I'm endorsing Dr. Nichole Pinkard for the D65 School Board

Professor Nichole Pinkard, my colleague, mentor, friend, and collaborator, is running for the school board in my hometown of Evanston, Illinois. I'm supporting her. If you live in Evanston and agree with my take, share this with your neighbors and friends so we can get Nichole elected. First, a few words for those unfamiliar with Evanston and the significance of local school board elections, especially in our current political climate.

Evanston - the small but mighty suburb of Chicago that I call home.

Evanston, Illinois, is a northern suburb of Chicago, home to Northwestern University. I moved here about 7 years ago. I've come to really love this place, and I'm proud to call it home. It's a charming city-adjacent college town with pretty beaches, a gazillion parks and cafes, and a couple of breweries. But mainly, I think of Evanston as a mellow family town with maybe a slight edge. Emphasis on maybe. You can catch the train into the city if you want some more action (and better food). One thing I really love and respect about Evanston, though, is that it refuses to define itself in Chicago's shadow. Chicagoans be like, "Evanston is not Chicago, it's a suburb!" Evanstonians snap back, "We weren't asking!" There is a real distinct identity and sense of pride here. You might know Evanston as the first city in the country to fund reparations for Black residents, which says something about its progressive politics as well as the inequalities and history of racial discrimination that are also very much part of this city's DNA. The diversity of the town is mostly concentrated in two wards, the historically Black 5th ward where Nichole lives, and the 8th ward where I live, home to a growing population of Caribbean, African, and Middle Eastern immigrants. The legacies of racial discrimination are painfully evident in the school system - past and present. One of the pressing current educational issues is the planned return of a K-5 public school in the 5th ward, after that community lost its all-Black neighborhood school in 1967 as a result of desegregation policies. The recently released Stolen School documentary, executive produced by my wife Dr. kihana miraya ross, tells this painful yet cautiously hopeful story. There is hope because the decision to reopen the school is viewed by many local residents as an opportunity for the city and the school district to do better by and for the Black community. The three of us (Nichole, kihana, and myself) received an NSF grant to partner with the district as well as community and family groups to support the process of the school's return to the 5th ward. Our grant is active and currently focused on supporting the district as well as local community organizations in developing research-based and culturally relevant STEM learning opportunities for 5th ward families and in supporting a positive relationship between the community and the new school. It is partially through this work that I have come to gain a deeper appreciation for Nichole's qualifications for the school board, but I'll return to that in a moment.

Why do school board elections matter?

While the Trump administration continues its reckless assault on education, it is important to remember that in the US, education is hyper-local. This dates back to the early history of American education, with communities responsible for organizing and funding their own schools. This is precisely why local school boards and school board elections are critical. School boards are responsible for ensuring compliance with state and federal standards, setting budgets, hiring superintendents, procuring educational technology, and, critically, making decisions on curriculum. In recent years, school board elections and meetings have become highly politicized, with extremist groups like Moms for Liberty aggressively opposing any and all initiatives linked to race, gender, DEI, etc. In this chaotic atmosphere, it is vitally important to have decent and reasonable people who are not driven by ideology but rather a basic commitment to supporting all families and children. That's exactly who Nichole Pinkard is.

Nichole’s vision and qualifications

For the unfamiliar, Dr. Nichole Pinkard is a nationally and globally recognized leader in education. I've long admired and learned from her scholarship and design work, dating back to when I was a graduate student at Berkeley. She was recently inducted into the prestigious National Academy of Education and has too many awards and accolades to list here. She is a trailblazing scholar who elegantly braids together perspectives from education, learning sciences, and computer science in the service of creating sociotechnical systems that expand opportunities to high-quality learning for all. She doesn't just produce scholarship and give keynotes in fancy venues, though she does that too. She creates lasting and sustainable tools and programs like Digital Divas and Digital Youth Network. One of the key contributions of her research has been illuminating how youth learning occurs not just in schools but within and across learning ecosystems comprised of community centers, churches, afterschool programs, sports clubs, and other informal settings. Nichole's work has been laser-focused on designing systems, tools, and policies that link and align these various parts of the ecosystem, ensuring families have access to a plethora of connected high-quality learning opportunities.

There is a deep equity dimension here that deserves a bit of elaboration. The reality, especially for economically privileged families like my own, is that learning in schools is important but only one dimension of a child's holistic development. I can attest to this as a parent. My weekends and evenings are spent shuffling my kids from one learning space to another. On weekends, we activity-hop like it's a sport. Basketball at the McGaw YMCA on Saturday mornings, followed by private piano lessons with Chicago-based artist Akenya, and cultural and language education at Chicago Persian School every Sunday. Then there's Chess club and soccer with the Evanston’s JahBat Premier club during the weekdays. My kids' education is the sum of all these extracurricular experiences, which add up to support and enhance their learning in the classroom. Nichole’s life's work has been to democratize access to high-quality learning opportunities for all kids, not just those who have built-in economic advantages like mine.

To sum it up, Nichole brings a powerful vision for the school board that is simultaneously grounded in cutting-edge research on learning and a deeply pragmatic lens on what's needed and possible to better education for Evanston families. Having a Northwestern professor on the school board will strengthen ties between the university and city, which we all know in Evanston is sorely needed. Nichole knows Evanston's educational landscape better than anyone I can think of, and she brings decades of experience working with civic and community partners in other cities, including Chicago. I think of Evanston as a high-potential city, well-intentioned but with a long, tough road ahead towards any authentic notion of educational equity. There are several really exciting elements to the educational landscape here, and I genuinely think Evanston has the potential to be a national model for how local universities can meaningfully support the transformation of local public education. Nichole serving on the school board will be a bold step towards realizing this potential.

Last, and I could have led with this, if Nichole had a secret sauce, it would be her authenticity and deep relationships. People trust her. Her colleagues at Northwestern certainly do, but more importantly, folks in the 5th ward and across Evanston know and love this woman. Her house is a revolving door of friends and family - okay, that may be partially because of her wife Nina's amazing cooking - but it is also a testament to her approach to community. She has the values, experience, knowledge, relationships, and the commitment. That's why I'm picking Pinkard.