May the Force be with Y'all: JEDI Leadership w/Executive Director Jaelyn Coates

In this episode of Leadership Laps, we sit down with Jaelyn Coates, Executive Director of Culture, Equity, and Engagement Departments (CEED), wrapping up her third year with Aurora Public Schools. As a Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) Advocate, Jaelyn shares her journey to equity work and how CEED's wide-ranging portfolio connects family engagement, student engagement, and staff professional learning on culturally sustaining practices. She discusses her team's instrumental role in major district initiatives including the Board of Education's LGBTQIA+ Resolution, the Immigrant Community Response Task Force, ensuring every school has a school accountability committee and completes equity audits, and supporting staff through the Intercultural Development Inventory. As the sponsor for our 'Schools as Community Hubs' strategy within Destination APS, Jaelyn offers insights about creating sustainable equity-focused change and building authentic engagement with communities that have historically been marginalized in educational spaces.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:06

There's something powerful about the journey of leadership, the daily steps, the long-term vision, and everything we learn along the way. Welcome to Leadership Labs, where we explore these journeys with the incredible leaders of Aurora Public Schools. In each episode, we hear from those who are helping guide our district toward Destination APS, sharing their stories, their challenges, and the lessons they learned along the way. Today I'm joined by Jalen Coates, our executive director of culture, equity, and engagement, also known as Seed, wrapping up her third year with APS. Jalen and her team have been instrumental in major district initiatives, including our Board of Education's LGBTQIA Plus Resolution, the Immigrant Community Response Task Force, ensuring every school has both a school accountability committee and completing equity audits. And as the sponsor of our schools is community hub strategy with destination APS and a Jedi Advocate, Jalen's work touches every corner of our district. Let's explore her journey and vision for building truly inclusive communities in our schools. Jalen, welcome to Leadership Labs.

SPEAKER_01 1:19

Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_00 1:20

Tell us a little bit about who you are first, and then just a little bit about your role as executive director of Seed.

SPEAKER_01 1:30

Yeah. So, like you mentioned, I'm the executive director of culture, equity, and engagement here in 8 PS. And I tell people that's just a lot of language to say that we get to make sure that we kind of put our money where our mouth is when we say that equity is a value, that community is a value, that we really care about each of these things. And so I have the privilege of working with an amazing team who supports schools across our system and making sure that they're bringing community to the table and when we make decisions, finding opportunities to partner with students, community partners, and families, thinking differently about the programs, the systems, the way that we teach, and how do we make sure that it's truly student-centered, keeps equity at the core, and it's really amazing work. I started my journey in education actually in higher ed. I totally thought I was going to go the kind of student affairs, dean of students, BPSA kind of route. But then learned when I was working in a partnership actually with KIP Colorado Schools and Colorado State University about more about the experiences our kids were experiencing before they get to higher ed. I had a lot of experiences with kids where they were coming in and saying, you know, miss, I haven't done anything all year, but it's cool, my teacher's gonna make a makeup assignment and I'll be fine. And we would have to have a level-setting conversation around that. That's not how that works here. Um, but I realized that that was their sense of normalcy because when they were um in school, they um that's what was happening. And so I felt like we had to kind of target that more quickly, um, work with folks who were um kind of creating those conditions and uh maybe feeling like from a deficit mindset, they had to kind of drag kids across the stage. Um, and that was really kind of what launched my transition and wanting to do culture and equity um kind of work behavior work around that.

SPEAKER_00 3:32

Very cool. Um tell us a little bit about what what drew you to Colorado and uh why you made a decision to stay in Colorado.

unknown 3:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:46

Um, I actually was really not sure about Colorado when I was coming out here. Um, as a military kid, I moved around a lot. Um, so I saw lots of different parts of the country and I even spent some time in Germany. Um, but I don't know, something about Colorado, I was like, black people out there, like, what does that mean for me? Um, but I I came out here for grad school and met a lot of really amazing people, um, including my wife, um, who loves it here and I love her. So I was like, well, I guess we're staying in Colorado. Um, but I think that over time I've really come to appreciate this space. Um I've met a lot of really incredible educators, activists, um, community members who just really care about um the Denver community, the Aurora community, um, like what it means to be like born and raised in Colorado, um, the history of this place, the possibility of a future. And it's just kind of drawn me to it and made me really excited to contribute to that narrative.

SPEAKER_00 4:56

Very cool. I'm glad that you met Jenny.

