WSNO Partners Brothers Empowered to Teach

You may have noticed on our website that diversity is one of our school's four main values. This school year we are working to further that goal by partnering with Brothers Empowered to Teach (BE2T). We caught up with Grades Chairperson and Grade 2 Teacher Jill Contento to learn more about BE2T and how we will be working together.

What is Brothers Empowered to Teach?

Brothers Empowered to Teach’s mission is to generate a pipeline of incredible teachers who mirror success for their students by recruiting men of color into classroom-based careers. 

From BE2T's website:

We recruit people of color, particularly black men, to explore careers in education, utilizing a formula that tackles the two key factors that keep black men from such a path. As many as 33% of college-bound black men will drop out by sophomore year. Of those who go on to graduate, many are not considering the teaching programs available to them, as these programs do not resonate with them and do not give enough time to sufficiently prepare culturally competent and content-strong educators. We work concurrently to attach them to school, working with kids, and train them to be incredible teachers.

How is WSNO partnering with BE2T?

We are going to mentor these young fellows to become excellent teachers while they add support to WSNO students by assisting and teaching alongside our teachers. 

Why is WSNO partnering with them?

We are partnering with BE2T because we want to increase diversity at our school and provide extra support for our students and teachers.

What do we hope to gain from their partnership?

We hope to gain more academic support in the classroom by having student teachers. 

Do you have any specific information about the particular people who will be teaching our students?

On September 20th we will get a list of fellows who will join our school. They will visit one week prior to starting in the classroom. We will share more about them in the coming weeks.

Anything else WSNO families should know about BE2T?

BE2T is located in the building adjacent to our new campus, which makes for a great opportunity to build a strong relationship with one of our new neighbors. We are excited to partner with such an innovative and thoughtful organization. We see it as an incredible opportunity for both our school and our students.