Greenwich Educator To Be Honored With SERC Equity Award

GREENWICH, CT — A Greenwich educator will be one of three recipients of the State Education Resource Center's 2022 George A. Coleman Excellence in Equity Award.

Valerie Bolling, who is an instructional coach in Greenwich Public Schools and a Stamford resident, will be honored virtually at the SERC's Dismantling Systemic Racism: 2022 Conference on Race, Education & Success on May 6.

Other award recipients include Saahill Ray, a junior at Newtown High School, and Nakia Alexander, a parent partner in West Hartford.

SERC created this award to honor and highlight the demonstration of extraordinary acts of commitment and courage to ensure all Connecticut students, especially students of color and culturally and linguistically diverse students, are valued and respected in their school experience.

SERC is a quasi-public agency established under statute to serve the CT State Board of Education in supporting educational equity and excellence.

Honorees were selected based on their steadfast and unwavering action in:

• Advocating for children and families of color;
• Galvanizing individuals and coalitions toward equitable action;
• Taking risks in conversation and action regarding issues of equity for racially, linguistically and culturally diverse groups;
• Engaging the diverse needs of members of an education community and reconciling them toward a shared vision; and
• Furthering the exchange of information that affects thinking and effects conviction on matters of equity.

"This year’s honorees once again demonstrate that everyone can be an educational hero, no matter their role," said SERC Executive Director Ingrid M. Canady in a news release. "We’re especially excited to include a student among the honorees, because their voices are critical to driving their own success and collective change."

Bolling, an award-winning teacher and children’s author, has served as diversity, equity, and inclusion co-chair of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. She has been a longtime teacher and instructional coach in Greenwich Public Schools.

"Her articles and children’s books give voice to underrepresented and marginalized children, while she has worked to ensure equity, inclusion, and access in Greenwich Public Schools," a news release from SERC said.

In summer 2020 she coached fellow educators on navigating difficult conversations with students following the killing of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and has mentored and facilitated such challenging discussions with students herself.

SERC has held the Dismantling Systemic Racism conference since 2016 to confront racist structures and practices in education so Connecticut can better serve its students and their families. The event, held in-person from 2016 to 2019, began drawing hundreds of educators, students, and interested members of communities across the state every year.

This year's keynote speakers include Dr. OiYan Poon of Colorado State University and University of Maryland, College Park, whose research focuses on selective admissions processes, affirmative action policies, and the racial politics of Asian Americans and education; and Dr. Jamila Lyiscott, aka Dr. J, co-founder and co-director of the Center of Racial Justice and Youth Engaged Research at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the Cyphers for Justice program.