iOpening Enterprises

04/08/2026

We’re honored that iOE’s Brave Schools Book Launch Event in Washington, DC is being featured in George Washington University’s event calendar.

This recognition reflects the growing momentum behind conversations on mental health, healing, and building truly brave spaces in our schools.

Join us for an evening featuring a fireside chat with Dr. Isaiah Pickens, alongside educators and leaders committed to reimagining student well-being.

🎟️ Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/brave-schools-book-launch-event-washington-dc-tickets-1981458812648?aff=oddtdtcreator
🔗 See the GW feature: https://calendar.gwu.edu/event/fireside-chat-and-alumni-book-launch-featuring-dr-isaiah-b-pickens-ba-05

📍 Washington, DC

Let’s build braver schools, together.

04/03/2026

Don't miss Dr. Pickens TOMORROW in Los Angeles!

We're excited to continue the Brave Schools Book Launch and Tour this Saturday (April 4th) in Los Angeles with some of Dr. Pickens' favorite people.

How many people get to sit down and talk about their book with a Harvard trained comedian? The fireside chat with Carl Foreman, Jr. is going to be🔥🔥🔥

We’re doubling down on Harvard trained folks with a performance from actor and educator Anthony Gaskins 🎭🎭

To cap it off, Dr. Mirella Diaz-Santos will inspire with lessons about trauma for young to older than young 😄, and Host Hosea Chanchez, star of The Game, will keep it all rolling.

If you’re around LA, come celebrate with Dr. Pickens and the Brave Schools community 🙌🏾

https://lnkd.in/gwb5A7yP

04/02/2026

Did you see Dr. Pickens this year at SXSW? If not, you missed an exceptional time!

One theme kept surfacing across conversations, panels, and roundtables: the future belongs to those who can create meaningful experiences—not just deliver information.

As access to knowledge becomes more universal, what truly sets organizations apart is their ability to foster connection, belonging, and purpose.

At iOE, this reinforces what we’ve long believed: education must evolve beyond content delivery. Schools have the potential to be powerful hubs for mental health, emotional development, and community-building—spaces where people don’t just learn, but feel seen, supported, and inspired to participate.

Our recent conversations around rethinking schools as mental health hubs highlighted a critical shift. Technical skills alone are no longer enough. The future demands emotional intelligence, human-centered design, and the ability to create environments that people want to be part of.

Whether we’re engaging students, supporting educators, or shaping the future of work, the question we should be asking is:
👉 How does this experience make people feel—and does it make them want to stay connected?

We’re energized by the growing community of leaders and innovators working to build more human, more vibrant systems of learning and work.

The future isn’t just something we prepare for—it’s something we design, together.

03/15/2026

We’ve been hearing so many powerful (and honest) experiences from educators this week.

If your school is trying to figure out how to actually support staff—not just talk about it—we’d love to connect.

📥 Start here: https://buff.ly/NDZKDtU

03/13/2026

We talk a lot about staff burnout and retention, but the solutions don’t always start with big initiatives.

Sometimes they start with simply listening.

Fill in the blank:
“I would feel more supported at work if ______.”

We’re curious what educators and leaders are experiencing right now.

03/12/2026

Most retention strategies don’t fail because they’re wrong.

They fail because they don’t stick.

Tuesday's article outlined all the right moves:
mentorship, strong leadership, coaching, professional learning…

But here’s what we see in practice:

Those things often live in separate lanes.
Mentoring happens over here.
PD happens over there.
Coaching depends on one strong leader.

And none of it is connected in a way that actually supports educators day to day.

So when things get hard—
there’s nothing holding it all together.

That’s the gap.

And it’s why we focus less on adding strategies and more on how those strategies live inside the system.

Because retention doesn’t come from having the right pieces.
It comes from those pieces working together - consistently.

We'd love to know - what’s one support your school offers that sounds good on paper but is hard to sustain in reality?

