“I believe that children do not have time to wait for adults to get it together.”

Tiara Jordan

Today’s guest is Tiara Jordan, Founder and Executive Director of Activate STL, an organization dedicated to educating, training and uplifting parents and their voices to ensure access to quality school options. Tiara sits down with Staci to discuss how Activate STL is mobilizing and organizing parents, what parents should be considering when choosing a school for their children, and how the current education system is failing black and brown families.

• Tiara’s K-12 Story
  • Grew up in Flint, Michigan with a lack of educational resources and support in her inner-city district. 
  • Parents saved up money to move to a school district with better education 
  • The neighborhood did not welcome them, and wanted their family to “go back to their side of town”
  • She started to notice a difference in the education she and her brother were receiving versus her cousins and friends in her old district. 
  • In undergrad, she learned about inequalities in education
  • Became an educator 
• What brought Tiara to St. Louis?
  • Her “parent light” turned on and she recognized the role she would need to play for her child and other children to receive an adequate education.  
• What is Activate STL?
  • Not being from STL, Tiara really wanted to get to know and understand the community and their concerns with education. 
  • Activate doesn’t really have a plan, they let the parents drive the plan. 
  • Through mobilizing and organizing parents, they’re developing their leadership skills and expanding their education on the system. 
  • “By parents, for parents” 
• Why is Activate STL so important for parents in the city?
  • There are a lot of politics involved in this city
  • Tiara used to believe if there was desired change, that you should go to the principal or superintendent, but now knows the issues are happening at a much higher level – mayors, senators, and councilmembers. 
  • Activate helps educate parents on where these decisions that affect the schools are happening and how to get involved  
• Why is there a narrative that exists that you only support charter schools?
  • Tiara only went to charter schools growing up. 
  • If you are in a city such as St. Louis, the reality of our city is the public school district is not doing well, and it’s failing kids. We don’t have time to wait for them to get it together.
  • Kids are growing and every year matters, so what a charter school provides is a solution in the meantime.
  • Charter schools provide options for finding the style of education that your child needs.
  • The charter school population is growing
  • Parents should always have a choice in school and should not be forced to say ‘these are your options in your neighborhood…pick from the four failing schools’ 
• As you think about parents moving their children into private or charter education, what do you think is one of the greatest challenges in education?
  • At the end of the day, the adults are in the way.
  • We need to talk about all children and make decisions about all children and not just select groups
  • Tiara has noticed, in districts that have found success, it’s when the heads of public and charter schools recognize that there is a bigger problem. 
  • St. Louis has not come together yet.  
• What gives you hope for the future of St. Louis public school systems
  • People from St. Louis are PROUD
  • If we can tap into that pride and take action to make changes in education
  • When parents get involved and get excited, that gives her hope 
• What should parents be considering when selecting a school for their child?
  • When you look at lists ranking schools, who are they ranking for? 
  • How does my child learn best? 
  • What do you know about your kid as a scholar? Then Tiara sends them to Navigate STL to find available options.
  • You want to look at the curriculum. It should be inclusive and up-to-date.
  • What extracurricular activities are offered in addition to the curriculum? 
  • Is your child actually learning?  
• What do parents need to understand about the system?
  • The system is doing exactly what the system was designed to, i.e. not help you.
  • The system was designed to have our babies going to failing schools but at the same time have you in constant survival mode so that you can’t breathe enough to understand what’s going on or have the capacity to actually help your child.
  • The only other option is to go up against the system or start to break the system or redesign the system. And that takes your voice, your power, you showing up saying “I see what y’all are doing. It’s not helping me” 
• How do parents get involved with Activate STL? 
  • Get involved within your capacity.
  • There is an advocacy series, that is every Saturday for two hours.
  • There is an activator council where, if you can dedicate a night a week, you can get involved
  • Bigger events as well
  • Activate organizers will have 1-on-1s with you to determine the best way for you to participate. 
• What is something unexpected that you have encountered in the work you do?
  • The idea that, because another organization is addressing a problem, you should not also address the same problem. 
  • There is power in numbers 
  • When she began, she saw that four organizations were doing the same thing and not working together. 
  • Work smarter, not harder

• What do you want people to take away form the work that you do
  • You can not rely on schools to fix the issue
  • Google education trends in St. Louis
  • Have truthful, real, and hard conversations about what’s going on with education.

• Where can people find Activate STL?
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • DelMar Divine on 3rd floor