Let the Light In

Abstract

For a moment, imagine the collective power possible if a large mass of young adults graduated from high school firmly believing in the power of their ideas and how to make them a reality with other people. Creating the context, knowledge, and systems that support this is what democratic education looks like at New Visions Charter High School for the Humanities IV.

With collaboration from Oluwaseun Omoworare (class of 2022, currently attending Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education, City College of New York).

New Visions Charter High School for the Humanities IV (“HUM IV”) was founded in 2017 with New Visions for Public Schools in Rockaway Park, New York (see Image 17.1). Rockaway Park is located on a peninsula in Queens. Since 1989, New Visions has supported a network of public district schools and also operates a network of charter high schools in under-resourced neighborhoods of New York City. The majority of students who attend HUM IV live in an area of the Rockaway peninsula called Far Rockaway. HUM IV is a charter high school co-located in a building called Beach Channel Educational Complex with five other traditional public high schools, one middle school, and an alternative learning center. HUM IV is a unionized charter school. The campus serves approximately 3000 students. At the end of the school year 2021–2022, HUM IV was serving 300 students in grades 9–12, and there were 49 adults on staff. Demographics are as follows:

• Staff: 42% white, 40% Black, 16% Hispanic, 51% male, 49% female

• Students: 62% Black, 31% Hispanic, 2.4% white, 1.9% Asian, 2.4% Native American, 25% students with individualized education plans, 5.2% multilingual learners, 52% male, 49% female

Image 17.1

Founding students and staff at New Visions Charter High School for the Humanities IV

Due to its intentional programming and design, “artist-scholars” at HUM IV can earn an Advanced Regents Diploma with Designation in the Arts and/or a Seal of Civics.¹

I’m writing this chapter at a time when “issues impacting humanity” are undeniable and overwhelming. One of the only things that has brought me any sanity and purpose in moments like this is to turn to my work in education and to think about where I can leverage it to address systemic issues. I’m thankful for this direction. For if education doesn’t serve as a training ground for individuals to learn how to work with others in strategic ways to accomplish a goal, then what hope can we have that our communities can overcome complex issues and thrive?

In 2017 when I founded “HUM IV” with 13 adult staff, 60 ninth graders, and New Visions for Public Schools, we endeavored to set the course to do just that. One of our starting places was to create a “pledge” which would serve to remind us of our mission, especially in moments when it is easy to forget. Early in our first year, we did sessions with students, families, and staff where they wrote sentences around our “Habits of the Graduate”: commit, reflect, envision, act, trust, and excel. I still have a few of these Post-its on my refrigerator like this one from a founding student—“I take action in my work so I can make it a reality.” I remember the floor of my apartment at the time covered with Post-its as I looked for themes across them. Eventually, we landed with a series of four lines which we call our CREATE pledge and one of them is “I act on my ideas to make the world a better place.” (Image 17.2)

Image 17.2

HUM IV CREATE pledge created in 2017

Hence, when the founding community envisioned HUM IV, a thread of civic engagement was sewn throughout every grade. The intention being that our artist-scholars will graduate with a sense of purpose, but also having had multiple concrete experiences in which their ideas become reality. As a result of our intentionality, in early 2021, we submitted an application to be one of the 50 high schools included in a pilot where students can earn a special “Seal of Civics” on their diploma. Students earn this Seal via a myriad of experiences for which they can earn points. In our pilot year, 47% of our graduates earned the Seal which we were tremendously proud of. I hope our continued efforts to make visible and document this work will continue to support other schools across the country to prioritize it. Starting with our own New Visions Network, in school year 2022–2023, four more charter high schools in addition to HUM IV can award Seals. I hope this chapter can serve to spotlight a few areas school leaders can get out ahead of; many of which I’ve only been able to recognize and see in retrospect.

One of my biggest learnings throughout the last five years has been that the most challenging part about promoting civics in schools is that most adults themselves have had limited experience or actual training in this area. Not only does this help explain why oppressive and stagnant systems remain entrenched, but it also helps explain why bringing democratic education into schooling requires significant professional development for adults and not the kind you might imagine.

Before I get into that, let me explain in a bit more detail, our Senior Capstone process (SCP) which is a key experience that earns students points toward a Seal of Civics. SCP represents the authentic assessment of what it means to be an “artist-scholar” at HUM IV. This process begins with “Letters of Intent” in 11th grade; some of which are selected to manifest into full grant proposals at the beginning of 12th grade. In February, students present their proposals to a panel of judges from all over the country and selected projects receive funding as per their proposal. In the final trimester of senior year, the authors of selected grant proposals form a committee of seniors and endeavor to make their vision a reality. Regardless of whether or not a student’s Letter of Intent moves forward in our process, almost every senior by the time they graduate supports a Capstone project by serving on a committee. These projects demonstrate skills and learning from various content areas and experiences, and the arts are used as a tool to provoke the change or impact the author seeks to make. M. K. Asante is an author, filmmaker, recording artist, and professor who described the purpose of our Senior Capstone Projects well when he said: “the artivist (artist +activist) uses her artistic talents to fight and struggle against injustice and oppression—by any medium necessary. The artivist merges commitment to freedom and justice with the pen, the lens, the brush, the voice, the body, and the imagination. The artivist knows that to make an observation is to have an obligation.”

