Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:00:00]:

Welcome, advocates, to another episode of the Lead And Equity podcast. A podcast that focuses on supporting educators with the tools and resources necessary to ensure equity at their Schools. Today's special guest is Nadia Bennett,

Nadia Bennett [00:00:14]:

former school leader, and the founder of when Brown Girls lead So without further ado, Nadia, thank you so much for joining us today.

Nadia Bennett [00:00:23]:

Absolutely. Thank you for having me.

Nadia Bennett [00:00:25]:

pleasure is always mine, and I'm really excited for this topic because we're gonna be talking about attributes, characteristics that principals need. in order to do anti racist work. But before we get into that topic, I'd love for you to share a little bit about yourself in which you currently do.

Nadia Bennett [00:00:40]:

Yes. I am a school turnaround strategists working with K-twelve schools to develop leaders, foster a culture of inclusion, and equitable achievement, and to create anti racist school environments. I do this through team professional development, anti racism and training, management, coaching, really just any way to for districts with to help form an unbiased feedback for pathways of change. I do believe strongly that when more black and brown educators are giving the soon to lead. Students and school communities evolve, and we're able to influence the next generation of leaders and teachers.

Nadia Bennett [00:01:18]:

I'm all about their life. So I'm glad to hear that. So so let's get into it because, you know, you have the 4 management skills every school leader should have before effective anti racist work can Eakins. And I'm really excited for this because the key piece that or key takeaway for me is before we even get started, These are the 4 things that a leader needs to have. So I want you to start with the first one. Run that down for us.

Nadia Bennett [00:01:49]:

Yes. Absolutely. So I kinda I wanna frame this a bit before jumping into the the 4 things because they're I've worked with schools in which they they are ready, they wanna do the anti racist, what they wanna learn more. But at the end of the day, a couple things need to happen. Number 1 is that the school needs to be functioning well. If the school is not functioning well, the leadership isn't strong, if teachers are residing or any of those challenges, it's gonna be really hard to focus on anti racism work and it's gonna be even more difficult to do it well. Right? So I've worked with schools whose leaders aren't ready for that work, and we just focus on just general leadership and management skills. Alright. And so that's one aspect of of this. And then the other aspect is, okay, when you are ready to do the anti racism work, this is how you begin that work. This is the beginning of that work. So I'm gonna ask you which one do you want me to to unpack with you today? Well, I'm curious about the ready piece because

Nadia Bennett [00:02:56]:

I I when I work with school leaders as well and the conversation often comes up, well, I'm waiting for all of my staff to be ready, or we're not ready yet. And I I typically respond with you'll never be Ready, you'll never have everyone fully on board. It's change. We're Eakins about change. So whether you're talking about brand new curriculum, brand new whatever, whatever, whatever, brand new lunch room. You're gonna get pushed back because it's changed. So maybe from the standpoint of As a school leader, I recognize that this work needs to happen. Let's just pretend like I have a functional system and and no. And and we're we're pretty steady, but we're looking at making some changes. That's the perspective that I wanna come from.

Nadia Bennett [00:03:44]:

Absolutely. Okay. Great. So then the first thing would be to know your data. When I say know your data, I'm speaking specifically to Have you analyzed and broken down your debt your data by race, gender, socio economic status? And that's academic data as well as behavior data. And are there disparities? So an example of that is, are your black students being suspended at a much higher rate than your white students. I've seen everything from black students being suspended three times as much up to seven times as much, and they actually went, like, up to about 12 times as much as the as the white peers. And the leaders knew that there was something happening, but they could not point to the numbers because they had not looked at the data. I've also seen cases where there were very few or no black students in AP classes and honors classes. where the voices of black and brown staff members had never been recorded. Right? And so the first thing that leaders wanna do is get into the data. It's uncomfortable. It's gonna be a truth that you maybe don't want to hear or see but you have to know exactly which problem you're fixing.

Nadia Bennett [00:05:07]:

So knowing the data is the first thing. I wanna unpack that a little bit more because knowing data or my listeners out there, especially my school leaders out there that might be thinking, well, that's that's How do can we get a little bit more specific as far as what attributes you because you mentioned AP Glass is on our classes, I'm assuming gifted and talented were probably being con concluded in that conversation versus your special ed who's represented, you know, vice versa. And then you mentioned discipline, so that could be, I'm assuming suspensions. That could be, you know, in school suspension, out of school suspension, sportions, those kind of things. Is there a list maybe of categories that we should look at? And then the other piece that I have for that question is is there an instrument that you would recommend that folks could Okay, use this product, you know, maybe something that you offer or just use this in order to Eakins make sure that you are checking off or or really pinpointing all the different challenges or areas that we wanna focus on.

