Fostering Belonging Through The Power Of Student Voices - Ty Harris

The CharacterStrong Podcast

Today our guest is Ty Harris the Director of the Office for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Virginia Beach City Public Schools. We talk with Ty about the powerful ‘why’ behind his work and how his own high school experiences paved the way for what he does today. Ty shares insights on building a community of practice that fosters a genuine sense of belonging for students by amplifying their voices. He discusses how his team used survey data to identify student needs and, with intentionality, brought students into the conversation to create an environment where everyone feels they belong.

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Ty Harris is the Director of the Office for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) for Virginia Beach City Public Schools. He leads the implementation of the school division’s educational equity plan, as well as efforts to increase cultural competencies for all stakeholders.

Harris has a passion for leveraging student voice and increasing awareness and understanding of neurodiversity. Harris started his education journey as a high school social studies teacher in Greenville County, South Carolina. He also taught in Fairfax County, Virginia, before taking a specialist position with the U.S. Department of Education (DoED). While with the DoED, Harris worked with magnet and charter schools, and helped implement the Promise Neighborhoods program under then President Barack Obama. This program is modeled after the Harlem Children’s Zone and seeks to end the cycle of poverty with schools as the focal point. After leaving the DoED, Harris moved into school administration where he spent five years as a middle school principal and two as a high school assistant principal.

Harris holds a bachelor’s degree from Clemson University, a master’s degree from George Mason University, an education specialist degree from Old Dominion University and an advanced certification for DEI from Cornell University.