A  conference for leaders & educators of small schools.

2021 Conference Speakers

Opening Keynote: Tim Wise

Tim Wise is among the most prominent anti-racist writers and educators in the United States. He has spent the past 25 years speaking to audiences and providing anti-racism training to educators and administrators nationwide and internationally, in Canada and Bermuda.

Wise is the author of nine books, including his latest, Dispatches from the Race War (City Lights Books). Other books include Under the Affluence, Dear White America: Letter to a New Minority and Colorblind (all from City Lights Books); his highly-acclaimed memoir, White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son, (recently updated and re-released by Soft Skull Press); Affirmative Action: Racial Preference in Black and White; Speaking Treason Fluently: Anti-Racist Reflections From an Angry White Male; and Between Barack and a Hard Place: Racism and White Denial in the Age of Obama.

Named one of “25 Visionaries Who are Changing Your World,” by Utne Reader, Wise has contributed chapters or essays to over 25 additional books and his writings are taught in colleges and universities across the nation.

From 1999-2003, Wise was an advisor to the Fisk University Race Relations Institute, in Nashville, and in the early ’90s he was Youth Coordinator and Associate Director of the Louisiana Coalition Against Racism and Nazism: the largest of the many groups organized for the purpose of defeating neo-Nazi political candidate, David Duke.

Wise has been featured in several documentaries, including two from the Media Education Foundation. “White Like Me: Race, Racism and White Privilege in America,” which he co-wrote and co-produced, and "The Great White Hoax: Donald Trump & the Politics of Race & Class in America" which features Wise exploring how American political leaders of both parties have been tapping into white anxiety, stoking white grievance, and scapegoating people of color for decades to divide and conquer working class voters and shore up political support. Wise also appears alongside legendary scholar and activist, Angela Davis, in the 2011 documentary, “Vocabulary of Change.” More recently, he appeared in Chelsea Handler's Netflix documentary Hello Privilege, It’s Me Chelsea on white privilege and racism in the United States.

Wise appears regularly on CNN and MSNBC to discuss race issues. He graduated from Tulane University in 1990 and received antiracism training from the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond, in New Orleans. He is also the host of the podcast, Speak Out with Tim Wise.

Find Tim: website, Facebook, Twitter @timjacobwise, and on YouTube

Closing Keynote:

Dr. Howard C. Stevenson

Howard Stevenson is a nationally sought expert on how racial stress and racial trauma can affect every stage of life. His work focuses on how educators, community leaders, and parents can emotionally resolve face-to-face racially stressful encounters that reflect racial profiling in public spaces, fuel social conflicts in neighborhoods, and undermine student emotional well-being and academic achievement in the classroom. Dr. Stevenson has served for 30 years as a clinical and consulting psychologist working in impoverished rural and urban neighborhoods across the country.

Dr. Stevenson is the Constance Clayton Professor of Urban Education, Professor of Africana Studies, in the Human Development & Quantitative Methods Division of the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania.

Additionally, Dr. Stevenson is Executive Director of the Racial Empowerment Collaborative (REC), a research, program development, and training center that brings together community leaders, researchers, authority figures, families, and youth to study and promote racial literacy and health in schools and neighborhoods. He is also the Director of Forward Promise, a national program office funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, to provide philanthropic support for organizations designed to improve the health of boys and young men of color and their families and to help them heal from the trauma of historical and present-day dehumanization, discrimination, and colonization. Since 1985, Dr. Stevenson has served as a clinical and consulting psychologist working in impoverished rural and urban neighborhoods across the country. 

Find Howard: Twitter @DrHoward_RECAST; The Lion’s Story, Twitter @thelionsstory; The Racial Empowerment Collaborative, website, Facebook, Twitter @RecastingRace; and Forward Promise, website, Facebook, Twitter @Forward_Promise, YouTube

2021 PRESENTERS

Jen Cort

Founder, Jen Cort Consulting & Host, Third Space Podcast

WORKSHOP: Incorporating DEI When You Can’t Spend Much/Any $ on a Consultant

Jen Cort is an educational consultant and hosts an internationally syndicated podcast focusing on equity, inclusion, diversity, and justice.  She has served as a principal, and counselor of lower, middle, and upper schools.  Jen is a clinical social worker and since beginning consulting five years ago, has worked with over 150 schools around the country.  

Jen’s philosophy is that all schools can and should be collaborating within and among themselves to create child-centered environments.  It is Jen's belief that schools are obligated to provide environments where students can be seen and heard as well as to teach students to learn to be visible and use their voices in ways that work for them.  Helping students feel visible and listened to is a mutual obligation.  The adults in a school are called upon to create safe places for students to take an academic risk, speak their minds, try a new sport, audition for the play, and celebrate their authentic selves. 