SPEAKER_01 4:59

I know. Me too. She's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 5:02

Um, talk to us a little bit about even what drew you to hire Ed. Um, and then also specifically equity work.

SPEAKER_01 5:13

Yeah. My experience, um, I went to UNC Chapel Hill, Go Tar Heels. Um, and my experience attending a predominantly white institution in the South was really unique in the sense that I was always a really good student, right? I like school was something that came pretty easily to me. Um, but I was given messages over time around this is what it means for you to be a black girl in school. Um, you know, twice as good, half as far, kind of kind of rhetoric. And then when I went to UNC Chapel Hill, I felt like those messages kind of compounded, both in the way that like people would treat you, my professors would kind of interact, the assumptions they would make about what was possible for me. Um, and then in just like the history of that institution in the South, right? And the fact that the history building there was named after at the time when I was there, the former grand dragon of the North Carolina chapter of the KKK, um, the um statues on campus that were um memorializing people who were like staunch advocates for segregation and dehumanization of black books in the South and in general. Um I met in school some really amazing activists who were ready to like fight the good fight, push back, um, were constantly um resisting against an administration that they felt like could and should do more for students of color on that campus. And it was um really impactful for me in learning you don't have to stand for this, right? Like you don't have to learn how to bend and and bob and weave in this world. You can, you know, stand up tall and um demand something better and um choose a different path and choose a different future. And I really started to think about what's the role that I want to play in making that happen.

SPEAKER_00 7:15

So thank you for sharing that. Um and uh tell us a little bit more about what it means to you uh to to be a uh a justice, equity, diversity, inclusion advocate.

SPEAKER_01 7:37

Yeah. It changes, you know, like like some days it feels like a lot of pressure, you know, um, to make sure that you're current, you're on top of things, you're you know, you're always you know modeling the way, right? And what it means to be that advocate. Um, other times it means choosing rest. Um, and in a world that's constantly telling you you have to be perfect and on top of things and um excellent and everything, especially I think as a as a young black woman, um, choosing to disrupt that and saying, how can I actively choose rest and myself and um something different so that I can stay in this work because it is long and hard and ever-changing. Um some days it means putting your foot down, you know, and and saying, you know, like how do we call out bad behavior when it's causing harm to students and community? Um other days it means calling folks in and having um a compassionately accountable conversation and inviting folks to think about their responsibility in this work. But um, what you'll notice is that it's it's always about making a choice. And I think in this work you can choose to opt in or you can choose to opt out, but there's a consequence either way. Um, ones that we see immediately and ones that kind of happen down the road. And for me, it's always the choice to opt in, um, has always been the right one.

SPEAKER_00 9:09

Yeah. Um, so we we've heard from you uh uh a little bit about some of your journey before coming to APS. Are there any experiences that you'd be willing to share with us that maybe shaped your approach to to culture, equity, and engagement?

SPEAKER_01 9:29

Oh man. Um I was an angsty grad student, right? Like everything was about sticking it to the man, fighting the system, lighting a match, watching things explode, just seeing what happens. Um and one day I had um a mentor say to me, Jalen, you're really great at um tearing things down that aren't meant for everyone. What are you going to build? And that really stuck with me because I realized that it was really easy for me to just say, that's a problem. This isn't serving folks, you know, this is a racist, classist, sexist, you know, like insert thing here, right? Um, and kind of just throwing this mess on the table and leaving that for people to, you know, do it's it's your problem now. You know, I did the work of calling attention to it. Um, and I think that moment for me invited me to consider what my role is in building something new, and that is hard work. Um and for me, I think that that has really informed the way that I kind of approach this work today. Like there are a hundred things that we can point to and look at and say, that's not serving us. This is grounded in oppressive ideology, or this isn't considering um the identities of our students and our community members. Um, and once we name it and we see it, we can't unsee it. And now we have to do something with that. And so, how do we bring folks together to freedom dream, um, to try, fail, try again, um, but to move away from practices that we're just comfortable with because we've been told that that's the way it has to be. Um, yeah. So I think thinking about what we can build.

SPEAKER_00 11:25

Nice. This is actually a really good segue to my next question, which is just who were some of the key mentors who have influenced your leadership journey?

