To The Albany Community:
The school district is honored to share this message from a group of parents who are committed to facing painful situations about racism with a genuine desire to learn and improve.
The Albany community has the District’s unwavering commitment to work tirelessly and with vigilance to honor this request. We agree with the values and we hear the sense of urgency.
We will be working with staff, students, parents, and community members to realize the goals beautifully articulated in the message below.
Respectfully,
Val Williams, Superintendent
Dear Albany Community,
Many of the parents of the children directly involved in the Albany High School Instagram incident met on Sunday, April 2nd to discuss what happened and to determine how to move forward. Specifically included were many the parents of kids that were involved in starting and following the account, along with some of the parents of the students directly targeted by the account.
All of the parents took turns to very sincerely share their most heartfelt feelings about this terrible incident. We want the Albany community to know that we are unified in our goal of capitalizing on this teachable moment by first healing and educating our children and secondly committing to long-term solutions that will prevent such incidents in the future.
As such, our vision and mission is to show and demand that AUSD curriculum, staff and leadership promote inclusion and a breadth of cultural education that empowers our kids -- our future leaders of this community -- to fulfill the vision we see for Albany and the world at large.
We are united in this process to help our children heal, learn and emerge as strong, confident young adults who are sensitive to and supportive of diversity everywhere. So far, our parent group has committed to continuing to meet together, to talking with our children about atonement and forgiveness, and to communicating with the community about our progress.
We want the community to know that our families are working to heal together. This will take time and from where the process is today, day one, we are asking a lot of our children. They are just beginning to know about the adult realities of the world. And as the adult influences in their lives we must also be committed to growth and learning in this journey toward true-unity, true-community, true-communication and true-love. We trust that you too will join us on this journey.
~Albany High Parents for Diversity and Inclusion