Superintendent Newsletter

This time of year is full of joy and celebration as we prepare for our Winter Break in LASD. We have shared many wonderful community events, showcasing our students’ talents and sharing pride in all they have learned so far this year. But as we get ready to gather with our families and ring in a new year, wars abroad and political unrest are having an impact on us at home, giving us all an opportunity for reflection and self-awareness in this holiday season.

As you may have seen on the local nightly news or read in recent letters from me, hateful speech and actions at our junior high schools are a deep concern for me and for our community that require action from all of us.

After two recent antisemitic incidents at our junior high schools, principals Coni Cullimore at Egan and Wade Spenader at Blach both shared videos (Blach, Egan) with their students to discuss this difficult topic and make clear that hate will not be tolerated. They are facilitating this reflective process, helping our students think carefully about how their words and actions might impact others and how they can confront and report hate in our schools.

Let us be clear: we will not tolerate hatred of any kind on our campuses.

As a school district and in conjunction with our junior high principals, LASD has been taking action on many fronts. We are conducting thorough investigations, issuing disciplinary action for perpetrators, supporting targeted students and their families, providing transparent communication to our community, and pursuing educational opportunities to ensure students know how to recognize and confront all forms of hate.

We believe that our students must know how to prevent and confront hateful acts. That is why we are working with the Anti Defamation League to prepare a customized workshop for our junior high school students. Our teachers participated in a similar workshop last year. Teachers learned how to understand and identify bias, about the ADL concept of "The Pyramid of Hate," and how to teach through The Anti-bias Framework. The ADL workshops for our junior high schools will both address the specific acts that took place on the campuses and provide a broader education around identifying and confronting hate and bias generally. The workshops will be held in late February.

At this challenging time, we are grateful for the support of our parent community. We ask you to please discuss the concept of hate speech and help your children feel empowered to report such incidents to a trusted adult. We also ask that you impart upon them our shared belief that all students must feel welcome and proud sharing their identities without fear of discrimination.

In the holiday spirit, we celebrate hope, community, and giving. I believe we must approach these challenges with the same optimism. By working together, I know we can confront hate and ensure all students know they belong in our schools.

In partnership,

Sandra

Email: superintendent@lasdschools.org
Website: lasdschools.org
Location: 201 Covington Road, Los Altos, CA, USA
Phone: 650-947-1150