Community-Driven Change: Equity-Centered Leadership in Baltimore feat. Macon L. Tucker III

In this episode of In the Lead with UCEA, Executive Director Dr. Mónica Byrne-Jiménez talks with Macon L. Tucker III, Director of the Equity-Centered Pipeline Initiative (ECPI) for Baltimore City Public Schools.  Mónica and Macon talk about the transformative work happening in the City Schools district of Baltimore. Macon outlines the evolution and impact of the ECPI and how it  aims to cultivate inclusive and equity-focused school leaders. Key elements of that goal include detailed partnerships with local universities, internal collaboration across various departments, and extensive community involvement. Their conversation highlights substantial initiatives being undertaken, showcasing the district's serious commitment to systemic change and student success.In the Lead with UCEA is produced by University FM.Episode Quotes:On turning schoolhouse into a community building[04:15]  One of the biggest initiatives that I've been a part of in city schools is our portfolio work around renovating, closing, and even rebuilding new schools. If you look over the course of time, we had some of the oldest buildings in the state as well as up and down the East Coast as far as building structures were concerned. And so throughout this process we have been able to either rebuild, renovate 28 now, I think, schools across our district. And so that has allowed us to really turn that schoolhouse into a community building that is able to really shape and foster learning for all students but then reach out into the community as well so that we could be community schools. That has also allowed us to be able to bring in equity center leaders who are also able to foster and help grow communities.How the partnership with the mayor’s office helped transform Baltimore City Schools[05:13] Baltimore is one of those cities that you really don't hear a lot about, right? But our commitment to education has allowed us to really champion the work that we're doing. I'll also say the city schools, I think, has a great partnership with our mayor's office to ensure that there's a collaboration of how we are approaching the support that we're giving to our students and our school communities because we would not be able to change a city the way we've been able to do within the last 10 years under Dr. Santelises’ time without that tight partnership. So, Baltimore is definitely a unique place. It has its pockets. You look at those historical maps, and you have seen where redlining exists, right? But now when you start to look at our new academic data that's coming out, you see where the pockets are expanding as far as, like, growth and student achievement and resources and things like that. So we've definitely seen a transformation over the past 20 years since I've been here.What made the partnership between university partners and city schools work[13:30] There's a Baltimore context that talks about redlining all the historical context pieces, right? And so that was a foundational piece that everyone in the DPT (district partnership team) was able to be normed on. So then when we come into spaces, we leave titles at the door, we leave biases at the door, and we come into the space as centered as possible. That gave us the tool to actually engage and have authentic conversation and have transparent conversation. Unfortunately we had to sunset that at the end of last school year because of some new legislation that has come about. But those key principles are still things that we're able to still lean into and still abide by when we are in community together. I think that helped build the relationship between university partners and city schools. And so with that being one of those foundational key elements, I think that's where we've been able to see the yielded success of how we've been able to partner with our university partners specifically.Show Links:ECPI | Wallace Foundation