San Leandro Teachers March in Pride Parade

-


In June, Judi Burle, a teacher in the San Leandro Unified School District, sent an email message to fellow teachers and members of the community inviting us to march with her in the 2009 Pride Parade in San Francisco. She stated,
I am very proud of the pioneering work we have done in our district to teach respect and safety for LGBT people. We're really awesome in this work! So after many years of 20-20 hindsight, this year I'm organizing a group to march in the education section of this years LGBT Pride Parade.

I was glad to join Judi and other teachers in the district. We walked at the end of the Coalition of Independent Schools group. While small, this was the beginning of a group that will become much larger with time. It was also I believe the first time any San Leandro group has participated in the Pride Parade. Here is a short video I shot.



Finally, on a related topic, I want to share an email message I sent to the Alameda Unified School District Board of Education in May 2009 as they were debating whether to adopt an anti-bullying curriculum for their elementary schools that taught respect for gay and lesbian families:
Dear Alameda Unified School District Board of Education,

I am a former member of the San Leandro Unified School District Board of Education and parent of a Kindergarten child attending public school in San Leandro.

During my term, San Leandro adopted a Safe School K-12 grade curriculum, working with the assistance of Barry Chersky. I believe the experience of San Leandro is relevant to your decision on adoption of an elementary school Safe School curriculum.

After working through the challenges of development and adoption, implementation of the curriculum in San Leandro went smoothly. The curriculum has been widely supported by teachers, parents and students.

I recently asked my daughter what she has learned this year about bullying. She responded, “No name calling, no teasing and be an ally.” Students are taught to recognize and reject the techniques of a bully. When bullying occurs, students are encouraged to be an ally of the victim by speaking out and reporting the bully to the teacher.

The curriculum also strikes at many of the root causes of bullying including stereotypes, prejudice, and hostility toward students and adults based on sexual orientation or perceived sexual orientation. Family structures that include those with two dads or two moms are acknowledged and respected. Children are taught to treat everyone with respect and that school is a safe place to be who they are.

If you asked me ten years ago whether teaching such messages to elementary school students was necessary, I would have expressed doubt. Today I see the nexus between educating elementary school children to respect all persons and families and schools that are free of bullying and violence among students.

Attached are some photos of work produced by students at Roosevelt Elementary School in San Leandro as part of the Safe Schools curriculum that was posted at the beginning of the school year in the library. The photos will give you a sense of the all-inclusive, positive messages students are taught.

From my experience as a school board trustee and parent, an elementary school curriculum that acknowledges our lesbian and gay parents as full partners in education and counters teasing, name calling, and bullying for all reasons, including because of a student’s sexual orientation or perceived sexual orientation, benefits all students. The curriculum plays an important role in creating a positive school climate and culture of tolerance that values each student and parent.

Very truly yours,

Stephen Cassidy

I also submitted a shorter version of this letter to the San Francisco Chronicle which was published on May 30, 2009.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Looking Back: Measure B Transformed San Leandro Public Schools

-
Image
Our tax dollars can make a real difference in the lives of our children and prosperity of a community. Twelve years ago San Leandro High School was grossly overcrowded leading to discipline problems and undermining academic performance, no theater in the school district existed for student performances, and many restrooms at schools were in such poor condition that the students would not use them. That all changed in August 2006 when the School Board voted to place Measure  B on the ballot. The largest school construction bond in San Leandro’s history, Measure B received overwhelming support and led to the physical transformation of San Leandro public school (combined with the passage of two subsequent bond measures and one earlier measure). With better public schools, San Leandro has become a more desirable city to live, helping attract and retain families who previously would have never moved to San Leandro or moved away when the children were in middle school. Here is a
Read more

How Juan Gonzalez won the San Leandro Mayor's office at the end of the counting of votes

-
Image
On November 18, 2022, the Alameda County Registrar of Voters released the vote count for nearly all votes cast in the November 2022 general election. After being behind for the entire vote count, Juan Gonzalez effectively won the race.  How did this happen? First, from election night through 11/17, the Registrar had reported a total of 13,746 first choice ballots in the Mayor's race. On 11/18, the number of votes reported increased by 6,436 to 20,185 total votes. That was a nearly 47% jump in the reported votes. Another way of looking at the data is that prior to 11/18, all previous vote counts released by the Registrar did not include roughly one-third of the votes that were cast in the race. Second, Gonzalez  decisively took the lead in the the first choice ballots that were released by the Registrar on 11/18. Gonzalez took these votes by 39% to 33% margin. With the exception of the first vote count released by the Registrar on election night right after the polls closed when Br
Read more

San Leandro's Unsustainable City Budget

-
Yesterday, I attended a meeting of the San Leandro City Council Finance Committee. The committee consists of Mayor Santos and Councilmembers Prola and Gregory. Gregory was absent. In short, if significant action is not taken, the city will burn through all of its reserves, including eventually reserves for natural disasters and other emergencies. By 2015, San Leandro could join the City of Vallejo in declaring bankruptcy. Summary of Finance Committee Presentation Perry Carter, the Interim Finance Director, gave an update on the budget. In analyzing a budget, you need to examine at least three years of data - the previous, current and next fiscal years. Carter first reported on the "preliminary actual" numbers for the fiscal year which just ended on June 30, 2009. Illustrating how quickly the city finances collapsed last year, the original city budget for fiscal year 2008-09 assumed $76.2 million (hereafter simply "M") in revenues and $81.6 M in expenditures.
Read more