In this riveting episode, host Priscilla Rahn is joined by Jovani Patterson, a dedicated father and education advocate, to discuss the pressing issues plaguing Baltimore’s education system. Jovani shares his experiences as a father in Baltimore and his audacious move of filing a lawsuit against Baltimore City Public Schools to challenge the inadequacies faced by students. Together, they explore the profound impact of active fatherhood and parental involvement on education reform and societal transformation. Priscilla introduces listeners to the soon to be launched Excalibur Classical Academy, a beacon of hope aiming to cultivate servant leaders. The conversation delves into
00:00:03 Introduction with Priscilla Ron Master Educator
00:00:18 Introduction of Excalibur Classical Academy
Welcome to Restoring Education in America with Priscilla Rahn. She’s a master educator and author, leading the conversation to restore the American mind through wisdom, virtue, and truth.
SPEAKER 03 :
well happy new year everybody welcome to restoring education in america i’m your host priscilla rahn and i’m so excited that you’ve decided to join the conversation today i have some exciting news for you in 2026 this fall there’s a new private classical school that’s opening called excalibur classical academy so if you live in the denver metro area It’s going to be in Centennial. Go to the website and check it out. It’s ExcaliburClassicalAcademy.org. And their mission and vision is to restore America’s heritage by developing servant leaders who are keepers and defenders of the principles of freedom for which our founding fathers pledged their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor. And as we’re going into 2026, remember, it’s America’s 250th birthday. And July 4th, 1776, we became a nation. And I was raised by a father who was in the military, who was extremely patriotic. And I’m going to bring someone to the stage who understands the importance of fathers in the home. Welcome fellow Project 21 ambassador, Jovani Patterson. Hi, Jovani.
SPEAKER 02 :
Hey, Priscilla. Thanks for having me on. Or should I say Dr. Rahn?
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, well, you know what? We keep it low key here. Okay.
SPEAKER 02 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 03 :
Just Priscilla. But thank you so much. But before we get into this conversation, Jovani, I’m going to share a little bit of your bio with our listeners. Jovani Patterson is a proud Baltimore native and currently resides in West Baltimore with his beautiful wife Shonda and two children. He works as a cybersecurity engineer assisting in reducing cyber threats for state, local, and education institutions. In 2020, Jovani ran for city council of Baltimore. Although unsuccessful at winning the election, he received over 42,000 votes, the largest amount of votes garnered by a Republican to ever run for the position. In January 2022, Jovani and Shonda filed a lawsuit against Baltimore City Public Schools that has been failing Baltimore youth for years. Mr. Patterson stands on the principles of faith, family, and freedom. His campaign slogan, Bringing Family Back, is not just a catchy motto, but captures the true essence of his beliefs for a better Baltimore City. Jovani, thank you for standing up and being an alpha dad.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, thank you. Thank you. I don’t know if it’s really being alpha. It’s just one of those things like it’s that saw it needed to be done or just something needed to change. And we kept doing the same things over and over. So there has to be at some point we have to try something different.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah. So, Jovani, what changed in you when you became a father?
SPEAKER 02 :
It was a sense of responsibility. I mean, you’re never… You never sense that you’re ready for it. But when it happens, it’s like, okay, I have this little human. The first gift I gave my daughter was a welcome to Earth present. Right. So it’s just like, there’s just this other person that it was a seed that you planted, and now it’s here. And it’s just a sense of responsibility, sense of protection. But I will say, you know, having girls and then having boys is a little different. So, you know, just it changes something in you. You know, with girls, you get a little bit of soft, the whole nurturing, not, you know, not nurturing like motherly, but just like soft. But then the son, you got to get ready for the gut check.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, I think that’s normal. My dad was a girl dad because there were two girls. So I think God just designed you that way, that your heart towards your little girl and you start to see how, you know, fragile.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 03 :
God designed us to be that way.
SPEAKER 02 :
But it’s a beautiful thing. It’s a really beautiful thing. And I, you know, I think a lot of fathers really do want to be fathers. You know, Project 21, Terrace Todd, you know, talks about that all the time. You know, a lot of fathers really just want to be fathers. And, you know, this world society really isn’t set up for that. But, you know, we still have to fight for that because we have to take our rightful place.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, you decided to fight for the public education system in Baltimore. What were you seeing that got you activated?
