I have been thinking about this quote that I heard recently from noted actor, director, and activist Ossie Davis, where he said, “Never stick your neck out deeper than your feet are rooted in the people.”
When I think about just how politically charged public education is – charter versus district schools, the reading wars, the assault over acronyms like DEI and CRT, and. Even. Something. Basic. Like. Student loan forgiveness, I imagine how it unnecessarily and also specifically raises the stakes on students and communities of color.
As I like to see it, education is one of the slowest, yet most impactful levers at transforming communities. One great teacher, in one year, can dramatically alter one student’s trajectory and transform the outcomes of all the people and communities that the graduate touches.
Compounded over time, great teachers and excellent schools have the exponential power to undo the side effects of policies and politics that either only serve the few or subject the masses to inequities that can set families and communities back generations.
The fulcrum on which great teachers and schools depend on, however, is a transformational leader. We may not think about it, but so often, when we dive deeper into the life experiences of what brought a transformational school leader into education, it’s the same stories of oppression designed and decided behind office doors that impels someone with a deeper heart and care for her people and their communities to stand up and be counted as someone who refuses to let that happen.
It’s under that light that I reflect on the life and work of Dr. Elaine Ruiz López, who I had the opportunity to interview recently, as part of the 15th anniversary of our organization’s work. Her first book, The Fight for Equity in the Bronx: Changing Lives and Transforming Communities One Scholar at a Time, documents not just the fight it took to open and then lead International Leadership Charter School to national recognition but also her compelling life story that shows both the horror and possibilities of growing up in the shadows of an oft-ignored borough like the Bronx.
In that interview, which you can access here, you can just feel both the faith, love, and toughness that she developed and which is critical to putting your life’s work into changing the lives of the people who look like you, live by you, and just are you. Her book is just a must-read for anyone considering taking their energy and making it their life mission to open a school. While Dirk and my work in incubating 19 community-based charter schools did not include hers, Dr. López’s experience has always been a guide and we are so honored to showcase her as our first post and interview documenting the successes of the charter school community that Dirk loved and we continue to support wholeheartedly in transforming communities, as Dr. López has.
Her book is available for purchase on Amazon and all of the proceeds will be redirected to support her students. Her website has even more details and coverage on her work. And for anyone in the NYC area today, Dr. López is hosting a book talk and signing beginning at 6:00 PM at:
International Leadership Charter High School
3030 Riverdale Ave.
Bronx, New York 10463
Congratulations Dr. López on a storied career, and it is our honor to help share your light.