Rethinking Schools Rethinks Its Future

Cierra Kaler-Jones. Photo courtesy of Kaler-Jones.

Rethinking Schools is at a crossroads.

The group has been on the forefront of progressive educational causes for nearly four decades. First begun as a little newspaper handed out to Milwaukee educators in 1986, it has grown into a national nonprofit publishing enterprise supporting anti-racism, LGBTQ+, immigrants, environmental causes, and peace. Its breakthrough publication was a booklet in 1991, Rethinking Columbus, which was later expanded into a 100-page book selling over 200 thousand copies.

Despite continued growth in its magazine subscriptions and book sales, it now faces financial difficulty as outlined by its executive director, Cierra Kaler-Jones, in a Facebook posting and email: “Our book sales have dropped by almost 60% in the past two years,” she wrote. “Recently, we’ve had to make significant and difficult cuts in our organization, including reducing staff hours and pay by 25% to help us weather this storm. To avoid additional cuts to staffing and possible layoffs in the new year, we need to raise $250,000 by early next year.”

Bob Peterson is one of the founding members of Rethinking Schools. Larry Miller joined a few years later. Both were Milwaukee school activists. Peterson served as teachers union president. Both were later elected to the Milwaukee school board. Miller served as school board president; Peterson followed as board president. Both are now retired and still serve on the board of directors for Rethinking Schools.

Rethinking Schools is not alone in its dilemma, says Peterson. “The financial challenges are ones that many racial and social justice nonprofits are navigating.”

“Districts buy our stuff; it is well appreciated. But in Florida, they can’t… That’s true in Texas” and some other states, says Miller. “There is a real grassroots desire to buy our stuff, but for school districts to buy it, it is very difficult in this day and age.”

Rethinking Schools knows that some groups, outside the school systems’ structure are buying their material and distributing it to students and educators in a kind of reader underground. But Miller acknowledges that many teachers fear bringing in this printed material or even the ideas into the classroom for fear of being fired. Dramatic cuts in teacher education programs also means that fewer college professors are assigning Rethinking School books as part of their curriculum.

“People are desperate for our perspective,” says Miller, particularly since traditional textbook companies have purged material on controversial topics.

“There was a surge of support after the summer of 2020” and the George Floyd protests, says Kaler-Jones.

Then came the backlash. “We begin to see that support dissipate,” she notes.

“We did not put out any real books in the last year,” says Miller. Much of this due to potential writers being consumed by the difficulties of teaching during COVID. Peterson says their goal is now to publish two or more books per year.

Rethinking Schools has stuck mainly to printed material and is slowly moving to digital content. The magazine is now available in digital format and back issues can be purchased as a PDF. While all their books can be found on Amazon, only the 2020 Rethinking Multicultural Education is offered as a Kindle edition: Amazon.com: Rethinking Multicultural Education: Teaching for Racial and Cultural Justice. A third edition will be offered beginning December 13.

However, only a handful of its books are offered in a PDF format. Rethinking Columbus has not been digitized. Several YouTube offerings from Rethinking Schools are online, but there is no link to those offerings on the organization’s website.

“We are trying to diversify our revenue income,” says Peterson. “We are going to have our first audio book called The New Teacher Book.” Plans are in the works to create more online workshops and webinars.

Rethinking Schools has run a lean operation. None of its board members receive a salary, and Miller says they have been paying their office staff of seven a minimal salary. The staff formed a union, supported by the directors, says Miller. It was difficult to raise their wages and come back this year to cut salaries by 25%.

From its beginnings, Rethinking Schools relied on volunteers to get its newspaper published. Even as it expanded and added paid staff, both business and editorial decisions were made by the board of directors collectively without the leadership of an executive director. What began as a group of young Milwaukee educators sitting around the table at a Riverwest storefront, has evolved into a national organization with editors and board members in Seattle, Philadelphia, Portland, Oregon and beyond.

But its leadership has matured. A year ago, Rethinking Schools hired its first executive director, Kaler-Jones, who now leads the organization from her home base in the Washington, DC, area.  She continually uses the words “Transition” and “moving the mission forward,” underscoring the need to hand the work off to a younger generation.

To those who might question the wisdom of hiring an executive director during this time of financial need, she believes this was a direction Rethinking Schools had to embrace. She emphasizes that much of her work involves fundraising and promoting its values. She believes that the next chapter of Rethinking Schools has yet to be written.

But it will require more financial support to make that happen. Those looking to donate can do so at the group’s website.