My radical awakenings began at my Teach for America Summer Institute experience in 2004. I couldn’t explain it, but something didn’t sit right and I didn’t sit still. I was placed at Barringer High School in Newark, NJ to teach English, and in the middle of my second year of teaching became embedded in the community. Serving as a teacher in this urban public school district shaped my political consciousness in a way that centers antiracism, justice, and equity, and rejects the privatization of public education.
Actions that contributed to my re-constitution within this worldview include co-founding the Newark Education Workers Caucus (NEW Caucus), a social justice caucus within the Newark Teachers Union; organizing childcare center workers into a union; and serving as a member of the Newark Board of Education (2016-2019).
I currently work through my consulting firm, Just Writing LLC, as well as through Radical Pedagogy Institute which I co-founded with my friend and colleague B. Waid (check them out at The QueerMathematicsTeacher.com).
I hold a BA in English from Duke University. From Rutgers-Newark, I earned a Master of Public Administration degree as well as a PhD in Urban Systems. As an activist-scholar, my research interests include critical democratic education, teacher leadership, and ontological inquiry.
I reside in the South Ward of Newark and am an active citizen in several community and political organizations, including the Newark Branch of the NAACP where I serve as chair of the education committee, the Abbott Leadership Institute, and the New Jersey Association of Black Educators.
I enjoy taking early morning walks around my neighborhood, especially around the Weequahic Park lake, and baking sweet potato and banana bread.
