Jose: So!

Mr. Vilson: So.

J: So …

MV: Awkward, isn’t it?

J: Right. So … what would you like to tell everyone about this moment?

MV: Well, I’ve officially resigned from the NYC Department of Education. It wasn’t an easy choice, but it was the choice presented. I applied for study leave and they rejected it, so it was only a matter of time. It’s fine. This felt inevitable given that I got a full scholarship to “King’s College …”

J: Another Hamilton reference.

MV: I do that.

J: But why here? Why now?

MV: Contrary to what people might think, it wasn’t due to COVID. I would have loved to step into a fight like this. Let me remind you that we’ve taught during several emergencies. There wasn’t a fight I wasn’t willing to break up, a stairwell I wasn’t willing to clear out, a student I wasn’t willing to go visit. We taught through a transit strike, sleeping over a cousin’s house. During a fire drill, we were a couple of inches away from getting run over by an SUV because the driver thought his job was more important than students’ lives.

J: Yeah, I remember that … yikes.

MV: We went to school during that “professional development” week in March when we already knew how dangerous the virus was. We did all three days and were told we weren’t enraged enough about the virus. [snickers] It wasn’t even on some hero nonsense, but it was out of a sense of duty and understanding that students would be better off for me going in at the moment. I couldn’t not go in if so many of my colleagues were going in.

J: Thank God.

MV: Truly. That spiritual work you’ve been doing is working on us. Shouts to my administrators, too.

J: Is that our first time giving props to a principal we worked for on this blog?

MV: I … think so?

J: How’s that feel?

MV: Well, that brings me to my next point, which is that I would have – could have – taught forever. The problem is never the students. I’ve had plenty of headaches and heartaches, but I knew that the students represented the best wishes and dreams of the parents who sent them to me and I finally got administrators who matched my energy …

J: And the one who stayed practically saved our job …

MV: Totally unexpected, but he knows we care about kids as much as he does. So the principal we got just last school year is dope. The two assistant principals are dope. The staff is great and they’ll take care of our kids as always …

J: But it was too late because we already decided the summer of 2019 what we needed to do. We fought too hard for everything. The longer you stayed, the pettier things felt on multiple levels. The things that happened to Luz at her school were enough. You went from getting scolded over a bulletin board to getting scolded because they didn’t think the students were engaged enough …

MV: Please. The professional in me started hearing rumors. I saw the target on my back, which is always the price for advocating the way we do. The previous administrators were telling us that a National Board Certified teacher didn’t know how to plan engaging lessons. But we pressed on because Charlotte Danielson couldn’t teach better than me, and neither could …

J: Aiyyo.

MV: Professional, I know.

Remember how they tried to stain our teacher evaluations off of erroneous measures, then you had to fight it all the way to the city level against DOE Central? They had the weakest case and you still lost off a technicality in the law? Then the law was struck down so it’s like I got an individual L for the collective W. Before this year, we felt like hamsters spinning in the typical wheels. We didn’t need the recognition, awards, promotions, or the opportunities some denied us, but …

J: We did everything we could, not just for our kids, but for Inwood, Washington Heights, New York City, this country rife with white supremacy, the world. Your advocacy was too dangerous so you rarely aligned to the rubric of what a “teacher of the year” does.

MV: Fair. How about the year one of the long-term subs cheered when Trump came into office and the students held a rebellion against him? They were crying in front of him and he more or less shrugged as his classroom crumbled? Or how Trump’s election was used as a way to inform our kids that they need to “get their acts together?” Kids of immigrants terrified within our school’s walls!

Or when a data manager compared changes in testing protocol to Hurricane Katrina? We’re gonna have to tell these stories in longer form later because that really took a toll …

J: May the fires from the bridges we burn light the way, they say. We’ve been in fight mode for more than a decade with little time off. After a while, even the strongest pugilist has to re-evaluate their stances …

MV: Isn’t it hilarious that we railed against the chancellor until we got one that endorsed anti-racist practices and at least acknowledged my contributions to the profession?

J: … Also, the work continues at this moment. You never fell back on your spurs.

MV: That’s not even in question. Critical supporters have always been super-important. The equity-minded teacher we embodied helped create the era we’re in now. Our attention to the profession of teaching, to anti-racist pedagogy, to teacher voice and agency – and student voice and agency – created models that any number of folks still follow. That can never be taken from us, either. We handed the gifts down to hundreds of teachers without need for recompense.

J: You learned from your elders well.

MV: True indeed.

J: We espoused the idealist we said we’d be since Day 1. They told us we would leave before our first year was over. Remember that? [smirk] So what are we doing now?

MV: Well, I’m not going anywhere, really. I’m gonna miss the kids terribly. I still do now. They’re annoyingly great. While we’ve been staying home, we’ve now had time to go from thinking about just our students to every student in every classroom.

J: The ways in which that connects to your work in sociology …

MV: You couldn’t just say “How …” instead?

J: Fine. But you’re right. My advocacy for us extends because the world needs to hear from educators about the direction of this country. So many other professionals get to have an opinion about policies and practices happening right now, and the confluence of everything happening right now centers our work as educators, especially of color.

That’s the EduColor work. That’s the WeBuildEdu work. That’s the home, life, everything work. That’s our work – virtually – at TC as a full-time student, too. I’m always humbled by the positive reaffirmation from people in our circle. Just because we resigned doesn’t mean we’re resigned.

MV: Yessir! And we’re not running or in the running for anything as far as we can tell, despite people’s fears [both laugh]. I’m excited about our present and future work.

J: Me, too, man. I appreciate you. We did good.

MV: Great, even.