Piedmont Appreciating Diversity Committee - Home

Congratulations to the 2019-2020 PADC grant recipients!

11/16/2019

Each year, we award grants to teachers, staff, and high school students of the Piedmont Unified School District for projects that advance the mission of the PADC. In 2019-20, PADC awarded $ 6355 in grants from money that was generated through fundraising and generous donations from community supporters. We are enthusiastic about all of the great work being done across the PUSD schools! These are the projects and events that received funding this year:

MHS and PHS High School Diversity Committee and Club
PMS No Place For Hate Trainings
PMS Diversity Day
MHS Restorative Justice Training for ASB
Music/Dance Workshop for PMS Spanish classes
Lunar New Year assembly for TK-5 at Havens Elementary School
Exceptional Conversations For Asian American Children at Havens Elementary School
PMS Faculty Book Club
Diverse Band Pieces at PHS
MHS class to visit the Museum of African Diaspora
Highlighting Narratives of Resistance. Resiliency, and Joy While Teaching Hard History at Wildwood Elementary School
Copies of 57 Bus by Dashka Slater for PMS

"How to Meme Responsibly"-a parent education night on 11/12 @ 7-8:30 in the Piedmont Middle School Multi-Purpose Room

11/2/2019

PADC Fall 2019 Happy Hour 10/18 @ 6-8:30 PM

10/6/2019

You are invited to the annual PADC Fall Happy Hour!
Friday, October 18th from 6:00-8:30 PM at Arthur Mac's Tap and Snack
4006 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Oakland

Come meet PADC leaders and members, neighbors, and friends to hear about what we do in the community and for our schools. Wine and snacks will be provided. Let us know if you’ll be attending this free community event with this RSVP link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/padc-fall-2019-happy-hour-1018…

Share with friends and family-the more the merrier! Hope to see you there!

"Chinatown Rising" documentary screening on 9/26 @ the Piedmont Theater @ 7 pm

9/24/2019

Chinatown Rising is a documentary film about the Asian-American Movement from the perspective of the young residents on the front lines of their historic neighborhood in transition. Through publicly challenging the conservative views of their elders, their demonstrations and protests of the 1960's-1980's rattled the once quiet streets during the community's shift in power. Forty-five years later, in intimate interviews these activists recall their roles and experiences in response to the need for social change.

Chinatown Rising is playing at the Piedmont Theater Thursday, September 26th at 7:00 p.m. Tickets and details can be found at: chinatownrising.com/screenings. The screening follows with a Q and A session with Co-Directors/Co-Producers Harry Chuck and Josh Chuck.

PADC grants call for 2019-2020 proposals!

9/1/2019

PADC 2018-2019 grant recipients

5/22/2019

Congratulations to the following PADC 2018-2019 grant recipients!

Each year, we award grants to teachers, staff, and high school students of the Piedmont Unified School District for projects that advance the mission of the PADC. In 2018-19, PADC awarded over $ 7,700 in grants from money that was generated through fundraising and generous donations from community supporters. These are the projects and events that received funding this year:

Teaching Tolerance Elementary Tri-School
Updating Wildwood Kindergarten Classroom Libraries for Diversity and Inclusion
Unity in Community Festival
'We Are Piedmont'- 4th year. MHS/PHS AP Art & Piedmont City Photography Project
MHS and PHS Diversity Awareness Club
Secondary School Diversity Committee Work
PMS Diversity Day
PHS and MHS Voice Cooperative
Havens Black History Month Assembly
PHS Magic Wheelchair
2019 Readmont- One City, One Book- community wide reading and sharing of "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson
Axis Dance at Beach Elementary

We encourage innovative approaches that engage students in interactive projects and welcome projects with the potential for long-term impact on large segments of students and our community. We also invite high school students to work jointly with teachers and administrative staff for submitting grant applications. Those interested in applying should complete the application form online at the link below, or submit a pdf version of your application to the grants coordinator at grants@padc.info

Letter regarding updated Tobacco Cessation Grant

5/7/2019

May 7, 2019

Dear Police Chief Bowers, Superintendent Booker, and members of the School Board and City Council,

A number of PADC representatives were able to attend the school board/city council meeting on April 22nd where the updated Tobacco Cessation Grant was presented. We feel that there are several aspects to this modified grant that more fully incorporate the concerns expressed by many members of the Piedmont community. Specifically, the updated grant application now includes:

A more focused approach to problems facing our students around vaping and tobacco use, especially the hiring of health education consultants/experts
The move to have the liaison officer as a point person offsite, rather than located at the schools
More clearly defined restorative justice training in the schools
More clearly defined targets found in the Healthy Students Survey.

