Annie Cervenka: Amplifying Individual Voices to Create Powerful Coalitions
What is your Vision for Impact Statement?
My Vision for Impact is: Every student deserves access to a great school. A great school is one that has rigorous and engaging academic content, rich and robust extracurricular activities, and that is focused on reducing disparities in academic performance between schools and amongst sub-groups of students. I will work from a seat that is increasing the number of great schools, and ensuring families have access to and awareness of how to choose the best school for their students.
While this was my Vision for Impact Statement at the end of the learning program in February 2020, I am now pivoting my focus for achieving this vision to education policy, given the current landscape. I want to ensure that every student has access to a great school by helping to push back against harmful anti-equity bills and legislation.
You are doing a lot of organizing and advocacy work! Tell us about some of it. What do you love about the work you’re doing?
I have a lot of roles, but the one that I appreciate the most is being the Organizing & Advocacy Impact Stream Leader for School Board School! In that role, I help the other members of School Board School stay aware of what’s happening in education policy at the state and local levels, and give them opportunities to get involved.
I have really enjoyed getting involved in the education policy side of things. It has opened my eyes to the big role state policy has on local decisions, and how there is often a disconnect between what happens at the state level and at the local level. Not everyone realizes that bills and resolutions coming from the statehouse really impact our ability to make change at the local level. In this way, while so many of these anti-equity bills terrify me, I have enjoyed being able to learn more about the education policy landscape.
How has being a part of School Board School impacted your involvement in this work?
One of our Class 4 members, Isabelle Kalubi Harper, had a great quote during her Impact Presentation, which are the 5-minute presentations we each do at the end of the learning program. She said, “I can no longer play small.” Hearing her say that really affected my outlook! So much of my previous work had been hyper-local - focused on my school, or my district - but these issues are so often national or state-level in scale. I want to be able to use my experience and understanding of school systems to play a larger role in national and state-level policy. In particular, I want to help others advocate for more equitable and inclusive systems and policies for our students.
How have you used your School Board School training/learnings in your work?
I have used what I learned in School Board School in multiple ways. For example, we dive deeply during the learning program into our “why,” or our personal passion for this work. To be an effective advocate, it’s all about merging my personal “why” with how to impact systems. So whether I’m writing testimony or just talking to a neighbor, I’m referring back to my own story and connecting that to the policies or resolutions at the statehouse.
Very often, I also use what I learned about how school systems operate to try and help people who are just now understanding the impact of school boards learn how to better navigate their school systems and speak up for their communities. Understanding the power of school boards has helped me bring even more people into this work!
How have you tapped into the School Board School community, or how has our network supported you in your work? What impact are you having?
This community hears from me all the time about ways to take action! That’s a huge part of this work. And, I’m so impressed by the way our members continually show up to advocate for the causes and issues that are most important to them. Over the last year, when there were so many anti-equity bills coming up at the state and local level, over 25 of our members either submitted testimony on state-level bills or contacted their representatives, which prevented many of these bills from being passed or adopted. I also helped put together a candidate guide for the state school board race, and helped behind-the-scenes with a candidate forum for that race. What we saw was that when presented with information about all of the candidates, voters in Ohio chose more moderate candidates over the extreme anti-equity candidates.
We talk often about how coalitions change systems, and in my work I am reminded daily of the power of this specific School Board School coalition. I look forward to helping it continue to grow and make an impact over the next election cycle and beyond!
How has being a part of School Board School impacted how you think about systems change and/or your role in it?
I realize that each person matters and each voice that speaks out matters. And, it’s this unique combination of voices within our network that really helps take things from idea to action. I’ve also learned that systems can change - in the direction you’re hoping for… or not - and, therefore, it’s important to stay engaged and to always be prepared to respond and act.
Is there anything else about the work you’re doing that you want to highlight? And/or is there anything else about being part of School Board School that you want to highlight?
Over the past few years, we have seen school boards enter the public eye, but there are still so many people who don’t understand the full power of school boards. It is one of our responsibilities as School Board School members to spread this understanding and to bring more people into this work, so that more people can find their voice and be effective advocates for students.
Also, I don’t actually live in Ohio anymore, even though I love (and hate) Ohio education policy! The great thing about being part of this network is that I know that I can pass the torch to another member to lead this work in Ohio, while I can get engaged in my new community.