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Yahoo
12-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
nonprofit founder working to put more Latino teachers in classrooms. Here's how
Editor's Note: This interview is part of an ongoing Star series highlighting Kansas Citians from historically under-represented communities and their impact on our region. The series builds on The Star's efforts to improve coverage of local communities. Do you know someone we should interview? Share ideas with our reporter J.M. Banks. Growing up in Florida as the son of Nicaraguan immigrants, Edgar Palacios saw the hardships his parents faced in pursuit of a better life for their family. At school he experienced discrimination that damaged his since of self worth as a student —an experience that left a deep and lasting impact, ultimately shaping his life's mission. While working for the education nonprofit Great Schools, and touring schools across the country, Palacios observed a consistent pattern: classrooms filled with Latino students, but very few Latino teachers. What began as a simple idea—to compile a national list of Latino educators — quickly revealed a large void in the education field for Hispanic teachers. In 2018, Palacios founded the Latinx Education Collaborative, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting Latino youth in the classroom and creating pathways to increase Hispanic representation in the education profession. Palacio said a big part of the reason he wants to encourage more Latino educators is so the growing population of Latino students get to see people who look like them and who share some cultural experience with them in their classrooms and school system offices. Palacios recently sat down with Kansas City Star culture and identity reporter J.M. Banks to talk about not feeling supported as a child at school, the importance of Hispanic teachers in the classroom and the need for community involvement in a students life. Banks: Can you begin by telling me about your early life and upbringing? Palacios: I was actually born in Miami Beach, Florida, and lived there until I was about 11. Then my parents moved our family to Spokane, Washington. We lived there for three years before moving to Cape Girardeau, Missouri, where I went to high school. In 2004, I moved to Kansas City for college, so I've been here for almost 21 years now. I'm the son of immigrants, my parents are from Nicaragua and came to the U.S. in 1981. I was born a few years later. Growing up, I witnessed firsthand the experiences they had to navigate as immigrants, learning new customs, cultures and systems. I especially saw these challenges in places like Spokane and Cape Girardeau, where I experienced discrimination as a young kid in the school system. I didn't see my full value as a student and that really fuels my work today. The belief that all young people are worthy of quality education and meaningful opportunities, regardless of where they come from. What inspired you to start the Latinx Education Collaborative? In 2015 I was part of a program called Great Schools that tours schools, which allowed me to travel the country and visit various schools and see different education models. I noticed that while Latino students were present everywhere, there were very few Latino teachers, staff members, or administrators. I started asking questions. I remember visiting a school in Houston, Texas, where 99% of the student population was Latino but there wasn't a single person of color on staff. I asked the principal why that was, especially in a place like Houston where you would expect diversity. I was confused. If you can't find people, why not actively go look for them? My first idea was simple: build a spreadsheet or database of Latino educators across the country. That way, whenever someone claimed they couldn't find any, I could hand them the list. It was a simple response to a very complex issue, but it became the seed of what is now the Latinx Education Collaborative. We officially launched at the end of 2018, and we've been working every day since, through the pandemic, through political and cultural shifts. We are focused on improving educational outcomes and experiences for students by working directly with Latino educators, parents, students, and allies. Since you founded the organization, how do you think the vision has evolved to meet the needs of the Hispanic students you serve? Evolution is absolutely necessary for any nonprofit. As I mentioned, our initial idea was simple, maybe even naive. But the more we learned about the field, the challenges and the broader political climate, the more we've adapted. There are many barriers that prevent Latino individuals from entering the education profession. Some are cultural or narrative-driven, like the idea that education doesn't pay well or isn't a prestigious career. Others are systemic, like lack of high school completion, scholarships, and access to mentorship. Some come from being part of first-generation families whose parents came to the U.S. seeking better opportunities and education doesn't pay well. We've been learning about all these factors and building pathways and solutions to address them. Collaboration is key—we can't do this work alone. We have to partner with schools, institutions, and other organizations. It's not something that you can do by yourself. What do you think are the main challenges your organization faces in trying to achieve its goals? Globally, we're facing a teacher shortage across the board. Fewer young people are interested in becoming educators, and we're struggling to retain the ones we do have. That's creating a serious crisis. Teachers are underpaid and undervalued, especially here in the U.S. If we want to address any of the other challenges in education, we have to first address how we treat and support our teachers. What are some of the most impactful programs or