MY VALUES
Deep respect for children
Equity for all
Transparency and accountability
Collective liberation
Unlearning the “isms”, childism, racism, classism, ableism…
Identifying and breaking down systems of oppression.
If elected I will work towards:
Setting educational goals and policies that align with our values
Bringing a trauma informed lens that takes into account students mental, emotional, physical and academic needs.
Reviewing and adopting budgets that put students first.
Working with School committees from neighboring districts to change the state Chapter 70 funding formula and securing more funding for Western MA schools.
Continuing the work towards capital improvements that ensure our staff and students are working in safe spaces.
Ensuring that our administration is receiving the best support so that they can be most effective in providing a clear caring vison for our schools while holding them accountable.
Work with Unions to ensure that contracts take into account the needs of families and staff.
I Bring…
A Fresh Perspective
A Trauma Informed Lens
Anti- racist systems thinking
Understanding of Learning Differences
Conflict Resolution
25 Years of Educational Experience
Creating Equity for ALL
LGBTQIA+, BIPOC, Arab, Trans, Latinx and undocumented community members.
Students with diverse learning needs.
Students who are learning in new and transitional spaces.
Our teachers and staff who are essential partners in raising our children.
The Issues
Infrastructure
Transition to the New School
The continuation of the Camanantes Program
The 6th Grade Academy
Creating Safety for students of all identities
Staffing
Special Education
Communication
Living in the Valley
My daughter applied to Mount Holyoke in 2020 and I never left ;-) When I walked into the house that I now live in, I burst into tears, my body knew that this was home. Over the past three years I have developed relationships that I could only dream of in NYC. Today I have coffee with my neighbors and visit the farmer’s market on Saturdays with friends. I have organized with teachers, parents and students to find ways to introduce educational programs that support collective liberation. And I have spoken against genocide in the Town Common. I love that I can leave my house and walk to a trail 200 feet from my house and that I have three University libraries, multiple public libraries and a plethora of opportunities to hear brilliant lectures and live music. I love living here!
The Why?
As a child I spent hours reading. Saturday afternoons I would take my latest pile of books from the library and learn about everything. From a young age I was trying to understand how the world worked. With undiagnosed learning disabilities and a neurodviergence life felt confusing. The world felt unjust and the adults around me told me I was too young to understand.
Today I know, that my childhood analysis was spot on and the adults were uncomfortable with that truth. This has led me to recognize that our children are our greatest teachers and if we continue treating them as less than, if we continue denying their reality we will not be able to create a world of equity, care and respect.
Our youngest humans are the path to the future we have been dreaming of. And that is why I am running for Amherst school commitee. For the past 30 years I have been a child advocate and I bring that strong value to all of my interactions. Our children deserve, and our world requires, a shift where our children are given the respect and honor they deserve so that they can grow into the adults we need, in order to live into our values.
I am running because I have a vast skill set and knowledge base that will allow me to bring my expertise in order give back to the community I call home.
Sometimes I feel concerned that I have not been a parent in the Amherst School system. But then I am reminded that sometimes a fresh set of eyes, affords a new perspective that Amherst Schools can benefit from in order to address the challenges we face in our school district.
My Skills
Community Organizing
As an Arab Jew I hold within me an embodied legacy of interconnection and community building as our lives in the Arab world valued interconnection over individualism. This inheritance coupled with my skill set allows me to not only imagine a community of interconnection but to actually create it.
I have been a community organizer since I was a teenager when I led hundreds of teens in doing community service, from visiting hospitals, to running a Big Brother Big Sister Program. I facilitated leadership programs for teens and young adults and eventually went on to get a masters in social work and post graduate training in child development and play therapy. Over the past 15 years I have developed a trauma informed coaching practice working with educators, clergy, leaders and activists to develop their leadership and support their efficacy in the world.
As a community organizer with a diverse set of experiences, tools and a strong knowledge base. I am well equipped to think through the needs of our students and provide simple solutions to address complex needs.
