Our 2021 programming theme is The Work Left to Do, and within that theme, we’ll explore a different focus each month. In the first Tea of the month, we will look at a topic from a broader perspective to understand the universal and legal challenges. For the second Tea of the month, we will speak with someone who is doing the work to educate and/or advance change so we can understand the continuing challenges and how we contribute to change in our own communities. For the month of June, our programming will address equity gaps in education and education advocacy.
Our June 10 Tea Guest is David Sciarra, Executive Director of the Education Law Center (ELC). ELC “promotes educational equity through coalition building, litigation support, policy development, communications, and action-focused research in New Jersey, in other states, and at the federal level.”
David Sciarra oversees and directs ELC programs and activities. A practicing civil rights lawyer since 1978, he has litigated a wide range of cases involving socioeconomic rights, affordable housing, shelter for the homeless, and welfare rights.
Since 1996, David has litigated to enforce access for low-income and minority children to an equal and adequate education under state and federal law and has served as counsel to the plaintiff students in New Jersey’s landmark Abbott v. Burke case. He also conducts research, writes, and lectures on education law and policy in such areas as school finance, early education, and school reform. He received his B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley, and graduated magna cum laude in 1978 from Temple University School of Law.
This Tea is sponsored, in part, by Kessel Construction, Inc. as well as donors to the Robert H. Jackson Center.
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