When reflecting with one of my teachers, Mr. Williams, on the Capstone process, he spoke about the challenge of supporting students grappling with the mindset that “they don’t have the power to change things as students.” Imagine the collective power possible if a large mass of young adults graduated from high school firmly believing in the power of their ideas and how to make them a reality with other people.

As the school leader who is point for SCPs, one of my priorities is to support adults as they plan supports for students. While our teachers are generally equipped to support students on the technical skills needed to complete the final project, the more challenging task as a coach is how to support the growth of my staff around civic knowledge and skills such as forming consensus, community outreach, identifying root cause, reflecting on bias and assumptions, presentation and defense of original ideas, strategic planning, and self-initiated and directed participation. These are areas often not emphasized in teacher preparation courses and often not prioritized in schools serving underserved communities. They are the very skills we see adults across our society struggle with when attempting to organize around an idea and a strategic tactic (Image 17.3).

Image 17.3

Founding artist-scholars tying messages to internal window fencing they find oppressive at Beach Channel Educational Complex where HUM IV is located

Our valedictorian in 2022, Oluwaseun Omoworare, won the second-ever “Maitra CREATE Award²” for the Senior Capstone Project that made the greatest impact. When I reflected with Oluwaseun at the end of the year, there were two things that stood out to me about our conversation. One was that she commented that “communities typically come together when something tragic happens” or to address a problem, rather than for something positive. She referenced an event in our community at the end of this year called the Rockaway Youth Summit where her Capstone project and others found an authentic audience. For her project Let the Light In, this looked like a table with a petition³ and workshop led by students in Oluwaseun’s committee to tell the story of how we have been trying for years to remove interior window fencing on second and third floors that students articulated fosters feelings of fear, confusion, and oppression on campus. The summit was held in Far Rockaway on a weekday when students did not have school.

Oluwaseun and her committee also gave a speech to the community at the Summit before performing an original dance that represents this issue and the change they want to see. “A lot of people [focus on] negative things because we grew up around negative aspects of life,” Oluwaseun went on to share with me. She reiterated it would be good for more people to create positive experiences like the Youth Summit in part because she felt it was a good experience for the entire adult team of our school to participate in (I directed my team to report there instead of for a typical PD day on campus as it was a no-contact day for students⁴) (Image 17.4).

Image 17.4

Let the Light In (SCP ’22) performance at the Rockaway Youth Summit in 2022

Oluwaseun’s comments made me think about the purpose of our Senior Capstone Projects which states that students either “ address a challenge or strengthen an asset” in a community of choice. In the two years we have created projects, they have all addressed challenges, but few have clearly articulated how they plan to strengthen an asset in order to do so. I think this speaks to the extent to which, when endeavoring to “make the world a better place,” we could do more to take a strengths-based approach. Unless we continue to generate enough hope and inspiration⁵ along the way, we will never be able to overcome the insecurity and skepticism Mr. Williams referenced. During the Rockaway Youth Summit, there was a moment when one of the students in Oluwaseun’s committee came up to me upset about an interaction they had with someone they didn’t feel was supportive of their idea. She had a real conversation in that moment with her counselor Mr. Pinkett to acknowledge that this often occurs during the tactic phase of civic engagement, and she was advised to collect her thoughts before re-engaging. Ultimately, the student decided to approach the individual again as a way of furthering dialogue. When I reflected with Mr. Pinkett on this, he told me that the whole experience made him feel “very happy and very proud.” That was notable to me, not only because of the growth we recognized in this particular student (i.e. she felt an obligation to engage with that man in a way that pushed his thinking), but also because so many initiatives we see on the adult level in our society are ineffective or fall flat because people lack the confidence and clarity to engage in the exchange of ideas that Philosopher Byung-Chul Han considers to be necessary for a stronger democracy that is dismantled by the prevalence of a “transparent society.” (Hal, 2012) (Image 17.5)

Image 17.5

Let the Light In committee members (Oluwaseun is center) collecting signatures on their petition at the Rockaway Youth Summit

I’ve also experienced the realization that the creation of HUM IV in and of itself is an attempt at civic engagement. Prioritizing purpose, action, trust, or imagination when discussing schooling in this country—specifically schooling that occurs in underserved communities of color—is not the norm. It is these aspects of an education that hold potential for individuals to feel powerful not only by what they learn but also by what is already inside of them waiting to be spoken, dreamed, and practiced. When we consider why priorities in education seem to often center on standardization and antiquated systems, we must understand that this is intentional. Whether we are talking about literacy or civic knowledge, one’s quality of education is a key ingredient in a healthy and empowering democracy (Image 17.6).

