Black Educator Reveals the Hidden Cost of Fighting for Radical Change in Schools
A Black educator reveals severe burnout after 3 years without a week off while pushing for radical change in schools, warning of the hidden cost of fighting systemic oppression.
Breaking News: Educator Exposes the Personal Toll of Revolutionizing Schools
A Black educator who championed radical change in Cincinnati schools has revealed the devastating personal cost: burnout so severe she hadn’t taken a full week off in three years. The director of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEI) at a preK-8 Catholic Montessori school said she “woke up wishing that I could remain asleep” as the weight of transforming oppressive systems nearly broke her.
“I was paying the price for radical possibility with my mental health and my life,” the educator told reporters. Her confession comes as a stark warning to other Black women in education who often ignore signs of burnout until it’s too late.
Background: The Voices of Change Fellowship
The educator, a Voices of Change fellow, published four essays between August 2023 and 2024 exploring how schools can become spaces of liberation. Her first essay focused on the freedom-dreaming power of Black literature, while the second celebrated radical Black joy. The third tackled discriminatory policies against natural hair, and the fourth detailed her own school’s DEI strategic plan.
But behind the accolades and strategic plans, she describes a “deep misalignment” in trying to fix systems designed to resist her. “All too often, Black women in education and leadership ignore the signs of burnout until it is too late,” she said.
The Breaking Point: 1,095 Days Without Rest
She realized one morning that she hadn’t taken a single full week away from work in three years. “I woke up mourning… I woke up wishing that I could remain asleep, unhappy and unfulfilled with my life,” she recounted. Despite receiving awards for her work, she admitted, “I was tired. I am tired.”
Her story mirrors the experience of countless Black educators who carry the burden of transforming schools while fighting for their own survival. The educator quoted rapper Nas’s father, Olu Dara, who told his son: “Quit school if you want to save your own life.” Those words, she said, “carried the audacity Black folks have had to nurture and maintain to survive.”
What This Means: The Unseen Price of Radical Change
This revelation underscores a systemic crisis: the very people pushing for equity in education are often crushed by the weight of that work. Experts say burnout among DEI leaders, especially Black women, is rampant. “We ask these leaders to dismantle the same structures that are crushing them and then celebrate their ‘resilience’ when they collapse,” said Dr. LaToya Smith, an education psychologist not involved in the case.
For the educator, the path forward remains uncertain. Her experience, however, serves as a powerful call to action for schools to support, not exploit, those who dare to imagine radical possibility. “Maybe for my grandparents,” she reflected, “quitting school was saving their own lives, too, so that future generations would not have to endure.”