A Note From the Executive Director, Jovonia Lewis

When I think of a liberated education system, I see smiling, engaged children. I see joy in the eyes of our youngest learners; I see the curious minds of our middle school aged children, and I hear the innovative questions and plans of our high school children. Every single child in our community will be included in joy, curiosity, and innovation. Unfortunately, the NC school system continues to fail NC families.

A new system of care would be the liberatory wish that I have for NC and its future.

In place of vouchers with no income limits that will consequently increase segregation and disparate resource allocation in the school system, I wish for the following:

  • Increased community of care while we navigate attempts for an unbalanced division of resources with community-based, content-rich delivery of history that is inclusive and reasserts our value of diversity and equity.
  • Re-investing in educational efforts that create inclusion, inspire creativity, and celebrate diversity in race, culture, and income in a new system of care.

In lieu of increased law enforcement presence in schools that consequently feed the school to prison pipeline, I wish for the following:

  • Increased trauma-informed training and liberatory classroom management training for teachers.
  • Social emotional learning opportunities for students.
  • Listening to students and supporting them holistically.
  • Increasing regulations and decreasing youth access to firearms.

Rather than fear-mongering and smoke and mirrors related to “Critical Race Theory” and “woke education”, I wish for the following:

  • Culturally responsive curriculum and classrooms where children see a reflection of themselves, as well as the resilience of those who have been oppressed.
  • Culturally responsive curriculum and classrooms where children learn about the power of diverse thought, in a true democracy where every voice is included and valued.
  • Critical thinking as the expectation in reading, writing, and arithmetics leading to more student ah-ha moments, with educators feeling accomplished and professionally supported to guide these breakthroughs.

At EPiC, we unapologetically focus on Black students and their success. However, to center whiteness for a moment, our white-identifying families should not be satisfied with the status quo in the current education system either. As a point of reflection:

  • Are your children interacting with diverse peer groups? Are they actively engaged in authentic relationships that value differences, free from pressures to assimilate?  Do they feel that they can show up as they are,  with no judgement of better or worse?
  • Are your children perpetually seeing differences in how their Black and Brown peers are responded to or punished for the same behaviors they have engaged in? Do you understand how this perpetuates unhealthy thoughts of superiority over their peers?
  • Are your children reaching their full potential with a liberated system of care that allows educators to teach beyond the test and allows freedom of speech that is insightful, positive, and uplifting? Are your children benefiting from innovation that grows them beyond a standardized test that has been normed on white males?

A liberated system of care is for more than just what Black and Brown children need. It is for all children.  Every single child will be included in joy, curiosity, and innovation. Let’s stop dreaming and start building a new system of care.