PHOENIX — A group of Arizona mothers has been taking action when it comes to their children's education while hoping to end the school-to-prison pipeline.
The organization, Black Mothers Forum, has launched ten micro schools across the Valley since January 2021.
"We're just this army of moms that have come together to really focus on the wellbeing of our children and creating safe and supportive learning environments for them," said Black Mothers Forum founder and CEO Janelle Wood.
Wood described a micro school as a group of about five to 12 students divided into grade clusters and taught by two coaches, or their version of teachers.
"We offer our micro schools, initially, to black students, our brown students, our indigenous students, most of our students of color because they have had such a traumatic experience in the public school system, but we're open to all students," Wood said.
The trauma Wood mentioned was why BMF mom and lead advocate Shannon Hayes said she wanted to put her daughter in a micro school instead of a public or charter school.
"Her teachers would constantly tell me that there was something wrong with her," Hayes said. "'She's too active, she talks too much, she is not paying attention,' No, she wasn't being challenged."
Hayes and Wood said students of color can face unique challenges and barriers.
"Racial microaggressions, racial harassment, and discrimination, as well as disproportionate discipline," Hayes said. "Our representation is very low to almost nonexistent."
It's also why Hayes wanted to join BMF - for representation and a community to lean on.
As far as the name of the group is concerned, Wood said she's gotten some pushback.
"I've heard this a lot, 'Why can't it just be All Mothers Forum? How come it just can't be Mothers Forum?'" Wood said. "I said, you know why it can't just be All Mothers Forum is because all mothers don't have the same issues and concerns and barriers and oppressions and repression that Black mothers have faced for decades in this country."
Wood said she started BMF in 2017 as a way to support Arizona moms, especially if they needed help handling disciplinary or other situations at their children's schools.
"We'll have the NAACP, or the ACLU refer families to us who are in crisis in their school systems."
But she said she soon realized they wouldn't be able to keep up with the number of referrals coming in.
"We decided there's got to be another way," Wood said. "We designed our micro schools to create safe and supportive learning environments for Black students, and we all know that when our students are safe, every student is safe."
According to data from the Department of Education during the 2017-2018 school year, Black students were more likely to be disciplined than their white peers.
About 15% of K-12 public school students were black in the U.S. during that year, but they represented more than double that number in out-of-school suspensions: 38%.
White students, meanwhile, made up almost half of U.S. public school enrollment but made up about 33% of U.S. students who received out-of-school suspensions.
The same data shows that in Arizona, Black students made up about five percent of the public-school population that school year, but again, represented more than double that number for out-of-school suspensions.
So, do parents feel these local micro schools make a difference?
BMF mom and former educator Tiffany Dudley told ABC15 she switched her son to one after he had started having behavior trouble in public school.
"He actually became excited about school again, wanting to go to school, to be in a smaller setting and around people who look like him and kind of understood his emotions," Dudley said.
Hayes also said her daughter ended up catching up in her academics after switching to a micro school, and then some.
"[Her] learning was low and by the time she finished sixth grade, she was ahead," Hayes said. "That had never happened before."
Wood said part of the reasoning behind some of the students' success is representation and a sense of belonging.
"They no longer had to worry about the fight, the flight, or the fright, they could relax, they had women that looked like them, women that understood them culturally, women that wanted to empathize with them, and we wanted to see them succeed," Wood said.
Wood said the schools are in compliance with Arizona Department of Education standards and participate in standardized testing.
"I've always told people, I'm not against the public schools," she said. "I'm against the system that continues to criminalize our children's behavior."
As far as the group's biggest hurdle right now, Wood said it's funding.
They operate the micro schools through donations, grants, and taxes.
The Black Mothers Forum micro schools are now accepting ESAs for new enrollment for Pre-K-12th grades in their Tempe and Phoenix locations.