Conflict Resolution Specialist
I realized that my effectiveness in the world was hindered by my difficulty addressing conflict, raised to be a people pleaser I spent the past 10 years unlearning. I have trained as a mediator, restorative justice circle keeper, and a facilitator for Resetting the Table which works to create dialogue across difference.
My training in conflict resolution enables me to ask difficult questions, push back when I disagree and find creative ways to get support everyone as we address the complex needs of our school community.
Activism
As a Rabbi I am a member of the Jewish Voice for Peace rabbinical council. I have traveled across the country speaking out against Genocide and supporting activists in calming their systems so that they can continue doing their work in the world. I have met with members of congress and lobbied on The Hill. I have worked with organizers across organizations and built coalitions.
This experience will support my work on the school commitee as we collaborate with school committees across the valley to lobby the state to recalculate the Chapter 70 funding formula so that we can bring in more funds to our schools.
Multi-Sensory Anti-racist Trauma-Informed Educator
As a middle schooler, I had a hard time taking notes and processing the information. The multi-step process of listening, writing and processing the information in order to learn it was not working for me. My teacher offered a solution, knowing that moving my body and listening rather than having to take notes would support my learning, she allowed me to stand in the back of the room, rocking side to side listening while notes were taken by another student who was happy to share. This adaptation allowed me to succeed in a class that I was struggling in.
A multi-sensory Educator creates lesson plans and environments with the understanding that we each have different learning styles. I was an auditory learner while my friend the note taker was a verbal learner, she learnt best when she could write out what she was hearing and it was easiest for her when the teacher wrote things on the board versus lecturing.
However learning style is only one way to support students. Having an anti-racist trauma informed lens allows me to bring in a holistic perspective that doesn’t just think about the student’s academics, equally important are the social, emotional, familial, and systemic differences that students are facing. With an anti-racist trauma-informed lens I have a deep undersanding of students needs on an individual and communal level and where systemic issues may be showing up that are keeping students from success.
I have taught adults, teens, and children in courses, seminars and trainings across the country. I have taught children’s yoga, mediatation and facilitated trainings on accountability and community restoration after harm. I have developed curriculum and lesson plans for Hebrew schools and have mentored teachers.
Unlearning Racism…
Until I was in my 30’s I thought I wasn’t racist. When my children were young I made an effort to buy dolls and books that represented diverse racial identities. When family and friends used racial slurs I fought back oftentimes I was seen as the difficult one. I felt proud of myself for standing up against racism. But then…
I stood on a NYC street corner with my friend Joe as he held his phone up to hail a taxi. I looked at him and said “what are you doing, why are you holding your phone like that?”
“Esther” he said, “Taxis wont stop for a Black man in NYC at night so if I hold my phone up, they think I am recording and they are more likely to stop since its illegal to not pick up a passenger.”
The color drained away from my face and in that moment I realized I knew nothing.
Today I I recognize that racism and white supremacy live in my bones. So I use a different lens- I think about Ibram X. Kendi’s model which speaks of racist and antiracist actions. Is the action I am about to take racist or anti-racist?
However this is just one part of the problem. Today I know that racism is not just an individual problem, racism is embedded in all of our systems. Learning this has been at the forefront of my work over the past 8 years as I have been researching writing about the ways white supremacy was used to build and sustain this country. And now I don’t just ask questions about my personal actions I work hard to ask the questions around the systems that we create.
My understanding of the ways systemic racism opens my eyes to the questions that we need to ask in the school system.
When we hire staff with identities that are not white, hetero, cis, men are we providing them the scaffolding they need in order to create an equitable work environment so that they can succeed.
Are we creating equity for our students with different identities, class backgrounds, learning needs so that the receive the ancillary supports they need to be successful in and out of the classroom.
Are we aware of the safety concerns of students, parents and staff who hold differing identities in our school environment?
Which identities are we prioritizing when we make decisions?
How do we ensure that we are interrupting the school to prison pipeline?
Contact Us
Let me know how I can support Amherst Schools. And I’d would love to have more volunteers to get the word out.
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