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- This is One-On-One.

- I'm an equal American just like you are.

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- A quartet is already a jawn, it’s just The New Jawn.

- January 6th was not some sort of violent, crazy outlier.

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- That's a good question, high five.

(upbeat music) - Hi everyone.

Steve Adubato with my co-anchor and colleague, Jacqui Tricarico.

Jacqui, how we doing today?

- Doing great, Steve.

Excited to tee this one up with you from our time that we spent down in Atlantic City at the New Jersey Education Association's Convention this year.

- There'll be multiple programs, multiple interviews, segments that come out of that Atlantic City Convention with educators, innovators, folks involved in education one way or another.

There are keynote speakers, there are poets, there are people who are making a difference in the arena of education.

Jacqui, let's set this one up.

People are about to see two interviews that I did.

Jacqui did many of the interviews that you'll see from the convention and future editions of this.

I think it's a nine-part series with all these different folks involved in education.

Correct?

- Yeah.

We got to spend two days there during the convention.

So many educators and keynote speakers, like you said, coming in and out of the doors over that two day span.

So we were lucky enough to talk to so many of those folks, and two of them, coming up first, Nick Ferroni, who is an educator here in New Jersey, also really well-known and recognized, also an activist.

So you speak with him first about what he's been up to.

You talked to him many years ago on our program.

- I remember.

- Yeah, you get to talk to him again.

And then on the second half, Karyn Parsons.

Most people might recognize her from her role on "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air."

She was on that show for many years, but now she's really shifted her focus and her work after becoming a mother to children's books.

She's now a children's author, and started her own non-profit to really take a look at educating children about historical figures and role models that are lesser-known Black Americans here in the United States.

So we get to talk to her too.

- The not-for-profit organization that Karyn Parsons founded is called Sweet Blackberry.

Also, the book she talks about, "Saving the Day: Garrett Morgan's Life-Changing Invention of the Traffic Signal."

And Karyn was fascinating.

Nick, a terrific history teacher, nationally recognized social activist.

For Jacqui Tricarico, myself, and our entire team, the first of a series, One of many programs coming to you from Atlantic City with educators who care deeply about the children and part of our series "Who Will Teach Our Children?"

Let's check it out.

(upbeat music) - You hear applause going on in the background.

That's not for me.

That's for Nick Ferroni, who's a history teacher, nationally recognized social activist.

You were with us before a few years back?

- Yes.

- And you have done nothing but, did better things.

That was an awkwardly worded sentence.

You've been kicking butt and doing great things as a teacher of history, the area you focus on an awful lot has to do with social justice, racial justice.

Talk about that.

- Well, again, we talked about our Italian backgrounds growing up and what- - Oh, are you Italian?

I didn't realize.

- Yeah.

(both chuckling) And it's just, I've always been very fortunate to be, to have opportunities and privilege and amazing teachers in my life.

So I can't think of anything better than to use my platform as an educator to not only support students, but to utilize that platform to advocate for other people.

Again, anyone who's being marginalized or just not fully represented.

- Yeah.

Well, let's go into this a little bit more.

While there are a whole range of areas, Nick, that you focus on as an educator, the rights of the LGBTQ community, a very significant area for you.

Talk about not only what it is, but why it is.

- It's interesting because I'm not a part of that community, but my students are, my family is.

- Same here.

- Yeah.

And so I feel it's our obligation to be outside the community, to be allies for that community and having students, it's tough enough to be a teenager.

And then I can't imagine being a teenager and not being able to be your authentic self or be able to express yourself or be able to let people know your true self.

Because you're afraid how society, your family, your colleagues, your teachers, your classmates are gonna see it.

And it's just, it's still insane to me that we live in a world where people have to come out.

And I have so many students who struggle with a lot of things and it breaks my heart that that's one of them when it shouldn't be.

It shouldn't be brave to be you.

You shouldn't have to be brave to be a kid.

- Yeah, I think, so I'm curious about this.

So your work, your teaching, your passion for teaching.

The first time I met you that really, really hit me, and I'm sure I asked you this then, but I want to ask you again.

Where does the passion come from for teaching?

- I had amazing history teachers.

I mean, I had old Vietnam War veterans who made me love history.

And Indiana Jones was definitely an inspiration as well.

I thought that was the coolest thing ever.

But passionate people make you passionate.

And I grew up with my Italian grandfather telling me about World War I, telling me about the importance of history, telling me about the destruction of war.

And I just remember his stories were so moving and like as a history teacher, stories are so much more powerful than information.

So I try to use storytelling as a way to engage students.

