By Ricki Gibbs II, Ed.D.

Principal at Warner Arts Magnet Elementary in Metro Nashville Public Schools

As educators we all have similar goals. We work to inspire, motivate, and empower the students we interact with every day. Realizing these goals requires us to support, collaborate with, and encourage each other as we do our life changing work. Being an ally in an educational setting is often thought of as a role for white teachers doing anti-racism work or heterosexual teachers supporting their students who identify in the LBGTQ community. However, allies should exist across identity lines. Being an ally means recognizing when others are being oppressed and standing in solidarity with anyone who experiences oppression.

Allyship, in its most basic form, is the ability to create the space that allows someone else to be their authentic self. Can any of these goals be truly accomplished when we have educators in our schools who feel disenfranchised, alone, and unsupported by their colleagues? Being an effective educational ally requires substantial self-reflection, a strong sense of self-identity, and a willingness to step up and advocate for a colleague. All educators can develop the skills to be an ally, but the journey to get to that point will look different, depending on the educator’s identity, life experiences, and understanding of issues of power and privilege.

Recognizing when colleagues are isolated or not invited into the group. These moves are a form of oppression which require that we stand up in solidary with anyone who is being oppressed.

Dr. Rosita Apodaca

  • Stand up, even if you are nervous.

Allyship in education can feel as if you are jeopardizing your own standing in your school by standing up for a student or colleague when others say that a situation has nothing to do with you. However, standing up for someone else, even when you feel scared or nervous, is what allyship is about. Responding in an open-minded and supportive way is not about conforming to arbitrary rules, beliefs, or being a doormat. When we take the school or world politics out of it, it is just the practical thing to do and the same thing we ask of our students every day. Still, many find it difficult to stand up as an ally in these moments because we run the risk of angering our colleagues or jeopardizing our own standing in our school.

Real-World Scenario

One day we will all be faced with deciding whether to stand up and advocate for our students. In my case, this decision was one that would change my outlook on supporting others as I sought to be an ally to the disenfranchised. Early in my administrative career I dealt with a situation in which two students engaged in a physical altercation. Video evidence showed that the African American student was not the aggressor, but his Caucasian peer left the altercation with bruises that required hospitalization. After my investigation I was ready to give both students an equal consequence, but my direct supervisor recommended I give the African American student a harsher consequence since he inflicted injuries on the other student. This suggestion did not sit well with me and when I let my thoughts be known it was not initially received with open arms. I knew I couldn’t just sit to the side and let a student be “railroaded,” so I asked for a meeting to discuss the situation in further detail. I went to the meeting with evidence and research on how minority students are punished at a higher rate than their white peers for the same offenses and was ready for battle, but to my surprise my direct supervisor had reflected on our conversation and decided to take my advice for equal consequence. This story illustrates the power of speaking up. As an educational ally we have the power to step in and support the young people we educate by ensuring we are balancing what at times can seem like an unbalanced system. We must use our voices to ensure all students are treated equitably if we are to remove bias, bigotry, and racism from our educational system.

  • Be willing to challenge the status quo. 

Challenging the status quo can be a difficult proposition when becoming an educational ally. When challenging the status quo, according to John Lewis (2017) we all have to take a long, hard look down the road we will travel once we have made a commitment to work for change. Know that this transformation will not happen right away. Change often takes time and it rarely happens all at once. Are you willing to engage in “Good Trouble”? Are you willing to challenge the status quo from inside the system? Are you willing to stand up for what is right even when no one else is standing with you? Are you willing to commit to being an upstander and not a bystander to create change?

Real-World Scenario

I recently had the privilege of serving as principal of an elementary school where 66% of our student population was actively learning English as a second language and 81% of our students spoke a language other than English in their home. As an educational ally in this community, I personally sought to ensure we empowered our families by celebrating their cultures. As an ally, one of the most critical measures you can take for the group of people you are supporting is to celebrate, empower, and encourage their cultural beliefs to give them a sense of belonging. By appreciating cultural diversity, you innately begin to build a circle of trust where immigrant families know and understand that you want the best for their child as well as the entire family. As educators many of us will one day serve a student population whose families are new to the country or are first generation Americans. Serving as an educational ally in these communities sets the stage for greater equity in our schools. 

  • Hold your circle accountable.

Most educators will agree that we have a responsibility to stand up for what is right and that’s what allyship is all about. We all have our “circles”—those groups of colleagues that we feel comfortable around and tend to share how we really feel about certain topics. It is in these conversations where allyship can have the most impact. It is easier to hear something that challenges your thoughts about a topic from someone you know cares about you rather than a stranger who seems combative because you disagree on a topic. As allies we must listen and learn so when we return to our circles, we can better support each other in the fight for what is right. Allyship is not a solo fight, just like most effective educational practices cannot be attained in isolation. You must find others who are a part of the dominant group and hold them accountable for their words and actions, while at the same time remembering that, as an ally, you are accountable to the person(s) who are experiencing marginalization because of your status, power, and privilege.  

