In renewing a contract for two consultants who have helped staff in the San Mateo Union High School District take on racism, a school board member raised criticism of their work — citing “emotional manipulation” and aversion to language choices.
Jennifer Jacobson
Trustee Jennifer Jacobson said she heard from, and agreed with, teachers who raised criticism over the consultants’ work in a prepared statement read to other board members Thursday, June 6, in which she felt dehumanized as a white person in antiracist discourse and challenged and questioned the use of the term white supremacy.
Board President Ligia Andrade Zúñiga said Jacobson was coming to that conclusion based on her experience as a white woman. Andrade Zúñiga said the work of the consultants helps reassure students that what they experience is real.
“It validates my experience also in this society and it validates the things that have happened to our communities for so long,” Andrade Zúñiga said. “It actually names it.”
After multiple professional learning sessions held over the course of three years and the development of the district’s inclusive instructional framework, Shane Safir and Joe Truss seek to continue helping district staff implement antiracist and humanizing educational practices, according to their contract proposal.
Despite positive reviews of the contracted educators shared by Assistant Superintendent Julia Kempkey, Jacobson said her experience attending a professional development held in early 2023 led by the duo was “not very favorable.”
Citing mentions of recently killed Black men by police officers as “manipulative” and an aversion to the language of “white supremacy culture and antiracism,” Jacobson said she heard from unnamed teachers raise criticism over the duo.
When asked for more specifics, Jacobson said Truss “spent a lot of time” honoring Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man who died from injuries sustained by police in January 2023. According to Jacobson, Truss said though it had been years since the death of George Floyd, efforts should be maintained for the movement toward racial equity.
“It came across that he was using this most recent death as an excuse for keeping up his job security and I felt that was disingenuous and manipulative,” Jacobson said.
Also, Jacobson took issue with Truss’ statement in an article published in EducationWeek in 2019 said white supremacy culture is “the water we are swimming in.”
“It just doesn’t make sense that many non-white people perform exceptionally well in a supposed white supremacy culture,” Jacobson said.
After allegedly hearing from multiple teachers that they felt the “language of white supremacy culture and anti racism” was turning people from the training, she said the term white supremacy itself was a “microaggression on non-BIPOC people.”
“But, in the paradigm of antiracism, there is no such thing as anti-white racism because they’ve redefined the meaning so that only those with power and privilege can be racist which is unfair,” Jacobson said.
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During the meeting, Andrade Zúñiga asked why she felt this was a microaggression, and Jacobson responded “because I’m shaking right now just talking about it.”
“It’s also a problem that we say that we value all cultures and respect all cultures and that everybody is welcome and then we demonize white supremacy culture specifically,” Jacobson said.
Additionally, Jacobson felt Truss’ intentional lowercasing the ‘w’ in white while capitalizing other racial and ethnic identities was “dehumanizing.” Trustee Greg Land echoed this concern because he felt it was rooted in opposition.
In July 2020, the Associated Press publicized that its updated style is to capitalize Black when discussing race to convey “an essential and shared sense of history, identity and community among people who identify as Black.” AP’s style is to lowercase white because white people “generally do not share the same history and culture, or the experience of being discriminated against because of skin color.”
Jacobson said she felt renewing the contract to “deliver the same message” was unnecessary because “we have the expertise in house.”
“I want to make it clear to everyone here that I’m not trying to defend white supremacy culture,” she said. “I’m trying to debunk that as the boogeyman thing that’s keeping us from achieving more equality.”
While Jacobson felt dissenters of antiracist education are “intimidated into silence out of fear of being labeled racist,” Land conversely pointed out that the leading principles of what is taught by Safir and Truss include deep listening and centering voices from the margins.
“I approve of this [professional development contract] because they’re actually pointing out the problem that we’re talking about here and arguing about here,” Land said.
Kempkey emphasized that the renewed contract prioritized the work to be done with the two schools in the district, Mills High School and the Middle College, that specifically requested further support from the consultants this upcoming year.
The district decided in 2021, after a 2019-2020 grand jury report detailed hate incidents in its schools, it would invest in a multi-year initiative to dismantle systemic inequity. Safir and Truss were hired as contracted leadership coaches for professional development purposes.