SPEAKER 02 :
Um, so, so first my wife was a Baltimore city public school teacher. And one of the things that would happen was that she would come home and tell me stories about what happened in the classroom, whether it was, you know, from a matter of safety, you know, and she was pregnant at the time. Um, so kids coming to school with knives and guns and stuff like that. And, and, you know, mind you, she was one that had control of her classroom. So what that showed me was that if people if these young people had structure, order and discipline, they would, you know, follow the process. And a lot of teachers, you know, it’s really challenged to to kind of establish that order, establish that trust, establish that communication. And I get that. But other things that, you know, kind of gotten to me was. the way she would reach out to parents as well and say, you know, hey, this is going on with your child. And the parents will, well, they’re at school, they’re your problem. So that was an element of it. And then the fact that my wife was one of the good teachers, right? She was one of the ones that were, you know, going the extra mile for the students and, you know, doing the things she had to do. But the schools were coming after her when she like complained about these things aren’t the way they’re supposed to be. She was a union rep. So she understood how the, you know, the processes work. And she said, well, this doesn’t this isn’t happening the correct way. And she reported something that was supposed to be anonymous. But the principal came directly back and talked to her and kind of reprimanded her. So there’s this kind of culture of intimidation that was going on. So I saw some of those things. And then when I ran for office, there was a lot of just talking to members of the community. The big thing then was like the heating and air conditioning. So we have all these schools. We have a superintendent that at the time was making a compensation package of about three hundred and seventy five thousand. And she’s getting raises. I think she got like a fifty thousand dollar raise that year. That’s greater than the median income in most homes in Baltimore City. um but i was just thinking like if she can get that raised why can’t we get you know simple window units for these classes that that are burning up in the summer you know um so it’s just it’s just a matter of like integrity in schools and then just the outcome poor outcomes of the education system so you see all those things combined it’s like man i have to do something
SPEAKER 03 :
But I think I saw statistics, and you might know this better than me, that there was one year where there wasn’t a single child at grade level in literacy or math or both.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah. So, yeah, again, the seed that was planted was just kind of being out in the community. Then you see the news and the reports that are coming out. particularly from the reporting from Chris Papps in the Project Baltimore initiative. How are these kids supposed to be functional and be functioning members of society if one, they’re graduating and unable to read? Right. Or they’re not proficient in math. How are they supposed to count their money? How are they supposed to go to Walmart and then give the cashier $20 and then know how much change they’re supposed to get back or be the cashier? Right. We’re thinking about jobs and opportunities. And that really didn’t sit well with me because I see a lot of talent in Baltimore City, right? I see once it’s, if these young people have a direction or guidance or expectations are set higher, they can achieve. I mean, I know some of the best musicians in the city, right? But it’s, you know, we don’t have the infrastructure or the desire, you know, to create things around that and like i said it was very frustrating disheartening when you see the talent being mismanaged and uneducated no kids being being proficient in math kids unable to read what are you setting up these kids up for other than a life of dependence
SPEAKER 03 :
So after talking with your wife about what’s going on and you decided to take action with the lawsuit, what were the contents of your lawsuit and what was the result of that lawsuit?
