With a new federal administration that is promising increased deportations of immigrants and a rollback of LGBTQ protections, Alameda Unified School District (AUSD) is aware that many in our community may be feeling anxious about what might happen to them, their family members, their friends, and those they know in their school communities.
In response to this situation, AUSD is providing resources designed to help people understand the rights and protections provided to all students within our school district.
Last week, for instance, Superintendent Pasquale Scuderi sent a message to all families, staff, and secondary students noting that “AUSD’s values and policies will remain consistent with our past practices.”
As such, he wrote, AUSD will continue to accept, welcome, and support its LGBTQ students, staff, and families; provide curricula that includes developmentally appropriate healthy sexuality and relationship information for students of all sexualities and gender identifications; teach students about the importance of showing inclusion, kindness, and respect to all; and offer professional development training on supporting LGBTQ students to teachers and administrators.
With students from more than 75 countries—and more than 70 languages spoken—AUSD is one of the most diverse school districts in California. We are also steadfastly committed to supporting, respecting, and protecting our immigrant students.
We will be sending communications to our families, students, and staff this week that detail the federal and state laws, as well as AUSD policies, which protect immigrants. These laws and policies:
- Prohibit AUSD from collecting information about the immigration or citizenship status of a student or family.
- Prevent AUSD from sharing confidential student information (within the limits of the law).
- Protect the right of all children—regardless of citizenship, immigration status, or the immigration status of their parents—to attend school and be free from discrimination, harassment, violence, and intimidation.
More information about these rights and protections, along with links to legal and mental health resources, and a list of books that help adults and children alike learn about the immigrant experience, is available on AUSD’s Immigrant & Refugee Resources web page.
Since 2015, AUSD’s unofficial motto has been “Everyone Belongs Here.” AUSD remains committed to that ethos. “AUSD’s policies, programs, and values will remain the same, and we will continue to focus on providing safe and equitable learning spaces for all,” Superintendent Scuderi wrote last week. “All of our kids, means all of our kids, all of the time.”
Susan Davis is the Senior Manager of Community Affairs for the Alameda Unified School District. Reach her at [email protected].
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