- Go back again, as an educator in my own way as a coach around public speaking.

I'll often talk about storytelling as a powerful tool versus PowerPoint with numbers and graphs and charts and stats, which are relevant.

But stories resonate.

Why?

- Because they're relatable.

It's so tough to get my students and us to connect with someone unless they share something that we can relate to.

And I think stories are so much more personal and talking about the American Revolution's great, but when we talk about Captain Baron von Steuben from Prussia who came here because he was kicked out of Prussia for being homosexual.

He came here, Washington made him the second most powerful in command.

The book that he wrote is still used in the army today.

Every town has a Steubenville.

He became like a national hero, yet he ended up here because of homophobia in different countries.

So, which I also think is ironic because the military always has a history of being homophobic with don't ask, don't tell.

But it was founded by a gay man.

And that story may seem insignificant to us, but to an LGBTQ student, or even to people who love America, who may be ignorant in certain areas, that would be like, all right.

So we wouldn't have our country without the LGBTQ community to a certain extent.

So those are the stories I think, resonate.

- You know, the other story we had, we just interviewed Karen Parsons.

- [Nick] Yeah.

- Who wrote a powerful story about an inventor.

Garrett- - Morgan.

- Garrett Morgan.

- Yes.

Who referred to himself as the Black Edison.

But when I was talking to Karen, I realized that she's a great storyteller.

Also was on "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" back in the day.

She subbed in your class.

- Yes.

- Talk about that.

- Well, I do a thing called Celebrity Substitute where I let celebrities sub for a day in our school.

And they tell everyone- - Where do you teach?

- Union High School.

- Union, New Jersey.

- My alma mater.

So 21 years as a teacher, four years as a student, more than half my life has been in that building, Steve.

- That's awesome.

- Which is exciting, awesome and depressing at the same time.

- (laughs) Not, no.

- My mom sends care packages to school.

- Ah, that's great.

By the way, I was, I don't even know if I was supposed to say this or not.

Can we get it outta the way?

Yeah.

Let me get it out of the way.

- My mom still talks about it.

- Okay.

- Yeah.

- You're not gonna say it because like me, you're very humble, which is a joke.

I'm not.

The sexiest teacher alive.

What year?

- Well, 2014.

But then it was re-amped a few times.

I don't think I've been replaced yet.

- Hold on, so now you have to let us know that you, like I won an Emmy Award.

I have to say how many I won.

- Yes.

- So you won it many times.

But it's relevant because it gave you a platform.

- It gave me a platform and also exposed me to what it's like to be objectified.

And I figure that's what it's like to be a woman where you constantly have to prove yourself.

So it was definitely very eye-opening in that sense 'cause now I have to prove myself that I'm a good teacher because the minute you hear that title, it kind of takes away from my credibility or my work ethic.

- You know, so many guys out there would be watching right now.

And I'd be lying to say that I weren't one of them.

If they said, "Well, you're the sexiest broadcaster, "you're the sexiest."

"Oh, that's great."

You're saying there's a double-edged sword.

- Absolutely.

Because now they're putting your appearance ahead of your skill.

And it's like, and that was ironic 'cause I always said that's what it kind of was like.

And I said it on press, what it's like to feel, be a woman when you could cure cancer.

- Women deal with it all the time.

I'm sorry, I stepped on that.

Say that.

- I'm sorry.

You could cure cancer, but if you're a pretty woman, like, but you're so pretty.

Or you could go to Harvard, but you're so pretty.

And it's like, that was a taste.

I mean, luckily it was only a taste.

I didn't have to endure that my whole life.

But it definitely, again, perspective is a very interesting thing.

- Where the heck does your empathy come from?

Not just the ability to relate to others and try to understand their experience dramatically different from yours.

But the wanting to be empathetic.

- I grew up in a very diverse neighborhood in Union.

My best friends were African American.

I always thought that they had the same experience as me going through that town.

I didn't realize that they experienced things that I didn't have to experience.

Prejudice, discrimination, things like that.

I just, I've always, I'm a person for the underdog.

I always like to see people succeed.

I always like to see people get opportunity and it infuriates me that we live in a society where certain people are trying to limit what other people can do when they just wanna live their lives.

I don't, I just want everyone to have that opportunity.

As an educator, I think public education's the ultimate equalizer.

I think it teaches empathy.

My students are amazing.

They're exposed to everybody.

And I feel like exposure and education kind of get rid of so many problems that exist right now in the world.

- You know, we're here at the New Jersey Education Association Convention, my colleague Jacqui Tricarico and I have been coming down here for years interviewing great educators and guest speakers, all kinds of folks.