SPEAKER 02 :
So with with education, it’s very interesting. And I learned a lot during the process, particularly from a legal standpoint. The Constitution of Maryland does not guarantee an adequate education. Right. You know, or there are certain terms in there that are very subjective. Right. There’s not, you know, a quantitative element to it. Right. So if if if X amount of kids aren’t able to read, That’s not against the law, per se. Right. But, you know, so so as we went through the lawsuit, you know, it was a taxpayer standing lawsuit because a lot of people say, let’s do a class action. Now, you can’t do a class action because there’s not a class of people like, you know, if you buy an iPhone 13, and that phone has a certain issue, everyone that bought that iPhone 13 has a case, right? It was that specific, you know, device item manufacturer at a certain time. With the school system, it’s not necessarily a class, despite you’re going to the same education system. You had different teachers. There’s no class. So it was a taxpayer standing lawsuit saying that the taxpayer is being taxpayer money is being wasted. So as a homeowner, as a resident of Baltimore City, the funds that we’re using to fund the school education system aren’t being used properly in education. And we were looking at things like grade changing, the social promotion and the misreporting of students as a result or within that lawsuit. Now, when it comes to, you know, elements of these things, right, the schools have the Baltimore City Schools has a policy for grade changing. I think every school system probably has one for grade changing, which at times it is a legitimate thing that you have to do as an educator. However, you know, there should be a process in which is follows. And we did find that, you know, through some of the external performance reviews that were done, they weren’t following the process per se. But there’s no consequence for that. Right. It’s not illegal. It’s just saying, hey, we didn’t do it. And, you know, the inspector general can say can can look at it and say, hey, you weren’t doing it. Do better next year. And all it all it is is just another report the next year and see how if we did improved or didn’t. But there’s no financial consequence. There’s no, you know, punitive consequences or anything done for schools. And the schools just continue to ask for more money. The same thing with social promotion. One thing that we found through throughout the through the course of the lawsuit, there were a number of like thousands of kids being promoted despite missing 60, 120 days of school. So, you know, the schools say 10 percent of schools, I mean, 10 percent of days missed is chronically absent. So if you miss 18 days of school. you’re chronically absent, but you have kids that are missed 30, 60, 120 days of school and they’re being promoted. How is that possible? Now, you know, I understand that there can be a case by case basis, but we’re talking about thousands of kids that are being promoted from one grade to the next. How is that possible? But again, there’s no, um, There’s no legal ramification per se of them promoting it. Right. So this the outcome of the lawsuit is that we have required them to report more of the numbers, you know, report how many kids are being promoted, how many are doing randomized audits of grade changes and things like that. So just making more of the data public. So it is increasing transparency. But it really I hate to say it means nothing unless more people are looking into it and understanding that this you know, this is this is the future of your city, your town, you know, future of education, your kids. So we really have to have the people hold the, you know, well, we don’t have an elected school board here. We have an appointed school board, but haven’t holding the officials accountable. And the only way we can really do that is really vote them out. But we need to constantly give people a reason why.
SPEAKER 03 :
Wow. Unbelievable. If you’re just tuning in, my guest today is Jovani Patterson. He’s a father in Baltimore, and he and his wife sued the Baltimore public school system. That data, then you’re depending on the school to then be honest. with data and give you relevant data. And to your point, the money, no superintendent, I don’t know of any who’s been fired for low student outcomes. They seem to get their job. So there are some superintendents making more money than the president of the United States with no results. And they’re hurting the community. And when you think about how much money is spent per pupil in Baltimore, yet the outcomes remain the worst in the nation, from your perspective, why is money alone not solving the problem?
SPEAKER 02 :
Because money really isn’t the issue. I mean, we’re trying to throw money at, dare I say, moral issues, right? These are things that have a lack of order, right? We talk about fatherhood, parents. You know, when we remove parents from the involvement of schools, which there’s this kind of paradigm, especially in Baltimore City, that parents don’t know how to educate kids we need more resources whether it’s a counselor or social emotional expert or whoever whoever whoever that next highly paid position is the money really just gets caught up in the bureaucracy i mean we have kids i mean teachers out here that are still holding fundraisers and things like that for classroom materials but the school’s systems themselves are getting tons and tons of more money and the Bureaucracy says they’re doing better because they have money for all these positions, but it’s really an issue of parental involvement. Also, with parental involvement, repetition, I think repetition is the key to learning. They’ve changed all these curriculums. But ultimately, you mentioned the CEOs of schools. The CEO, Dr. Santelises, in Baltimore City has a compensation package now well over $400,000. And this year she has been selected as superintendent of the year somehow, some organization, but a national organization. And now she’s going back to Harvard or Yale, one of those college Ivy League schools, you know, to be an expert in urban learning or something like that. So it’s, you know, they’re throwing money at these issues. And oftentimes, I mean, I hate to say it. It’s… Say it.