initiatives you've offered over the years? One program we're really excited about is our Futuros Program. Through that initiative, our goal is to add at least 15 new Latino educators to our community by 2027. We support aspiring educators and those entering their first year of teaching by providing wraparound support and helping them stay connected and encouraged. We also have a program called Expresión, which we run in partnership with Storytellers for Change. This program helps Latino educators develop and share their personal narratives. It's a way to humanize educators and build deeper connections with students. We believe educators who understand and embrace their own stories can better model authenticity and self-awareness for the young people they serve. What role does community involvement play in addressing educational disparities? Community involvement is everything. It's unrealistic to expect schools and districts to solve these issues alone. Educating a child is a community effort, everyone has a role to play. Whether it's showing up for school board meetings, advocating for better policies, mentoring students, or simply being present in the school environment, every action matters. Our youth succeed when we all show up for them. What are your organization's hopes and goals for the future? We still have so much work ahead of us. The issues we're tackling, like teacher diversity and systemic inequities, didn't appear overnight. These are generational challenges that require long-term commitment. We also have work to do in building bridges with other communities. Not everyone understands or agrees with the value of representation, equity, and inclusion. Until there's more alignment around these values, our work will continue to be both vital and necessary. For more stories about culture and identity, sign up for our free On The Vine newsletter at
Yahoo
26-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools explains district boundary change proposals
FORSYTH COUNTY, N.C. (WGHP) — It's been around 30 years since Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools redrew its district boundaries. The district is now undertaking the huge task of divvying up its 81 schools per its larger population, and it's not as simple as where you live. They're looking at distance, feeder patterns and socioeconomic status. It's that element of the plan that factors in socioeconomic status that has people buzzing, and it's because the district got a $1 million federal grant to foster more diverse schools. 'We looked at multiple factors, including income, but also the education levels of families within a certain census block … If it's a single-parent, two-parent home based on information that is publicly available … English may not be their primary first language,' said Chief Equity Officer Effie McMillian when asked what socioeconomic status means. 'There is tons of research out there about the benefits for all children that attend schools that are socioeconomically diverse,' she said. The American Psychological Association is one of the entities that found kids with lower socioeconomic status do worse in class, have worse health and don't read as well as kids with higher socioeconomic status. When schools have a mixture of both, students tend to do better as a whole. 'There are lower suspension rates. There is higher achievement rates across all groups. There is better teacher retention,' McMillian said. Using Parkland High School as an example, shows the school is rated just two of 10 stars on Great Schools, which is a website looking at test scores, equity and other measures to rank schools. FOX8 asked Superintendent Tricia McManus about how parents might feel seeing their students sent to PHS. 'I would say specifically to Parkland, let's go see what's happening there. I just did a 'see for yourself' there about a month ago, and there is some great teaching and learning happening in schools and some great extracurriculars,' McManus said. McManus said she understands the fear some parents have expressed after the maps were released Tuesday. The three available maps for parents to review are not final and can be changed. They also take into effect transportation time and feeder patterns in addition to socioeconomic status with option B as the most balanced of all three. School Choice Executive Director Frank Pantano says there is a lot of time to hear from parents about their preferences. 'No one is going to be uprooted from their current school in this process … The new boundaries will not go into effect until the 26-27 school year at the earliest,' he said. 'We are trying to make sure students are at the best schools for them based on residential purposes.' That's a lot of information to absorb, so the district is conducting multiple meetings to hear from parents and stakeholders with about a dozen already scheduled all over the district. The final plan is not due to be presented to the board of education until fall 2025. For parents to see the interactive maps, check their address against the options and see the socioeconomic status for each school and how the map options would affect socioeconomic status, click here and then scroll down to 'expected progress by school' and click on the blue rectangular box to see the map options pop up. Scroll to the bottom of that same page to see contact information to send feedback through the form or by email and to register for a listening session at one of several locations across the district. The sibling preference policy will remain in effect if an older sibling goes to a certain school and the family wishes for the younger sibling to attend the same school. For example, if someone is a senior at Mount Tabor High School and their sibling is in middle school, the younger sibling can go to MTHS even if the redistricting would send them to Reynolds High School. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
