“Surge is the space I didn’t know I needed, but deeply crave. After navigating years of organizational instability, shifting leadership, and inequitable workload expectations, I’ve come to understand that systems don’t transform through sacrifice; they transform through strategy, solidarity, and bold imagination. As Senior Director of School Operations, I carry both the privilege and burden of proximity: I see how absenteeism, policy erasure, and underrepresentation converge to silence and invisibilize Black and Latinx students’ brilliance.
Why Surge, and why now? Because the urgency is palpable and the isolation of leadership is unsustainable. Surge offers a community rooted in justice, clarity, and collective action.
As a Fellow, I hope to sharpen the vision for the Justice Educators Network, gain tools to resist harmful policy agendas, and link arms with courageous leaders across the country. I’m not interested in simply enduring the system. I want to be equipped to redesign it—boldly, sustainably, and in community.”
Mischa Bashir | Senior Director of Office School Operations, Detroit Public School Community District