I came in to the network, and I was very excited. Initially, I was trying to figure out where my district’s place was in the network. As I got to know people, I got a sense that we’re all on a continuum of equity work. I gained a stronger understanding of what I should be doing locally, in my district, from conversations with others about their district work. It never felt like an exercise just to be compliant.

There is a healthy level of peer pressure in the network too. There are a lot of distractors when you get back to the district, all these other things that impact you and try to pull your attention away from focusing on equity. Sometimes it feels inconvenient to be doing something with the network every month, but at the same time, knowing that everybody is in this together, it’s like we are bound together. Whatever we might be doing at a network meeting, I know that I have to come prepared to the meeting, because there is going to be some opportunity where we are going to share our progress in our districts. And that is just enough to make sure I am prepared to share.

I am glad to know that I’m going to be held to task. I like the peer pressure; it keeps pushing us forward to keep working on things.

–Superintendent Kummings, Superintendent of Wildwood Public Schools, joined NJNS in its ninth year and is a present NJNS member.. He reflects on how the network pushed him to advance equity work in his district

“Being Bound Together and Held to Task”