03/11/2026

This isn’t just a tour. It’s a shift.

Across the country, educators are asking the same question:

How do we actually support staff in a way that lasts?

Not another one-time training.
Not another initiative layered on top.
But systems that sustain the people inside them.

That’s what the Brave Schools On Tour is about.

We’re bringing this conversation—and this work—into rooms across the country:
Austin (SXSW)
Los Angeles
Washington, DC
New York

This is for leaders who are ready to:
✔ Move beyond surface-level solutions
✔ Build internal capacity
✔ Create schools where educators can actually stay and thrive

If you’ve been thinking, “There has to be a better way…”

This is your invitation.📍 Join the movement: https://buff.ly/6ZuOJHI

03/10/2026

Teacher retention isn’t a staffing issue. It’s a systems issue.

This article breaks down something we see across districts every day:

Teachers aren’t leaving just because of compensation or workload—
they’re leaving because of working conditions, lack of support, and misaligned systems.

https://buff.ly/qfcl4I3

And the impact is massive:
📉 Over 200,000 teachers leave each year
📉 Replacing just one teacher can cost districts $20,000+
📉 And most importantly—student outcomes suffer

What stands out to us in this piece:
✔ Strong onboarding and mentorship matter
✔ School leadership and culture matter
✔ Ongoing coaching and feedback matter
✔ Personalized professional learning matters

But here’s the missing link:

None of these work in isolation.

If the system itself isn’t designed to support educators, even the best strategies won’t stick.

This is the shift we’re seeing—and supporting—through Brave Schools:
➡️ Moving from disconnected initiatives
➡️ To building internal capacity
➡️ So support is embedded, not added on

Because when educators feel supported by the system—not just expected to navigate it—they stay.

Curious—what’s had the biggest impact on retention in your school or district? Comment below ⬇️

Teachers affect student performance two to three times more than any other school factor. Find out how to keep the right teachers in your district.

03/09/2026

Something is shifting in education right now.

We’re hearing it everywhere:

Educators are exhausted—not because they don’t care,
but because the systems around them aren’t built to sustain them.

So we’re taking this conversation on the road.

The Brave Schools Tour is about more than events—it’s about building something better, together.
📍 Austin (SXSW)
📍 Los Angeles
📍 Washington, DC
📍 New York

If you’ve been thinking, “There has to be a better way…”
you’re not alone.

More soon.

03/08/2026

Brave Schools is more than a training—it's a movement.

🤝From our Listening Tour stops in NYC and DC to our virtual community, we are connecting leaders who are ready to transform school culture from the inside out.

How to join the journey:
✅ Follow us here for updates from the road.
✅ Get the Book + Workshop bundle to kickoff your school's transformation.
✅ Fill out our interest form to speak with our team about a custom strategy.

The 21st-century school needs a 21st-century approach to trauma and culture.

Let’s build it together.🔗 https://buff.ly/NDZKDtU

03/06/2026

“Trauma-informed” doesn’t fail because people don’t care.

It fails because systems aren’t designed to support it.

This new feature from the National Child Traumatic Stress Network is a must-read for anyone trying to move beyond one-off trainings and actually implement trauma-informed, culturally responsive practices in schools.🔗https://buff.ly/a73yL7t

The focus? How to get real buy-in across systems—not just individuals.

Because here’s the truth:
You can’t ask educators to hold trauma-informed practices if the system they’re working in isn’t trauma-informed itself.

What stands out in this piece:
✔️ Buy-in isn’t about convincing—it’s about alignment across roles and systems
✔️ Implementation requires shared language, leadership support, and internal ownership
✔️ Sustainable change happens when this work is embedded—not added on

This is exactly the shift we’re supporting through Brave Schools:
➡️ From external expertise
➡️ To internal capacity
➡️ So schools can sustain this work long-term

When the system changes, retention follows.

Curious—what’s been the biggest barrier to getting real buy-in for this work in your school or district?