SPEAKER 03 :
Say it, Jovani. This show is about truth, okay? Speak truth.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, so… It’s okay because it’s a black person, right? It’s okay because we’re giving a lot of money to a black woman in particular, and it’s Dr. Santelises. And I remember running into one of the city council members. He was on the chair of the education committee. And I asked him, like, why aren’t we… digging into what’s going on with Baltimore City Schools. Like we got kids out here can’t read. And he said, well, you know, I don’t want to go against her because she’s a black woman. And then you have the president of the NAACP here. At the time, it was Reverend Colby Little. And I remember I ran into him out in about one time. And I was like, hey, man, why aren’t we addressing, you know, what’s going on with schools? And he was like, well, you know, you know, the schools don’t know how to educate black kids. i’m i’m looking around man like the the the superintendent’s black everybody in the city’s black everybody running the city is black we have a majority black uh teacher population how is it that black people aren’t able to educate black kids And it really comes down to the industry of education versus, you know, kids actually learning. They like the data. They like to be able to manipulate the numbers to appear to do well, because that’s how you get more, more financial aid, more financial resources that, you know, if you look at North Avenue, which is our city schools headquarters, you see the nicest cars. I mean, it looks like a luxury car lot, right? You know, it’s, it’s, The money is going towards the industry of education, which is all these bureaucratic positions that gets them paid $100,000, $200,000 salaries, but never to the classroom.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, Jovani, you know, this whole thing about money and taxes going for the sake of kids. I mean, look at what’s going on in Minnesota where millions, maybe billions of dollars in the name of child care centers. And anytime there’s a bond or a mill on a ballot, it’s like it’s for the children. And then people just open their pocket. We’ll donate because it’s. if it’s for the kids, but there’s like zero accountability. Like you’ve said, I have seen this in my entire 32 year career. If you put something on a ballot and you say it’s for children, the voters will vote for it. But if you look at the outcomes, we are underserving our students and you’re right. And it’s always the minority leaders. It’s the minority superintendents who are not delivering on education. Now it doesn’t matter, right? Your skin color does not determine how you can learn. um like you use a really good word the industry of public education which i am i’m appalled by what you’re describing of the constitution in your city or in your state about like is this real we could have a whole conversation about the proper role of government when it comes to education this is why We need to dismantle the Federal Department of Education. And this is why I think we’re seeing a mass exodus of students from the public education system to private schools, charter schools, home schools, all of these other options, because parents are starting to realize, wait a minute, How is my child going to have a future if they can’t read and write? They don’t understand what truth is. They can’t use common sense and think. And it’s a disgrace that someone that’s leading your school district is now going to an Ivy League and getting an award for failing. Like this is why we can’t have nice things. Yeah.
SPEAKER 02 :
You’re right. You’re exactly right. But I think there’s also another element to this that I’ve become, I guess, more passionate about recently. And that’s why I started my podcast, Just the Guys podcast, that we kind of talk about this as an undertone for many of our conversations. And that’s the the subversion of communism into a lot of our institutions. One of the goals, there’s 45 goals that were written into the Congressional record back in 1963 that talk about how the communists aim to destroy and dismantle our country. And a big part of that is dismantling the education system, not dismantling in the sense that we’re talking about, but infiltrating the American education system to one, make, you know, make these kids hate America to focus on things that really are irrelevant. take control of things like teachers unions and other big organizations. And these are all just documented the stated goals. And then when I’m looking at Baltimore City, I’m like, how many of these have been checked off and are being actively just replayed over and over again? And I think we’re so far down this influence of socialism and communism. that it does take a big dismantling of the way the structures are, the bureaucracies are. That’s why dismantling the Department of Education is so important right now. That’s why it’s so important for parents to take your kids out of the schools and going back to either whether homeschool, whether it’s pods, homeschool pods or private schools or things like that. Because we do have to take control because the bureaucracy is now big enough to really protect itself. And, you know, to me, to me, I just say everything, everything is communism right now. But when you really examine how many of these things have been checked off, especially when you talk about sexuality and the gender whole conversations, how are we infusing that in education when these kids can’t read? These kids do know more about gender confusion Then they do, you know, then, you know, one plus one is two. You know, it’s baffling to me that we’d even replace standard education with things that are, you know, just just false, just complete lies. So to me, to me, it’s now all communism.
