Since I joined the Word In Black team, I’ve covered issues from the mental health crisis among Black youth to initiatives families have taken to combat the school-to-prison pipeline. Occasionally, I get an opportunity to sit in a room full of experts, educators, and other education reporters to get a better understanding of the issues facing K-12 students — and ideas on how to cover them.
Last week, I attended the Education Writers Association convention in Las Vegas. For four days, we heard from people like Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, Fedrick Ingram, secretary-treasurer of the American Federation of Teachers, and dozens of other speakers. There were roundtable discussions about teacher burnout, school safety zones, and strategies for retaining Black teachers.
My first EWA national seminar was an intensive learning experience, but it also was a welcoming environment to network with colleagues, learn more about the issues, and even connect with sources who inform and inspire us. Here are four takeaways from the conference.
Schools and the Youth Vote
In a high-stakes election year, the conference kicked off with a session on youth voters and their role in civic engagement. The panel wrestled with difficult questions: What obligation do schools have in engaging students in the 2024 election? How can reporters cover critical groups of students like high school seniors and early college students, hidden swing voters who could swing local and national elections?
Shavar Jeffries, CEO of KIPP Foundation, said the entire country is “not comfortable,” with confronting the realities of racism in public education, which is why crusades like the anti-CRT teaching bills are making its rounds.
From book bans to adjustments on African American studies, there’s been more than enough room for students to exercise their voices and concerns, but their communities, like their school districts, are said to do a better job of providing them with opportunities rather than stripping them away.
Brown v. Board at 70: What Now?
Another session analyzed the fact that 70 years since the Brown vs. Board decision, schools are in some ways even more segregated than before the historic Supreme Court ruling outlawing separate but equal education in public schools, with more than a third of students (about 18.5 million of them) attending a predominantly same-race/ethnicity school during the 2020-21 school year.
One panelist, Janel George, reminded the audience that it took several desegregation lawsuits coming out of Topeka, Kansas in the early 1950s before the Supreme Court heard the case that formed the basis of the Brown v. Board case. Change often takes time, says George, putting it into context with continuing demands for equality in education.
Legal System and School Reporting
As campus protests ensue, families pursue legal action against school districts, and book bans continue to tear through the country, panelists gave tips for journalists on how to navigate our way through the legal system.
Dr.Rhodesia McMillian, an assistant professor at Ohio State University, led the conversation. She spoke eloquently about how schools are the pillars of democracy in many ways, but the foundation is crumbling and must be repaired—or replaced.
McMillian, along with Scott Travis of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, encouraged reporters to explore legal archives available to them, develop rapport with their local clerk’s office, and continue to familiarize themselves with government laws and practices that relate to reporting, especially in today’s era.
Black Girls Matter, Too
The post-COVID-19 state of mental health among all students is worrisome. But the suicide alarmingly high rate of depression and anxiety among young Black people —particularly young Black girls and women — has been hiding in plain sight for years.
A study from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health found that the suicide rate for Black girls ages 12-24 nearly doubled between 1999 and 2020, news that sent a shockwave through the EWA convention. Racism, sexism, bullying, and lack of mental health resources were all called to the forefront as contributing factors to the troubling trend.
School administrators, community leaders, and some politicians say that now is the time to address the specific mental health needs of growing Black girls in our schools.
At an EWA panel on the subject, G’yanna Perry, a high school student and student leader with the youth restorative justice organization Code Switch, brought the audience into her world. She spoke about facing discrimination from both teachers and students before she decided to change schools to suit her better.
G’yanna’s fellow panelists each broke down the importance of having teachers who can not only pay more attention to our young Black girls, but who can also set aside bias to actually see and understand their needs.
Those are just a handful of topics that inspired and enlightened me, and likely will be the source of future stories for Word In Black.
I’m looking forward to connecting with community health clinics, anti-poverty groups, teachers’ unions, and other organizations to learn about what’s happening with their children, and K-12 education as a whole.
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