"My dream is that students of color's voices are not only heard but validated and that those voices will be a guide to better meeting their needs while empowering them to access doors to their dreams," says Lisa Black.

The Board of Education recently appointed Black to be the special assistant to the superintendent for Race and Equity for the Madison Metropolitan School District. In her new role, Black sees herself as a relationship builder with the key relationships being that of the teacher, student, and parent.

"My role is primarily to provide professional development opportunities for teachers and administrators that explore racial and cultural factors that may influence their ability to connect with students that belong to a racial/ethnic group," she says.

"I really see my role as a part of team," Black adds, "and as part of the district's mission to ensure that all students receive a quality education." She's still getting accustomed to her new position, having only been at the job for about two weeks. Still, Black is excited about the challenges ahead of her. "I see a lot of potential things that I might be able to get involved with," she says.

Her initial charge is to work collaboratively with the other leadership and the District to ensure that race and equity is embedded in the decisions that are made with regard to children's lives and their education. "We want to make sure that we give students every support we can for them to succeed."

While Black works with community agencies to nurture positive community relationships and partnerships, a big part of what she does is make sure that there is professional development for the staff so they can build positive relationships with students, in particular, students of color.

That includes making sure that teachers and administrators are comfortable and culturally competent with all of their students. Traditionally, people may think that this involves White teachers learning more about minority cultures, but Black sees it as much more than that. "I think everybody — even for me as a person of color — has so much to learn about each other.

It's not just White teachers and administrators." Black says. "There are a lot of people working really hard to get it. I think the District gets it, and they see that there is a need for it. I think we will work hard to continue to address that need and to get better." Black knows the importance of education, not only because of her extensive work in schools, but because she has four children — Kenny, 19, a sophomore-to-be at the University of Wisconsin-Madison; Cydny, 16, a senior-to-be at Madison Memorial; and Keith and Corey, 15, "I'm a parent, also.

I was a parent first, so I know one of the most important things is to have open communication," Black says. "White teachers, as well as teachers of color, need to feel safe to share what they don't know and not be embarrassed by it. Not be afraid to say, 'You know, I really just don't get it. I want to connect with this kid.'"

A self-described "military rat," Black spent most of her life in North Carolina, although she went to high school in Germany while her father was stationed over there. She also spent a lot of time in Washington, D.C., because both of her parents are from there. Black was brought to Madison because her husband, Kenneth, runs the ROTC Department at University of Wisconsin-Madison.

"We decided to make Madison our home because we felt they had an excellent school system," Black says. "Growing up in the South, we wanted, as parents, for our children to experience something different. "I think Madison is a beautiful town. It has a real hometown feel to it, but it has all of the amenities of a large city," Black adds. "It’s a mixture of small-town and big-town things."

Prior to her position as assistant to the superintendent, Black was a secondary schools improvement planner — working primarily with Madison La Follette High School but also with Madison East — and the Minority Services Coordinator at Madison Memorial High School. Throughout her history of social work and education, one of Black's biggest challenges has been closing the minority achievement gap. "That's a national challenge,” she says.

“We as a district are really committed to narrowing the achievement gap and disproportional of students of color in special education. District leadership has a renewed commitment to addressing race and equity issues, and we strongly believe it will take all stakeholders — teachers, parents, community, administrators — to accomplish the major task at hand." Black knows that narrowing the achievement gap won’t be easy.

It’s something that people have been talking about for a long time. Real steps need to be taken. "Brown vs. Board of Education was 50 years ago, and we're still facing the challenge of the achievement gap. It is gaining more attention with No Child Left Behind and all of the standard-based assessments.

As a district, we recognize that. We continue to provide support for these students - support coming in the form of community involvement. Black says the District works with the Urban League, Centro Hispano, and the Kajsiab House.

"There are a number of initiatives and partnerships that have been formed to support students' academics," she says. Black knows that all of the programs and partnerships in the world will be no good if she doesn’t have the support and involvement of parents.

"I would like for parents of color to feel empowered as equal partners in taking on the collective responsibility of meeting the educational needs of their students," she says.