On May 17, parent leaders from Innovate Public Schools took the stage to talk parent power at the NewSchools Summit, in front of a crowd of 1,200 of the top education leaders and changemakers in the country.
“When parents understand how to build their collective power, they can drive positive change in their communities and create much better schools,” said Innovate CEO Matt Hammer, who moderated the panel of parents.
Parents from Innovate Public Schools, RISE Colorado and ACE Nevada, who have organized to drive change on a range of education issues, spoke about their greatest wins and how they have been personally transformed by this work.
“Without the help of Innovate Public Schools, we would not have had the same results. Together we can make great change but we have to be together,” said Innovate parent leader Enrique Esparza.
Esparza and his wife, Maritza Leal, were part of a group of Innovate parents in Redwood City who worked for three years to successfully bring two new public schools to their community.
The panel also included parent leader Geraldine Anderson, who is active with Innovate’s San Francisco parent group.
“It was alarming to find out about the achievement gap with Latino and black students in San Francisco,” said Anderson, a Deputy Court Clerk for the San Francisco Superior Court. She told the audience that many of the young people she sees coming through the court system are those who have been failed by the school system. That motivated her to take action.
“This is about parent power, not just parent voice,” Hammer told the audience in closing out the session. As the parents who participated in the panel demonstrated, when it’s your own children at stake, you don’t just want a seat at the table, you want and need enough power to win.
