Jed: 00:00:01

Brenda Cora, welcome to Charterfolk Chat.

Brenda: 00:00:05

Hi, Jed. Thanks for having me.

Jed: 00:00:07

So terrific to have you here. There are a lot of reasons why I do Charterfolk. You know, this is just a passion project of mine. It's a little service thing I do.

But the thing I love is I get to stay connected to a bunch of old friends that I wouldn't otherwise stay fresh with, and I get to meet so many other great people. And I don't think. Brenda, you and I have met before in person. Right? And. And I think, you know, I.

Look, I'm a fawning fan, yours from afar, but would I have had a chance to meet with you so quickly if I wasn't doing Charterfolk? Probably not. So this is why I do it, so I have a chance to meet remarkable people like yourself.

Thanks for everything you've been doing and thanks for joining us today.

Brenda: 00:00:45

No, I appreciate it. I appreciate you inviting me to this space. I am looking forward to us building a partnership and a friendship.

So thank you so much again for inviting me today.

Jed: 00:00:57

So. So there are elephants in the room.

We are recording right during the middle of a Trump transition where Linda McMahon is going to have her confirmation hearings. We'll get to all that that's happening this week. We'll get to that. But I don't want to get separated from your unbelievable origin story.

And I mean, I will say that I visited about 800 charter schools. I visited three Noble schools, by the way.

But in the history of all those visits, there are some that just leap out where the person's connection to the institution, to the organization, is so deep. I did visit an Alliance School in Los Angeles that had previously been a hospital.

And the school principal of the Alliance School had been born in that hospital.

Brenda: 00:01:43

Oh, wow.

Jed: 00:01:43

She had. She had been there from the very first day of her life. It just exuded. Exuded authenticity.

Well, you're someone that was there in the first graduating class of Noble. I'd love to talk to you about the other things about Noble, but can you just. What was it like to be a student in that first class? Do you.

Do you remember your first day of class? What. When did Nobleness get started for you?

Brenda: 00:02:07

I do remember my first day at Noble. And I will say that Noble was a brand new charter school. And when I say brand new, meaning we didn't even have classrooms that were finished.

So some of our classrooms were held in hallways and small closets. So it was a different experience. But one thing that I appreciated about Noble was we had adults who really loved and cared deeply about us.

And so there didn't matter if we had a classroom or not, if we had tables or not. We were sitting on the floor.

They were going to put really tough, rigorous curriculum in front of us and ensure that we were learning and that we felt supported along the way. And so that's one thing that brought me to Noble and also continues to keep me at Noble.

Jed: 00:02:52

So talk to me a little bit about the origins of your commitment to producing education for others as well as consuming great education that came from Noble.

Are there some moments along the way where maybe something sparked in you, hey, maybe I'm gonna do this myself, or maybe I'm gonna spend a significant chunk of my adult life committed to this kind of. Are there a couple moments along the way that you would. You would point to?

Brenda: 00:03:24

Yeah. No. I appreciate this question because it is something that I've been thinking and reflecting a lot about. And I will say, you know, I.

I come from very humble beginnings, and Noble open the doors that I never imagined possible.

And having been a student who was really excited about a new charter school, my family really had hopes and aspirations for me, and I had high hopes and aspirations for myself that really allowed me to thrive. And my life trajectory just shifted by going to Noble and graduating from college.

I will say, when I started working at Row Clark on the west side of Chicago, there was a student at one point who made some poor decisions and was removed from our campus. He actually ended up going to Nancy B. School, which is an alternative program.

And he, myself, along with his advisor, were going to several court cases and speaking to the judge and asking him to be able to return back. And this was his senior year. And the judge made a decision, and the judge said, no, he's going to graduate from Nancy B.

And he's not going to be able to attend Royal Clark. And him and mom were, like, completely, completely devastated. They wanted to finish their senior year with us.

And he actually asked that we continue to tutor him, ask that we continue to provide college counseling services. And we did that we would go to his house and provide those services, despite him being a Ro Clark student.

