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Published April 14, 2022

Action Alert in San Dieguito Union High School District

Demand a Special Board Meeting to Address Dr. Cheryl James-Ward’s Comments and Community Concerns

by

CFER

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Dear San Dieguito parents, community members and concerned citizens,

In light of unfolding developments following questionable comments made by the San Dieguito Union High School District (SDUHSD) Superintendent Dr. Cheryl James-Ward recently, the Californians for Equal Rights Foundation (CFER) calls upon all SDUHSD community members to contact your board trustees to demand a special board meeting. This meeting would offer a timely opportunity for all stakeholders, including the school board, Dr. Ward and citizens to come together and address community concerns in a transparent, civil and multilateral manner.

On this Monday, April 11, 2022, the SDUHSD board and Dr. Ward participated in a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) training program, during which she erroneously attributed the higher educational performance of Asian-American students to their alleged rich immigrant backgrounds. These remarks were not only falsely inflammatory on their own, they but also exposed the insidiousness and divisiveness of thinking and making policies by virtue of race or ethnicity. While Dr. Ward has made attempts to engage with the community to offer her apology, CFER believes that the matter and the bigger issues behind the incident must be resolved in a more formal fashion involving all relevant parties. A true resolution must go beyond the scope of inconsequential statements and feel-good story-telling since the problems of politically charged narratives and stereotyping exposed by the incident are systemic and require thorough deliberations.

To truly engage our public education leaders, we urge you to contact your board trustee via email to demand a special board meeting be put on the board agenda and held promptly. Please ask your board representative to respond by Sunday, April 17th.  Their contact information can be found below:

Trustee Maureen "Mo" Muir, President, Trustee Area 1, Maureen.Muir@sduhsd.net

Trustee Michael Allman, Vice-President, Trustee Area 4, Michael.Allman@sduhsd.net

Trustee Katrina Young, Trustee Area 2, Katrina.Young@sduhsd.net

Trustee Julie Bronstein, Clerk, Trustee Area 5, Julie.Bronstein@sduhsd.net

Thank you in advance for supporting this much-needed initiative!


Contact:

Wenyuan Wu

wenyuan.wu@cferfoundation.org

About Californians for Equal Rights Foundation (CFER):

We are a non-partisan and non-profit organization established following the defeat of Proposition 16 in 2020, with a mission to defend and raise public awareness on the cause of equal rights through public education, civic engagement and community outreach. In 1996, California became the first U.S. state to amend its constitution by passing Proposition 209 to ban racial discrimination and preferences. Prop. 209 requires that “the state shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting.” CFER is dedicated to educating the public on this important constitutional principle of equal treatment.

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