Partners and Allies

William Ayers William Ayers, Distinguished Professor of Education and Senior University Scholar at the University of Illinois at Chicago (retired), member of the executive committee of the Faculty Senate and founder of both the Small Schools Workshop and the Center for Youth and [...]

Raynard Sanders, Ed.D. Raynard Sanders, Ed.D has over thirty years of experience in teaching, educational administration, and economic and community development. As a principal of a New Orleans high school, he developed the first high school DNA lab in the state of Louisiana [...]

Diane E. Levin Diane E. Levin, Ph.D. is Professor of Education at Wheelock College in Boston, Massachusetts where she has been training early childhood professionals for over twenty-five years. She teaches courses on play, violence prevention, action research and a summer institute on [...]

Nancy Carlsson Paige Nancy Carlsson Paige is Professor Emerita at Lesley University where she taught teachers for more than 30 years and was a founder of the University's Center for Peaceable Schools. Nancy has written and spoken extensively about the impact of media [...]

Geralyn Bywater McLaughlin Geralyn Bywater McLaughlin, M.Ed. is a founding teacher of the Mission Hill K-8 School. She serves as the Director of Defending the Early Years and Empowered by Play, which she also founded in 2009. Ms Bywater McLaughlin, a teacher-turned-activist, became [...]

Jitu Brown Jitu Brown, married and father of one child, is the National Director of the Journey For Justice Alliance. Jitu also serves as the Education Organizer for the Kenwood Oakland Community Organization (KOCO). Born and raised on the south side of Chicago, [...]

Amy Valens Amy Valens began her teaching career in 1968 in the public schools of Dayton Ohio. After a brief stint teaching in an independent Summerhill based school in Los Angeles, she returned to public school teaching in Northern California. She joined the [...]

Deborah W. Meier Deborah W. Meier currently serves as the Chair of Save Our Schools Board. She taught in urban K-12 public schools for near fifty years. Deb founded nationally-renowned public schools. She is also also a Board member and Director of New [...]

Dr. Sherick Hughes Dr. Sherick Hughes is an Associate Professor and the Graduate Program Coordinator of the Cultural Studies and Literacies Program in the School of Education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His scholarship includes over 40 publications (either [...]