Taking strides, Claire Galloway-Jones entered her new role in 2023 as Executive Director of Educational Equity for the Public Schools of Brookline. As a former Lincoln METCO student, Galloway-Jones’ experience inspired her to work toward equity and creating a sense of belonging for students.
The interview has been edited for clarity and concision.
How has your METCO experience impacted you?
METCO just had such an impact in that it gave me an opportunity. I was fortunate that I had great METCO directors and coordinators, specifically when I was at the Lincoln Public Schools. My experience at Lincoln was really positive. I’m still friends with many of the students I went to school with in Lincoln. In high school, Lincoln-Sudbury, I had opportunities that I probably would not have had, had I stayed in the Boston Public Schools. So much of it is about resources, which was a big fight for lots of families of color, specifically in Boston in the early 60s.
How has your identity impacted your life course and led to your position today?
I think it’s having an understanding that intersectionality plays such a huge role. I’m a woman, I identify as a Black, African-American woman, and I think that plays a lot into who I am as a person. I always say I’m in the business of making sure that everyone has access, so I want everyone to feel as though they belong. I do know that my identity has a huge impact when I enter a room and when I think about my work as a METCO director and as an educator. As a whole, I know that when I show up, I show up as a woman, I show up as a woman of color and I also show up as an educator. So those three things are always in me, and it is a huge part of me wanting to do this work. Intersectionality is huge; we all bring that backpack with all the things that make us who we are.
What are your goals in your new position?
Part of my role as an Executive Director of Educational Equity is answering what is it that we can put in place, what are some structures we need to shift to make sure students feel as though they belong and is there some programming we need to remove or structures we need to remove? I’m really looking forward to spending time in schools, doing what we call “residencies.” We’re spending some time in schools, three to five days, doing instructional rounds and having the opportunity to go into classrooms and see what teachers are doing, taking notes and seeing what in those observations can help impact the work that we need to do to make sure that we have academic achievement for all of our students, as well as making sure that people feel that they’re included. It’s about ensuring that equity truly is the foundation of all the work that we do and that it’s not a separate bucket.
What does it mean to you to be in Brookline?
I always say Brookline is a unique place because it’s a town but has a lot of an urban feel to it. I have a background in working in suburbia, in urban education and also in independent schools, which is just such a unique community where there is so much intersectionality. It just feels like if we can get educational equity right in Brookline, we can get it right anywhere.
