By Heather Wilson
I taught for 11 years in Denver Public Schools in many different roles, I was primarily a bilingual teacher and I typically worked in schools with non-English speaking students in hard to serve positions. I also taught mainstream 3rd grade, intervention, and Spanish as a foreign language. I was a “Jill of all trades,” I liked a little bit of everything in education. I loved teaching and I loved the children. But, as time wore on, I sometimes felt the phrase “I’m just here for the kids.” or “Let’s do this for the kids.” became overused and over-rated. The phrase began to lose its relevance.
I had chosen the profession because I liked children, but the kids weren’t the sole reason I taught. I was an adult with a passion for helping children but I was expecting something out of teaching for my own personal growth too. I did not see myself as a completely selfless human being who only did things for the good of the children. It felt that often this was the expectation put on educators from within our community and with the general public.
I have spoken to other teachers throughout my time in education and I heard others agree with me. So, as we built School Deets, we wanted to be sure that our product made the lives of educators easier; we wanted to relieve some of that pressure that weighs on them professionally. We wanted to solve a systems-level problem and give educators more time back. We wanted to be true to the adults in the profession. We felt that the adults in the education ecosystem are just as important as the kids.
The adults are impacting the lives of the children and their time spent with our precious children should be considered valuable. Even though I am not in the classroom anymore, I am still an educator. Like other educators, I work with other adults to impact the lives of children but my work isn’t solely “for the kids.” So, at School Deets we use the phrase Child-Centered instead. It’s a core value of our company. We feel this core value of “CHILD-CENTERED” honors the adults in the system and still keeps children at the heart of why we are here and what we are building.
School Deets is a simple and effective communication platform that fixes disjointed school to home communication by providing one app for everyone. Admin, teachers, family liaisons, secretaries, parent volunteers, community members, etc can all use the same platform to easily reach parents.
School Deets is working with Excelsior Springs High School During the K12 Fellowship.
Heather Wilson
Heather is the CEO and Co-Founder of School Deets, worked for 11 years in urban education as a Denver Public School bilingual teacher. She is a mom to three school-aged children and is actively involved in her school and community.
