70 years on, Topeka’s first Black feminine superintendent seeks to additional the legacy of Brown v. Board of Training

Topeka, Kansas — House-delivered birthday items and cake aren’t usually a part of a faculty curriculum, however Topeka Public Faculties Superintendent Tiffany Anderson hardly ever sticks to a lesson plan when there is a youngster in want.

“If we do not do it, who will?” Anderson asks.

The district on the heart of the landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Training ruling, which outlawed racial segregation in colleges, is now helmed by its first Black feminine superintendent. Friday marks the 70-year anniversary of that historic Supreme Court docket choice.

“I feel, 70 years later, I stay with the privilege to assist their hopes and goals come to life,” Anderson mentioned of those that fought to overturn the “separate however equal” coverage in colleges. “I am standing on their shoulders. If it weren’t for the plaintiffs of the Brown case.”

The district’s highschool commencement charges have skyrocketed from about 70% to 91% throughout Anderson’s eight-year tenure. She additionally established morale boosting packages — like commencement ceremonies for college kids in a close-by state correctional facility.

She’s additionally revolutionized put up highschool alternatives for her college students. Via a partnership with an area well being heart, college students can take lessons and get licensed in issues like phlebotomy, and they’re even assured jobs after they graduate.

In a district the place 46% of scholars qualify for sponsored lunch, Anderson put washers and dryers in colleges and opened meals and clothes pantries.

“It is probably not onerous to get individuals on board once they know that you just care, they usually know they are often a part of one thing fairly unimaginable and transformational,” Anderson instructed CBS Information.

Anderson speculates that worry might be the explanation these adjustments aren’t going down on a bigger scale within the U.S.

“Worry could make you select to not settle for different individuals, worry can shut down techniques in a approach like nothing else can,” Anderson mentioned.

Now, the historic district is reworking as soon as once more, this time opening its doorways to refugees and migrants.

“Simply because someone does not communicate English does not imply they’re much less helpful to a neighborhood,” mentioned Pilar Mejía, director of cultural innovation for Topeka Public Faculties.

College students from greater than 40 international locations have enrolled within the district.

“It will be tragic,” Mejía mentioned of the place a few of these households can be with out their assist. “They could find yourself in both not with the ability to come, or keep in conditions of their international locations which are dire.”

Anderson says there’s a throughline working from 1954 to as we speak of households coming to the U.S. seeking what dad and mom 70 years in the past fought for.

“The connection is, all of them are searching for a greater and brighter future,” Anderson mentioned. “They’re all hoping for one thing higher for his or her lives. We’re coping with households who need extra for his or her kids.”