A lot needs to go right…

A lot needs to go right for a Pakistani-American (with a pretty strong beard) to get a chance at his dream job of founding a school in Denver, CO. Even more needs to go right for that school to assemble a team that believes in a mission to “end educational inequity” in a country and system that is built on inequity.

To say that school will accept every student who wants to be a part of it. To have the majority of those students come from low income backgrounds and be students of color. To say that school and those kids could be extraordinary in a city where schools are more segregated than before court-ordered bussing in the 1960s, the academic achievement gap between students of color and white students is widening, and where the “haves” and “have nots” are clearly divided along lines of class and race.

A lot needs to go right for that school to be a place where relationships and learning become the most powerful tools to fight ignorance and inequality. For that school to be a place where kids feel belonging, support, challenge and joy. And then, even more, for that school receive the highest rating possible in the city of Denver.

A lot needs to go right.

Here’s to hoping that less needs to go right. Heres to hoping that our school becomes less exceptional. Here’s to hoping our school is only one of hundreds that has teachers that believe in the endless potential of every child, no matter their color or station in life. Here’s to hoping that the rest of our country believes in their potential, too.

So proud, so grateful, and so hopeful.