Episode Transcript
That is that's a bloated question. And it starts with the community. It starts with the family, you know, as an educator, I can do all I can to tell a child you can do this. You can be this. You can have this sky is the limit. Um, but then when you go back into an environment that doesn't look like That doesn't sound like that and not being reinforced.
I'm literally saying that phrase over and over again, every single day, because they're leaving my classroom, they're leaving my therapy room to go back into an environment. That's not matching the words that I've said.
You're listening to the slide podcast with Tavaris Bethel. What we attempt to do is to always speak blunt blood raw, straight from the city of Jacksonville to connect economics, politics, education in the street. So we slide on every concept. We slide on every topic. We're going to just jump on and we're going to slide.
This podcast is sponsored by raise it a donation platform, making change with change.
Welcome back to the slide with Tavares Bethel. I'm your host. We have the pleasure today of being joined by Miss Michellita Taylor, a native of Jacksonville, Florida, a speech pathologist, wonderful leader in our community. It's a pleasure to have you here with me today and thank you so much for joining us.
I'm so glad to be able to slide on in here today. Come on, I see you already got the vibe. I got it. I love it. And again to thank you because you assisted us, um, in this platform with the voiceover for our platform. Thank you. It's so wonderful to put a beautiful face with the beautiful. It was a pleasure.
I love what I do. Yeah, well, welcome. What we generally do to normalize. Um, our space, a lot of individuals that will watch this podcast have never had opportunity to meet the individuals that I'm, I'm blessed to meet here in the city of Jacksonville. Could you please share a little bit about yourself as we get started?
I am a native of Jacksonville. Miss Shalita Taylor, born and raised, um, in the Arlington South side area. Went to Sanderwood High School, go Saints. Um, and then I went to the university. to North Florida, Osprey Swoop for my undergraduate degree in communications and then 10 years later decided to go back to school for my master's in speech language pathology and so I love that field where I'm able to help both adults and students.
And children who have communicative disorders, um, aphasia, traumatic brain injuries, stuttering, the list goes on and on. Um, and right now I am the reigning, as you can see, miss black Jacksonville competing for miss black Florida next month. I'm incredibly excited, um, to be able to bring the crown home.
Come on, man. Come on. Hey, listen. Miss Black America will be from Duval County, Jacksonville, Florida. Hey, we're calling our shot from here, man. Definitely. Well, listen, as we dive into our content for today, generally we try to understand where we are as a continuum. We want to know something about the past, something about our present, and how we work towards a future.
And we would like to, um, Um, really dive into education and to your experience with education and the build up, um, for today. We were having a conversation, wasn't really sure if we would lead with that, but since we're talking from a historical perspective, I think that we will, um, because your answer was just so profound.
And, um, our question here as we begin is, um, the educational construct that we experience in America, particularly in this election season, there's a lot of conversation about education. Um, do you believe or how do you see our educational construct, um, Benefiting our community in particularly particularly given our set of experiences, you know, upwards coming to this country through the transatlantic slave trade, things of that nature.
How does education? How does the educational construct benefit our community? Yeah, I believe first it allows us to know the opportunities that we are deserving of as well. Number one, um, and to just to know what those opportunities of availability are, they need to look good, feel good, smell good and be practical.
So I believe the model in terms of how education is being provided right now, generalized to every child is appropriate. We deserve better. Good looking schools, we deserve the most popular and the most current types of technology, good meals, all of the things that we were denied, whenever we began to have, we had access to, to education.
And now that's something that should be normalized. I do think the who And the what that is being provided within the classrooms is what we need to revisit because we're, we're starting to see a dying of way of a lot of historical information that we as blacks still benefit from and those of other races need to have access and insight on as well.
Yes, ma'am. You know, as I was sharing with you, uh, up for coming from Miami, Florida, I dropped out of high school. I generally say I completed my formal education in 1993. I don't really call it dropping out. I stopped attending school, but I didn't stop attending education. Right. Right. I'm a lifelong learner.
However, my experience with education was a little difficult. The environment wasn't really such that. It inspired me to continue to stay in that fight. And so now as an adult coming through those challenges with, you know, having to go get a GED and go back to college and doing some of those things that I realized that I could have really done.
As a youth, it had, I had just a little bit more discipline, maybe a little bit more, um, more guidance. But as I look at the city of Jacksonville, you know, right now, currently I understand that about 30 schools are preparing to close. Um, and I've had opportunity to go into a few of those schools to see some of those challenges.
