by Olivia Creighton, Piedmont High School Senior –
On May 24, 2017, I attended a meeting of the Piedmont School Board, The main topics of the evening were the retiring teachers from the elementary schools, middle school, and high school as well as the recent acts of anti-semitism and racism at Piedmont High School.
The meeting began with Gabriel Kessler, the vice president of APT, speaking to honor this year’s teacher retirees. Kessler made a touching speech about the teachers dedication to their profession and their students. Following Kessler, Max Miller and Alisha Lewis, vice presidents of Millennium High School and Piedmont High School student government respectively, spoke about recent activities at the high schools.
Miller talked about the recent service learning at Millennium in which all Millennium students participated in putting together toiletry kits with positive notes for homeless teenagers. Millennium students found the experience to be fun and rewarding, especially when they got to go to Fun in the Sun afterwards, an afternoon at the Piedmont pool with food and games. Millennium also had teacher appreciation day recently when students signed cards for their teachers to show their gratitude for all the hard work they do. Millennium held their elections and elected a new secretary, vice president, and two co presidents.
Next, Alisha Lewis, Piedmont High School’s vice president, explained how the school has been very busy as the year comes to an end. Piedmont High School also had teacher appreciation day and teachers received flowers from their students. Some of the seniors went on a service learning trip to the Oakland Zoo where they helped to clear invasive species from a hillside and then spent free time exploring the zoo. ASB hopes to continue the tradition of service learning. After the zoo, the school had Day on the Green where ASB provided food, music, and bouncy houses for the students to enjoy and celebrate the end of the year. In anticipation of finals stress, ASB brought in a therapy dog for students to relax with, a method they hope to implement more widely in the future during more stressful times of the year. Lewis also spoke about how several of the retiring teachers have had a significant impact on her high school career and thanked them for their work.
Following Lewis’s honoring of the retiring teachers, Superintendent Randall Booker presented each of the retiring teachers with gifts. Speeches were made in honor of Leslie Estrada, a first grade teacher, and Ms.Beverley, an occupational therapist, both retiring from Beach Elementary School. Next, Ryan Fletcher, the principal at the middle school, spoke in honor of Ms. Cartusciello. Then, Eric Mapes spoke in honor of retiring calculus teacher Ed Mahoney and ceramics teacher Susan Simonds. After all the teachers had been thanked for their service, the meeting moved on to different topics.
Sophie Eng, a Piedmont Girl Scout working towards her silver award, spoke about her proposed service project. Eng hopes to build shade over the bleachers at the Witter softball field. Eng is concerned with the possible consequences of softball fans spending too much time sitting in the sun and heat. She hopes to remedy these issues with her project.
After Eng spoke, Scott Prosterman, an ex-reporter for The Piedmont Post, delivered some unsettling information about its management practices and issues involving teachers, coaches, athletic directors, interns, and student athletes. School Board President Pearson cut Prosterman off because he had exceeded his three minutes of allotted speaking time. Prosterman was the only person asked to stop speaking during the meeting.
Superintendent Booker pivoted the conversation to the topic of the recent acts of anti-semitism and racism at Piedmont High School by telling a story about how his son is not fully aware of what is offensive and what is not offensive, concluding that parents, teachers, and administrators need to play a greater role in teaching children what is okay and not okay to say. Booker announced the creation of a “working group,” which will be comprised of members of the community and will meet four or five times a year to discuss issues of discrimination and possible solutions.
Carol Wozniak, the Title IX coordinator for the District, followed up to echo Booker’s statements. She outlined professional development efforts being undertaken at the elementary schools to help teachers and administrators better cope with issues of race and gender. She also talked about the implementation of restorative justice at the elementary schools, actions that can be taken after a discriminatory incident which are not punitive, but aim to bring justice fairly for both the victim and the perpetrator.
Remaining on the topic of positive responses to the issues, high school students Nina Adarkar, Kay Sibal, and Maya Guzdar spoke about the recent Share Your Voice event they had planned and executed, where high school students were provided with a safe space to share their thoughts and feelings on the issues of discrimination at Piedmont High School. The club they run, Voice Cooperative, hopes to work more closely with the School Board in the future to bring in more diverse speakers for the students.
Kobi Ashani, Co-president of the Piedmont Appreciating Diversity Committee, spoke on the importance of diversity training and acceptance. He admonished Jewish students for forming factions at the school at a time when the student body needs to come together.
Following Ashani, Mr. Daffner spoke, stating that racism and anti-semitism were old problems in Piedmont, and, at the moment, it is unclear which issues need to be addressed. Daffner believes that the District must identify the true problems, eliminate any actions they may be taking which contribute to or create discrimination in the community, such as the annual Christmas concert and the Community Church. He asked that the schools make stronger efforts to ensure the physical safety of students at school.
Sara Lillevand, the Director of the Piedmont Recreation Department, affirmed her support for efforts being made to combat discrimination and offered the assistance of the Recreation Department in any way possible.
Jeremy Bowers, the Police Chief, reaffirmed the Police Department’s support of efforts being made and stated that the police do not want to seek criminal action against the perpetrators of the anti-semitic or racist acts but instead want to find educational solutions to the issues.
Jen Cavanaugh, a member of Piedmont City Council, was in attendance at the meeting. She said she was there “to show support for the community, administration, and School Board.” She says she knows the incidents were not a one time thing and she hopes to be part of the ongoing effort to end discrimination in the Piedmont School District.
The issues of anti-semitism and racism at Piedmont High School certainly were not a one time thing. Even after the assembly and awareness campaign, anti-semitism is still occurring on campus. It is important that the administration makes it clear that there will be punishment for anti-semitic acts. Awareness training should continue to make students aware that their actions cause harm to others and empathy should be at the heart of each decision made.
There are varying degrees of discrimination occurring at Piedmont. There has always been unspoken discrimination and alienation of Jewish students and students of color by their peers and the community at large, but now it seems that the discrimination has escalated to something far more vicious than the District has seen. When students are learning hate from home and the media, they are choosing to subscribe to the hate over the education received in school. It is imperative that clear punishment be outlined for these vicious acts so that at the very least, Jewish students and students of color do not have to endure this abuse.
The Piedmont Unified School District’s School Board is a government body focused on addressing issues in the Piedmont School District. The School Board meets every two weeks.