“The work continues.”
That was the message of keynote speaker Anita Raj at the Dr. Effie Hall Jones Memorial Equity Luncheon on Friday at the AASA national conference. Raj is the executive director of the Newcomb Institute for Gender Equity at Tulane University.
The annual luncheon remembers Jones, who was a teacher, counselor and school administrator for 15 years and served as an associate executive director at AASA, promoting the interests of minority educators and children.
Feted at the luncheon were the 2025 winners of the Dr. Jones Humanitarian Awards: Nettie Collins-Hart, superintendent of Hazelwood School District in Florrisant, Mo., and Alexandra Estrella, superintendent of Norwalk Public Schools in Norwalk, Conn.
Collins-Hart talked about continuing the work of lifting up women and leaders of color, saying “Dr. Jones’s works is the reason I stand before you today.”
She implored the superintendents in the audience to continue to be “relentless, unapologetic and stay the course to do what is right for our children.” She remarked that in 2025, we are still in an era of firsts — the first Black woman or Latiné leader serving currently in many places.
Estrella suggested superintendents stand on the front lines of the 21st century civil rights movement. She asked the audience, “Will we be the leaders that refuse to accept inequities as the status quo?” Estrella talked about the opportunities that superintendents have before them. “We don’t just oversee schools – we shape futures,” she said.
In her keynote address, Raj, who has been an invited speaker at the United Nations, World Health Organization and UNICEF to address issues of gender violence and women’s empowerment, urged the audience to “continue the work.”
She vowed to continue fighting for women, for justice and against gender violence no matter the political climate. Raj addressed the current push to change language around equity, saying “changing the words doesn’t eliminate the disparities.”
Her main lesson for attendees is that educational attainment is not a zero-sum game. Strategies that look to engage more women in STEM, more men in teaching or underrepresented groups in any field do not take away opportunities for others. The work is to support all students to a future of their own design, regardless of race, gender or income.
She expressed gratitude for Jones and those women and men that came before and paved the way for her success. She reminded the audience that their work is to continue to diversify and improve the field of education for future generations.
AASA President Gustavo Balderas opened the luncheon, attended by more than 300 attendees, with a welcome, along with the presidents of luncheon co-host organizations — the Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendents and the National Alliance of Black School Educators. Balderas closed the luncheon by thanking leaders in the room for the work they do to build inclusive school systems and for lifting each other up.
The luncheon was sponsored by the Institute for Education Innovation.
(Bryan Joffe is AASA director of children’s programs.)
