By Holly Rodriguez

The disparity between the number of students of color attending public schools and the number of teachers of color educating them motivated the Virginia Education Association to host the first Teachers of Color Summit this weekend at a Downtown hotel.

Educators, policymakers and representatives of community organizations from Virginia, Maryland, Washington, Ohio and New Jersey are expected for the three-day summit that starts Thursday, Feb. 16, and will feature panel discussions and workshops exploring mentoring minority students, equitable learning environments, valuing teachers of color and examining school policies and practices.

Jahana Hayes, a veteran history teacher at John F. Kennedy High School in Waterbury, Conn., and the 2016 National Teacher of the Year, will give the keynote address 9 a.m. Friday, Feb. 17.

She will be introduced by Virginia’s 2017 Teacher of the Year, Dr. Toney L. McNair Jr., the first African-American male to hold that distinction and a choral music teacher at Indian River Middle School in Chesapeake.

Others officials expected at the conference are Virginia Lt. Gov. Ralph S. Northam, state Secretary of Education Dietra Trent and Dr. Dana T. Bedden, Richmond Public Schools superintendent.

Virginia Union University professors Joy Davis and Alphonso Sealey also will lead a panel discussion, “Importance of Teaching Race, Cultural Continuity and Social Justice in K-12 Classrooms,” on Friday afternoon.

The conference is sponsored in part by the Virginia Department of Education and is part of a yearlong commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the merger of the Virginia Teachers Association and the Virginia Education Association. The VTA was established in 1887 by African-American educators, while the VEA, established during the Civil War, had a history of being only for white educators.

A summit highlight will include a VTA-VEA 50th Anniversary Gala Reception on Friday evening at the Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia, 122 W. Leigh St. in historic Jackson Ward.

The summit also will feature an exhibit, “VEA-VTA: 50 Years of Progress in Unity,” that includes letters, news releases, articles and telegrams documenting the VTA’s struggles to provide a quality education for African-American students and demand for equal pay for African-American teachers.

For more details: www.veanea.org/home/2835.htm