To: Fremont Board of Education President Desrie Campbell; Board of Education Members Larry Sweeney, Ann Crosbie, Dianne Jones, Michele Berke, and Student Member Zayaan Khan; and Fremont Unified School District Superintendent Christopher "CJ" Cammack

The senseless murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Elijah McClain,Tony McDade, Trayvon Martin, and countless other Black folks have shocked the nation. These murders have reaffirmed the reality that systemic racism exists in every community. These murders remind us that we all must commit to being actively anti-racist in order to dismantle the centuries of systemic racism that continue to oppress our Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities.

We are a concerned group of Fremont Unified School District (FUSD) students, teachers, alumni, parents, and community members. We recognize that systemic racism is a reality in FUSD schools. Although 89% of FUSD students are non-White, only 34% of FUSD teachers are non-White. Only one of FUSD’s Grades 7-12 core novels (5%) is written by a non-White author. Black students in FUSD are 3.4 times as likely as White students to get suspended. These racial inequities in our educators, curriculum, and disciplinary actions actively harm BIPOC community members by perpetuating systemic oppression within our educational environments.

One of the most sustainable ways to enact structural change is through education. As an educational community, we must commit to learning and teaching the realities of race and systemic racism in America, California, and Fremont. We must additionally actively embody anti-racist principles for ourselves and our students. Towards that end, we strongly request that FUSD takes the following steps to integrate anti-racist practices throughout all grade levels and academic subjects of their PreK-12 curriculum:

1. Form a diverse committee of students, teachers, parents, alumni, and community members to oversee the process of integrating anti-racist practices in FUSD. Committee members must represent every attendance area and span the PreK-12 grade spectrum. In the spirit of transparency and accountability, the committee must release plans, timelines, and progress on accomplishing the following points with the greater Fremont community.
2. Foster a district of active anti-racist educators. Students look to administrators, teachers, and staff as role models. Unfortunately, that is difficult in FUSD because educators either do not share students’ cultural experiences or lack the training to engage with students on issues of race. Therefore, we ask that FUSD:
   1. Diversify new hires, pursuant to applicable laws. We would like FUSD’s new hires for principals, teachers, counselors, and other academic staff to reflect the demographics of the community, implemented in a phased approach beginning in the 2021-22 school year.
   2. Actively recruit at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) and other institutions with a high proportion of BIPOCs.
   3. Incorporate social justice frameworks into the hiring process. This includes diversifying hiring committees and including an applicant's commitment to social justice as an evaluating metric.
   4. Mandate yearly social justice professional development including topics such as culturally relevant pedagogy and anti-racist teaching approaches.
3. Diversify curricular content. All courses must include more content by BIPOC creators across the gender spectrum and must actively educate students about the realities of race and racism in America, past and present. Specifically, we ask that FUSD:
   1. Diversify the books read in English classes to reflect the demographics of our city, state and nation. At least half of the books assigned in each English class should be written by non-White, and particularly BIPOC, authors, implemented in a phased approach beginning in the 2021-22 school year.
   2. Implement and require an Ethnic Studies curriculum using critical pedagogy. Critical pedagogy is a way of teaching that helps students challenge dominant narratives and practices. Ethnic Studies “is the critical and interdisciplinary study of race, ethnicity, and indigeneity with a focus on the experiences and perspectives of people of color within and beyond the United States.”
   3. Embed anti-racist pedagogies in all subjects. Anti-racism should not be siloed into only one class. To deconstruct the norm of whiteness that has been embedded into our curriculum, we must actively inject anti-racist perspectives into all academic subjects. Community-compiled examples and resources are listed here.
   4. Re-evaluate the community service requirement to incorporate principles of social justice and anti-racism, and to move from a savior mentality to addressing systemic oppression.
4. Reduce harshly punitive outcomes for BIPOC students. American schools are well-known to perpetuate a school-to-prison pipeline that disproportionately disciplines and alienates BIPOC students. FUSD is no exception, with Black students being 3.4 times as likely as White students to get suspended. Therefore, we ask that FUSD:
   1. Remove Fremont Police officers (“School Resource Officers”) from FUSD schools and instead invest in programs that promote racial equity, including restorative and transformative justice, counseling services, child care, and afterschool programs.
   2. End zero-tolerance policies that promote suspensions and expulsions. These policies disproportionately discipline BIPOC students, increasing the probability of entrance into the carceral system.
   3. Investigate the racial gap in disciplinary action and publicly release the causes of that gap as well as concrete steps the district is taking to address it.

With these actions, we believe that FUSD can begin the long path of embracing and actively encouraging anti-racist practices in its PreK-12 programs and the broader Fremont community. We believe these steps will help FUSD achieve its mission “to provide equitable opportunities to Educate, Challenge and Inspire students of all ages, talents and ability levels,” and we look forward to continuing to engage with FUSD as they move towards these reforms.

Signed,

1308 Concerned FUSD Students, Teachers, Alumni, Parents, and Community Members