Dear AUSD Community, 

 

In California schools, standards for social studies build toward all 12th graders taking coursework on how government works, how the US system contrasts with others, and what it means to become engaged participants in civic life.  

 

Some of our students have or will be casting ballots for the first time in this election, and younger students are emerging in their awareness and understanding of the process. We encourage everyone who is eligible to exercise their right to vote on the impactful national and local contests that are before us.  

 

This election is playing out in stressful and tension-filled ways for many but rest assured that our school district’s mission and commitment to serving our students and families will remain steadfast, no matter the outcomes. We are committed to facilitating inclusion, respect, and learning opportunities for all our kids at all times. 

 

Proactively, we wanted to acknowledge that political outcomes have -on occasion- moved students to participate in things like walkouts from campuses. Students do in fact have a first amendment right to peacefully participate in these activities. Additionally, the California Education Code affords students the right to miss 1 day for such actions as an excused absence. 

 

Participation in these types of activities, however, requires students to: 

 

It is important to be clear with families and caregivers that protests or walkouts are often self generated by students, or organized by external third parties, and they are not school sponsored events.  

 

This is important to be clear about because while students have a right to participate, our school and district staff can only provide very limited supervision for these events. The reality is the further students get off campus the more diminished our ability to supervise becomes.  

 

This is not an attempt to discourage activism. Rather it is an effort to be extremely transparent and realistic with our community about the district’s limitations in those scenarios, as student safety remains a priority that we all share regardless of the context or climate.

 

As a community, let’s model a commitment to working together to educate our students about the democratic process through educational discourse and the simple and impactful act of voting.  

 

As we do that, we remember the countless sacrifices that so many who came before us made to ensure each of us had this right; a right that nationally, too many people often still take for granted.

 

Respectfully,

 

 

Pasquale Scuderi

Superintendent

Alameda Unified School District