Rebekah Cohen Morris
l’m passionate about public education, especially its role in fighting poverty. Education gives people a chance to succeed, even when the odds are stacked against them. I write about education in Dekalb County as it relates to the state and to the nation as a whole.
Rebekah taught English for four years at Berkmar High School in Gwinnett County Public Schools and for two years at Cross Keys High School in the DeKalb County School District (both Title I schools). During her time as a teacher, she coached volleyball and basketball, served as the Co-President for the Berkmar High School PTSA, participated as the teacher liaison on the School Council at Cross Keys High School, and helped spark the student-led initiative Unify BuHi (which now operates as the student advocacy arm of Los Vecinos de Buford Highway). This year, she returns to teaching high school English in Gwinnett County Public Schools.
In the past, she has also worked for the Center for Pan Asian Community Services (CPACS) doing advocacy and civic/community engagement. She has served on the Board of Directors for Presencia, a non-profit located on Buford Highway that exists to provide economic, educational, and social support to refugees and immigrants through after-school programs, job creation, and leadership development. In addition to this work, she has also worked for the Atlanta Children's Shelter and for the Latin American Association teen summer program.
Throughout the past two years, she has spent her time co-founding Vecinos with an incredible group of Cross Keys cluster students, alumni, and residents to establish a community association within the apartment complexes along Buford Highway. The idea of vecinos or neighbors working alongside one another is integral to the idea of a strong, healthy community. She also serves on the board of PATH Academy in Brookhaven. The mission of DeKalb PATH Academy is to create a safe and nurturing learning environment in which refugee, immigrant and local children from the Chamblee, Doraville and Clarkston areas in DeKalb County, Georgia can develop the knowledge, skills, and character needed to succeed in top-quality high schools, colleges, and the competitive world beyond regardless of their socioeconomic and linguistic barriers.
Rebekah lives in Doraville, Georgia, with her husband, Andrew Morris, who works for the Metro Water District at the Atlanta Regional Commission. She has two beautiful daughters who attend school in the Cross Keys cluster.
Please email georgianeducator@gmail.com with any questions or concerns. To submit a guest piece, please send the article (up to 1400 words) and a brief biographical note.
February 12, 2017 at 12:15 pm
I have a long list of questions, but will begin with a couple of first impressions:
1. What is the methodology the State BOE will follow for choosing the Chief Turnaround Officer?
2. Will parents/communities have input into the process?
3. The Chief Turnaround Officer shall choose the Turnaround Coaches.
4. Again, what is the process and methodology?
5. “Turnaround coaches shall assist in creating local collaborations” This is very vague. Clarification is needed.
6. How much, if any, input and/or conversations will be held within the school communities affected?
It is my opinion that parents of children in persistently failing schools (again, we need to clearly define a “failing school”) would welcome help in “turning around” those schools. However, those parents also want a voice in those efforts and will be not be silenced. In my view this was one of the reasons for the failure of the OSD. It allowed for little to no partnership with parents/school communities. If that partnership is not part of any legislation it will fail as badly as the OSD.
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