But one thing my team and I did was we partnered with Wartburg College and we asked them if they would provide a scholarship for him to get him out of the city. And they delivered on that. And we were able to surprise him and mom with a scholarship at our college senior, senior college signing night.

And he went there, played football, and graduated in four years. And he and I are still in communication and One thing he says to me is, Cora, if, if I didn't go away, I don't know where I would be right now.

And it wouldn't be living this happy life in another state where I felt like a productive citizen. And, you know, going away to college really changed my life.

And I think that the moment that I attended his college graduation was the moment that I knew that I would do this work for a very long time.

And I will say, initially, education was not my career choice, but, you know, you fall in love with the kids, you fall in love with the work, and you really see the transformational work that you're doing and the impact it has, and it's hard to walk away.

Jed: 00:05:53

Yeah, it's those connections to the kids. I'm just getting texts from and other kids that they're asking me to come down for a kid reunion next in. In March. So we're gonna go and.

And I'll have a great time. But it's. It. I really find the connections from way back sometimes just gives you greater leverage on yourself to keep. To keep going.

And it's that leverage that we need on ourselves that is sometimes key to charter folk being able to just keep pushing through the ridiculousness and all of that. I mean, obviously, Noble is an incredible organization. It's incredible talent magnet.

The most amazing people in the world would love to have a role like you have, and yet, you know, they've chosen someone that has grown within the organization. What is it that you think if you were to put your finger on one or two things? I think when Noble chooses a CEO like myself, they bring this.

These two or three, one or two different differences. What do you think are those things that will make your era of leadership unique at Noble?

Brenda: 00:07:04

Yeah, I think that I'm not a leader that's coming in. I'm a leader that's coming up. And I know that I know our Noble community inside and out.

And as a student, educator and a leader, this really allows me to focus on our future from the very beginning.

I'm not spending a lot of time learning who we are, and instead, I'm taking and leveraging the relationships that I built with my principals, my staff, my family, my students, and helping me to collectively create our path forward. And I think that that's allowed already for a strong start in my transition and minimize any disruption.

So I would also say that I am strong in my values, and people who know me know that my core values are grounded in love, love, hope, and truth. I think it's really Important that, you know, we pour into our people and we care deeply about our people, and they know that.

And we're able to meet their needs and be able to push them beyond their greatest aspirations. I think that we have to have real dialogues and conversation that needs to be grounded in truth and.

And then as leaders, we have to be able to provide what is the hope for our future and where are we going.

And I think that with those three core values that are near and dear to me, I think that people lean in and appreciate that about my leadership at Noble.

Jed: 00:08:37

So I wanted.

I was thinking about going in a different direction, but what you've shared right now, I'm going to deviate from my own mental map here because I think this issue of promoting from within is particularly important in Charterland.

And I will say that I find myself concerned sometimes when I see organizations reaching far outside their employee base, outside their culture base, their people base. Charter schools, in many instances are set up to be different from, to be unique, to do things that are so odd.

It's like when I make a visit to a charter school, if I don't find within my first 60 seconds or two minutes something that I don't understand, that everybody there does understand, I start to get concerned. Right.

But then you try to have somebody that you're going to hire, new from outside the organization that's going to speak the language, is going to understand it. I think that we often find that that doesn't happen in the advocacy realm. I think this is very important, too.

I often think we're like, oh, those young people, they don't know how politics. We got to get some other smart person in.

And so we don't cultivate this amazing talent that's actually emerging within both our charter school organizations, our schools, and within our advocacy organizations. Can you talk to me about the importance of promoting from within is what I've said. Does that resonate with you? I'm not being blanket.

Oh, you can never hire from outside. But just as a strong predisposition, my sense is that we could be doing more. Growing from within.

Brenda: 00:10:12

No, I agree with you. I think internal leadership development builds continuity for our staff, our students, our families.

