Making the Invisible Visible: Asian Americans in Public Education, Part 3

Session 3, on Wednesday, February 8, at 7pm will be "Do Schools and Educators Have the Will to Serve Asian Americans?: A Discussion of Proven Interventions and What is Needed to Initiate and Sustain Them."

Admission is free but we welcome and encourage contributions to support our work and programs like this.

The first two sessions have shown how the needs of Asian American students are systematically not met in public education. Panelists in the final session will share some interventions that have been useful for promoting Asian American well-being. The critical question, however, is what will it take to initiate and sustain the interventions in order to bring true equity for Asian American students in public education?

The Speakers

Go Sasaki is a 12-year veteran teacher, including eight years in the Boston Public Schools. He is a core member of the Massachusetts Asian American Educators Association, a Board member of Citizens for Public Schools, and a docent for the Tule Lake Pilgrimage, the semi-annual pilgrimage to the Tule Lake WWII Incarceration Camp for Japanese Americans. His family has been back and forth between the U.S. and Japan for over a century, and he and his partner are trying their best to raise their children with their heritage languages.

Jean Yu-wen Wu is professor emerita at Tufts University, a scholar, educator, and practitioner in critical race studies, anti-colonial Asian/Asian American diaspora studies, decolonization of research methodologies, community-based activism, and critical pedagogy.

Charlene Beh has taught for 23 years at Newton North High School. In her English classes and a school-wide course, Leadership in a Diverse Society, she focuses on centering diverse voices and thinking about questions of equity and justice. With Michele Leong, she facilitates workshops that support AAPI students and families.

Amrita Dani is a daughter of South Asian immigrants, an Ethnic Studies teacher in Boston Public Schools, and a community and union organizer. She has been teaching in public schools since 2014 and has been involved in Ethnic Studies organizing in Boston since 2018.

Tuyet Dinh is a first generation Vietnamese American. She grew up in Lynn, Massachusetts and has been teaching Kindergarten at the Mather Elementary in Boston Public Schools for the past eleven years. Tuyet was one of the founding members of the Coalition for Asian Pacific American Youth (CAPAY).

Sydney Hou is a 4th year Social Studies teacher at Brookline High School. She is also in her first year of piloting AAPI Leadership and Affinity Program (LEAP), an AAPI affinity program at BHS.

A member of Newton North High School's English department for the past 25 years, Michele Leong is also engaged in diversity, equity, and inclusion work, serving as the co-facilitator for the Newton North High School Office of Human Rights, director of the Dover Legacy Scholars program, and co-facilitator to a number of affinity groups designed to support students of color. Additionally, with Charlene Beh, Michele has facilitated a number of workshops for educators and families around supporting AAPI students.

Thanks to the members of the planning committee for all of their excellent work putting this series together: Jean Wu, Katie Li, and Go Sasaki.