Speaker: Jazmyn
Which session stayed with you the longest afterward & why? What tool or idea did you take from the session & implement?
Jazmyn: Hello, my name is Jasmine Ferguson. I am the director of organizing strategy here in the Dallas Fort Worth area for an education organization called Leadership for Educational Equity. Um And a huge part of my role is supporting the organizing efforts of a local group of community leaders, educators, families and students called Dallas core. Um And I give them the skills and tools necessary to see the change that they want to see. Um And I have been incredibly, um you know, passionate about our education system and just making sure um that students that look like me um are taken care of and are seen and are valued and heard in our education system. Um And to make sure that the practices and the policies that exist that serve as the foundation for our education system, um you know, are built around um you know, making sure that our students and families are taken care of. So, um I was invited to join the Beyond Differences Platform um through one of my um incredible colleagues, um Patty Bates Ballad. And um through this uh through this connection, I've been able to go to two meetings um that have really just uh blessed my life and just have really been um in an absolutely incredible experience that I hold on to dearly. So, the first one I went to was um the restorative practices session with Don Carney and just to be able um to hear, um, someone who's an expert in the field of just like making sure that the practices around just like, um taking care of our students and um the adults um on our school campuses is restorative and actually, you know, um amounts to something greater. Um It was really, really incredible to hear. Um And also just to, you know, hear, don share about just uh the impact that he's been able to make on principles around these restorative practices and, you know, to get their buy in. That is something that, you know, sticks with me. Um And then I also have been able to go to a, um a session on S E L um with equity um in mind. Um and a Simmons uh was leading that and that was such a powerful um space to be and again, just another expert um that, that has lived experience in what they're talking about. And this was so powerful for me because it really just made me rethink how I think about equity, um and how I support my organizers um through S E L and like, uh how I take care of them. Um so that they can take care of others. And the reason why I like this space is so important and necessary for me to be in is because as an organizer, but I'm not on the ground, I'm not in our schools, I'm not, you know, directly with our, our students and our families. Um, but in order to do my organizing work, well, um, I have to make sure that my ears to the ground and I'm always, um, paying attention to what the needs of our community are because the ones that are closest to the pain are the ones that have the solutions that we seek. So it is my duty and my responsibility to always understand what's really happening on the ground. Um And also to have a skill set that I can share with others um that organize with me. Um so that they can take these restorative practices in S E L with equity and mind when they go out, um you know, into the field and into the work that they do so that they can show up stronger. So, um I'm super grateful for a space like beyond differences because it has allowed me to be in conversation and intimate spaces with those that are, you know, on the ground. Um And then also to hear from um experts in, in the field and it's just been such an incredible opportunity for me um to, to be able to, to just be in that space and to absorb all of the intelligence and greatness that exists. Um They're beyond differences. So, thank you. Thank you. Thank you for um allowing this space to exist. It is necessary, it is important and it is key to making sure that all of our students are taken care of.
