APT President Dr. Elise Marks shared the following remarks at the Jan. 8 Board of Education meeting.
2025 has arrived with a fistful of challenges — chief among them, we’re all thinking about the people, including all our sister school districts, in the Los Angeles area threatened by terrible wildfires over the past two days. Among all the devastating losses, several beloved schools have been destroyed, along with the homes of many students and educators. I know we are all wishing for the safety of all residents in the path of the fires, as well as for the safety and success of the firefighters working to contain the blaze, and we stand ready to support them in recovery and rebuilding.
On the national front, we face a different set of challenges as we move towards a new political administration, which may have very significant impacts on education around the country. We don’t know exactly what changes may be coming — to education funding structures, to law around special education, to protections for academic freedom and student free expression. We don’t even know if there will continue to be a national Department of Education. But we know we need to work together to respond intelligently and creatively to whatever comes, and make sure we keep finding ways to meet all our students’ needs.
Just before Winter Break, I got to attend the formal swearing in of Susy Struble, Max Roman, and Michael Malione, the first time I’ve been present to watch that ceremony for new School Board members. I didn’t realize until that evening that Board members are asked to formally swear to uphold the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California. Perhaps a few years ago that might have felt almost quaint, but right now it struck me as extremely serious and profoundly meaningful.
Across the country, there are school boards actively working to establish book bans in school libraries and classrooms, or to forbid the teaching of accurate American history, or to require sectarian prayer in their public schools. There are even school board members who advocate openly for the complete dismantling of public education.
I am very deeply grateful that Piedmont has a school board who actively value and support the ideal of public education, who know that this work of running a school district must be undertaken with great thoughtfulness and ethical integrity, and who seek to ensure that our students read widely and freely, that our students engage in deep and independent critical thinking, and that our students continually grow in cultural and global awareness, reflect on their value systems, and work to build inclusive communities.
Thank you, School Board members, all of you, for stepping up for your community.
Piedmont educators are looking forward to the good and serious work we will be doing together this year and in the years to come.