SPEAKER_01 11:34

Yeah. Um, I think I'd have to start with Dr. Crystal King. Um, she was my mentor in undergrad. Um, she was the um director, executive director of the Carolina Union at the time. And it was just so cool to see this black woman who came in and instantly noticed, like, this ain't working, and we don't do something about it. And um, it was exciting to see someone just be she was like the short black woman too who came in and like commanded a room. Like you knew that she was about business, you knew you weren't there to just talk about it, we were gonna be about it. And it she was really cool to um get to work under and get to learn more about leadership from. Um, I'd say um Dr. Bobby Kunstman as well, who was also a mentor at um Chapel Hill. Um, he ended up moving to Duke, which we don't discuss. I'm deeply offended by that choice, but you know, um he's thriving. Um, and he was really great because um he invited me to think more about um just how dynamic identity is. I think I felt um a lot in my life because I'm I'm a multiracial kid. Um I did so I identify as multiracial, black, queer, like right. And I think that, and he he did too. And and I think for a lot of my life I felt like I had to choose, you know, like I can only be about one identity or one cause. And he just invited more complexity into my life. And um, I'm really grateful. I don't think I would be who I am today without him. And then I can't not mention Dr. Kathy Cisneros and Carmen Rivera, um, who were mentors here in Colorado, um, who pushed me and pushed me and pushed me and taught me that um my understanding of equity work and power and privilege and marginalization, like I was scratching the surface, but thought I knew everything about everything. And they were quick to be like, let me snatch you up real quick and introduce you to different um pedagogy and thinkers and ways of understanding and knowing. And so um, yeah, just amazing people.

SPEAKER_00 13:45

I love it. Uh, talk to us a little bit about what brought you to APS specifically three years ago.

SPEAKER_01 13:51

Yeah. Um, I at the time was working for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, um, which was really cool to work for state government and to learn more about um just the politics of that and complex organizations. Um, amazing people work there. I'm really grateful for them. And um, for me, I was not excited about waking up and talking about the social determinants of health. Like I learned a lot and I'm grateful that folks do that. Um, but I was really missing education. And so when I saw this role um come up, I was like, wow, this seems really cool. Um, you know, kind of did some digging and learned that um a role like this hadn't really existed um before. And so I felt excited about the opportunity to try something new and to build something. Um, I think learning about the Aurora community um and just the history and the and the folks that are here and how um just like the population has changed and this idea that it's the world in a city was really exciting. Um, and so I just felt really encouraged by um this opportunity and the students and families I'd get to work with and the people that were here, and when I was interviewing, learning that folks were like, I've been here for 19 years, I've been here, which is like not a thing anymore. People leave like, you know, pretty quickly from their roles, and so which is cool. Um, and learning that people like maybe have a lot of things to say about um what could be better, stronger, different, but choose to stay felt really exciting. And so I was really excited to be a part of it.

SPEAKER_00 15:33

Good. Well, uh speaking of the good work that has happened in the last two and a half, three years, um, your team has been instrumental in several major initiatives. Uh, can you talk to us a little bit about the work behind maybe the Board of It's LGBTQA Plus resolution andor the immigrant community response task force work?

SPEAKER_01 16:00

Yeah, you know, I'm really proud of the LGBTQ plus um resolution that we were able to pass with the board. Um, we actually had board members come and say um shortly after we passed the resolution on supporting our undocumented and mixed documentation um immigrant students. Um, our LGBTQ community is is is hurting too as we're navigating this socio-political moment where you know we're getting a lot of messages about what it means to be different and other in this country. And um I've also spent a lot of time with our LGBTQ affinity group and just hearing their stories and um what it is like to be um openly or not openly queer in um public education, it felt really important to me also as somebody who is openly queer in public education to make sure that we took the opportunity to stand true to our values. Um, you know, in the South B city all means all. And so I'm wanting to really champion that here as well. Um, and so working with our our students and our families and our affinity group, um, which is made up of staff members, and what does this really need to say? Um, and then working with our team, the culture and equity team, and saying now that we've done this, how do we follow through and make sure we're providing resources and training and coaching to make sure that schools can be welcoming and affirming places for our LGBTQ students and staff and family. So it's been hard work, but really rewarding work. Um, the same is true for our immigrant response uh task force. Um, I think the hardest thing about that um group is that if the work is ever evolving, um, there's always something new coming down around policy or um new, you know, like even just AI, right? And like not knowing if community feels like there's a real threat of ICE activity or if it's made up, you know, and like needing to be both proactive and responsive to things that sometimes feel like we don't know what we're doing, you know, like we've never done this before. And we've had to do a lot of level setting around it feels uncomfortable because we've not done something like this before. And again, the wrong thing to do is to choose to opt out. Um, so we're bringing together our leaders from across our system to have deep and hard conversations around what are the supports we need to provide for schools, students, and families? Um, how do we plan, right, in the event of an emergency? Um, what will we need to do? How can we be responsive? How can we make sure our leaders feel equipped to keep their kids safe, right? And keep our families safe. Um, how do we not unintentionally stoke fear because we haven't asked the right questions around um is something a legitimate concern? Or like I said, is it AI or something that's just kind of buzzing on social media? Um, how do we listen to our community, right? Um, how do we listen to folks that are being directly impacted, especially when you're somebody who maybe isn't being directly impacted? Yeah and check some of those assumptions. So it's been, like I said, some hard work, but really important work.