You have experiences working with the students in this city. What, what is it like, um, 30 schools closed and what is the future of education in this city? You know, it's shifting because a lot of Businesses, private institutions are getting involved in children's education. They're starting to see how the public sector, um, is kind of shifting their focus and what their priorities are.
So businesses are coming in, which is a pro and a con, I'll preface it that way, um, are coming in with the ideology that, you know what, we can provide education as well to students. Um, we can provide more, more specified and organized education by way of STEM or the arts or sports, um, because that will give that child a very clear focus.
focus or pathway to what they're going to do in their adult life or their vocation. Um, but some of the schools that are closing, they need to be closed because of the, they're old. Um, the location, um, a lot of children may not be attending the school in that local neighborhood. Um, so it's costing the county more money.
And so the other side of that, as they're able to close these schools down, they're able to consolidate those schools that are being closed and then utilize the funds to build. more current, more newer schools for Children to be able to receive that education on again. Aesthetics are important, especially when it comes to our Children.
Aesthetics show you care. Aesthetics show that your value. Aesthetics helps me to keep dreaming for something that's better than what I may be accustomed to right now. Very, very good and very, very, very insightful. Um, you know, because when we see schools closing, we a failure or something that's a part of that process, and that's absolutely not what's taking place.
We're realigning and we're positioning ourselves for the future. And I'm new to learning these things, I just learned them in the last couple of months as I assisted a wonderful young man with his campaign for school board district 5, Mr. Nashawn Nix. Unfortunately, Um, it didn't end, um, in his favor.
However, the lessons that learned were tremendous. But as we posture, uh, educationally for the, for the future, um, with the, uh, re aligning of those schools that will be closing and the posturing and the cre Creating a new opportunities for those individuals. How do you do it? Like what? What are the steps to create an environment that will give a child the information that they need in order to be successful from your experience as an educator?
How do you attend to the needs of those Children? That is that's a bloated question. And it starts with the community. It starts with the family, you know, as an educator, I can do all I can to tell a child you can do this. You can be this. You can have this sky is the limit. Um, but then when you go back into an environment that doesn't look like That doesn't sound like that and not being reinforced.
I'm literally saying that phrase over and over again, every single day, because they're leaving my classroom, they're leaving my therapy room to go back into an environment. That's not matching the words that I've said. So community involvement is super important, reminding the parents, um, that they themselves can do and have better.
If desired, given resources and, you know, education as well. And then from there, parent can now pour into child and believe child can have just as much and if not more than mom, dad, whoever the family is, can have as well. Then they come to school believing. Who's feeding me who's clothing me who's abetting me saying I can have better now I'm saying you can have better too.
Now. I know that what I give to you is something that's believable and it's attainable So I think it does start in the community as these schools are closing because like churches when a school closes That's a community of family friends You know, workers that are being disseminated to other areas. So, as those schools are being closed, hopefully, um, there is some kind of community outreach.
Most times, whenever there's those school board meetings or town hall meetings, the community is invited to come out. So they're giving information as to what the next steps are going to be. What is that going to look like, um, for their community? And from there, we can start to kind of, you know, provide information on the educational supports and strategies that our children will be able to benefit from when they get to their new school.
in a different area of town, you know, cause that's a lot of new for them as well. So it's really layered. It's layered and it takes more than just the educator. It takes more than just who's in that building when the kid gets to school. Um, because there's so many things that they had to, you know, be succumb to prior to getting into my classroom.
I want to say. Um, maybe 20 years ago when I initially joined the military, I was taking a class that talked about the influences on children based on research that was conducted in the 1950s, which discovered that the greatest influence on children during that time period were parents, clergy, and um, and entertainment.
I want to say that same study that was conducted somewhere around the 80s discovered that it kind of had flipped and that the greatest influence on children was education, excuse me, were parents. It was entertainment and other children, right? So, uh, my question for you is, as an educator, how much interaction did you have with parents?
How much parental support did you see? Because you mentioned the importance of community in this process. Yes. What did you see in your experience, um, as an educator when working with parents? Significant deficit. And it, and it's sad, and, and, you know, depending upon what schools you work on, you work with, areas of town, different, you know, socio economic, you know, parameters that are involved, um, kind of highlighted those who could, because, not to say that the parent could it or didn't want to.
I should say that didn't want to be more involved or want to be more visible. Um, but it had a significant impact on the outcome and the successes of Children. You know, when truancy is high, you know, that's a red flag. Wives truancy high. Well, You know, Johnny had to stay home to watch Cindy while mom went to work because nobody else could, you know, take mom to work.