It really strengthens our culture and it enhances trust. And so my journey from student to teacher to CEO shows the power of investing in our people who are already within our school buildings.

And I think that the best way for us to do this is for us to first establish clear structures and systems for identifying and nurturing talent. And then it's important that we provide professional development, mentorship programs and just a transparent criteria for advancement.

And of course, what I said earlier when we talked about truth is, people need to know how they're doing and we have to be able to give real, crucial, critical feedback to allow them to grow and be better in their roles for the people that we get to serve and be in service to.

Jed: 00:11:05

That's why I created Charter Folk. I do ultimately believe that FOAK are our most precious resource.

And I also think that we haven't done as good a job as we could have to recognize that and to focus on it.

And it's something that has to be constantly invested in and our own world in all this political turmoil and all of the chaos and noise versus signal, it can be so hard for newcomers to Charterland or to Noble Land or high tech Highland, where I used to work, to really know what these organizations are about. And I think the more that we can invest in it, the better.

And often our culture builders, our culture builders are as important as our instruction builders. Talk to me a little bit about your role as culture builder. You're really the holder now, the, the ambassador for Noble.

And, and what is the unique power that you have, having been within Noble for as long as you have been now, to be that creator of the next generation of, you know, Noble culture?

Brenda: 00:12:21

Yeah, no, I believe in people, and I believe people want to be on winning teams and people want to do excellent work. I don't have any doubts on, like, our, our staff who choose Noble and our students who choose Noble.

And I think it's incumbent on me, as the leader of our organization, as well as the rest of our leaders across our organization, to create a culture where we truly do believe that our people want to be the best. And so what are the systems that supports the development opportunities that really allow our people to thrive in our setting?

And I think as long as we continue to engineer for wins for our people, we'll create the culture that we want to continue to see across our organization.

Jed: 00:13:03

So then we find ourselves in moments like this where there are elephants in the room, and I guess you choose elephants and you think, oh, well, you know, foreign animals. I'm not making any political point by just using the term elephant here. Big creatures in our rooms, right?

That, that challenge us from a culture standpoint.

And I mean, if I can opine just for a minute, I was at the California Charter School association when, when Trump was elected the first time, and there were all sorts of challenges in that moment, in those months afterwards. And I think our world was needing reassurance that our values, our culture, was in common.

And so some of the things that we did afterwards, I think were really important things. They were good things. I also think some of them.

I would like a second pass at some of these things because I feel like the right time to have been working on those particular issues was years before. This is why I obsess on our policy agendas. I don't think our policy agendas are right. I think that we should be going after educational red lines.

I think it should be like very, very clear where we stand on fairness issues in public education.

e are now to where we were in: 2017

I think we've had some conversations through Covid, through George Floyd, through other political challenges as well, where I think people are a little bit more self confident that in the aggregate our cultures are okay.

're tackling that? Not from a: 2017

What's the right way for a leader like yourself to be taking that on?

Brenda: 00:15:12

I think in a time when our current admission, sorry, our current administration is currently like creating some uncertainties and some fear within our community. It's crucial for me as a school leader to remain a constant source of support for our people.

We've communicated to our parents, to our students, to our staff that we're going to continue to be partners in this work.

We can't control what we can't control, but the things that we can control, we're going to make sure that we lean and focus on, and that is making sure that people feel supported, they feel safe, they feel heard, and that we're going to also make sure we protect our programming and that it's not going to be interrupted. One thing that we have promised to our students and families is continuity.

And we're going to make sure that we continue to do that despite what decisions are made that are outside of our control.

Jed: 00:16:10

I think also, like you were talking about a culture of love at Noble. And I think it's, it's perfect and it's also a little Bit risky, right? Because you can use love as an excuse to do a wide range of things.

Not maybe all of which are helpful, but then there's a core of things just so unquestionably, you know, hey, by hooker, by crook. Somehow or another, this is our community. These are our people who are here as a school community. We are to love those that are within our circle.