But one of the themes that I wanna touch on with you, that we've talked about in the past is teacher burnout.

I'm curious as to first of all, what you think is causing it, second, why you apparently are not, at least from my perspective, not experiencing it.

- Well, I mean, I'm experiencing it.

I'm in my 21st year as a teacher doing my dream job.

- Probably a bit long to say.

- Yeah, I've thought about leaving plenty of times for other opportunities.

And it says so much that you have people who always wanted to be teachers considering leaving their dream jobs.

I didn't know a lot of things before becoming a teacher.

I didn't know when I saw my history teacher painting houses during the summer that he was doing it because he had to.

I didn't know when I was- - To make money.

- To make money.

I didn't know when I was using supplies, my teacher bought them.

And it infuriates me because I work with so many people who give their hearts, souls and knowledge.

Again, you see it here, to their students.

And yet as a society, we don't support it.

Public school is the ultimate investment and you cannot, you cannot claim to care about children and not support, pay and resource the people who spend the most time with the largest number of children.

- What do you think that's about, Nick?

- I think gender plays into it.

70% of teachers are female.

We see teaching as a hobby, as a male, you have to become an administrator if you wanna make any money, which- - In education.

- In education.

And it shouldn't be that way.

You know, teaching, if everyone says how important educators are to America, yet we pay them as if it's a side hustle.

If you have to work other jobs, you can't call it a career if you have to work other jobs to continue doing your career.

And we don't wanna be rich.

We just, even though we had worked for free, Steve, we don't wanna have like we should have.

- But hold on.

But Nick, you said you've thought about leaving, but you haven't and you're all in now.

Why?

- I love it.

The kids bring us back.

If a teacher leaves, they're not leaving a job.

They're leaving something that brings them so much joy because they've been forced to.

And for the longest time, a lot of teachers have endured a lot of the hardships that come with being a teacher, because we do it for the kids.

And that's very toxic because people use that against us.

But it's for the kids.

So you work a second job, you buy your own supplies because it's for the kids not trying to get a society to support us and invest in the community, which public schools are the center of every community and they bring everyone together.

- Last question.

I've mentioned it before, I'll mention it again.

The New Jersey Education Association is an underwriter of our programming and big supporters of public broadcasting.

For you, this convention, what's it like?

- It's inspiring because educators are some of the most inspirational people in the world.

And all I meet are amazing teachers who have amazing stories, who are sacrificing for their students, who want to improve for their students.

They're here trying to become better teachers to get supplies, to get freebies because they don't wanna have to buy their own supplies.

This is what people need to see, not the other false information that people are throwing out to demonize educators.

And it breaks my heart that we're demonizing a profession who invests so much.

And I'm a good teacher, Steve.

I'm not the best teacher in my school.

I'm definitely not the best teacher here.

So I try to use my platform to make sure everyone knows these stories.

- Thank you, Nick.

- Thank you.

- [Narrator] To watch more One on One with Steve Adubato find us online and follow us on Social media.

- Hi everyone, Steve Adubato, way more importantly, as we're down here in Atlantic City at the NJEA Convention, we're with Karyn Parsons, an actress.

You may recognize her from "The Fresh Prince."

About, what were those years?

- What were they?

- [Steve] Yeah.

- They were magic years.

- No, what year?

- But how long about?

(Steve and Karyn laugh) - Wait, so- - '90 to '96, that sound right?

- You were a kid.

- I was ten.

(Steve and Karyn laugh) - And so, what's so fascinating is that's not the reason we're talking to you today.

- No.

- You are making a difference as a writer.

And this is the book.

We actually just interviewed the filmmaker about Garrett Morgan.

Tell us about this book, "Saving the Day, Garrett Morgan's Life-Changing Invention of the Traffic Signal."

- Yes.

- Tell us about Garrett Morgan and the book.

- Well, this book is one of the stories by Sweet Blackberry, which is my non-profit organization.

- Say it again, Sweet?

- Sweet Blackberry.

- Website's up now.

- Yeah, thank you.

And our mission at Sweet Blackberry is to bring little-known stories of African American achievement to kids.

'Cause there are so many stories out there that are being lost completely that we're not hearing about.

Garrett Morgan is one of those stories that was brought to me.

You know, I think I learned about a handful of stories about Black history in school, great stories, great people, but there are so many more, and so many more that are really important.

Important for us to know about, important for children to understand that even with adversity, what they are capable of, and I think Garrett's one of those stories.

