A first-grader kept missing every other Friday and Monday. The school decided he was defiant and filed a petition to bring him into truancy court, a six-year-old standing in front of a judge. It took his court-appointed attorney about two minutes to find out why: his parents had split up, and on his dad's weeks, dad wouldn't drive him to that school. Nobody had ever asked him. That attorney was Kris Ferrell, and that story is the heart of this episode of The Teacher Leader Podcast. Kris has spent years representing Colorado kids in juvenile and truancy court, and she came on to dismantle almost everything schools assume about the students who don't show up. They're not the kids from The Outsiders. They're kids managing anxiety, bullying, safety, custody schedules, and younger siblings whose dismissal bell doesn't line up with theirs. Roughly 98% of them told her they actually want to be at school. Kris walks through why Colorado's truancy law, still on the books from 1963, catches kids after just four absences in a month, why truancy court makes things worse for nearly everyone it touches, and why she'd get rid of it entirely. Along the way: the Hot Cheetos eating contest that earned her trust in a juvenile detention center, why "help me understand" opens kids up when "why weren't you in class?" shuts them down, why student athletes miss far more school and somehow never end up in court, and the reminder that you can't build a real relationship with 125 kids, but you can build one with one, and that one spreads. Kris Ferrell is an attorney, writer, and investigator best known for her work as a Child Welfare Law Specialist and Guardian ad Litem, with a Hot Cheetos tolerance that rivals her teenage clients. She spent the majority of her legal career representing children in dependency and neglect, family drug court, juvenile delinquency, and truancy court as a defense attorney and guardian ad litem. She now spends her time helping families and children understand and navigate the judicial system as a child and family investigator. A semi-native to Colorado, she lives in Denver, CO and spends her time getting into good trouble.

For books, resources, and events, visit: theteacherleader.org Thank you to our sponsor(s): Math and Movement

Every school has an SEL block on the schedule, and most of them have a collective eye roll to go with it. Saira Galindo, Transformative Social Emotional Learning Specialist with Denver Public Schools, has a clear diagnosis for why. SEL got handed to teachers as a prepackaged twenty minutes with no explanation, when it's actually the thing they already do every time they check in with a student, ask a colleague for help, or take a day because they're not showing up as their best self. In this conversation Saira makes the case that until leaders build that culture with the adults in the building, it will never take hold with kids, and she gets specific about how: what she says to a room of skeptical principals, how she reframes "lead with vulnerability" for the secondary teachers who push back hardest, and why the strongest professional learning she runs introduces no new concept at all. Her proof is a district math curriculum she helped rewrite, with SEL in the first five minutes and the last five, where high schoolers who had stopped talking to each other after COVID started talking again and the hard math got easier.

Saira Galindo is a Mexican immigrant, first-generation scholar, educator, and educational leader whose work centers on belonging, equity, culturally responsive education, and social-emotional learning. She spent nearly 14 years with Denver Public Schools, growing from a paraprofessional into a bilingual teacher and Transformative Social-Emotional Learning Instructional Specialist. She has also served as an adjunct professor, preparing future educators to lead with cultural awareness and compassion.

Saira holds a bachelor's degree in Elementary Education from Metropolitan State University of Denver and a master's degree in Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Education from the University of Colorado Denver. She is currently pursuing her Ed.M. in Educational Leadership, Organizations & Entrepreneurship at Harvard Graduate School of Education.

As an immigrant and lifelong advocate for students and communities, Saira is passionate about creating spaces where people feel seen, valued, and empowered to use their voices. Outside of her work, she enjoys music, reading, soccer, concerts, and foodie adventures with her twin sister.

For books, resources, and events, visit: theteacherleader.org Thank you to our sponsor(s): Math and Movement

Breanna's path into teaching didn't look like the brochure. A teacher's-kid childhood, a false start at a "best in the nation" education program, family obligations that pulled her home to Denver, nearly a decade as a full-time para while she was also a full-time student — and finally, in her late twenties, a kindergarten classroom of her own at the school she never left. In this conversation with Jody, Esther, and Allison, she unpacks what that road taught her: that identity work is the actual foundation of equitable teaching, and that "we do what's best for kids" is a mission statement until you live it on the hard days. Stay for the walk-up song — it should probably be a morning circle chant. And if you've ever felt like the only way to grow in this profession is to leave the classroom, this one will change how you see your own influence. Teacher leadership, it turns out, has nothing to do with a title and everything to do with refusing to stay silent.

For books, resources, and events, visit: theteacherleader.org Thank you to our sponsor(s): Math and Movement