SPEAKER_00 19:39

Yeah. Uh thank you for sharing that. And there's it, there's so much that you and the team do. Actually, gonna do something fun, uh, I think, I think will be fun.

unknown 19:51

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 19:51

And let you pick the next the next topic. So you pick one, only one out of these three things. Okay. All right. SACS IDI or School S Community Hubs.

SPEAKER_01 20:07

Ooh, let's do schools as community hubs.

SPEAKER_00 20:10

Okay. So you sponsor our schools as community hubs strategy within the larger destination APS strategic plan. Can you just explain to us a little bit about what that means and just how it connects to to the bigger picture and plan for our district?

SPEAKER_01 20:27

Yeah, absolutely. So um we fundamentally believe on our team, and I would venture to say, like in APS, right? We fundamentally believe that um happy, healthy, whole kids are able to show up and learn better than kids who are not experiencing that. Um, and so the schools' community hub strategy is an intentional focus on making sure that we are really deeply understanding the students and families that we serve, um, creating the conditions uh for students to access their learning by providing for some of those basic needs, resources, um, experiential learning or extended learning opportunities, getting our community partners in so that kids have access to just different ways of learning or just having fun being kids, but really creating a network of schools where every school is responsive and intentionally cares for the needs of students and families so that they're excited to come to school, um, so that kids choose to opt in and are pumped about learning and don't have to think about things like food insecurity, um, or don't feel like, oh, all I do is sit at a desk all day, and you know, there's no opportunities for me to play and learn differently and build relationships with my friends. Where we invite community partners in to help support with things that we maybe don't have the resources or expertise on. I think our community partners are really critical. And making sure we're getting our families involved and not just in a sense of, you know, a culture night or just through parent-teacher conferences, but really seeing parents as partners in their students' learning. And so academic goal setting, right? Having intentional data conversations, equipping our families to ask their kids about what they're learning at home and keep that experience going. So it's really this idea that if a school feels like a community, kids want to be there and they're excited to learn, excited to keep coming back. And what's our responsibility to make sure that school feels fun and joyful and safe?

SPEAKER_00 22:52

Amazing. As I think most of our listeners know, uh our board of ed recently adopted uh new goals and cardrails, one of them being really centered around early uh literacy, uh, which in the next five years we aspire to have 80% of our students reading at grade level by third grade. Um and uh you and the team uh have brought forward this really cool idea uh um called Aurora Reads that would just love to give you the opportunity to tell our listeners a little bit about what that is and telegraph this exciting initiative we're about to embark on with our community.

SPEAKER_01 23:42

Absolutely. We're so pumped for Aurora Reads. Um so, like you said, we have this ambitious goal, right, of um getting kids up to that 80% reading on grade level, and we're pumped about it. And I think what our team has really been wrestling with is a lot of times when we talk about these goals, we think about it as the board's goals, the district's goals, the school's goals. Um, what we forget is that um meeting these goals is in service of strengthening our community, right? Um and so how do we bring community in and get them really excited about meeting these goals? Because this is a part of pouring into community. And so um what we are um starting is Aurora Reads, which is this idea that um we want to bring the city in on getting everybody reading and writing and really focusing on literacy across the Aurora community. So we're excited to partner with Cherry Creek School District on this, um, hopefully partner with the city of Aurora on this. Um and we're talking things like um booknooks across the city and making sure that small businesses have access to small booknooks. So when kids come in and they're waiting for a meal or they're um getting a haircut, right, they're reading um while they're doing that. Um we're talking reading captains across our neighborhoods who get to house books and are equipped with talking to their community about the importance of reading, um, the importance of um like reading 20 minutes a day, even as a family, right? And what that means for um getting kids excited about reading. Um we're thinking like decals across the city, right? Where businesses are saying, like, I'm a proud champion of Aurora reads, and folks are just seeing this messaging all the time on buses, on signage across our city, um, and just really galvanizing um the community of Aurora and creating this idea of shared responsibility for meeting that goal. And so we are pumped about it. We're excited to um start launching some of this beginning next school year. Um, so more information will come out about how folks can get involved.

