Author Archives: Fiorella Guevara
CEJ’s Virtual Mayoral Candidate Forum; Racial Justice in Public Schools
On Thursday, February 18th, over 1,000 students, parents, educators, community members, and activists alike, joined CEJ to hear the mayoral candidates’ visions for racial justice in public schools, and, how they plan to implement Culturally Responsive Sustaining Education (CRSE).
This is our city, our schools, and our children. We need a mayor who is committed to allocating money, time and passion to fight for racial justice in schools.
Click HERE to watch CEJ’s Mayoral Candidate Forum online. You can also watch the live video on CEJ’s Facebook page, facebook.com/NYCCEJ, or Click here for the written transcript.
Check Out These Highlights!
Students deserve a quality public education that honors their cultures, backgrounds, and communities. CEJ is committed to working collaboratively to mobilize the power of parents and the community to affect policy change and make Culturally Responsive Sustaining Education a reality.
TweetLiberation School Kick-Off!
Welcome to Liberation School!
Inspired by the tradition of Black Freedom Schools in the 1960s, Liberation School is a FREE, virtual online school that will offer academic support courses, social-emotional support, healing centered practices, and political education courses to NYC public school families throughout the 2020-21 school year.
Thank you to those that were able to attend our amazing Kick-Off Event. From energizing djembe playing to informative presentations on the history of Freedom Schools, the Liberation School ZOOM room was filled with passion, wisdom and solidarity. Click HERE to view the live recording!
Click here to register for classes now
The Liberation School Calendar allows you to sort by class content; Academic Support, Wellness, Political Education, or Ethnic Studies, as well as by class audience; Student, Caregiver, Community Member or all of the above. Classes are offered on a weekly, biweekly and monthly basis. Don’t miss out on classes that are offered ONLY ONCE and keep reading!
CEJ is creating sessions accessible to the public in multiple languages through multilingual instructors, and live streaming on social media. simultaneous interpretations of English workshops. All courses will be culturally responsive in content and pedagogy.
Click HERE to learn more about the origins of Liberation School; the Mobilization of Back and Brown Parents, Healers and Educators.
Click HERE to Read more about the History of Black Freedom Schools.
Why are CEJ and IntegrateNYC Creating Liberation School?
IntegrateNYC is a youth-led organization that stands for equity and justice in our schools.
Liberation School: the Mobilization of Back and Brown Parents, Healers and Educators
While many principals, teachers and school staff are putting their hearts and souls into supporting NYC children during this global pandemic, it is clear that families can not solely rely on City Hall and the NYC Department of Education (DOE) to deliver a safe, quality education to children this year. Mayor de Blasio and the NYC DOE are drastically unprepared to provide NYC’s 1.1 million students with high-quality learning this school year. They are not providing the necessary resources and support for families to navigate remote and blended learning. Many of the resources that have been provided are not accessible to non-English monolingual families.
Our students are suffering the consequences.
Over these past months we have seen the previous inequities in the school system reveal themselves and worsen for Black and Brown students. We cannot allow students and families to return to the ‘normal’ of inequality. Black and brown students and families in New York City have faced the harshest, most devastating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and systemic racism.
CEJ and youth organizing group IntegrateNYC are creating Liberation School as a response to the failings of the Department of Education to adequately provide the resources and support needed for marginalized students. While many white affluent families are hiring teachers to create learning pods, CEJ is designing Liberation School for Black, Brown, Immigrant, and low-income families, who don’t have the financial resources to hire personal teachers or tutors.
We also know the support for each other is strong. We help us. We protect us. We lead us.
Register today for any of the following workshops to learn how to…
- Support your child’s learning
- Promote your child’s social and emotional health
- Influence education decision makers
Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Family Engagement in the Time of COVID-19 and Remote Learning, and Always
Culturally responsive-sustaining (CRS) family engagement is absolutely critical for meaningful learning to take place. CR-S family engagement is the practice of authentic, equal partnership with families, rooted in a deep knowledge and appreciation for the rich social and cultural identities, assets, habits and contexts that families bring to learning. Read this latest document for guidance for districts, schools, and educators who want to deepen family engagement and continue to foster learning during the pandemic, and for parent and community groups advocating for stronger and more community-connected practices in their schools.
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