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Deborah Meier has spent more than three decades working in public education as a teacher, principal, writer, advocate, and ranks among the most acclaimed leaders of the school reform movement in the U.S. Often considered the founder of the Small Schools Movement, she has been one of the most important voices in US educational thought for the past thirty five years. In 1987 Meier was the first educator to receive a McArthur “genius” Award. She currently lives in Hillsdale, NY. She is a senior scholar at NYU's Steinhardt School, the author of a number of books, and she currently maintains an online correspondence for Ed Week with Diane Ravitch, called Bridging Differences.

In this interview, we talk about the charterization and privatization of public education in America, the small school movement, localism and decision-making, the re-segregation of public schools, and Deborah's own schools: Mission Hill in Boston and Central Park East in East Harlem.