No one else could watch the children or take the children to school. So guess what? You got to stay home. Yeah, you're only 10 years old, but she's four. You can take care. Now you have two children that are not in the school. Um, so the parental involvement, unfortunately, wasn't what I had hoped for. And the outcome in terms of the child's progress, It begins, it lines up most times you'll be able to see if a parent is involved, a child's success rate is much higher.
Um, or a family member, grandparent, you know, cousin, if there's some type of consistent parental or caregiver support, then the child's successes would be much, much greater. As opposed to the, the other alternative now for me, I did pretty good in school, right? I did pretty good in school. Uh, you know, educational attainment really wasn't the thing.
I think the discipline and socially, you know, as I got older, um, Um, the influences of the community, um, and the pool and the lure of material things. It just, it, my attention just didn't, wasn't, wasn't there. I was a latchkey kid. Um, my mom worked from four to 12. Hey, shout out to the Broadwomen's Correctional Facility for giving me all of that autonomy.
Cause my mom worked from four to 12. Um, so, so I, I was an adult. Since 1989, basically, because there wasn't an adult in the home, what type of activities or what can we do to create opportunities for families to have those enriching experiences to kind of reinforce the need for parental involvement? What can, what can be done in order to fill that gap?
That's such a great question. Number one, the needs of the families have to be met before we ask a parent to do anything You know, um, we need to make sure they have food, they have gas, that they have the internet, that they have, you know, all of those basic needs met. I can't tell you, hey, bring your child to the school after, you know, up to the school on Wednesday night, we're doing a math camp, when I don't have a car.
Um, we got to eat. I don't know what we're going to eat tonight. So as much as I want my child to be at that math camp, I want to be at that, you know, father daughter dance tomorrow night. We don't have a dress. We don't have a car. We don't have the resources for our basic everyday needs to do more. Um, so I would say, make sure that the needs of the family are met and making sure that we're being intentional with asking those questions, you know, in a very respectful type of way, whether it be through a flyer questionnaire, a phone call home.
Hey, how are you doing? Um, I sent a questionnaire out. Just want to know if you can fill that out. That way there is a level of privacy. If the family, if the family desires that and when those needs are met, then we can a little bit more confidently, um, and just a hair more aggressively say, Hey, we're having this event this Friday night.
We noticed that, you know, we were able to, in a, in a matter of ways that we say it, Transcribed We got this need met. You showed us this is what you would need in order to attend. So now this need is met. Okay, here's the agreement. We want you to bring your child and yourself here to this parent student night.
So we can show you some incredible games that you can implement at home free of charge. So I would say that would be a way. to effectively be able to implement programs of education, um, for, for our Children. That's important. You know, it's important. We, when we were Children, you know, it was Whitney Houston that saying that song, um, when she said, I believe the Children, I believe the Children are future.
Well, and let Come on. That was one of the first songs I say as a kid. So you got me. Hey, I told you I was gonna get a 16 out of 16 and I just look like this. Yeah, but but but but thank you. Thank you. And this I appreciate that. And so so with that being said now and we want to come back to education and any educator that have opportunity to view the podcast, you know, Take the guidance.
Look at the definitely praises to you honor to you. But listen to the recommendations and some of the solutions provided by Miss Taylor. Things that we can do to include the family in that environment. Because I grew up as a parent, I probably was the same type of parent that my parent was. Certain things I didn't participate in.
I was a pretty good kid. My kids brought home A's and B's. You bring home A's and B's, you don't have no drama out of me. Right? My mama said, you're going to either be one or two things. She said, you're either going to be loud and smart or dumb and quiet. And so I figured loud and smart was the way to go, but it's flipped now.
You got the loud and dumb now, the quiet and smart. I go into some of these schools around here and I, and I was, uh, listening to some children talk the other day. And, uh, the kid was being real, real critical of members of the band. And now for me, as a child growing up, I was a member of the band, right? We were Jehovah witnesses.
They didn't allow us to play football or any extracurricular activities. But when my, when my household, um, um, uh, was, became broken, a little more freedom entered into the environment. So it was a little, I was a little past the window to be able to go and play certain sports. I was like, man, I'm gonna join the band.
And, uh, and, and the band saved my life. The band kept, for those few hours a day, the band gave me structure, the band gave me discipline, but the band also gave me a leader. And, um, Mr. Tyrone O'Neal and Mr. Frank Neal, shout out to both of those men. And I'd be remiss if I ain't say Cat Roberts name since I'm sitting here talking to an educator and also an educator with a voice as beautiful as yours.
Miss Cat Roberts in the Carroll City Middle School singing 100. I don't know where I would be right now if it wasn't for those individuals, you know, spending that time with us after school and pouring certain lessons into us in the absence of our parents. And I think that those individuals really understood.
