Mis-Education of Bloggers: What You Don’t Know About Education Reform and Communities of Color
Session Type(s): Panel
Starts: Saturday, Jun. 22 1:30 PM (Eastern)
Ends: Saturday, Jun. 22 2:45 PM (Eastern)
From school closings, public to private, school vouchers to school choice, everyone seems to have an opinion on how education reform affects communities of color. Who has the right idea? Are the right people at the table? Who is moving the message? This panel will address key education issues affecting communities of color and the ways to contribute to the conversation around fixing our education system.
Moderator
L. Joy Williams
L. Joy Williams is a political strategist and founder of LJW Community Strategies. She serves as a strategic adviser to elected leaders and organizations across the country and has been featured as a commentator on BET, Pacifica Radio in New York and Los Angeles, MSNBC, Current TV and NY1’s Inside City Hall. She is a host and producer at #TWiBNation
L. Joy is founding Chairman of Higher Heights for America, President of the Brooklyn NAACP, a National Board Member of PAC+
Panelists
James Ferg-Cadima
James A. Ferg-Cadima has built his career advancing civil rights and civil liberties legislation at the federal, state, and local level. Mr. Ferg-Cadima heads the Washington, DC office of MALDEF, which is often described as the “law firm of the Latino community.” He currently co-chairs the Education Task Force of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Right, a coalition of 200 civil rights organizations. Before rejoining MALDEF in 2010, he served as legislative counsel for the ACLU of Illinois; a judicial clerk for the Northern District of Illinois; a racial justice fellow at the Advancement Project; and a Marshall-Brennan fellow teaching constitutional literacy in the DC Public Schools for two years. Harvard Law School awarded him a Wasserstein Fellowship in 2008 and the Hispanic Bar Association of the District of Columbia awarded him the Hugh A. Johnson, Jr. Memorial Award in 2012, both in recognition of his dedication to public interest law.
Rufina Hernandez
Rufina A. Hernández, Esq., is executive director of the Campaign for High School Equity (CHSE), a coalition of the nation’s most prominent civil rights and education advocacy organizations focused on high school education reform. Hernández leads the coalition’s federal policy and advocacy agenda, as well as its public outreach and education activities.
John H. Jackson
On July 2, 2007, Dr. John H. Jackson became the President and CEO of The Schott Foundation for Public Education. In this role, Dr. Jackson leads the Foundation’s efforts to ensure a high quality public education for all students regardless of race or gender. Dr. Jackson joined the Schott Foundation after seven productive years in leadership positions at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
In 1999, President William Jefferson Clinton appointed Dr. Jackson to serve in his administration as Senior Policy Advisor in the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Education.
Dr. Jackson possesses a Master of Education and Doctorate of Education in Administration, Planning, and Social Policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Dr. Jackson served on the Obama-Biden transition team as a member of the President’s 13-member Education Policy Transition Work Group.
Randi Weingarten
Randi Weingarten is president of the 1.5 million-member American Federation of Teachers, a union of professionals that champions fairness; democracy; economic opportunity; and high-quality public education, healthcare and public services for our students, their families and our communities. Under Weingarten’s leadership, the AFT has led a national effort to press for the tools, time and trust educators need to build strong public schools for all children, boost teacher quality, create rigorous academic standards aligned with a strong and deep curriculum, invest in wraparound services that help overcome barriers to student success, and ensure educators have a voice in improving schools.
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