SPEAKER_00 25:58

That's amazing. Uh yes, shout out to to the team and and uh here's uh uh a promo for Aurora Reads, and yeah, just hope everyone who's listening is able to see themselves as a partner in this work that we're embarking on. Uh you've had the the good fortune, I would say, of leading through change and leading growing teams and merging teams and new initiatives and through challenges that I think as you you mentioned, even just from like a socio-political context, uh that you know, maybe we didn't have on our our calendars uh that we're gonna respond to this uh this year. Um and and and so you know, in general, equity work requires both you know systems change and individual transformation. Uh, I know you're often thinking about change management, and and so just curious what you've learned about creating sustainable change in a large diverse district like APS.

SPEAKER_01 27:10

Yeah, I think the thing that and I learned this from a lot of the mentors in my life is that the people are the point, right? Um, a lot of times, and especially I think when you're in conversations and you know, it's deep dives on data, you know, and we're talking about finite resources and there's a hundred things we want to do, but limited time, space, capacity, money to do those things. And I think it becomes really easy to get very outcomes focused. And I think that outcomes are really important, um, but the people are the folks that make those things happen. And so what I've learned is taking the time to team, to build relationships, to um invite opportunities for just sparring and engagement and um being open to sharing your ideas, hearing others' ideas, um, coming in thinking that A is the path we're gonna go down, getting new information, and then saying, actually, maybe we need to try B, I think are all really important pieces because um building shared responsibility for a common goal is what um makes work sustainable over time. And of course, building systems and knowledge management, right? And um, how are we cross-pollinating so that folks are able to have a strong understanding of what's happening across a system? All those things are really critical too. But again, it's the people that make those things happen.

SPEAKER_00 28:42

So uh what are books or resources that uh have influenced your thinking, maybe about either equity, diversity, inclusion, justice that you might recommend uh someone interested in learning more to pick up?

SPEAKER_01 29:00

I okay, so right now we're reading the four pivots as a team. Um, Sean Ginwright, he's amazing. Um, he talks a lot about perspective, um, and I think takes this really personable approach to thinking about what is the relationship that every single person has with um power, privilege, marginalization. Um, I think a lot of what we're experiencing right now related to DEI rhetoric is because people make a lot of assumptions about what it is and what it isn't. Um, and I think that he does a really nice job of is reminding us that it's ultimately about you as a person. And like, um, of course, the systems that we build, but again, people build those systems. Um, but what is the world that you envision and what's your personal responsibility for um thinking critically about the experiences of others, how those relate to yours, being open to um an experience that maybe you've never heard of. Um, and then feeling, again, like a responsibility for practicing care over that person's experience. So that one comes to mind. Um, gosh, only because you asked me this question, I'm like, I'm drawing a blank. I'd say Bell Hooks all about love for sure. I quote Bell Hooks a lot because I think the way she thinks about um education and black women and liberation is really uh critical. I'd also recommend Sisters of the Am, particularly for women of color, um, and just thinking about um healing as a form of liberation as well.

SPEAKER_00 30:40

Um so yeah, those are what a little bit of a lighter question, and you you can choose how to respond to this either. Uh what songs or artists keep you energized in this work? And or uh what's like on your most played songs list?

SPEAKER_01 31:00

I'll go to most played songs um because it I'm I'm a weirdo, okay? So I listen to everything. Um I'm really into I've been into jungle a lot recently. They're actually coming Red Rock, so I'm super pumped. Um so jungle's really cool. Last year my Spotify told me that my that Kendrick Lamar was my top artist, um, which I was like, yeah, that's on.

SPEAKER_00 31:22

Not like this on repeat.