Real-World Scenario

Education is historically built on middle class American values. With that in mind, there have been and still are plenty of educators who have faced a situation that I encountered. When I was a classroom teacher, I had to make the decision to go along with the status quo or become an ally to a colleague who identified with the LGTBQ community. My school was like most schools across our country. There were teachers who held a lot of influence throughout our building and their thoughts and values shaped our school culture. That year a first-year teacher joined our staff, and she was open about her sexuality. I quickly realized that those who yielded the greatest influence in our school were attempting to silence her voice because they did not, in their words, “want her beliefs to be spread to our students.” In this moment I was confronted with a personal dilemma. Do I ignore what is obviously happening in front of me and go along with the crowd or do I stand up and challenge these influencers as I disagree with their treatment of our colleague? I would be lying if I told you that I wasn’t nervous, because being an ally at times takes courage that we do not know we have inside of us. Remembering that moment I know I stumbled over my words, but when I stood up and called out the bigotry and homophobic behaviors we were displaying as a school, I could see my colleague begin to smile. Education is and should always be about challenging one’s thoughts and inspiring others to think critically. As educators, we must find ways to dismantle any beliefs that teach or encourage intolerance based upon how someone looks or how they love. As someone who held a spot in “the circle” of influencers, it ultimately became my responsibility to hold my circle accountable to ensure our beliefs are inclusive and welcoming to all.

  • Share the benefits of your privilege.

One of the hardest moments in every educator’s career is being the new person in a school, or in some cases, the person who is seen as “different” from others in the school community. The “difference” might be based on physical ability, size, language spoken, orientation, gender, race, religion, age, etc. The fact is that someone will be the minority on the staff and that can be lonely place. Not knowing if your opinions will be valued or if others will see the benefits your divergent experiences will bring to the team. As an educational ally, you have the ability to ease these nervous feelings by sharing the benefit of your privilege. This means extending the power that you hold to create a space for and amplify the work of the person who has been minoritized.

Real-World Scenario

Education is historically built on middle class American values. With that in mind, there have been and still are plenty of educators who have faced a situation that I encountered. When I was a classroom teacher, I had to make the decision to go along with the status quo or become an ally to a colleague who identified with the LGTBQ community. My school was like most schools across our country. There were teachers who held a lot of influence throughout our building and their thoughts and values shaped our school culture. That year a first-year teacher joined our staff, and she was open about her sexuality. I quickly realized that those who yielded the greatest influence in our school were attempting to silence her voice because they did not, in their words, “want her beliefs to be spread to our students.” In this moment I was confronted with a personal dilemma. Do I ignore what is obviously happening in front of me and go along with the crowd or do I stand up and challenge these influencers as I disagree with their treatment of our colleague? I would be lying if I told you that I wasn’t nervous, because being an ally at times takes courage that we do not know we have inside of us. Remembering that moment I know I stumbled over my words, but when I stood up and called out the bigotry and homophobic behaviors we were displaying as a school, I could see my colleague begin to smile. Education is and should always be about challenging one’s thoughts and inspiring others to think critically. As educators, we must find ways to dismantle any beliefs that teach or encourage intolerance based upon how someone looks or how they love. As someone who held a spot in “the circle” of influencers, it ultimately became my responsibility to hold my circle accountable to ensure our beliefs are inclusive and welcoming to all.

Allyship in education is critical as we teach our students what it means to care for each other. If we do not do the same for other educators who do not look like us, believe as we do, or love as we do, we will never form the alliances that will allow us to reach our ultimate goals. In my world of school turnaround and/or school transformation, allyship has become a foundational aspect of the work. When educators understand that they have allies in the building with them, it creates a school community that feels valued and heard. These critical strategies set the stage for educators to be innovative and courageous as we change lives through the power of a great education.

People begin to feel valued and their voices can be heard. These small, but critical steps can open us up to innovation, build courage, and can often change lives.

Dr. Rosita Apodaca

Ricki Gibbs II, Ed.D., commonly referred to as “Gibbs” is the principal at Warner Arts Magnet Elementary in Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) in Tennessee. He was recognized as MNPS Elementary Principal of the Year 2019-2020. He is an educational leader and school turnaround specialist who has an innate ability to highlight the assets of the educators with whom he works. He is a motivator for sure, but also an inspirer who leads by example, because every moment has the potential to change the lives of students in his charge.

Reference

Lewis, J. (2017). Across that bridge: A vision for change and the future of America. New York, NY: Hachette Book Group, Inc.