Nadia Bennett [00:06:13]:

Yes. That's a great question. The list is Every piece of data that you collect in your school building, you should also break it down by race and gender. Okay.

Nadia Bennett [00:06:24]:

So even attendance is is as well. Absolutely.

Nadia Bennett [00:06:28]:

Absolutely. Every piece of data because, I mean, wouldn't you wanna know if you're black students were coming to school late or or if your white students were, you know, not coming to school. Wouldn't you wanna know that, Devin? Yes. Absolutely. Exactly. So it gives you an opportunity. Again, you wanna know if there's a problem and which problem that you wanna solve. So just get into the habit as a leader, that every piece of data that you sit down and look at with your board, with your leadership team, whatever your structure might be, break it down by race, gender, and socioeconomic status. you will see some glaring truths that will just speak to the systemic barriers that we're facing on a regular basis. And do I can I recommend the tool? There you can use anything where there there are multiple tools. Again, most schools have a tool. They have a system, a software system that downloads all of their data for them. Go into that system. learn how to break it down by race, gender, and so yeah. No. I'm like that. Is it really it's much more simple than it sounds. It's just that people don't go that extra mile it's all already there. You just have to break it down by those 3 categories.

Nadia Bennett [00:07:37]:

I love this. k. This is a good topic. Now I'm gonna I'm a follow-up one more time because We're talking about anti racist work, and and I think it's really important that we understand or maybe we can help explain to the audience Why is breaking down these different characters? Not cat characters. These different categories so important when it comes to anti racist work.

Nadia Bennett [00:08:03]:

Yes. So anti racist work, if if your audience is not familiar with the the term anti races means well, I'll give a bit more. Anti races individuals take action against racist policies, racist systems, racist people. It's not enough, as even can be said, it's not enough to not be racist, you have to actually take action against that thing. Looking at your data and understanding your data is a way of you taking action. so that if there are disparities because there may not be disparities that are concerning or glaring. I often find that they are, but let's say that there aren't. You want to know that as well so that you know specifically how to take action. I've worked with leaders where I mean, you might be solving the wrong problem. Right? The data tells you exactly which problems to solve. and it can reveal where there are issues within your system. So another example, if there is not a appropriate representation of staff. So you're gonna what I mean by that is that your teaching and your teacher and leadership staff should add a minimum reflect your student body. That's the minimum. Mhmm. So if in your district, 15% of your students identify as black then 15% of your teaching staff should identify black. Again, that is the minimum. Right? But if you don't get into that data, then you won't know well, actually, we don't have any black teachers, or we only have people that identify as Latin X and we're calling them people of color and overlooking the fact we don't have any black individuals on staff? And could it be something that's happening in HR? Could there be a a an unconscious bias that's the in which we're not bringing enough candidates of of another race. So that's why you wanna start with the data so that you know exactly what problem you're solving. Gotcha. Okay. So the first one was again,

Nadia Bennett [00:10:11]:

I love that we start that we're starting areas, making sure that you know your data.

Nadia Bennett [00:10:16]:

What would be the second thing or ask skill that every school leader needs to have? Yeah. It kinda goes into what I just mentioned, and that is to a as to why the disparities exist. Right? So with the example that I just gave, if you recognize that there is the representation of teaching and leadership staff is not reflective of the student body. you have to ask yourself why. Right? Is it the candidate pool? Are we targeting a diverse group of individuals. Right? Are we working with black individuals black people to build them up to teaching and leadership positions? Are we supporting that? Are we putting money towards it? and we're putting time towards it. And thinking about the AP and honors example that I gave earlier, if are not enough black students in your APE Honors classes. Why is that? I think that's a good question for schools to ask themselves because a tone it of a of a young person getting into an honors or AP class is teacher recommendation. It's their GPA. Right? It's their behavior. but then that teacher recommendation is often there. It's all in loop. So if you only have white staff members who may love their children and may not be racist, but they're also not anti racist. Right? And they haven't dealt with their unconscious bias, they don't even realize potentially that they're only recommending white kids for 18 classes. So you want to get into, okay, what has led to these disparities that we're seeing in the data? and and and really unpacking that why.