Find Jen: website, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest

Sean Kreyling

Co-Founder, Reimagine Education Group

Founder, Language Learning Network

WORKSHOP: Incorporating DEI When You Can’t Spend Much/Any $ on a Consultant

Sean Kreyling is the co-founder of Reimagine Education Group (REG) and the founder of Language Learning Network. At REG, Sean provides training and strategic consultations to schools and nonprofits with regard to effective educational technology, social-emotional learning, and diversity, equity, inclusivity, and belonging. At Language Learning Network he provides world language teachers and/or curriculum to schools of all types and mentors world language teachers around the country via video conference to develop cultural competence and curriculum. He holds a bachelor of arts in organizational leadership from The Pennsylvania State University, actively teaches both French and Spanish, and is deeply rooted in progressive practice. He is currently completing his graduate studies in educational leadership and the Reggio Emilia Approach at Antioch University.

Find Sean: website, LinkedIn, Facebook, DEI & SJ for Educators Facebook, Twitter

Namita Tolia

Co-Founder, Reimagine Education Group

WORKSHOP: Incorporating DEI When You Can’t Spend Much/Any $ on a Consultant

Namita Tolia is co-founder of Reimagine Education Group and an educator and school leader driven to bridge public and private education realms, promote inclusive and equitable practices in schools, encourage growth in teachers through mentoring, and value student empowerment and excellence. A proud product of New Jersey public schools, Namita is an experienced classroom teacher and principal having held a variety of posts at independent schools on the East and West Coasts. Namita’s degrees include International Relations from Georgetown University, Russian Studies from Stanford and Independent School Leadership from Columbia Teachers College. Her other training includes Harvard’s Project Zero, Wellesley’s Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity, and Understanding by Design. Her skills include supporting school leaders to lead for change, coaching teachers, promoting multicultural curricula and anti-racist teaching, innovating mathematics instruction, service learning, comprehensive sexuality education, and developing 21st century learning programs.

Find Namita: website, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram,

Dave Mullen

Interim Head of School, Wye River Upper School, Centre, MD; Retired Head of School, The Nora School, Silver Spring, MD

WORKSHOP: Managing Anxiety in All Spheres of Small Schools: Students, Parents, Teachers & Administrators

Dave Mullen has over 35 years of classroom and administrative experience. A long-time practitioner of mindfulness meditation, he has led The Nora School to be one of the nation’s Mindful Schools and to be the first US school to have the entire school participate in the Mindfulness in Schools Project.  In addition to college degrees in music and educational administration, he holds certification in the Dot B-Mindfulness in Schools Curriculum, the Mindful Schools Curriculum, and the New England Educational Institute Symposia on Mindfulness. In addition to his work at The Nora School he has taught mindfulness at the Food and Drug Administration and at both the Beginning Teacher Institutes and the Mentor Teacher Institutes at the Association of Independent Schools of Greater Washington.

2021 Virtual Conference Schedule

*All times are Eastern Daylight Time (EDT)

MONDAY, JUNE 21

1:00 - SESSION 1:

Incorporating DEI When You Can’t Spend Much/Any $ on a Consultant, Namita Tolia, Reimagine Education Group; Sean Kreyling, Reimagine Education Group, Language Learning Network; & Jen Cort, Jen Cort Consulting and Third Space Podcast

2:00 - SESSION 2:

Round Table Topics: A time to share and learn from each other, a selection of round tables will be held to conduct guided conversations based on attendee submissions. This is an opportunity to gather thoughts from colleagues on issues challenging your small school at the moment, and share solutions that have worked for you. Have a great Round Table Topic idea? You will be invited to submit after registering.

3:00 - OPENING KEYNOTE - Tim Wise Keynote address followed by Q&A

4:30 - SOCIAL HOUR & Book Giveaway! Join your fellow attendees for conversation and idea sharing. We will be giving away copies of Tim Wise’s books. Ends at approximately 5:30pm

TUESDAY, JUNE 22

2:00 - SESSION 3

Managing Anxiety in All Spheres of Small Schools: Students, Parents, Teachers & Administrators, Dave Mullen, Interim Head of School, Wye River Upper School, Centreville, MD; Retired Head of School, The Nora School, Silver Spring, MD

3:00 - SESSION 4

Affinity Group Meetups - Based on your role at your school or organization, spend some time meeting with your peers to discuss current issues and experiences pertinent to your roles.

4:00 - BREAK & Book Giveaway! Hang out with us over the 15 minute break. We will be giving away copies of Dr. Howard Stevenson’s book.

4:15 - CLOSING KEYNOTE - Dr. Howard Stevenson Keynote address followed by Q&A

5:30 - SOCIAL HOUR & Book Giveaway! Join your fellow attendees for conversation and idea sharing. We will be giving away copies of our keynote and presenters’ favorite nonfiction books (that aren’t their own). Ends approximately at 6:30pm.