The staff at Pajaro Valley High School, along with our administration and union, PVFT, write in support of our staff, students, and families as a whole.
On Friday, Jan. 30, students on our campus wished to participate in the nationwide strike in response to the actions of ICE. A group of students began organizing and, after speaking with a number of staff members across campus who’d additionally opened their doors for sign-making and discussion, a walkout through our hallways was arranged. The students planned to gather in our quad on campus for a rally where they’d hear from YARR (Your Allied Rapid Response) and one another, amidst adults who’ve routinely met students where they are on a wide spectrum of issues.
We felt proud that our students felt empowered and comfortable enough to utilize our campus as a starting point for their activism. However, what should have been a day of collaborative movement forward, turned into an immature spectacle of assumptions, stereotyping, and personal bias. The students’ plan to gather together was partially thwarted by outside parties claiming student suppression, who by their actions ironically decreased the number of actual student voices heard that day, and limited the overall educational impact of the moment.
As educators, we cannot encourage students to leave campus. We can, and did, encourage them to organize on campus and speak for what they believe in. This was taken from them when others came onto our campus with a megaphone, telling students to leave. Some of our students left with them, but some thought twice. Should we not be more careful? Have we not witnessed how ICE has operated in other parts of the country, targeting students walking to and from school? Organization, planning, and communication are essential in any social movement, especially when our students are involved.
Let us be clear: What PV staff is concerned about is the undermining of our students by people who, while claiming to be advocates for our young people, drove a narrative of their needing to be saved. Our kids don’t need saviors; they have agency, ingenuity, and a burgeoning sense of duty to their community that we foster and appreciate. They need SAFE SPACES to exercise their freedoms and encourage one another to care. What was made clear to us, however, is the need for a code of conduct for how guests and elected officials interact with our students; to instigate children to leave campus and lead them to the plaza where no additional platform, perimeters, or program were provided before the end of their school day, was not sound judgement by those adults. The caretakers in us were not impressed and even considered risking reprimand in breaking protocols and walking with kids to the plaza, just to ensure their safety.
Students at PVHS work with staff and administration in a number of capacities to great outcome, and we’re only a year and a half in on this incredible developmental arc. We are NOT what Trustee Medina represented of us on his public platforms; we are an institution with caring adults and passionate students, who together are creating new opportunities, who together are setting exemplars for the district through programs like PV Advance, Ethnic Studies and CARE, who together are establishing themselves as an enthusiastic and industrious visual and performing arts community—who has also just secured the rights to perform Luis Valdez’ iconic Zoot Suit, for starters.
We are a tenacious community invested in student outcomes, not just today, but long into the future. Many teachers on site have been a part of this school from its inception; former students now work on campus as staff; and our school community has banded together resolutely in the past to secure the integrity and safety of our campus so guardians can feel secure about where their kids are while separated from them throughout the day.
Communities stick together during challenging times, and the PVHS community stands together in support of our administration, our students, and their families in an era of gross division and “us vs them” thinking. We will continue to center our students’ voices and teach them to be civically engaged, lifelong learners who can contribute to their future communities all the goodness we’ve come to expect from them during their time with us, at Pajaro Valley High School.
Amparo Yodar Jimenez, Jennifer Dowd, Juan Pablo Rodriguez, Aaron Bielenberg, Micah Powell, Rylan Shannon, Adam Hioki, Thomas McCall, Tessa Accardo, Matthew Duffy, Maya Murphy, Ryan Olivas, Brigitte Fantham, Tamela Harkins, Cecilia Fernandez, Sandra Macias, Esteban Rosas, MRobinson Brooker, Maria Rodriguez, Gabriel Robledo, Christina Guerrero, Maria Aguilera, Itai Britany, Marcela Portales, Silvia Sanchez, Jaime Bloom, Joseph Manfre, Julie Brusa, Raul Aguilar, Cesar Rojas, Claudia Chaidez, Casey Neligh, Rafael Picazo, Heriberto V Gonzalez, Martha Vega, Sandra Petros, Heidi Story, Nathan Hoxie, Sandino Gomez,Yvette B. Hagan, Reed Alaniz, Alejandra Bermudez, Juli Dickinson, Jeannette Medina, Patricia (Mudnich) Garcia, AdrianaAYbarra, Mary Altman, Christina Che, Maira Mendoza
