Abolitionist Teaching: Uncommon Charter Schools Aren’t As Woke as You Might Think
For a little less than a calendar year, I worked for Uncommon Schools in Troy, NY. If you haven’t heard of it, it is one of the larger and more well-known charter school networks in the United States. They currently have 54 schools, from elementary to high school, with 20,000 enrolled students in six different cities in the Northeast. Located in cities like Boston, Camden, Rochester, and Troy, the schools typically serve populations of “low income students.” According to Uncommon’s website, these schools are places where “every student feels truly loved and cared for, learning is both rigorous and joyful, and students are prepared for success in college and beyond.” Currently, their homepage highlights that more than half of their faculty and staff are people of color. The site includes a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion page, along with blurbs about “fighting for what’s right” and “standing with dreamers.” They highlight a recently written op-ed by the president of Uncommon Schools, Julie Jackson, that boasts, “We Were Founded to Battle Racism and Injustice.” They have a thoughtful statement reflecting on Juneteenth. Their promise is that, through extended school days and years and rigorous academics, students who are historically under-served and disenfranchised are receiving an equitable education that prepares them for college…
