‘Every child needs a champion’: Meet the teachers who inspired some of the country’s education leaders

ByStaff/Richard Buery

Read the full feature at Chalkbeat.org >

To mark Teacher Appreciation Week, Chalkbeat went in search of the educators who changed the lives of the people you read about in our stories.

We asked a handful of influential figures to tell us about the teacher whose action, lesson, or presence made a lasting impact on them. The stories they shared — about the teacher who trusted a future chancellor with a beloved guitar, the one who offered advanced books and a lesson in being “cool,” and another who used their city’s history of black activism to reach students — are worth a read.

Here’s what they told us.

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Rich Buery, chief of policy and public affairs for KIPP

In my family, education came first. My mother taught public high school for 33 years in East New York, Brooklyn, where I grew up. Former students constantly approached her to thank her. Because of her, I grew up thinking teachers were rock stars. My middle school homeroom teacher Cheryl Virginia confirmed it.

I attended I.S. 383, a public middle school in Bushwick. Like East New York, Bushwick experienced high poverty and crime, and poor educational outcomes. I.S. 383 served gifted and talented black and brown students from these and other low-income Brooklyn neighborhoods. Ms. Virginia created an environment that was comfortable, lively, and nurturing. She taught us we could do anything, and that “to whom much is given, much is required.” She introduced me to books that were far above my reading level, and made me believe I could tackle them.

She encouraged me to be my best self. I remember acting out once, trying to be “cool” to impress a classmate. She explained to me in a blunt but loving way that the way to be cool was to be myself, not to try to be like someone else. Her respect for young people helped me respect myself.

I was fortunate to have Ms. Virginia and other teachers in my life who inspired me to spend my career fighting for high quality public education. Today, as I support the work of great teachers at KIPP schools nationwide, Ms. Virginia remains a beacon.