How do you talk about love in this environment? Such that we keep focused on the love that's going to make the biggest difference for our kids.

But other expressions of love that may be perfectly appropriate, but maybe they're the thing for another organization to focus on. Just wonder. I continue to think about this every day. I'd love to hear what your thoughts are.

Brenda: 00:17:11

Yeah, When I think about love, I think it's a choice. I think it's a choice that we choose our kids every single day.

We choose the staff who choose Noble every single day and ensure that they feel supported, they feel heard, and that they're being pushed.

Whether that students being pushed academically, that students being held accountable to self discipline, that's adults learning and growing in their craft and in their art. As a teacher, I think that is a form of love.

And to me, the relentless support that we provide at Noble is something that I want to continue to build upon because it's what our people deserve.

Jed: 00:17:50

So talk to me a little bit about the future of Noble. We've gone through this fascinating time. I mean, C.J. and I've known each other for a long time. I remember being at a.

I was at a gathering of char School Growth fund and we did a little portfolio exercise for CJ in her first months on the job. I was super impressed by her from the very beginning. But again, it was a different era.

And now you are where you are and there have been all these challenges. I'm especially focused on the. On the how we talk about growth because growing is so hard right now and it is so political right now. And yet.

And we have declining enrollment in a lot of different places. And yet we also know there are just millions upon millions of kids and families that are not being served as well as they could and should be.

So break it into two pieces. What's most important for you regardless? The frame for Noble right now.

And then on that question of growth, how are you thinking about that in this current environment?

Brenda: 00:18:58

Yeah, I appreciate this question.

So one is I want to make sure that I am adopting a listening and learning stance where I'm listening to students, parents and families to guide our three Year strategic plan. That's my first priority. I think the.

The second priority is making sure that we're continuing to deliver on our promise of making sure kids have access to college and are. Is graduating from college.

And so that means we need to think intentionally about what is working well for our students who graduating and what's not working, and how are we creating system structures, interventions to be able to support students to make it to and through college.

Jed: 00:19:40

And then as it relates to, do we serve more kids? Do we open more schools? Do we go across Illinois? Do we move into other places of the Midwest? I don't know.

How are you thinking about the additional kids and families that are out there that are still needing better services?

Brenda: 00:19:58

Yeah, I think one is making sure we're deepening our impact at our current schools and we're delivering on our outcomes.

So when I think about expansion, I think about it in that way, and I think that making sure we're continuing to deliver excellence on our commitments to the people who choose Noble every single day. So that's how I'm thinking about expansion right now. As far as, like, growing schools or growing to additional schools, I'm not there yet.

I think my strategic plan will help me to decide what the next chapter looks like for Noble.

Jed: 00:20:34

I like that. Give yourself a chance to hear from a lot of different stakeholders about this as you're crafting a new plan. I like that.

Talk to me a little bit about how all of this works together with advocacy. It was fascinating to watch CJ at different times. Hey, there's.

And also, Chicago has got to be one of the most difficult local environments to try to be keeping focused on the work and not getting dragged into all the drama and all the broader politics. There have been some moments where it's quite understandable for charter school organizations, Charter school leaders, hey, keep our heads low.

Keep out of it. It's not going to help if we get involved. It may be counterproductive. Wait a second. New moments arise. Wait a second. We really need to step forward.

I think you. I think you know this. You know, Andrew Broy, I consider a brother from another mother.

And, you know, you've got one of the best advocates, you got one of the best advocacy organizations in the country. The connections between incs and Noble, you know, go way back.

But just talk to me about, as you're thinking about your role as leader, but also the positioning of Noble. How does. How does choosing the right way to be involved in advocacy factor in here?

Brenda: 00:21:53

Yeah, I think advocacy requires a balance that it's like, essential to know when you should speak up, speak out, and when you should work behind the scenes. And I think Noble's strong partnership with Andrew and Inks plays just a pivotal role in ensuring that we advocate effectively for charter students.

And I think that our collective efforts with Inks not only amplifies our voice, but also reinforces our commitment to students success.

