Kansas City and Boston Education Leaders Connect

Earlier this month, in collaboration with Getting Smart, CAS helped to organize a study trip for a group of 30 clergy and civic leaders who are recipients of a fellowship, supported by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, for faith-based leaders in education from Kansas City (MO and KS). 

On Monday afternoon, Rev. Dr. Gregory Groover, Sr. hosted the group at his church, Charles Street AME, an historic African Methodist Episcopal Church in Boston. The fellows spoke with a panel of Boston-based leaders who presented their challenges and successes as part of the educational landscape in Boston. This panel included Carmen Torres, who spoke about Perrone Sizer Institute for Creative Leadership (PSi); Gerami Groover, a PSi alumna, who spoke about the founding and work of the Hamilton-Garrett Music & Arts Academy based at Charles Street AME; Ron Walker, who spoke about the Coalition for Schools Educating Boys of Color; and Emmanuel Tikili, who spoke about Project Right and his youth pastoring and mentoring experiences. 

The next day, we arranged for the fellows to break into three groups to visit schools: Boston Arts Academy, Conservatory Lab Upper School, and Conservatory Lab Lower School. They returned from these visits filled with respect, awe, and admiration for the hard work of teachers, students, and administrators in schools that make arts part of every day for every child. The group also made a visit to Providence RI to observe the Met School (Metropolitan Regional Career and Technical Center), the flagship school of Big Picture Learning, and to learn from College Unbound.

 As Ron Walker observed after the gathering at Charles Street AME, “Their issues and concerns mirror those of people nationwide who seek high quality education and services for children, youth, and communities. A [lingering question waits] for collective resolution: If it takes a village to raise a child, what does it take to create a healthy village?”

CAS’s purpose is to bring about more innovative schools and to nurture healthy, thriving communities. Connecting those communities (our “villages”), and their passionate leaders, is key to supporting and growing this work.