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Rani Dasi - On pursuing a "we" mentality (clip)

Interviewed by Kathryn Wall on September 24, 2024

Rani Dasi - On pursuing a "we" mentality (clip)

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Oral history interview of Dasi, Rani conducted by Wall, Kathryn on September 24, 2024 at Marian Cheek Jackson Center, Chapel Hill, NC.

Citation: Marian Cheek Jackson Center, “Rani Dasi - On pursuing a "we" mentality (clip),” From the Rock Wall, accessed September 13, 2026, https://fromtherockwall.org/oral-histories/rani-dasi-on-pursuing-a-we-mentality-clip.

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In this Oral History

Rani Dasi

 Rani Dasi - On Education

"I don’t love [the phrase] achievement gap cause I think we hear in literature that it’s not a question of effort it’s usually a question of access to resources." - Rani Dasi This interview is a part of the Marian Cheek Jackson Center series on education. Rani Dassi is a member of the Chapel Hill…

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 Rani Dasi - On Education

"I don’t love [the phrase] achievement gap cause I think we hear in literature that it’s not a question of effort it’s usually a question of access to resources." - Rani Dasi This interview is a part of the Marian Cheek Jackson Center series on education. Rani Dassi is a member of the Chapel Hill…

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 Rani Dasi - On why she ran for the school board (clip)

 Rani Dasi - On her involvement in her children's education (clip)

 Rani Dasi - On her first year as a CHCCS board member (clip)

 Rani Dasi - On her primary focus(es) as a CHCCS board member (clip)

 Rani Dasi - On fair teacher compensation (clip)

 Rani Dasi - On school repair funding (clip)

 Rani Dasi - On language immersion programs (clip)

 Rani Dasi - On state mandates (clip)

 Rani Dasi - On charter schools vs. public schools (clip)

 Rani Dasi - On how CHCCS presents (clip)

 Rani Dasi - On what she's most proud of during her school board tenure (clip)

Rani Dasi: I think that the thing that I’m most proud of is we definitely think about all students in a different way now. So we, as we make major decisions, we use a tool called “Racial Equity Decision Making Analysis” and it’s not just that we’re based on race but we’re considering questions like,…

 Rani Dasi - On learning to read (clip)

Kathryn Wall: I was wondering if you could start off by telling a little bit about where you grew up and what your early memories of your own education were. Rani Dasi: Thank you for the question. I’ve talked a lot about one of my earliest memories was sitting on my Mom’s lap and learning how to…

 Rani Dasi - On being homeschooled (clip)

Rani Dasi: So, I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio and I’m one of ten children and we were homeschooled, so I got to see how, again, that support really makes a difference in education but also the range of ways in which people can learn and, again, that pace of like everybody doesn’t have to be reading…

 Rani Dasi - What her mother taught her about education (clip)

Rani Dasi (RD): And I went to college in Northwestern University in Chicago, actually Evanston, Illinois and I studied engineering. I was always interested in numbers and how they tell the story of the world really, and then during that time I continued to mentor and tutor other students. So, I…

 Rani Dasi - On going from homeschool to public school (clip)

Kathryn Wall (KW): …so, and when you first went to like a school building, what was that experience like? Rani Dasi (RD): It was shocking initially in that somehow the excitement of learning wasn’t as present in a lot of the students, and so they did what they had to do to get the grades but they…

 Rani Dasi - Why education should be accessible (clip)

Rani Dasi (RD): So, it left me with a wish to make education, public education, accessible to people in a way that continues that passion and helps them. I think everybody wants to learn but if you make learning a chore, you take the fun out of it. And so, yeah…Did I answer your question? Kathryn…

 Rani Dasi - On CHCCS resources and community coalitions (clip)

Kathryn Wall: What kinds of coalitions do you think could be built or are being built that could be effective? Rani Dasi: Yeah, so I'll give you a couple examples. One is you know there are some general things like the Boys and Girls Clubs that provides resources and after school care. And the YMCA…

 Rani Dasi - On upcoming school renovations (clip)

Kathryn Wall (KW): Which schools are slated for a redo? Rani Dasi (RD): Well, that’s a good question, because I will say the plans could change but we are thinking about Frank Porter Graham, Carrboro Elementary School, and Estes Hills and those are three of our older schools with the highest…

 Rani Dasi - On the polarization of education (clip)

Kathryn Wall (KW): With the state and funding, has that changed over the time that you’ve been on the school board? Have you seen any shifts? Rani Dasi (RD): I think it’s gotten much more political. It used to be that we could have the conversation across the aisle on whatever side folks were and…

 Rani Dasi - On trusting and investing in teachers (clip)

Kathryn Wall (KW): It seems like there’s an increasing amount of political pressure around what gets taught in the classroom and what you can and can’t say and…?. Rani Dasi (RD): Yeah, and I go back to trusting the people who train to do this work, who study best practices about how children learn…
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