Hi Reader,

With so much going on in the world these days, I’ve been thinking about the power of our everyday interactions. I’ve been pondering how micromoments can be pivots either towards disregarding the insights, concerns, and priorities of minoritized youth, families and communities – or subtle shifts that recognize their expertise as fellow agenda-setters in systems change and affirm our shared humanity. I want to share two quick stories.

Story 1, recent conversation with educators: At a school board meeting, Black families shared powerful testimony about their experiences in schools along with their desires for change. The group went over their allotted time, and when the presentation ended, a board member resuming the meeting made an off-handed comment along the lines of, “We can finally get back to our agenda.” The comment implied that the families had been a distraction or an obstacle to proceeding with the real purpose and focus of the meeting. It dismissed families’ contributions and re-centered the system’s agenda. The educators sharing the story said that they didn’t think the board member intended harm by his comment, but you could see the families’ faces change in that moment. It took over a year to repair the anger and mistrust from that moment of thoughtless dismissal.

Story 2, from my research: At the end of a school-wide parent meeting held in the cafeteria, an immigrant Latino family approached the white, male principal to raise a concern about an issue their daughter was having with her teacher. Principals generally do not speak about individual students and classroom issues in these kinds of meetings, and he was putting his coat on and walking towards the exit, clearly ready to go home after a long day. The principal stopped, opened his arms to the family in a gesture of invitation, and spoke a single sentence in Spanish conveying his desire to hear more about the family’s experience as soon as possible. The phrase was grammatically incorrect, he was hesitant and slow, his pronunciation wasn’t great, and you could tell he was just a little uncomfortable. But it opened the door in a powerful way. It shifted the energy in the exchange. He was trying to communicate and reach out beyond “hello” or “thank you.” The parents smiled, they acknowledged and positively reinforced his Spanish. They pledged to follow up with him about the issue soon.

Sometimes it takes as little as a glance, a phrase, a moment. These stories are reminders of our agency in these profoundly challenging times, regardless of our role in education. A thoughtless comment or interaction can destroy trust and double down on inequity. But it takes so very little sometimes to convey care, attention, worth, openness. To humanize a 30-second interaction.

So yes, we have to transform the structures, policies and routines that center systems agendas and that prioritize the voices and agendas of those already privileged in society.

And I invite you to consider how many micromoments we have in a single day! They are opportunities to build connection, to foster solidarity across language, race, culture, class, and other lines of difference. To counter the hatred, exclusion, and dehumanization with love, dignity, and humanity. To see a young person and their family on their own terms. That’s power!

In this newsletter, I share some lively podcast conversations about Doing the Work, a peek into my keynotes about partnering with communities at Temple University, and upcoming opportunities to connect!

Doing the Work in podcast chats

Decoteau & I had a couple of super fun conversations with old & new friends on recent podcasts, Equity Unlocked and Cultivating H.E.R. Space. Fun fact (that got cut out of the podcast): Long-time colleague and dear friend, Dr. Muhammad Khalifa (Equity Unlocked) was responsible for bringing Decoteau, Terrance, and me together when we first began scheming about the research that led to the book. We also got to mix it up with Terri Lomax and Dr. Dom Broussard where we got to shout out some of the incredible Black women at the vanguard of equity leadership in systems.

Appreciating the “Acres of Diamonds” in Local Communities

I recently had the honor of giving two keynotes for the 2026 Acres of Diamonds Symposium and joining inspiring conversations with scholars, practitioners, and community scholars at Temple University. My talk, entitled From Extraction to Solidarity: Bending the River towards Just Community Collaborations, invited attendees to explore ways forward for starting at the headwaters of community expertise, rewriting racialized scripts at the turbulent confluence with systems, and bending the river towards transformative futures (h/t FLDC Chicago Indigenous design circle). I left energized by my time at Temple. Huge thanks to Dean Monika Shealey, Dr. Linn Posey-Maddox and all who made it possible!

“Equity in the Crosshairs”

If you are headed to LA for the American Educational Research Association convening this spring, we hope to see you at our book signing, our paper session, or one of the other sessions Dr. Irby or I are part of. My other sessions include a roundtable on Thursday 4/9 with Dr. Dana Nickson, Dr. Sefanit Habtom and (soon to be Dr!) Dawit Alemayehu about the Sankofa of Sustaining Agency in Black family early literacy codesign and a session on Friday at 11:45am with Dr. Rosa Rivera-McCutchen & Dr. Adrienne Goss about Structured Subversion, a strategy for transforming systems with Measures that Matter.

Just Schools Book Studies - Current & Future!

How do we recognize and support cultural brokering? What leadership practices build family leadership and meaningful influence? How do the dynamics of opportunity hoarding exclude and marginalize those designated as “outsiders”? Wow, the parent leaders, district administrators, principals, family liaisons, teachers, and systems educators in the current book study are giving me life in these dim times! What an honor to get to dig into my book with them, along with a rock star facilitation team (thanks to Melia, John, Humberto & Zahra). Due to an overflow of interest, we decided to offer another Just Schools Book study this spring (don’t wait if you are interested!). Once again, parent/family leaders who are part of school/district teams but are not paid district/school personnel are free! Register here.

Voice, Power & Purpose: Multilingual Students & Families

I will be keynoting this year’s Washington Association of Bilingual Education conference in Yakima, Washington in April. With Dr. Maria Lucero (L4L grad & Yakima School District), we’ll also be offering a pre-conference workshop the day before. If you teach or lead schools or systems with multilingual students and families in the state, we hope to see you there!

Thanks for reading and for continuing to do the work, over the long haul – and in the micromoments that matter!

Ki o tsukete,

Ann