On October 27th the UVEI faculty conducted its regular Friday meetings in the library and offered our classroom space to Vermont’s Education Justice Coalition, which was hosting their first symposium of the Educators of Color affiliate network.  The learning was focused on sustaining educators of color in our region, with an emphasis less on recruitment and more on what can be done to sustain and retain educators of color.  

 The workshops were led by Susan Yao, a former independent school leader and Esther Charlestin the former Dean of Culture and Climate at Middlebury Middle School.

UVEI has joined the network as an affiliate organization, with the goal of expanding our own learning and deepening our influence on the region’s schools when it comes to supporting educators of color in the workforce.  There are certainly connections to the focus of the faculty’s learning last year, which centered on the challenges involved with recruiting, developing, and sustaining educators, and what schools are doing to address these challenges.

UVEI faculty members Elijah Hawkes and Monica Nachemja-Bunton represented UVEI at the Educators of Color Symposium, which brought together over 20 educators from across the state, including K-12 schools, higher education, and school-support organizations.  “It was inspiring to see so many educators from around the region focused on concrete actions we can take at our respective institutions,” says Monica.  “Solidarity and building deep relationships was a big theme of the day, both in terms of the energy in the room and identifying the steps we can take to support educators of color. We all have the power to build a culture where people show up for each other.” 

For more information about the Education Justice Coalition of Vermont: https://edjcoalitionvt.org/