Nadia Bennett [00:12:03]:

Okay. Okay. That makes sense. So then I'm curious when it comes let's staying on the topic of your APE Honors courses. And you mentioned earlier as far as your staff representation at the minimum should reflect the percentage of your student population. How does that look when it comes to bipox students, for example, in relation to, like, demographically, what percentage or is there a recommendation as far as we don't have enough Do some color in our AP and

Nadia Bennett [00:12:36]:

honors classes or like, how would I gauge that as a a school leader? it's the same rule for it at a minimum. Again, if your student body is 15% identifies black than 15% of the young people in the AP and Alice identified as black. That is that's the foundational minimal rule. And I like to message that to schools because it's easy to remember. Right. Now, obviously, the goal is to continue to increase that diversity because representation on half in the AP classes. That's good for every child. It's not just good for black and brown children. There's research that says diversity serves every child. Right? And so the goal is to increase that number and keep keep attaining a greater and higher number. But at a minimum, if you're not meeting that minimum, then you have a problem that you need to solve.

Nadia Bennett [00:13:26]:

Got you. Okay. So we're starting with knowing your data. So that's the first step is Is this an order? I should be probably asking you that. Is this an order, or is it are these 4 just 4th skills? It's it's that's loosely Eakins order. It's it's fine how we're just And then yeah. Okay. Okay. I just wanna make sure because I'm, like, first step. Okay. So and and folks, you know, folks that listen to so they know I I don't believe in checklist. I I so I So this is don't do these 4 things and you're good. Like, you these are, like, skills that you need to have, but there's more work that needs to happen. as well. So some folks will say, well, I did the 4 things, Nadia said, and and and we feel so I I want folks to know, yeah, these are, you know, minimum, like you said, the minimum that skill sets that we wanna have. But, again, if you're leading a school and you're you're looking to make chains, especially with anti racist work, there's a lot more that that goes into it. And and so I definitely encourage folks to to con continue on with that work.

Dr. Sheldon Eakins [00:14:22]:

But let's let's so know your data and then understand why these disparities do exist

Nadia Bennett [00:14:30]:

What's number 3?

Nadia Bennett [00:14:32]:

Take responsibility. This is where it tends to get even more uncomfortable for the adults in the building because taking responsibility requires being honest about where the school is for some schools that might look like letting the staff know. the leadership team is, for example, in a professional development session, you could say. The leadership team recognizes that we have a problem with black students being suspended seven times more than our white students. We are not okay with this, and we understand that we have it to this. Right? And then you're going to identify the ways in which you've contributed. We know that that gets uncomfortable because no matter the race really of the leaders, there's a level of discomfort if it's a person of any person right now because race is such an important topic right now. Anyone is gonna feel uncomfortable standing in front of a staff and naming those Eakins of numbers. And it's necessary because you want to get people on your staff bought into changing the numbers. If you are standing in front of your staff and you can say our black students are being suspended at a much higher rate, We're gonna get into why. Right? So then teachers, if they are truly reflective and are aware that we all have unconscious bias, A great teacher is gonna ask themselves, man, well, am I contributing to this? Are there times in my classroom when I am sending a a black student to the dean, and I didn't send the white student that was doing the same thing, they will begin to themselves and you want that kind of awareness on your staff. So it's important to have the adults in the building take of responsibility.

Nadia Bennett [00:16:29]:

I think it's very important to take responsibility. But I I wanna make sure that I'm clear on on that. So if I'm a let's say I'm a school leader and then we're We've conducted the, you know, we've done a research. We looked at why these disparities exist. When I'm addressing my staff, am I addressing them from a Folks, staff, you know, I didn't do a good job with leading this organization to school with and here's some of the disparities that exist, I want us to do better, or are we pushing it from a We, as a school, as a community, didn't do a good job. I I'm just curious as far as what is the leadership role when it comes to having that conversation.