How critical their function was because they were always there. They never missed a day. And so, and so, um, as a, as a parent, as a leader, you know, I want a desire to emulate some of those behaviors. I want to be there and be able to make sure that I don't miss a day for those individuals. But as a parent, I know that.
You know, I dropped a joke off the football practice. Joker, you dropped off the football practice and I'm coming back to get you at the football practices is over. Hey, life is life. Responsibilities are still there, you know? And so to take the pressure off from being at everything is it? It's not realistic.
Number one. Um, but it's just making sure that you're continuing to check in with your child, that you let them know. Hey, check. How was practice? What happened? Um, even though I may not have been able to be there, You know, physically showing concern because if I show concern, the child is going to be more attentive to the thing that I show concern for.
So now I got to show some concern for this beautiful crown that's on your head, right? Tell us about it. Tell us about being Miss Black Jacksonville. Oh my goodness. So the Miss Black America organization, um, Miss Black USA organization, I should say, um, has been around for about seven years. I entered the competition, the end of August just made it with my age, um, and through the process was, um, given the title of Miss Black Jacksonville.
And so in November, November 8th through the 10th, that's pageant weekend, I'll be heading down to Tampa, Florida to compete for the Miss Black Florida USC title. I'm excited. It has been a journey. It's a lot of work. I've been working that I've been practicing the singing. This podcast is perfect because we have interview and things like that.
Um, but I'm just incredibly, I'm excited and honored to meet all of the queens, um, in the incredible state of Florida and all of us coming with the same mission. And that's to just show how incredible we are and what we can do when we set our minds to it as women. So I have a two part question for you.
Okay. Why is this important to you? And then what can we do as a community to support you? This is important to me because pageantry, like I said, it reminds me of everything that I can do, regardless of how challenging, how vulnerable, um, how frustrating. I may get how confused in my I may get pageantry is an event that helps to refine and empower the whole woman.
Um, not just being on stage and wearing the crown, but intrinsically reminded me of the power, the beauty and the purpose that I possess and what I can do to inspire other people. You can support me, um, by voting for me. So they have a people's choice voting. That is happening right now. But you can go on my page and find that people's choice link.
And that's at my name, Michelle lita, m I c h e l l i t a Taylor t a y l o r. And you will see my face and be able to click on people's choice voting goes all the way to the 31st. And people's choice voting guarantees my spot in the finals, hoping I won't need that. Um, however, it's okay to have it. That's the mission.
And so the mission is now anybody who hear these words right now, you should stop what you're doing right now and go directly to the link. Could you provide the details of how they can do that right now? If someone is listening, Right now, in this moment, we want them to go and perform that function immediately.
Go right now and go vote for Ms. Michellita Taylor, for Ms. Black Florida, and inevitably Ms. Black USA. Yes! Thank you, thank you, thank you so much. Thank you for coming down here and inspiring us, and inspiring our youth, and being an example for so many in the city of Jacksonville. Inevitably throughout the state of Florida and throughout the United States of America.
Likewise, thank you for this platform that you provided for us. Our city is growing. Uh, we're becoming more competitive with other cities. It was the wall street journal, um, ranked us, I think it was about three months ago, the number two city to move to in America, which is incredible. Um, given just the, the changes that we've underwent.
And so I'm grateful to meet people like you who, automatically say I love this city. I wish I found it earlier. And so we're finding more and more people having that same type of attitude. Well, you know, when you look at a place like Jacksonville, the largest city in the United States of America by geographical landmass, you know, over, you know, close to a million residents.
with the, with the breakdown, almost about 33, 33, 33, right? Where do you find places like this? Right. I believe a city like Jacksonville can become a model and an example for the rest of the country and world. How individuals in such diversity can work together to build dynamic environments and make it better.
But we have to work to make it better to work together. Yep. So I'm, so I'm blessed to be, I'm, I'm thankful that I am here and I'm thankful that, You chose to ride and vibe with the slide because I had to slide on in. Definitely. Hey, so, so this is what this is what we are and this is what we'll be doing.
Uh, again, thank you. Um, as we, as we prepare to close, what message would you like to leave with the viewers? Um, Um, um, of, of this podcast. Remember people don't remember what you do. They remember how you made them feel. So whenever you leave a person's presence, always try to make sure that you're intentional with what you said and what you've done.
That way you can leave that lasting remark. Thank you. Thank you. And I appreciate everyone who has taken an opportunity to come with us on this journey as we near the end of this first season of recording. It was a wonderful experience for us with so many dynamic guests. Thank you for taking the time out of your day.
