About Courtney

Courtney and her husband moved into a gentrifying neighborhood in Los Angeles, California, and as she and her neighbor’s children came of school-age, she noticed that many White families were either moving out of the neighborhood or sending their children to schools outside their neighborhood. Courtney and her partner decided to enroll their children in their local neighborhood school, in contrast to the decisions many of the parents were making with their children. 

As her children grew, Courtney became passionate and radicalized about the possibilities of integration and the important work of White families, in particular, taking responsibility for past mistakes within our public school systems. She felt strongly that parents and caregivers choosing integration could use a community to help them make better decisions as they tried to build relationships in their local communities. Integrated Schools began on a laptop in her dining room (or often, sitting on the roof of her house). Quite literally conversation by conversation, she built the movement of Integrated Schools. She worked tirelessly to connect with parents and caregivers (particularly White and/or privileged parents) around the world to talk about integration, and our responsibility in the work of social justice. 

Tragically, Courtney was struck by a car in front of her house and killed instantly on December 30th, 2019. At the time of her death, Courtney’s efforts had grown this movement to one that boasted chapters in over 20 cities, an incredible advisory board of thought leaders and advocates in the education space, a dedicated caregiver board, a plethora of book clubs, publication of regular blog posts and more formal resources for families, a dynamic social media presence that connects people from around the country, and, of course, production of a pretty remarkable podcast.

The Integrated Schools community feels the depth of her loss everyday. This great loss has also solidified our community’s resolve that this work is critical and must be continued. And while the organization continues to evolve, Courtney and her spirit will always  be an inspiration and guiding force within our community. If you never had the pleasure of being on a phone call or zoom meeting with Courtney, we invite you to listen to Seasons 1-4 of the podcast to get a glimpse of who she was. 

For so many of us in Integrated Schools, Courtney was a mentor and a well grounded example of how to work hard for integration and justice within our everyday spaces. She will forever be in our hearts.