Today we’d like to introduce you to Izetta Thomas.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I am a 20+ year veteran educator in Columbus, Ohio. I began teaching as an intervention specialist in special needs preschool with Columbus City Schools in 2004. Born and raised in Columbus, and a graduate of East High School, once I knew that I wanted to go into education I knew that I only wanted to teach in the school district that helped me become who I am today. Throughout my career, I’ve held many different positions, including PAR (peer assistance and review) Consulting Teacher for first-year CCS educators, a member of the innovative schools team that designed a program specifically for students with autism (REACH), an itinerant teacher and behavior specialist. I am currently on leave from the district to work as the education justice organizer for the Columbus Education Association. My primary purview in this role is as the executive director and lead organizer for the Columbus Education Justice Coalition. The coalition is an organization of many grassroots partners, parents, neighbors, educators, and students of Columbus City Schools. We are fighting for equity and justice through relationships, reinvestment and reconstruction – for our community and our schools.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Smooth? Ha! There is no smooth road on the journey toward justice and liberation. Our coalition has seen attacks on every side, from federal to state and local policies that are not only harmful, but seek to dismantle public education. There were initial challenges in proving CEJC to be an autonomous organization from the teachers’ union, while still being in partnership with CEA. Personally, there has been an enormous battle of prioritizing my own health and safety while leading the planning of campaigns and actions that benefit our community. We have an immunocompromised home. This makes navigating a “post-pandemic” environment very hard and it requires a lot of innovation. Personally, this means I make a lot of different sacrifices and have to plan strategically to be on the ground during campaigns. It also means that CEJC is more understanding and empathetic toward accessibility and inclusion efforts. We’ve worked very hard to make events hybrid and ADA accessible. We’ve developed care plans for our community members when mobilizing them to certain actions. Our entire existence as an organization is rooted in the struggle for equity in public education, but our work is what grounds us and keeps us organized and building power.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
As a community organizer, I work toward building collective power across various demographics and communities within our school district. It has been amazing to see parents and educators side-by-side, planning and fighting together. One of our biggest achievements as an organization has been the development of our Board Watch in collaboration with All in for Ohio Kids and Columbus Parent Impact. In 2022, I dreamt of a team of parents, educators, families, and neighbors that would work to hold our school board accountable to their promises, educate the community on the roles of a school board member, understand and influence policies and more. From that dream, Board Watch was born. We worked very hard to get it off the ground in the 2023-2024 school year. Since then, Board Watch has mobilized families and community members to every board meeting to take notes, and often action. In the summer of 2024, we held several tailgating events outside of the board meetings while fighting to keep 21 schools from closing. With our “BBQs at the BOE” we mobilized over 115 people to the school board meetings, with parent and student voices dominating public comment. While we were unable to save every school, our efforts kept 75% of those schools from closing.
In addition to Board Watch, we’ve taken our CCS parents and supporters from the picket lines during the 2022 strike and put them in the rooms during the current 2025 contract negotiations between CCS and CEA. It’s the first time that the Columbus Education Association has had outside observers in the room during every single bargaining session. Our parents and community members deserve to understand how contract negotiation impact not only their schools, but their home lives. They’re been able to give our union and insight that only they can. It’s take a lot of planning and coordination over the last three years, but it’s been one of the most significant relationship building and investment efforts that we’ve made as a coalition. We believe in the folks closest to the classrooms being shared decision-makers, and this is one big step toward that goal.
Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
I am a Black & queer woman. A daughter, a sister, a niece, a granddaughter and a wife, all while being an educator and an artist. I say that because there are so many people who have influenced me over time. There are so many titles that I hold in the margins. I’m a third generation CCS graduate, a first-generation college graduate, yet also as second generation educator. While my parents may not have had the opportunity to attend college, I was able to go to Ohio State through the Young Scholars Program. Dr. Hancock, a former YSP Director and OSU Professor, taught us the value of “ife gbobo wa,” which translates from Yoruba to “love is in all of us.” I learned to build and sustain community through Dr. Hancock. I learned to value education from my mother and grandmothers. My 7 younger siblings were my inspiration for becoming an educator. I learned that leadership requires humility, not titles from my great-grandparents. I had models of leadership and confidence from my aunts and uncles. I learned the value and sustainability of building my own table, instead of waiting for a seat at someone else’s from my wife. I am all that they are, all that they dreamed of, and all that they celebrate. There is no me without community. My ancestors continue to guide me, and I am committed to following the plan of purpose that I’ve been given.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.cbusedjustice.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cbusedjustice
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cbusedjustice
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/izettanicole/
- Twitter: https://www.x.com/cbusedjustice
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/cbusedjustice