He was an inventor who invented, among other things, the traffic signal, but also the gas mask.

But the traffic signal that we use today, the three stop, - That's right.

- Or the three-tiered traffic signal is from Garrett, and a lot of people don't know that that was from a Black man.

- And he called himself the Black Edison.

- The Black Edison.

Did he call himself- - He did, no, I wouldn't just say that.

I had to research this.

- Okay.

- But what's fascinating is that the filmmaker who, actually, Philip Musey, - Yeah.

- Who we also interviewed.

He told me something that was, I shouldn't say it's hard to believe, because it's painfully realistic.

Garrett hired actors, white actors, to act that they were him, - Oh.

- To sell his ideas.

- I'm not surprised.

I had never heard that before and I'm dying to see that film, to learn a little bit more, but that part of it I've never heard.

But it makes sense, and I think there are so many, there are a lot of Black inventors, like Lewis Latimer, Garrett Morgan, who have contributed so much to our society that we take for granted, and we don't know about.

I can't imagine how many more there were who didn't get credit for their work, didn't get credit for their inventions.

'Cause if you think about the times, and I'm sure it was very easy for other people to make those patents, instead of the Black people that did.

- So for you, Karyn, this book, and you also, I believe, recently subbed with Nick Ferroni.

- [Karyn] I did, yesterday.

- [Steve] We're interviewing Nick as well.

So you go to Nick's class.

He's a great teacher.

- [Karyn] He's an amazing teacher.

- And what's the setup?

What are you gonna do there?

- Well, I went and I, God, I was with the history.

I got to be sub for a history class, which was fantastic.

- Wait, you were the sub.

- I was.

I mean, I didn't mean to become a history teacher, but in my own way, I've kind of become a history teacher by writing these books.

And short, animated films about historical figures, and about historical accomplishments.

I didn't mean for it to happen, but I ended up there, and Nick kind of, you know, he guided me through a little bit, but I got to talk to the students and it was really fun.

I did history, drama, and English.

Writing, creative writing.

- What'd you see in- I'm sorry for interrupting.

What did you see in those kids when you were telling them what they needed to understand, and had never even heard of?

- Well, it was, what was really great, and I told Nick this, is they were so engaged.

They're high school students, so, you know, and I have a high school student at home, and so he doesn't listen to me all the time.

But I had this- - Join the club.

(Karyn and Steve laugh) - I've got this group of kids who are asking such intelligent, thoughtful questions, really engaged and interested.

And we're talking about, like I said, there was theater arts, there was the history, the kids in history, and the kids in English, and they were all interested in these subjects and in these areas.

And they had such great questions.

I was really impressed.

I mean, Nick's a great teacher, so he set really good foundation for me to come into and talk to them.

It was a lot of fun.

- Now, what I'm fascinated by is your connection to this convention.

- [Karyn] Yeah?

- Talk to us about that.

- Well, I mean, I love being here at this convention.

I mean, this is, I look out and it's so big, and it's so well attended, and these people have come because they care about our children so much.

In spite of all that's going on right now.

- Stuff, all the stuff.

- These are people that really care, regardless.

They are getting to what's most important, which is the children.

And bringing the truth to the children, and bringing whatever they can to enhance and better their education.

That means everything to me.

We know how hard it is for teachers.

We know how little teachers get paid and regarded.

And then you've got librarians right now too, as well as school librarians, that are having people threaten them.

My mother was a librarian.

- [Steve] Really?

- Yeah, and I can't even imagine that people are coming at librarians because of the books that they have for kids, to offer them, so they can see all different aspects.

- Let's talk about diversity in our books.

- Yeah.

- Or lack thereof.

- Yeah.

- What do you think is really going on?

I'm not gonna get political with this, or it may be.

- It's kinda hard.

- I was just gonna say how ridiculous that premise was.

But from your perspective, having books that tell all kinds of stories - Yes.

- About all kinds of people.

Diversity in our books.

- Yes.

- How the heck did it become so controversial?

Just telling stories?

- I mean, fear, I guess, fear and people...

It's a good question.

And for me, I'm confused by all of it, simply because, as a parent, like, I think all parents want their children to have access to everything.

To learn about everything, to be able to take a look and decipher what feels true, what feels right to them, what makes sense to them.

To understand context and history.

Understand how things brought us to where we are today.

And like, "Oh, okay."

When I was coming up, and we were taught about slavery, for instance, nobody thought that white people were bad in America.

People thought that the enslavers, what the enslavers did, wasn't right.

And that things changed, and we wanted to change things.

Things change, we learn from these things, but nobody was pointing fingers.