Nadia Bennett [00:17:13]:

That's a great question. The initial responsibility in front of the staff, the leader needs to take responsibility that is and I feel pretty strongly about that. Having been, I was a high school assistant principal. I was a high school principal and an executive director of schools. I've worked with students of all ages. And I believe and people of all races, genders, etcetera, Leaders have to be willing to I think the phrase has been used die on the fall on the sword. Like, the leader has to take responsibility. Because if a leader was watching the numbers and watching the data, the way that they should have been. If that leader had done their work, they would have known this problem before it got as bad as it got. Right? Now that's assuming that the leader has been at that school for some years. There's some assumptions in that -- Right. But, really, leaders are the ones that are to be watching the numbers. the leader is also saying in taking this responsibility, I am also committing to change which gets us to actually points both 45 which is around accepting that the change needs to happen. And -- Hang on. Hang on. Let's let's

Nadia Bennett [00:18:28]:

before we get to 4. Before we get to 4 -- Okay. Okay. -- because I I I have one more follow-up because I and and I'm glad you brought it up that way because, you know, obviously, there's a lot of variables in place. Right? You know, this is a brand new tee principal. 1st year coming in? Is it if this is someone that's been in that position for 10 years? Yeah. And and those are some different conversations. I was just curious how that might be approached But one thing that stuck out in our earlier part of our conversation you mentioned, you consider yourself a turnaround principle. Yes. And so I'm curious If I am someone who identifies as a turnaround principle, when I'm engaging in this conversation, Am I saying, well, your your predecessor my predecessor

Nadia Bennett [00:19:11]:

is

Nadia Bennett [00:19:13]:

this is all I know. And now I'm here because you how how does that conversation go? don't do that. There's no value in it. Now

Nadia Bennett [00:19:21]:

people can do what they want. I'm gonna tell you what I did as a principle in my staff in in years past will attest to this, I am going to take responsibility. There's no value in blaming the person before you. They're gone now. Okay. Right? You are you are the leader. You're the person that people are looking to. You're the person that people are following. And some elements of that is just kinda petty. Right? To and and if you are not ready to take on the full responsibility of everything that's happening in that building. Whether or not you are the person who put that action into place, then don't take the job. It's a heavy heavy is the head that wears the crown. Right? Like it's a heavy, heavy job to have. You gotta be willing to take it on. Now and understanding this, the staff members who that you're speaking to that are reasonable people they're gonna know who did it. Right. You don't have to say it. They know you just got there a month ago, but when you stand up, and and blame the other guy, you you are showing a lower side and my opinion of your character and people will begin to judge you based upon that. So it's better than just you don't need to vocalize it. They know you just got there. Gotcha. Okay. Okay. Try to be incurable.

Nadia Bennett [00:20:43]:

I'm sorry. because you were applicable as well. So I don't know. What were your thoughts on that? because I don't consider myself a a turnaround. So, like, I've never been in that situation. Right? Like, oh, well, I wouldn't well, I had one situation when I went to a school that they just wanted to boost their enrollment up. And so I just came in there kinda with the we're gonna we're gonna grow our numbers because of the private school. But I I kinda, you said, I'm I'm not gonna sit there and bash the former person or what. I didn't know. You know what I'm saying? Like, how can you say it's such and such fault? You don't even know the like, you don't know them. So that that's that's my take on it. And so I I totally agree with what you're saying. Yeah. You know? Yes. You need to acknowledge, hey. things have been happening over years, but you're not throwing any shade, any any of that stuff to anybody because, again, you don't know that individual. You don't know what they had going on in their life, whether they had going on their professional training, whatever, conversations, dynamics, there's so many things that are there. So, yeah, I'm I'm with you on that. Okay. That's fair enough. Okay. Alright. Number 4. So okay. Run down real quick. It says, know your data. And then number 2 was why do these disparities exist? Number 3 was take responsibility, which lands us on number 4. What do we got? Yes.

Nadia Bennett [00:22:00]:

34 are very closely connected. 4 is except that change needs to happen and plan accordingly. Alright. So you don't wanna the excuse me. Taking responsibility is the beginning. There undoing systemic issues and and creating systemic change so that it's a better outcome in the future, that takes time And so the beginning is you standing in front of your staff and taking responsibility. And you also have to have an internal moment of, like, this absolutely has to change. Right? And I am the leader that's here now that's leading this charge, I'm going to make sure that it changes. And so I'm gonna put together a strategic plan on making sure that it does change. And that strategic plan could be, you know, a year long. It could be 5 years long. It but it it will take it will take time. So In that planning accordingly, I've suggested things such as starting an anti racist committee. Right? You wanna send surveys. You wanna get the voice of the people. You wanna know how parents feel, how students feel. Be honest about the numbers and, like, get that kinda get that crowd behind it that urging that urgency behind it and then strategically execute the plan.

Nadia Bennett [00:23:26]:

Got you. I got you. So you're not doing this on your own. Oh, no. This is a you you said put your equity team together, your leadership team together, who's in that who's in that team?

