#thisisamerica: A Webinar Series on Black America and Educational Inequalities in the COVID-19 Era and Beyond
Session 1: How COVID-19 Placed a Spotlight on the Inequalities in America’s School System
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed—and widened—a number of critical gaps in the American education system, as the closing of many underserved schools impacted remote students with limited access to Wi-Fi, lack of school lunch, lack of parental supervision, and little funding, to name just a few of the challenges. In this first part of a two-session webinar series, expert Derris Hawkins-Smith offers an insightful look at these very real opportunity gaps, including his ideas on what can be improved—and how. This webinar discusses:
- Equity, including quality of education, funding, and redlining
- Trauma, including racial trauma and PTSD
- School-to-prison pipeline, including disproportionate disciplinary action, charter schools, and privatized prisons
ABOUT DERRIS HAWKINS-SMITH
Derris Hawkins-Smith, College and Career Academic Programs Specialist for Promise Heights (University of Maryland at Baltimore) at Renaissance Academy in Baltimore, MD
Derris Hawkins-Smith was born in Gary, IN, and raised outside of Chicago in DeKalb, IL. He graduated Southern Illinois University School of Journalism with an emphasis in Advertising and a double minor in Marketing & Africana Studies. An ACT/SAT prep instructor for a nonprofit, Derris also works as a College and Career Academic Programs Specialist for Promise Heights (University of Maryland at Baltimore) at Renaissance Academy in Baltimore, MD. Previously, he was an Admissions Counselor/Multicultural Recruitment at the University of Northern Iowa. Derris has presented workshops and webinars on the topics of social justice, racial inequality in schools, and college readiness for first-gen students and students of color.