The superintendent of the Tamalpais Union High School District has issued a public apology for its mishandling of an investigation into alleged antisemitic remarks by a teacher.
“We apologize for the harm caused,” Tara Taupier said at the board of trustees meeting Tuesday. “We will redouble our efforts to expand our consciousness and develop a deeper understanding of antisemitism in all its forms.”
RELATED: Bay Area school district botched antisemitism probe, California Department of Education says
She said the district is working with local Jewish agencies to develop antisemitism and anti-bias training for all teachers in the fall. The training has been mandated by the state, which recently determined that the district erred in its initial assessment of the incident.
Related Articles
Supreme Court tie vote dooms taxpayer funded Catholic charter school in Oklahoma
Fourth victim of former California high school teacher Laura Whitehurst files suit
2 supervisors, 1 student assaulted at California high school by family, police say
Bay Area school enrollment continues to drop
3 injured in Santa Cruz Mountains crash involving Cupertino school bus
“Our schools must be places where every person is treated with dignity and respect, regardless of their religion, ethnicity, race or background,” Taupier said. “This is not just our legal obligation — it is our moral imperative as educators.”
The apology came after more than 20 people commented in person and online at the meeting. A majority of the commenters expressed outrage over the remarks, the probe and the district’s response.
“Our children feel unwelcome and unsafe because of the comments that were made,” said Holli Thier, Tiburon’s mayor. “The district needs to make an apology that goes out to everyone in a newsletter.”
District parent Laliv Hadar agreed.
“Parents are concerned that these antisemitic remarks were ignored by the district,” Hadar said. “The district needs to take antisemitism as seriously as it does other forms of hate.”
Laurie Dubin, a district parent, said in an earlier letter to the board on Tuesday that she was “shocked” about “the district’s appalling lack of a response to the horrific antisemitism on full display.” Dubin said the district’s initial remarks mimicked those of university administrators across the country who respond to antisemitic events on their campuses.
‘“We condemn all forms of hate,’” Dubin said in referring to their comments. “Hollow words. We know if this happened to any other minority community, the response would be vastly different.”
The probe occurred last fall when a parent at Redwood High School in Larkspur filed a complaint with the district administration about remarks made by a Spanish teacher at the school.
According to the state, the teacher, speaking during the Jewish High Holy Days in October, told her class that the reason there was a day off for the holiday was “because there are too many Jews in this district.”
The school’s probe verified the details of the complaint, but the district’s final investigation report, or IR, said the complaint was “not sustained.” The parent appealed to the California Department of Education, which reversed that determination.
“CDE has reviewed the entire investigation file provided by the district and concludes that, contrary to the IR’s ultimate resolution, the bulk of the evidence in the file, coupled with the district’s factual findings, amounts to a violation warranting corrective action,” the state said in its ruling earlier this month.
The state also said the district used the wrong format for the parent’s complaint and did not initially inform the parent of any right to appeal.