The Latest from VEA

“When someone takes a group photo that you’re in,” asked Dr. James E. Ford, director of the Center for Racial Equity in Education, “and you see that photo later, what’s the first thing you look for?”

He smiled and answered his own question, to a chorus of agreement from the audience at VEA’s Educators of Color Summit: “Yourself! You want to see where you are in that picture. When students of color are taught history that doesn’t include the truth about them, it’s like they’ve been cropped out of the photo.”

Ford was the keynote speaker at the Summit, where teaching the truth was among numerous topics addressed by some VEA members from across the Commonwealth.

Another subject: Does it really matter if children of color have educators of color? Four high school seniors took the stage to answer that. “It’s like having family at school,” said one. “When I saw how they commanded the room, it taught me how to be confident, how to present myself,” said another. Research on student success underscores how meaningful such staff members are.

In between such presentations, Summit attendees also had breakout sessions on topics including empowering educators of color through mentorship, the urban perspective, building an inclusive classroom, combating marginalization, HBCUs, and National Board Certification.

“I learned so much,” says Tawana Lynch, a Salem Education Association member, “and not only to take back to my students, but for me as an educator, too. There are so many people and resources available to me through this Association.”

Winchester Education Association member Jeff Keller, Virginia’s 2024 Teacher of the Year, urged the group, and educators across the state, to join forces. “There is power in the collective,” he said. “We can support diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice in education together.”

It’s going to take time and planning, though, and the collective begins with individuals. “No reality can change without reflection and action,” he warned, before finishing with the words of Rodney Robinson of Richmond, the 2019 National Teacher of the Year: “The work of being equitable and inclusive starts with me.”