Now, today, for people to somehow take these things as affronts, personally, I don't know where that came from.

I don't know when that started, when people started saying- - But it's real.

It's real for so many people who say things like, I'm sorry for interrupting.

- Yeah, no.

- "Wait a minute.

You're teaching Black history, that's one thing.

But to teach," that's the interpretation, "to teach that my sixth grader has some responsibility for..." that's the argument.

- But it's not what's being taught.

I mean, that's not the thing that's being taught.

- Are you implying that there's misperception out there?

(laughs) - Absolutely.

- I mean, and I don't know why, and it's terrible because I think people have, - Yeah.

- I think people have, politically, very deliberately, played into people's fears - Agendas.

- With it, because of their agendas.

And it's sad, because the children are the ones that are suffering because of it.

And I think we all need to get out of the way and look, kind of, at the whole thing objectively, and go, wait a minute.

We wanna serve the children with the best that they can and we can do our parts, as parents, to help guide them, just like their teachers help guide them.

- So think about this.

So this story, "Saving the Day," about Garrett Morgan, the implication is somehow, some would say, "Well, if you're telling us about Garrett Morgan, and what he invented, doesn't that take away from a white- What?

- How?

No.

- That makes no sense!

- And the thing I want people to understand, when you see books like Garrett Morgan, like, about a Black inventor, - Right.

- It's an American story.

This is an American.

This happened here, this is something that we should all be- - Black history is American history.

- It's American history.

We should all be proud of, we should all be excited about, and we should all be excited to learn about it.

Nobody's saying this is a separate, "This is separate, you're not included, this isn't for you."

The opposite.

This is for all of us.

And for children, I wanted, I started this organization, and one of the reasons I did start Sweet Blackberry, - You're talking about - Sweet Blackberry.

- Sweet Blackberry, right.

- Is because I wanted children to understand that because of what a lot of Black people went through in this country, to get, you know, to overcome incredible obstacles, and these challenges, I want children to understand what they are capable of.

And that, actually, obstacles are often opportunities to do great things.

And I want kids to get that message.

All kids to get that message.

- How much do you enjoy, I mean, listen.

Being a superstar, as a very young person, - Superstar?

- Superstar.

A really big star at a very important time in American history, with one of the most popular programs, "Fresh Prince of Bel Air," at the time.

- In terms of being rewarding and having impact, it's not one or the other, but this is huge what you're doing right now.

- Writing books?

- Yeah.

- I love it.

- You're doing more than writing books.

You're teaching, you're helping us understand, and you're putting things in context, and you're motivating a lot of young people.

- Yeah, lucky me.

It's been great.

I've been really fortunate.

I mean, the fact that I was on a television show that we're still mentioning today, you know, all these decades later, I meet young people who say, "It's my favorite show."

And their parents are going, "It used to be my favorite show."

You know, that, and that I'm in those households and getting some people through, or the comedy of that show got a lot of people through a lot of hard times.

- [Steve] That's right.

- That, for me, is a tremendous honor.

I mean, I can't say enough about what an- I used to try to dismiss it and not think about it.

"Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah."

And now I've let it land, and realize I was a part of something incredible.

And I'm so grateful and so honored.

Today, now that I'm doing this, the fact that I've entered into this other, for me, creative outlet, it's very exciting for me.

It's new to me, but I'm also bringing things from my acting into writing characters and telling stories.

But to be able to go and visit kids across the country, 'cause I get to go into classrooms and talk to them.

And it's just a really rewarding place.

I'm a lucky, lucky person.

- You're making a difference, and I don't really know of a greater compliment, not from me, or from anyone, or anything more important than making a difference.

You're doing that, I cannot thank you enough - Thank you.

- For joining us.

Thank you.

- Wish you all the best.

- [Narrator] One-On-One with Steve Adubato has been a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Celebrating 30 years in public broadcasting.

Funding has been provided by The New Jersey Education Association.

NJ Best, New Jersey’s five-two-nine college savings plan.

Hackensack Meridian Health.

Seton Hall University.

Valley Bank.

New Jersey Sharing Network.

PSEG Foundation.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

And by NJM Insurance Group.

Promotional support provided by NJ.Com.

And by ROI-NJ.

- (Inspirational Music) - (Narrator) Great drive fuels the leaders of tomorrow and today.

Great vision paves the way for a brighter future.

Great ambition goes places, moving onward and upward.

Great empathy finds strength in kindness and in each other, working together to create something bigger than they ever imagined.

Great minds can change the world and great minds start at Seton Hall.