Dear Parents & Guardians,
On behalf of the Menlo Park City School District, and as a fellow parent of young children, allow me to extend my support to you for the difficult emotions and conversations you are likely having with your children, partners, and friends in the wake of yet another senseless act of violence at what should be the safest place for our children - the school campus. It is hard to find the words at a time like this, but one thing I know is that we cannot allow this to become normalized. None of us, parents nor educators, expected to be living in a world where our children feel vulnerable to harm at their own schools, and we will navigate the complex feelings, actions, and healing that follow together.
Safety First
First and foremost, please be assured that I personally, along with the entire teaching and support staff of MPCSD, consider the safety of your children to be our highest priority. I hope it comes as some comfort to know that we have in place careful and redundant measures throughout the district to ensure student and staff safety to the best of our ability.
We are fortunate to work with two dedicated police departments in Atherton and Menlo Park and we follow all recommended safety procedures and threat protocols. On Monday February 26, school administrators met with Menlo Park Police to again review our emergency protocols and identify areas of improvement. To read more about how MPCSD is prepared to handle emergencies of various types, in coordination with the San Mateo County Office of Education and other local agencies, you may
read this article
. Atherton Police Chief McCulley has also written an open letter to our community, which you may read
here in English
or
here in Spanish
.
Emotional Support
Secondly, MPCSD affirms its commitment not only to the physical safety of all within its campuses, but also to the mental health and emotional well being of our community. We have professional counselors and psychologists at every school who are available, equipped, and welcoming to any students who need extra support as they process the events around them. Beyond attention and care in critical situations, we strive to provide wrap around support for all children at all times, knowing that good mental health is crucial to healthy development overall. If your child shows signs of anxiety, depression, excessive moodiness, change in sleep patterns, lack of interest in normal activities, or anything else that concerns you, please don't hesitate to reach out to your school's counselor. Intervening early is key to helping a child manage his or her feelings and struggles; please know that we are here to help you and your child in any way we can. We would also like to reiterate the call from Police Chief McCulley of Atherton, "IF YOU SEE SOMETHING SAY SOMETHING by calling 911 or contacting a school staff member." In other words, trust your gut. You know your child, and if you see behavior or words that concern you for their or others' well being, please don't hesitate to contact a trusted teacher, principal, or counselor. Our teachers are also trained to identify concerning actions and words and will reach out if they notice something that needs attention.
March 14 National Walkout
Furthermore,
the tragedy that occurred on February 14 , 2018 in Parkland, Florida may be a tipping point in a larger political and social discussion. There are many upcoming dates on which various responses to the Parkland tragedy are planned, some of which will affect MPCSD's operations and some of which will not. The event most likely to interest our K-8 community is the March 14 "walk out." March 14 is being organized for communities to "walk out" of their classrooms and places of work to send a message.
The National School Walkout is being organized
by the Women's March's Youth EMPOWER group,
according to the group's website
. At 10 a.m. in every time zone,
organizers
are encouraging teachers, students, administrators, parents and allies to walk out for 17 minutes - one for every person killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Find more information here:
#NationalSchoolWalkout
.
#ENOUGH
!
pic.twitter.com/45yCZl4zDm.
Regardless of the organizer's intent, I imagine people will be walking for a myriad of reasons. For some, it's a message about a change in gun laws. For some, it's to honor the lives that have been lost to violence. For some, it's a message to say that the mental health of our young people has been ignored for too long. For others, it's a combination of all three. And yet for others, they don't know what message they want to send, they just know that something is terribly wrong.
As a public school district, MPCSD has the obligation to uphold safe and respectful school environments for all students and our jobs as educators come before our personal and political beliefs. We also have a responsibility to provide students with age-appropriate avenues to express their own personal and political beliefs in ways that don't infringe on the rights of others. Therefore, on March 14 MPCSD will allow participation in an age-appropriate manner.
At the
elementary level
, we believe the age range of students is young enough that their ability to process the reasons for the walk out and the events in Florida is limited. We believe it is a parent's responsibility and right to determine how, when, and if to communicate to their elementary child as to the events in Florida and the reasons for walking out of class. However, we also recognize that some parents may want their children to join them in organizing politically around 10:00 a.m. Your elementary school principal will work with teachers to ensure that activities around the 10:00 a.m. time frame will be ones that students can most easily catch up on should their parent sign them out for political activism. Front offices will be prepared to assist you in signing your child out and then back in during the morning of March 14. There will be no formal communication with students about the walkout or the events in Florida; there will also be no organized political activism at our elementary campuses.
At the
middle school level
, where our students are older and more aware of the national conversation and events, even if parents aren't talking about it home, Hillview staff will ensure a safe and orderly environment in order for student-led political organizing. I have worked closely with the principal and met with the ASB (student leadership group) and we have agreed on a modified schedule on March 14 that will include space for students and staff to safely organize without too much disruption to the school day. While school staff will not be organizing the programming of the walkouts, they will support student leaders to communicate in more general terms in announcements to provide context and then organize/lead more pointed and specific activities for students who
CHOOSE
to participate. Around the 10:00 a.m. time frame, students will be given the opportunity to choose to participate in student-led political organizing or read quietly for Silent Sustained Reading with one or more of their teachers; either choice will be supported in a safe and supervised location.
Again, the organization of the events will be led BY STUDENTS and supported by staff whose job it is to ensure their safety and supervision
.
In closing, I ask for your understanding and support for our approach to this difficult situation. There are no right answers and no "play book" for our response to events like these. I know our plans won't please everyone, but hopefully our care, concern, and positive intent garners everyone's deference. As always, please feel free to reach out to your child's teacher, principal, or me with questions or concerns. We are in this together believing always in the power and promise of the young people in our care to lead us to a brighter, more compassionate, and less violent future.
Humbly,
Erik Burmeister
Superintendent
