Last week, administrators at Alameda High School were made aware on short notice that a guest speaker was invited by students and staff to speak during the school day. The guest, Luai Ahmed, is a gay, Muslim journalist and speaker who advocates for peace and opposes anti-Semitism. But, in the past, he has also made comments Muslims have found hurtful.  

Our administrators were unaware of the invitation until the day before the scheduled event. Once they learned of it, they conferred with district staff. After significant deliberation, the decision was made to postpone the event, due to the fact that Mr. Ahmed would be discussing controversial issues.  

As advocacy comes in to us on both sides of the issue, and from both within and outside of Alameda, with the healthy doses of assumptions and misinformation that are often inherent in social media flurries, we felt it best to share our thoughts, reflections, and plans moving forward with our entire community.  

First, we want to be very clear: there was no prevailing social or political point of view that led to the decision to postpone. 

Some have asserted that the decision to postpone was to silence a pro-Israel perspective; others are claiming victory for keeping what they describe as an anti-Palestinian speaker out of our schools. 

Those opinions flatter their owners more than they reflect our operational reality and day-to-day responsibilities in AUSD.  

Instead, our team felt there was insufficient notice, insufficient research on the speaker, and insufficient information from the speaker or sponsoring organization as to the goals, objectives, and content they would be presenting. And AUSD policies require just that kind of research and notice before introducing controversial issues to students.  

When it also became clear to us that this speaker had potentially polarizing views, we made the decision to postpone. Let’s be clear: I made the decision to postpone based on concerns that ranged from potentially significant disruption to the school day to potential safety issues. 

That may sound alarmist to some, but given the lack of information we had at the time, postponement was still the right call in our view.

Critics of that position have the luxury of not bearing the consequences of whatever decisions school personnel make on these matters, particularly if something goes in a negative direction within our schools. Our students, staff, and families are the ones who are impacted by those consequences. 

This is not to say our internal processes and procedures do not need revisiting. We believe, considering this incident, that our policies and regulations around controversial issues and guest speakers warrant significant review and resharing throughout our schools. Furthermore, we are developing a more formal process and timeline for requesting guest speakers that will help us vet, review, and ensure the content of guest speakers is appropriate and educationally useful.  

As a public school district, our responsibility is to provide safe, inclusive, and supportive learning environments for every student. Our schools are centers for development, education, and personal growth.  

While difficult subjects and global social and political matters absolutely have a place in our curriculum, our job is to ensure that those subjects are approached in developmentally appropriate ways, guided by our educators — professionals who know their students well and are able to facilitate these conversations with care, sensitivity, and balance.  

We do not have an obligation to become or provide a public forum for competing adult perspectives, especially if those perspectives hold any potential to marginalize any members of our community. 

We understand that many members of our community hold strong and heartfelt beliefs, and that the realities of global conflict and its implications are real for many of our families. Our goal is not to diminish those perspectives and realities but to ensure that all students — regardless of background or belief — feel supported and safe at school. 

Thank you for your partnership as we continue to work toward an environment grounded in respect, inclusiveness, and learning for all. 

We will continue to work and think together to appropriately and responsibly support the mutually respectful, and multi-perspective environments that are necessary to guide students through the challenging content and tensions our curriculum will no doubt sometimes include; and to support that endeavor with levels of planning and previewing that match the weight and complexity that such content often carries.