In terms of next steps, several community members (including some PADC members) have indicated that they would appreciate being a part of the implementation/evaluation of the program, and thus we are requesting that community members be an active part of this process. The community’s interest and deep concern around this program should be addressed by providing some clear and concrete mechanism for community oversight and feedback over the 3 years of the grant, providing necessary transparency.

Overall, we appreciate that the School Board considered the concerns of the community, and that Chief Bowers and Superintendent Booker worked to incorporate these concerns into a plan that is more likely to achieve intended outcomes. We look forward to continuing to partner with the city and the schools to make sure our schools and community provide a safe and inclusive environment and a transparent process.

David Gard PADC Co-President
Tonda Case PADC Co-President
PADC Executive Board

UPDATE: Event cancelled due to extenuating circumstances- Free Unity in Community Festival on 5/5 @ 12-2:30 pm @ Havens Field

4/11/2019

The Millennium and Piedmont High schools, in partnership with PADC, are pleased to present the Unity in Community Festival on Sunday, May 5, from 12-2:30 pm at Havens Field. This student led event, which promotes empathy and inclusiveness, includes interactive booths and performers. Come join the fun!

Piedmont League of Women Voters sponsors a Speaker Event with Sr. Maureen Duignan on US Immigration Policy - April 7th @ 3:30-5:30 pm

4/4/2019

US Immigration Policy -
Speaker Event with Sr. Maureen Duignan

Join us to hear Sr. Maureen Duignan, Executive Director of East Bay Sanctuary Covenant, speak about US immigration policy and its effect on immigrants and refugees in the Bay Area.
Founded in 1982, East Bay Sanctuary Covenant is dedicated to offering sanctuary, solidarity, support, community organizing assistance, advocacy, and legal services to those escaping war, terror, political persecution, intolerance, exploitation, and other expressions of violence. The organization has helped more than 10,000 local immigrants navigate the legal system. Currently, the organization is deeply involved in advocating for Temporary Protected Status (TPS).

Date: Sunday, April 7th, 2019
Time: 3:30 – 5:30 p.m
Location: 40 Highland Avenue, Piedmont

This event is sponsored by the Piedmont League of Women Voters and is free of charge to the greater community.

Click on the following link to RSVP:
https://my.lwv.org/california/piedmont/event/us-immigration-policy-speaker-event-sr-maureen-duignan

PADC OpEd Letter to The Post sent on February 11, 2019 regarding the potential School Resource Officer Position

2/13/2019

The Piedmont Police Department received a three-year grant from the U.S. DOJ intended for tobacco prevention. Now, the PPD is jointly taking steps with Piedmont Unified to use these funds to hire an armed police officer for the secondary schools. While vaping, drug, and alcohol prevention and outreach is needed, we believe installing an armed officer is the wrong way to address these problems.

Despite the horrifying fact of school shootings, children are safer in school than in almost any other place. While armed officers may create the appearance of safety, an implicit goal of the program, the research is mixed. The Washington Post’s “Putting More Cops in Schools Won't Make Schools Safer, and It Will Likely Inflict a Lot of Harm” (February 2018) and other published reports/articles make this clear.

Having an armed school officer can lead to unintended consequences including increased arrests for behavior ordinarily not considered criminal. Data shows this is especially true for children of color, with learning disabilities and/or special needs. Campus police can also undermine trust, negatively affect school culture and can lead to physical harm, such as in the 2016 Nevada case where a 14-year-old was shot after defending himself against upperclassmen. As a forward-thinking district, is criminalizing and potentially harming our children the best we can offer them?

A better way to preserve student safety is for community stakeholders (parents, students, and staff) to work together to build a positive school climate that “minimizes police intervention and emphasizes positive, preventive approaches,” as the Children’s Defense Fund recommends. By opposing a campus cop, we have an opportunity to create an inclusive and supportive approach so all students feel welcome and safe on campus, not policed.

And what about after the funds are gone in three years? How will the District explain away the need for an armed officer, whether for drug prevention or for safety? In light of the coming budget cuts, what are the District’s plans to pay for this added personnel if the officer is still needed at that time?

The School Board and City Council asks for community input before they vote on this proposal. You can find information at www.padc.info and sign a petition. More importantly, email Board & Council members and come to the Board meeting on Wednesday February 27th at 7PM, when the matter is slated to be discussed.

Sincerely,

Tonda Case and David Gard, Co-Presidents,
PADC and the PADC Executive Board