Nadia Bennett [00:23:36]:

Yes. So you wanna have a representation from all stakeholder groups. So parent is parents' stakeholders? students and stakeholders, teachers and stakeholders, other leaders and stakeholders. I would even say the specialized services team They are often teachers as well. However, they have a different perspective. And I would say as school support team, school support would be positions such as Dean, social worker, etcetera, have a rep at least one representative from each stakeholder group. And though you are the leader Eakins the charge, one other leader would also be good. Because if you're the principal executive director, if you're the the head boss, you always wanna have another leader because it just creates a dynamic You wanna create a dynamic where people feel comfortable and safe being completely transparent and honest, and sometimes that's more difficult for people to do when the principle is there.

Nadia Bennett [00:24:34]:

I would add to that, and and I totally agree with all that. I think I would just add a caveat that, you know, sometimes it's easier reach out to the parent that's always in the office. It always shows up for Eakins, and that's very, you know, volunteers in the classrooms. It's easier to hey. Ask them to join a committee. I always recommend folks to, you know, reach out to those parents you don't see a lot and students that you don't see that aren't GP 4.0s that aren't like, get get a really diverse representation of your your committee. because, again, it's easy sometimes to just grab the people that you see all the time and that you have positive relationships with.

Nadia Bennett [00:25:15]:

I agree. thank you because that also reminds me of something else in that with the diverse representation, you definitely want black people on the team And and I wanna make something clear. I'm very I'm intentionally using the word black people and not people of color. Mhmm. Those words have become interchangeable. And though appropriate for different spaces, what I have found is that in some of the data that I'm working with right now, I'm finding that black people are actually disappearing under the umbrella of people of color. What I mean by that is you could hear a statistic that says there are more CEOs are people of color as of June 2023. That's a random statistic. Okay? I don't know that that's accurate. People of color could be a person that is Asian, that is Latinx, etcetera. And yes, they are achieving higher levels of chief administrator roles. However, the number of black CEOs has remained the same and has been stagnant. It has not moved. I'm actually finding that in a data that I'm working on now for some studies that I'm doing around black superintendents. and that people of color, that number is increasing, but black people is, that number stay the same. So I have been intentional about separating those 2. because I don't want people that look like me to disappear under the numbers.

Nadia Bennett [00:26:46]:

I agree. I think I'm sorry. Go ahead.

Nadia Bennett [00:26:49]:

So I'm going back to the equity committees and teams, You want to have a good representation of black people and people of color, and you also want white people on the team. because allyship is important. And it does not matter what race you are as the leader you want to create an environment where everyone is represented. And if there are white individuals at the school that are truly committed to the work and so on. They should be on that committee as well. I don't I just I've I've met leaders that feel like all the equity team should be all black people that don't do that. Just don't do that. For a number of reasons, don't do that. make sure that there are some allies on that team on that committee as well.

Nadia Bennett [00:27:43]:

Do you want allies or do you allies only, or are you open to having folks who might have a deferring opinion when it comes to the work?

Nadia Bennett [00:27:56]:

There's nothing wrong with a deferral opinion. If you are offering a different solution to the problem, I think that's fine. What is not valuable is someone who is not aware of the implicit biases that we all have -- Mhmm. -- that is going to stop the progress of the school. So that person hasn't done their work. And that's regardless of race too. If they haven't done their work, they're they're gonna stop the productivity and the progress of the team. So a different opinion on how to solve the problem is welcomed and completely appropriate. and they don't believe that there is a problem. Yeah. Don't bring them. That's the whole number. Yeah. Yeah. Don't bring them. It's not worth it. And and possibly they shouldn't be on your team, but that's a different conversation.

Nadia Bennett [00:28:46]:

They shouldn't be on your school at your school in front of kids. Right? Exactly. Yeah. I'm weekly on that. Okay. Okay. Now it sounded like you alluded to there might be a 5th skill, or was that the the plan accordingly, piece?

Nadia Bennett [00:29:01]:

Yeah. So there is a 5th 1, and a 5th 1 is basically to settle in and run the race.

Nadia Bennett [00:29:09]:

Okay.

Nadia Bennett [00:29:11]:

because it's gonna be difficult, and they're going to be times when you want to give up. And they're going to be times when you're gonna have to make very difficult decisions there are going to be times when you're going to be attacked for doing this work. You're going to feel discouraged. All of those are natural feelings that come up when you're creating systemic change. Yeah. So settle in. Don't become unnerved by the the challenges. Don't become unnerved by the pain and take care of yourself. Step away when you need to because if you burn out, then the work stops and then we don't make the progress. So looking at it from a long haul perspective and knowing that it's gonna take some time.

