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Andre Goodlow remembers the moment everything changed for him. A Black man gave him and his cousin a ride to school. They rode along, listening to music. But when they got to school, the man parked his car instead of continuing on his way.
“What are you doing? Why are you coming up to the school?” Goodlow, now 40 and the married father of two, recalls asking.
“I’m subbing today,” the man said. It was a eureka moment.
“That was the first time I saw any representation of someone that grew up in my neighborhood that looked like me, walked like me, loved sports as I did, and listened to the same music I did, be a teacher,” Goodlow says. That was the connection that brought him into teaching.
He’d like to see more Black teachers. “We need more educators, especially young Black educators, that are able to connect to the Black youth and share the same stories and experiences that they do,” he says.
Today, Goodlow is the director of teaching and learning at Parkrose School District, one of the state’s most diverse districts. He’s keenly aware of the impact he can have.
“My mission was to always reach out,” Goodlow says. And he’s far from finished: He is currently enrolled in the Portland State University Ed.D. program and hopes one day to become superintendent.
WW is celebrating Black History Month by meeting some of the people shaping Oregon’s future: Black teachers. Look for a photo essay on a new teacher each week of February.