Image 17.6

Light entering the school building through windows without interior fencing

Since starting the school in 2017, the work to bring together a committed group of individuals dedicated to the same vision has been riddled with mistakes, disappointment, and loss, but also a lot of reflection. I am grateful to have witnessed so much growth. There is a terrific risk associated with attempting to create a learning community that espouses a goal related to making the world a better place or that values “design with purpose.” How do we protect these priorities when they are in direct conflict with the systems and priorities rampant in “a borrowed and colonized cultural existence” (Macedo, 2005)?

Regardless of the degree to which I understood what I was getting myself into when I signed on to build this school, I now understand that it has served as a literal simulation for adults of what we are trying to support our students to discover about themselves. It has been the opportunity of a lifetime to CREATE—“a problem-posing education where ‘men and women develop their power to perceive critically the way they exist in the world…where they come to see the world not as a static reality but as a reality in the process of transformation’…it is a process that always involves pain and hope” (Macedo, 2005). We therefore must build democratic schools where examples of hope supersede the pain that comes with challenging the status quo.

What are some implications for school leaders endeavoring to build capacity and investment in taking a democratic approach to education? Firstly, school leaders need to be transparent about the skills needed to become a civically engaged citizen in a democracy. Adults need a safe space to discuss their own experiences (good and bad) and comfort with these skills (during their schooling and after high school). It’s everything from previewing the tension that can exist when facilitating consensus forming to the understanding that ideas or realities sometimes cause the original project concept to evolve over time. Adults need time to grapple with these potential moments and anticipate how they will proactively prepare and support. Students cannot be left alone in these complex moments. Rather, this can become a unique opportunity for adults and students to become collaborators in a learning experience (pure magic). As we continue to do this work and document it, we will have more concrete examples of Capstone projects to reference and use as case studies.

The following are a series of actions and understandings that I’ve experienced leading this work over the past five years, and I also believe they are valuable for all school leaders:

• I cannot assume that adults are initially comfortable or prepared to facilitate this work.

• We have partnered with an organization called Generation Citizen (GC) for five years that provides professional development and curricula to 10th grade advisors. I noticed a difference in the capacity of advisors during COVID-19 when GC professional development shifted to remote and advisors lost the experience of learning together with GC coaches both on and off site.

• I taught the grant writing course and planned with my teachers weekly in order to develop the scope and sequence and lessons that support our Senior Capstone process. In this way, I have been able to experience this design process first-hand (the technical and adaptive).

• There have been multiple times when I have had to challenge and motivate adults to step out of their comfort zone with this work; to “envision infinite possibility” (see CREATE Pledge); and to find creative solutions to problems instead of giving up.

My potential to lead and navigate the above rests on my ability to speak from experience and to wrestle with issues alongside my teachers and students. I believe school leaders aspiring to challenge the status quo will benefit from these actions and experiences.

To close, as I previously stated, starting this school has felt like one big civics project. As I have tried to facilitate the same kind of creativity, courage, and collaboration that I’ve seen adults around me grapple with, I recognize the many times I didn’t fully anticipate a need or felt like giving up. It has not been easy when members of our team turned out less mission-aligned, or committed than I thought, but finding the right people to share this work with has been inspiring. There have been so many times when I drew on previous experiences I’ve had or mentors who have done similar work to anchor me in moments of doubt. Although that has supported me, I haven’t always been able to bridge the gap with everyone. I am so grateful to everyone who has contributed toward transformational experiences. They have filled my cup more full than words can express.

This is messy and complex work, but it is the essential work in which we all must engage. If not us, then who? If not now, then when? I hope you leave this chapter with at least the following three takeaways: (1) We can and must create school missions and design elements that set schools themselves up to be tactics to address systemic issues. (2) School leaders must prioritize providing adults with professional development related to civics skills and knowledge if they are to lead this charge with students. (3) For school leaders, it is critical to make the time and reflect on one’s experiences “in the trenches” of this work with all stakeholders. All of this is in service of promoting the agency of emerging generations to CREATE something unique and necessary. I believe this is the most powerful tool we have as citizens and educators (Image 17.7).

Image 17.7

Access Let the Light In’s petition via this QR Code