SPEAKER 03 :
So, Jovani, we’ve got to help our community. Okay, so let’s you and I put our heads together real quick to give some advice to parents who may be watching this and listening to this show. One thing I’m going to advise parents to do is make sure they access the $1,700 from President Trump’s school initiative from the Big Beautiful Bill. They can access this starting next year. Have you heard about this?
SPEAKER 02 :
I have not.
SPEAKER 03 :
okay so starting next year in 2027 there’s a uh k-12 scholarship funding for seventeen hundred dollars but your governor has to opt in i don’t know if maryland’s governor has opted in colorado’s governor has opted in it’s as simple as opting in so i would encourage everybody listening write to your governor and say, please opt into this $1,700 scholarship that you can use for any education, private, charter, classical, whatever, school, homeschool for your child. What is another piece of advice that you might have for parents?
SPEAKER 02 :
Honestly, one thing I always advise people to do is attend the school board meetings. I mean, they say all politics is local. These decisions are made right in front of, you know, right down the street from you. So attend the school board. School board is one of the most important positions in in the country. So pay attention to who’s there, what their their beliefs are. Um, and listen to what they’re saying, because more than likely, uh, it’s, it’s something that you don’t believe in, in your house. I don’t, I don’t care, you know, where you’re from. It’s more than likely that something you would never, never stand for in your house. So attend a school board meetings. That’s the simple step you can do, whether it’s online or in person to show up.
SPEAKER 03 :
I would encourage fathers to get activated because Fathers are the foundation of the family. It’s the first chapter in my book, by the way, Restoring Education in America. You can go to Amazon and get your copy. But my first chapter is all about fatherhoods and bringing fathers back into the role that God has created them as the head of the household. Because so goes the father. So goes the family. So goes the community. And a lot of these breakdowns is because we have fathers. We’ve ostracized fathers in the home. We’ve gone through this whole movement of women’s rights and feminism and all of this where we’ve devalued fathers and not allowed fathers to walk in the divine calling that God has called them to. And in your case, I see a father who’s stepping up and walking in his purpose. and leading his family and saying, you know what, this is not only not good enough for my children, they’re not good enough for anybody else’s children. I’m not just going to stand back and let a whole city grow up and not be able to have a chance at success. And so I would say to fathers, sit down and pray with your wife and talk about the possibility of homeschooling. And there’s going to be some sacrifices financially of doing that. But you only have one opportunity to raise your children. And the school system is moving way too slow for you to sacrifice your children to the gods of the public education system who are under delivering. And, you know, that’s the legacy that I say that parents have.
SPEAKER 02 :
Absolutely. No, I 100 percent agree with you. And I do find it fascinating. Fascinating that the first chapter of your book is about fatherhood because that cannot be understated, overstated, or anything because fathers are the foundation. Again, when I got married and had my kids and things like that, that was something I realized. It’s a natural position, but I understand that that position is under attack. And we just, like, again, need to walk in our role. You know, I don’t think I’m doing anything that I’m, you know, not supposed to be doing. It’s just, you know, it’s just what’s in front of me to do. And I encourage anyone to, you know, to get involved and especially fathers get involved. So I do really appreciate that. The first chapter of your book is about, you know, fathers being involved. The schools call me. The schools call me now. Wow.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, Jovani, you’ve been a great example, and I opened up calling you an alpha dad, and you were so humble, but this is what we need. We need alpha dads, not beta dads. We need alpha dads to stand in their purpose, and that doesn’t mean that you’re bombastic. It just means that you are standing up into your role and your calling, and you’re fixing the things that are wrong in our community. So I thank you for that. Thank you for your time. Check out Jovani on his podcast, Just the Guys podcast. And to my listeners, thanks for tuning in and catch me next time. And remember, educating the mind without the heart is no education. So seek wisdom, cultivate virtue and speak truth.
SPEAKER 01 :
Thanks for tuning in to Restoring Education in America with Priscilla Rahn. Visit PriscillaRahn.com to connect or learn how you can sponsor future episodes to keep this message of faith, freedom, and education on the air.
