Tam District Fall Reopening Update
July 27, 2020
Dear TUHSD Families,
I hope this communication finds you well. We, as a community and a nation, continue to face challenges, including addressing racial inequities in our system and responding to the continued spread of COVID-19. These trying few months provide us an opportunity for introspection and individual and collective growth. To address systemic racism, the District will be creating new policies in collaboration with our students and staff of color, we will be engaging in a full audit of our courses of study for inclusion of social justice curriculum and convening a task force to monitor the implementation of anti-racist educational actions. We have seen the stories many brave young people of color have shared about their experiences in our schools and we pledge to change for the better the climate and cultures of our campuses. We will be engaging the community in a series of public forums on racism in the Tam District. These will be an opportunity for leadership in the District to listen and hear the concerns of students, parents, staff and community members. The feedback from these forums will be used to inform our action plan for addressing racism on our campuses. The first of these forums will be held on Wednesday, August 5th at 6pm. Please click this link to join the webinar on August 5th. Passcode: 169412.
The District has created a Confidential Racial Equity Reporting form, linked here, for students, staff or parents to confidentially or anonymously share information or report acts of racism within TUHSD. This form can also be found on the front page of our website.
If you are interested in participating in committee work with the goal of advancing racial equity across TUHSD, please complete this form to receive notifications, updates, and procedures for applying.
In March, the county issued a shelter-in-place order and other public health guidelines designed to mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 virus. These measures led to disruption of our usual celebrations, social engagements and day to day activities. This disruption has been difficult and represents a loss for many.
I do not discount the impact that isolation and lack of socialization has had on our society, particularly our young people. However, should we desire to regain access to the things we miss the most, we all need to do our part now, and that includes wearing a face covering in public, maintaining 6 feet of distance between ourselves and those not in our immediate household or social bubble, exercising good hand hygiene and avoiding crowded places. The social contract calls for us all to adhere to these guidelines for the greater good, knowing that doing so will benefit all of us in the end through containment of this virus. I believe that the fastest way through this health crisis is to do our part to stop the spread. If your student is not currently wearing a face covering when in public, please have them start doing so. Our ability to open our schools to on-campus, in-person learning at some point in the fall, and to remain open, will be predicated on our students’ and staff ability to adhere to the safety and health guidelines.
The documents linked below will provide you with valuable information regarding Tam District’s plans for the start of the new school year. We understand that the situation remains fluid and to that end we will provide timely updates between now and August 19th.
I have full faith in our community to rise to meet the demands facing us in order to provide the best education possible to each of our students.
Thank you for being such an amazing and supportive community.
Tam District
Email: ttaupier@tamdistrict.org
Website: www.tamdistrict.org
Phone: 415-945-1020
Twitter: @tamsupt