Nadia Bennett [00:29:55]:

Just about to ask you, burn out strategies, or how to overcome because it like you said, First of all, you're talking about undoing systemic like things that might be generational. And if we're talking about it from that standpoint, it's not gonna change overnight. It probably won't change in a school year. So you said the long haul, what are some tips that you can give our school leaders that are like, I'm about to jump in. I know I know I'm about to hit it. How do you how do you keep the momentum going?

Nadia Bennett [00:30:24]:

Yes. So go into it with your own self care plan. and know the difference between self care and things that you do for how can I say this? General upkeep. So this is what I mean by that. Okay. I used to think as a leader. Oh, you know, if I do something like step away from the work to go get my nails done, on Saturday. I'm not gonna listen to anything that's going to get me involved in work, etcetera. I used to think that that was my way of, like, taking care of myself. I have evolved to, but why it is not. That's just the upkeep of being a woman that likes to get her nails done. Right? Okay. If not, So self care for me now is how am I caring for myself mentally and spiritually. Right? So that often looks like walking. It looks like journaling. It looks like knowing when I need to not log into social media, knowing when I need to not have conversations with certain people and being okay with knowing that I am a lifelong committed advocate. So if I step away for a month or 2 to take care of my mind, and heal whatever trauma may have come because of the work that I'm doing that that's appropriate, it's okay and it's encouraged. Right? So a lot of self care comes with an awareness of what's happening in your physical body, what's happening in your mind so that you can respond appropriately and take care of yourself in that moment, fill a year cup. And I just think it's important to separate what how self care is messaged sometimes because it if it's not taking care of you mentally and spiritually, then I would ask if this truly self care.

Nadia Bennett [00:32:22]:

So for me, going to the to the barbershop,

Nadia Bennett [00:32:26]:

wouldn't count as self care because it's something that I like, you know, I like to get my hair cut off. -- which I might be a fun place to be. That might be, you know, because you get engaged in all the conversation. but do I would ask you this question. Is going to the barbershop, does that make you feel Eakins care of spiritually and mentally? No. Okay. Name's name is Nancy. Not spiritually. I I asked the kids. Okay. So then that's the question I will ask myself. Is this filling my cup. Is this giving me something that I need that's gonna help me carry forward with the work mentally and spiritually? If it's not, that doesn't mean you shouldn't do it. Still go go to the barber shop. But understand that that's not always so care. -- part of plan. Okay. I got you. Okay.

Nadia Bennett [00:33:08]:

Well, listen, Nadia. I I thoroughly enjoyed this conversation. I consider you as providing a leading equity. Why don't you take us home with your final words of advice to our listeners?

Nadia Bennett [00:33:18]:

In times of challenge, please understand that our children need adults that have positions of power that have life experiences that they do not have to be their advocates. Not only do they need it, they deserve it. and all children deserve it, not just white children, not just, you know, privileged individuals, but children come into this world deserving all the same things. And they they deserve an equitable playing field. They deserve the same access, the same opportunities, and it is our job as adults. to give them that and to undo the systemic challenges that have come before us. And if you're an educator in 2023 and you're not having about race, and you're not having conversations about how the education system that we still operate under was not created for our children. you need to change the conversation.

Nadia Bennett [00:34:18]:

We'll leave it there. If we got some folks that want to connect with you, what's the best way to reach you online?

Nadia Bennett [00:34:24]:

Absolutely. They can reach me at Nadia Bennett backslash podcast where they can sign up for my newsletter. Excuse me. It's a great way to keep in touch with me. My website is nadia bennett.com. On IG, it's atwhenbrown girls lead. And, yeah, That's about it.

Nadia Bennett [00:34:43]:

Alright. Well, I will leave all the links and show notes as well. Nadi has truly been a pleasure. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you so much.

Key Words

diverse representation, black people, people of color, statistical representation, black CEOs, black superintendents, racial disparities, uncomfortable conversation, race and bias, reflecting on biases, taking responsibility, self-care plan, physical and mental state, mental health, systemic change, strategic plan, anti-racist committee, gathering feedback, honesty about numbers, urgency, boost enrollment, previous individuals, history of the situation, know your data, understanding disparities, student attendance, analyze data, anti-racist work, staff representation, addressing disparities, unconscious bias in teacher recommendations

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