Tam District Family Newsletter
June 2019
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE CLASS OF 2019!!
Respect and Responsibility
Over the past few weeks, our community has been confronted by behaviors on the part of some students that challenge our shared values of inclusivity, kindness, respect and responsibility. Values that reject harassing another based on race, gender, gender identity, religion, sexual orientation or personal characteristics.These recent events, some of which include hate based speech, have left me wondering what we, as a community, can do to insure that all of our students and staff feel respected, included, and welcomed on our campuses. I wonder how we can challenge ourselves and our students to embrace our fellow community members and celebrate our differences.
I believe this is a challenge, because hate is easy. It absolves us of the responsibility to engage in honest self reflection, it provides safety in our ideological “rightness”, and worst of all, it allows us to reject learning: learning about the “other”, the "other" religion, the "other" culture, the "other" viewpoint, the "other" perspective. And when we reject learning, we close ourselves off from understanding. Hate is easy. It requires no vulnerability, it requires no contemplation.
Love, acceptance and understanding, on the other hand, are difficult. These things require us to open ourselves up to new ideas, which in turn require that we take a personal inventory of our values and be honest with ourselves about how we embody those values. Love, acceptance and understanding require that we continuously learn and grow as people. They require that we relinquish a sense of “rightness”, of having just one way of being or thinking or the belief that there is just a single story.
My vision for our school district is that we provide our students with the tools to embrace love, acceptance and understanding. That we foster curiosity for learning about the “other” and a consistent desire to seek understanding. My vision is that our students put love out into the world they inhabit and reject hate and its easiness and security. That we encourage all students to exercise their agency and speak up for their beliefs, while providing space for others to do the same, in a civil and thoughtful manner. That our students will learn to respect all people and take responsibility for their actions and choose to be positive forces in our society.
I believe our students, more often than not, choose love, acceptance and understanding. That they are respectful and responsible. I have seen many examples of this in recent weeks. I have witnessed the outpouring of support for a family dealing with incomprehensible tragedy. I have met a student who has raised more than $350,000 for children with cancer via juggling a soccer ball. During Tam High's Breakthrough day in May, I watched students lead anti-racism workshops for their peers. These same students facilitated thoughtful discussions at the showing of the film, “I Am Not A Racist, Am I?” in Mill Valley. Earlier this year Drake and Redwood's SOAR students created and implemented workshops on cultivating more inclusive campuses. I heard students at Tamiscal and San Andreas' graduations speak of the care and support they have received from their classmates that allowed them to successfully meet the challenges of high school.
I believe we create the culture in which we exist and I hope we, as a community, will take the responsibility to create a caring, accepting and respectful culture. For my part, I plan to continue my own learning and growth through reading the following books: So You Want To Talk About Race- Ijeoma Oluo, We Should All Be Feminists- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Race Talk and the Conspiracy of Silence: Understanding and Facilitating Difficult Dialogues on Race- Derald Wing Sue. I invite you all join me in reading these texts and I encourage you to listen to the Ted Talk, The Danger of a Single Story, linked below.
Marin County Parent Education Event
I wish you all a happy and healthy summer break.
Tam District
Email: ttaupier@tamdistrict.og
Website: Tamdistrict.org
Phone: 415-945-1020
Twitter: @TamSupt