Rodney Robinson, a teacher at “Virgie Binford Education Center” in Virginia, received this honor April 24th.
What We Know:
- “Virgie Binford Education Center” is located “inside the Richmond Juvenile Detention Center” according to “CNN.”
- Robinson is a known positive force on the campus despite the surroundings of him and his students.
- “He creates a positive school culture by empowering his students — many of whom have experienced trauma — to become civically minded social advocates who use their skills and voices to affect physical and policy changes at their school and in their communities,” stated the Council of Chief State School Officers.
- Growing up in a world where his mother had to work tirelessly to earn her GED due to poverty, Robinson was inspired to become a “history and social studies teacher.”
- Robinson took the position to be able to stop the toxic “school-to-prison” pipeline numerous black students are on and become positive force in their lives.
- “Many of the students at Virgie Binford come from impoverished backgrounds, live in high-crime areas and have had negative contact with schools and the judicial system,” Principal Ta’Neisha Ford said. “The educators’ goal is to help these students fall back in love with school.”
- Robinson is working to lower the high school dropout rates and boost the students’ confidence in succeeding in life after school.
“[I want them to know that] you’re important and you have a place in this world and you can achieve your goals,” Robinson said. “Jail is only a temporary setback.”
