemic shuttered the nation’s schools, for example, Pringle helped to focus the nation’s attention on how COVID-19 lockdowns laid bare racial and economic inequities in education that have existed for generations — inequities that Pringle herself encountered as a student. Her fight, she says, is to eliminate those problems for the next generation.

5. Sharif El-Mekki

Sharif El-Mekki, center, led the annual Black Men Educators Convening in Philadelphia (Photo by Anaz X)

Studies have proven that Black children are more likely to succeed when the teacher at the head of the class looks like them. Yet some 80 percent of the teacher workforce is white and female.

Therefore, the mission of Sharif El Mekki, president and CEO of the Center for Black Educator Development, is simple: reverse that trend and put more Black teachers at the chalkboard.

A forceful personality, El-Mekki is a former teacher and administrator in west Philadelphia, one of the city’s toughest areas. As leader of a nonprofit, however, his goal is to rebuild the national Black Teacher Pipeline..But he wears more than one hat.

Besides his scholarly work training up Black teachers, El-Mekki has launched efforts like The Fellowship—Black Male Educators for Social Justice, monitors the pulse of the ‘hood through Philly’s 7th Ward blog, and hosts the 8 Black Hands podcast.

6. Stacy Davis Gates

Another former educator, Stacy Davis Gates, president of the Chicago Teachers Union, also serves in several leadership roles in teachers’ unions. She’s executive vice president of the Illinois Federation of Teachers, vice president of the American Federation of Teachers, and chair of United Working Families, a progressive political organization.

Davis Gates is currently on leave from the classroom, where she taught high school social studies for over a decade at Englewood, Clemente and Mason Community Links High Schools.

The CTU represents nearly 30,000 teachers, paraprofessional and school-related personnel, and school clinicians working in the Chicago Public Schools and, by extension, the students and families they serve.

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