And I will say that every decision we make in this advocacy work is guided by one singular question, and that one question is what is best for students.

So I will say that this focus really ensures that our actions are both strategic and impactful, ultimately leading to better outcomes for those we get to serve.

Jed: 00:22:50

And how do you think about the contribution of Noble and maybe the broader charter school community in Chicago in terms of helping change the discussion in Chicago such that all boats rise and gaps close? It's one of things that's fascinating. I'm sure you've been keyed into that research from the public policy institute.

10 cities where charter schools have grown to serve a large number of kids. All 10 of those cities are ones where all boats rise and where achievement gaps are closing. We're in a world now where we see NAEP results imploding.

It seems like a moment for us in urban contexts, for us to be able to assert less apologetically, hey, the growth of our sector is not only going to be great for the kids that we serve, but it's going to be great for all of the students in the city. And yet there's just all this pressure. Shut up. Charter school people don't talk about that.

It's self serving or, you know, it's going to translate into you trying to grow more, which the status quo interests are certainly opposed to.

How, you know, do you think as a leader in Noble and in a charter school community broadly, what, what is the role we should be saying in cities like Chicago about what our future impact could, could be to help all students access better education?

Brenda: 00:24:10

Yeah. Noble has been around for 25 years. We're celebrating our 25th. We have done incredible work.

We have different research documents, articles that have shared that we are leading the path in the way when it comes to academic excellence and closing gaps for students.

I think we are doing a lot of things well and I think we just need to continue to be willing to share our practices with other folks within the charter sector, folks who are not in the charter sector. This is about kids and making sure kids have what they need and deserve.

And as a Noble leader, I want to continue to partner with People throughout Chicago, throughout the nation to ensure that we put our best work together to meet the needs of our kids. You just shared about the NAP scores. They are not where we want them to be. Reality is those will be students we serve and get to serve.

And so we have to be intentional about what are we talking about when we talk about intentional time with classroom minutes, accelerated learning. What does that even mean?

And what are the strategic moves that we're doing to ensure students are growing and learning and being taken care of when we talk about all of their needs?

So my hope is we put down the political agendas or the fact that we're charter, public school, private, and we come together and say what's really working and how do we share resources to ensure kids have what they need and deserve.

Jed: 00:25:48

What's your vision on the partnership between the larger charter school organizations and some of our advocacy partners?

I think that what we find in, I think an underappreciated part of the advocacy strengthening that's happened, say, in the last five to seven years has been in some states, not all states, but in some states, the state association and the largest operators have come together in new levels of partnership. I think it's one of the most underappreciated things about Starling success in Texas. In Texas, they were all over the map for a long time.

The big schools and the small schools and all of that. And, you know, when Starley came together, the entire charter school community came together.

But even, probably even more importantly, or least as importantly, Kip was there. Yes. Was there. Idea was there. IL Texas was there. All of the big charter school or CMOs basically came together. And, you know, that's not enough of. No.

I mean, Starlight's one smart cookie. There's all sorts of other important people that did all sorts of great stuff. It's a unique political context. I. I hear it.

But hey, things are getting stronger in D.C. with Ariel, who was in Chicago for a long time, and all the CMOs are with her. Harry. In New Jersey. New Jersey story is incredible uncommon.

You know, Julie Jackson, she never would have been on the board of the New Jersey association five, six, seven years ago. Julie's on there now. Right.

And so I think what we learned from this, or we could learn from this, is that when the large organizations and their membership associations come together, new levels of partnership, exciting new things happen around advocacy. You've always had it in Illinois, right? The partnership has been there.

A part of it too, is some of the CMOs say, oh, the state associations aren't strong enough. And there's never really been that concern in Chicago because INCS has always been so strong.

But any thoughts you have on this, I'd just be curious what your thinking is.