SPEAKER_01 31:23

Yeah, over and over again. Um squabble up, actually. Um that one, yeah, he's amazing. Um, but then also I have moments where I'm like belting Darius Rucker, Hootie and the Blowfish. Um, you know, so I I don't know, I listened to a little bit of everything. Um, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:41

Cool, cool, cool. Lightning round. What does destination APS mean to you, especially through that lens of equity?

SPEAKER_01 31:48

Yeah. I've been really excited to answer this question because when I think about destination APS, I think about being like that girl, right? Like everyone in Colorado is like, oh, you work for rural public schools. And we're like, mm-hmm. That's right. Like, and people are like excited about being here and what it means to be an educator and a leader and a student here. Um, and I think there's an element of like, you know, prestige and like, you know, like like you, you gotta know something about, you know, teaching and who that community is to be there that really excites me. But it's also about because we do things differently, right? Um, so we're not just, you know, prestige for prestige state, because like we are serious about culturally sustaining practices and we are serious about partnering with community and like you have to be serious about that too in order to be a part of this. That's right. And we see that as sacred.

SPEAKER_00 32:43

And so yeah. Let's go. What excites you the most about the future of Seeds work and EPS?

SPEAKER_01 32:53

Yeah. I think what has been so cool is seeing the team get excited about wanting to both create and track impact. Um, I think that we've had a lot of important and hard conversations around like, we can't just do engagement for fun. We can't just do equity for fun, right? Like we actually have to be able to point to something and be able to say, yeah, that mattered, that made an impact in the lives of our students or in the lives of our families. And seeing the team push each other in that thinking and then get really excited to bring that to um schools, to networks, to their colleagues, um, has been a delight. Um recently, even it's been cool to see folks like push me, you know, which you know, when you when you carry a title, sometimes I think people feel unsure. Like, can I push back on that? Is it gonna be right? And I think it's been really cool to have folks be like, I don't know about that. I'm like, all right, let's talk about it. And, you know, again, being open to, I don't know everything about everything. And that's why we have a team of really smart and credible people. Um, so yeah, I'm excited about um really thinking about the impact that we get to create. And then something that has really stuck is this idea of modeling the way. Um, our team says it all the time. Like, how do I model the way here when things are hard? Um, they shout each other out, you know, shout out to Alyssa for modeling the way and how she did this, or shout out to B for how she did that, you know, and it's um just been really cool to see them champion that um in our team and then across the system. And that's why I tell them all the time like, you know, it is easy when things feel hard, um, when we're in the thick of it, when we're not sure, you know, if we're gonna see, you know, the seeds sprouts. We were big on the seed metaphor, um, to start pointing fingers or get really down on ourselves and each other. Um, how do we model that we can do this differently? Um, and the power of again, choosing people and relationship and compassion um and love, I think has just been really cool to see.

SPEAKER_00 35:13

Good. All right, last question. What advice would you give to leaders working to create more equitable and inclusive teams?

SPEAKER_01 35:22

Um, opt in, try, fail, try again. Um, really ask critical questions around um whose voices are in the room, but whose voices are not in the room. And how do I hold myself accountable to getting perspective that I'm recognizing is not here? Um how do I pay attention to the ways that my upbringing, my experiences maybe um overly influencing direction? Um, you know, find that third way. Um, but again, really not being afraid to try and fail. Sometimes I think that we shy away from equity work because we're afraid of saying the wrong thing.

SPEAKER_00 36:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:04

Or we're afraid of making the wrong choice. And I'm here to tell you you're going to say the wrong thing. You're going to make the wrong choice in this work. But it's about how you respond to that, how you atone for that. Um, and then trying again. Yeah. You know.

SPEAKER_00 36:19

And sometimes I think folks struggle with this norm of not saying the hard thing.

SPEAKER_01 36:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:24

Even if it if you've got the right words.

SPEAKER_01 36:28

No, that's so true. And there's a lot of things I think that go into that, right? Power, positionality, you know, all the things. But um, the more we allow for those things to slide, the more we normalize them. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 36:39

So yeah. Cool. Jalen, thank you for sharing a little bit about your journey with us today, from the resolution to the task forces, from uh equity audits to the IDA work, IDI work that's happening in the district, your work uh proceed is transforming how we show up for every member of our community, from students to staff to families to community partners. And I just want to say thank you for being an advocate for our entire CPS community. To our listeners, I'd like you to join us next time as we continue exploring the past of those who are helping by us or destination guests. Uh until then, we'll wait to go to the hospital.