Tabrian, Joe- Detroit Public Schools Community District

I was born and raised in Detroit. I attended Malcolm X Academy from grades 1st - 8th. I then attended University High School in Ferndale. After high school, I enrolled at Western Michigan University where I planned to pursue an education degree in Secondary Education with a major in English and a minor in Political Science. But I eventually had to change my degree plan because there I did not have the support I needed to complete my student teaching. I graduated from Western Michigan University in 2019 with a Bachelor of Arts in English. I then moved back to Detroit after the tragic death of my younger sister to gun violence. In September 2019, I started working as a reading interventionist at the George Washington Carver Academy in Highland Park where I worked until the COVID-19 pandemic started. I am currently employed as a Mail Handler with the United States Postal Service.
I am a long time advocate and activist for public education, affirmative action, immigrants rights, union rights and civil rights. I began my activism when I joined BAMN at the age of 11 years old. My first campaign as a young leader in Detroit was organizing to defeat the anti-affirmative action ballot initiative (Proposition 2) in 2006. After the passage of prop 2 , I continued the fight for equality and public education. On May 1st 2007, I organized and led a walk-out of middle school students to stop 50 DPS schools from being closed, which saved Malcolm X Academy from closing that year. My organizing efforts landed me and other youth leaders on the cover of the Scholastic magazine. Fighting for public education has always been a passion of mine. I have stood in solidarity with teachers of DPSCD since the DFT strike of 2006, where I joined the picket line with the community and teachers to fight for better wages for Detroit teachers, and books, supplies, and smaller class-sizes for Detroit students. As a student at University High School in Ferndale, I fought for equal quality education for myself and other Detroit students who were being recruited and bussed across district boundaries. The Ferndale district was skimping on the education of Detroit students while using our per-pupil dollars to provide more resources and opportunities for Ferndale students in a separate school. As a gay student, I also advocated for establishing a Gay-Straight Alliance at University High School.
My work fighting for public education later motivated and inspired me to become an educator myself. As I entered my education courses and joined the Michigan Education Association as an “Aspiring Educator” I quickly understood that a teachers working condition is the same as a student's learning environment; if one is not right the other will not be right either. I went on to organize other education college students at WMU to join the MEA Aspiring Educators (a membership category open to future educators, formerly known as Student MEA). The Aspiring Educator chapter at WMU went from non-existing to 30 active members under my leadership. I organized events on campus for the education community to enhance the teaching profession with speakers such as Diane Ravitch and Dr. Christopher Emdin. I was elected in 2017, as President of the MEA Aspiring Educators and was appointed to serve on the National Education Association Aspiring Educators Advisory Committee. As President of the MEA Aspiring Educators, I made the (500 members) organization stronger and by the end of my term in office conversations were starting to happen around whether or not student-teachers should be paid during their internships; something in which I believe in strongly. In order to recruit and maintain qualified educators, we must pay them competitive wages and pay them what they are worth. We must let teachers teach and give them the resources and tools that they need every day to do the job effectively.