Brenda: 00:27:48

Yeah, I love that people are coming together to make a stronger impact and ensure that we are standing strong as a charter organization and making sure people know that we are doing incredible work for students who across our cities. And so that excites me. I have always been a person who wants to learn and grow from great leaders.

I don't know that I would be here today if I was opposed to that.

So I'm excited to learn from some of the greats and continue to bring them to Noble to see the incredible work that we're doing, but also have an opportunity to go see their organizations and learn from them so I can bring that incredible work back to the kids we get to serve here in Chicago.

Jed: 00:28:35

Well, I saw that you were a big supporter of Malka after these fires happened in Los Angeles. Malka Borrego is a leader in Los Angeles, creator of Equitas and was on the member council at CCSA and on the board at ccsa.

Incredible charter school leader. And she was one that lost her house during these fires.

And people rallying around her and people rallying around the charter schools in Los Angeles generally has been just a very heartwarming thing to see.

But in her next generation, her next iteration of work, Malka's really been focused on the creation of liao, which is Latino Educators Advancing Leadership.

And that organization really got started through some things at charterfolk where she and three other Latino leaders came together and just said, hey, where are the Latino leaders? Why don't we have more? And I will do everything I can to support Malka generally, but specifically on that, I think it's a really big problem.

And I just wonder what your thoughts are about, about this. How well have we done as a movement, growing the kind of diverse leadership that we need to. What more could we be doing?

I would just love to hear your general thoughts on this. What seems to be a very, very important issue still for us.

Brenda: 00:29:58

Yeah, first, I think it's important for you to know that I lead a purpose driven life committed to just giving back to others. And so the way that so many people have poured into me, I like to pay that forward.

And so I firmly believe that it's important for students to see leaders who mirror them and mirror them in their background and also in their experiences.

And because so many incredible people have poured into me I do believe that it's my responsibility and it's our responsibility as leaders, specifically leaders of color, to continue to give back and pour into future leaders and create pathways for diverse educators. We currently have a pathway at Noble called the Diverse Leaders Fellowship, and I'm so passionate about it.

I serve as a mentor to our fellows and our diverse leaders pathway at noble.

I have seven mentees since: 2019

Jed: 00:31:18

And when it comes to your personal leadership, this is an area that my wife has done a lot of work on. She's a clinical psychologist. She was the first person to write about the imposter phenomenon as it relates to women of color.

And she found some really fascinating things, which were that women of color were uniquely subject to the challenges of the imposter phenomenon, but also that they had unique resources to protect themselves against the. The risks of the imposter phenomenon, ways to push through those moments of doubt and challenge. As you think about this, as a.

As a leader of color woman coming into this position right now, what are those sources of just resiliency and strength that are there for you at the hardest hours?

Brenda: 00:32:10

Yeah, I think for me, it is grounding myself in what's most important to me, and that is my faith. I am big on making sure that if I continue to pour goodness into people, that I will get that in return.

And if my heart is in the right place, meaning, like, I want to do well for kids and for the adults who choose our organization, that. That will continue to pay forward for me. And it has been. That's just been my belief on, like, how I operate as a human being.

And so I will say, when it comes to, like, this imposter syndrome, it's something that I have been intentionally thinking about. As a woman of color who sits in the seat of a CEO, I think about just my experiences and what I bring to the table.

As someone who grew up in Chicago, someone who attended a charter organization and always remember that my unique experience gives me the permission to be at the table and to be able to help to make decisions that really impact our students and the organization that I serve.

Jed: 00:33:29

r PhD. She wrote it in, like,: 2003

And when she did her survey across women of all ethnicities, it turned out that women of color tended to have chosen work that was more connected to purpose. And. And when they remembered that and use the purpose as leverage, it turned out to be, you know, a superpower.

A second thing that she identified, and this was more with African American women, was the presence of long standing relationships. Sororities really matter.

You know, when you're at that moment when people are questioning you and it's just absolutely ridiculous, and you have somebody that you can call who's known you and supported you for 30 stinking years. Right. It makes it easier to, like, get through it.

