Derek is currently in year 16 of his career teaching in public high schools. He also funded and has been running an educational nonprofit called Erase the Space for seven years. His work as a teacher has been to equip his students with language and the social emotional skills to navigate tension and build connections across boundaries. He teaches in Central Ohio, a metropolitan area ranked the second-most economically segregated city in the country and in the top 20 most racially segregated.
He has been working with other teachers in Central Ohio to facilitate classroom learning exchanges for students attending segregated schools, among students that are literally not meant to meet each other. Students engage in narrative sharing, shared learning, and meet in person at a neutral, public space at the end of the year to collaborate about solutions to social issues facing both student populations.
His job at Erase the Space is to support teachers engaging their students in this program in building relationships across segregated school districts to create meaningful learning and democratic discourse among students. They hope young people have this opportunity to experience community collaboration early on in their lives along with the wonderful ideas they bring to the table as solutions to issues that adults cannot imagine.