And it makes me just feel like, just intuitively too, your connection to Noble, spanning that kind of time, the connection you have to friends or to students from all those years back, these are just resources that I think augur very well for you, being as transformational leader, as Noble could have hoped for.

Brenda: 00:35:02

Now, I appreciate your wife's reflections and you sharing it. I will say, when I stepped into the role, the one thing that I really did appreciate and was like, aha.

Moment for me was just the outpour of emails, text messages, and phone calls that I received from former staff, current students, current staff members around just my announcement as a CEO. It really was a testament to the authentic relationships that I was able to build over my 18 years here at Noble.

And one message that really made me proud and touched me in particular in particularly was a roll. Clark alum reached out and said, mama Cora, I'm so proud of you. Call me.

Moments like that just remind me of just a profound impact we have on each other's lives. And this work is so much bigger than one individual person. But we all are looking for community. We are looking for a sense of purpose.

And my hope is I'm able to be able to connect with people, to help them, you know, feel part of something bigger and greater.

Jed: 00:36:07

Yeah, I think.

Well, your hiring was one of those moments, Brenda, when, you know, several texts came to me that week, you know, and like I said, I hadn't met you yet. Right. But what an amazing story. They chose Brenda to take this role. And I think our entire movement is learning from the experience that you bring.

My own sense on this, by the way, is that a lot of this imposter phenomenon stuff, it applies to our whole movement. Right. It's why it's important, in my opinion, that we have deep connections to our own history when, you know that Howard Fuller was there. Right.

You know, it just, it helps us all keep our. Our anchors. Right.

But Also, when we can reconnect to purpose and, you know, when our advocacy reflects, you know, our values in whole sort great ways, it just keeps all of us just on track. But I just have this sense that, Brenda, so many people are excited about your leadership and what it means for your organization.

Share any last thoughts you might have about what your hopes and aspirations are for for Noble, of course. But if there's any, like, aspiration you would have for the broader charter school movement at this moment in time, what could we.

What could we benefit to hear from Brenda Core about at this moment?

Brenda: 00:37:24

Yeah, I'm just excited about noble celebrating the 25th year. But more importantly, I'm excited about our future.

I really, if, you know, you asked me what's the legacy that I want to leave, I want to make sure that there are Brenda choras who are CEOs who are coming out of Noble throughout our nation. That is something that I want and believe for our students. I want that to the same transformational education that I received at Noble.

I want that to be consistent and true for all of the students that we get to serve. If I were to say anything around the charter movement is, you know, we deserve a place and a voice in this work.

We are doing incredibly hard heart work that is very similar to private schools and public schools. We are not the enemies.

At the end of the day, our parents deserve to have an option, have options, and be able to choose the school that best meets the needs of their kids. And I think that to say that, you know, our families don't deserve that or, you know, shouldn't have that right, I think is naive and very dangerous.

And so my hope is that, you know, people start to understand, like, if you yourself are a parent and you've been involved in school choice for your kids, we can't have two sets of rules for the families that we get to serve. And so I think that it's important for people to understand, like, charter schools are a choice and families should be able to have that choice.

Jed: 00:38:53

Well, I'm of the opinion that working in the charter school movement for a transformational organization is a Noble lifetime experience. And you are sharing with us that, in fact, lifelong commitment to an organization like Noble can be a great, greatly noble endeavor.

So I just want to thank you for everything that you've done to get to where you are right now, to create just another emblem for us, another example of what Charterfolk really is all about. And yes, it's got to be a position of great responsibility right now. But you have the support of so many people around you.

So many people are going to be there for you.

And so for your own resources that you've developed along the way to keep pushing through whatever challenges you face, you're also going to have a bunch of new ones that are there for you. So just know that all of us here at Charterfolk are admiring you and hoping for you and just delighted that you are here for this conversation today.

Brenda: 00:39:54

Thank you, Jed. I appreciate you. Thank you so much.

Jed: 00:39:57

Thank you, Brenda.