Though Superintendent Randall Booker suggested moving this specific contract to be agendized at the upcoming board meeting for further discussion, it remains to be voted on consent at the June 20 meeting.
“I don’t feel like I need to discuss it anymore,” Jacobson said. “I would just vote it down.”
Additionally, Jacobson felt Truss’ intentional lowercasing the ‘w’ in white while capitalizing other racial and ethnic identities was “dehumanizing.” Trustee Greg Land echoed this concern because he felt it was rooted in opposition
In July 2020, the Associated Press publicized that its updated style is to capitalize Black when discussing race to convey “an essential and shared sense of history, identity and community among people who identify as Black.” AP’s style is to lowercase white because white people “generally do not share the same history and culture, or the experience of being discriminated against becuse of skin color.”
She got that right. Hard to believe there was little opposition to the cap lower case. Shows the real power now is the AP.
The training includes slamming police? Anti Police is over. Ask the residents of large cities begging for more police. Local police depts need to fight this. Their kids are in these schools.
A lot of times these programs traumatize people by sharing dramatic images and video in order to kind of prove their worth. I believe that class time would be better spent having kinds write and share about their experiences. A better curriculum would stress kindness and respect in public discourse. It would be great to hear from a cross-section of students on this story. Each of these high schools has a paper so I'd encourage readers to search their archives there.
Perhaps we should ask graduating seniors what they think of the DEI instructions and what they learned from it. They many not be able to read and do math but they know all about white supremacy.
I have a soon to be sophomore in the district. He and his friends (of all races) mock and joke about this kind of teaching. They all see through it and think it is ridiculous. It certainly doesn't make anyone less racist. (It gives teen boys great ideas to mock each other - his middle school friends, mostly not white, jokingly called him "the Oppressor") Meanwhile I had to sign him up for an AP prep class this summer because writing instruction is sorely lacking. "Ethnic Studies" replaced a 9th grade history class, and one of his projects was making a poster like a third grader. (In addition to regurgitating woke nonsense which he knew he had to do to get an A.)
The REAL issue here is what sits below the retaliation against Trustee Jacobsen. It's not what she said, but that she "broke the code" and refused to advance the "talking points" that had been "provided."
Its time to end the "Information Firewall" where the Trustees and public are kept ignorant a what is actually taking place in the SMUHSD.
Trustee Jacobsen did not request an end to the training or its objective. She requested the termination of THIS vendor. A vendor who has already financially benefited from an excessive amount of public money from the district.
The mandate for the “tolerance training” is found the district’s failure to prevent and then respond to the Swastika incidents at BHS (October 2020) as disclosed in the SM Grand Jury Report- Hate@Schools
“After the three incidents at Burlingame High School, school and District administrators stated they did not believe such incidents reflected the dominant school culture. Yet, some students at the school expressed a belief that there was a lack of tolerance for minorities. “-SM Grand Jury
-despite extensive incidents involving students of color and specific targeting Jewish students, Superintendent Skelly ignored these incidents and refused to take action.
“did not believe such incidents reflected the dominant school culture”
-What did it reflect Dr. Skelly?
Directly AFTER the BHS Swastika incidents, a training for staff was proposed to be led by the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) Vlad Kaykin. Who better to run an anti-hate seminar than the ADL’s Director of Antisemitism program Vlad Kaykin who was also a BHS graduate?
Dr. Skelly vetoed the ADL’s programs was Kaykin’s had not been “vetted” by the SMUHSD. Skelly could not control Kaykin’s message and therefore he was not welcome.
The Hate Incidents and others at Burlingame High School brought to light a “pattern of negligence” which disclosed an “Information Firewall” between the SMUHSD Board and its Administration.
Since the start of the Skelly administration, there has been a “firewall” blocking essential information from flowing TO the Trustees. The administration advances a “believable theory” of what has transpired and the Trustees swallow it up.. not questions asked
The Trustees have been cut off from the evidence and facts of these damaging incidents in the district. The Trustees are simply “parroting” the talking points handed to them by the administration or its lawyers. The Board has a separate set of lawyers who are supposed to represent “the public.”
Trustee Jacobsen simply “broke the code” and challenged the “talking points” instead of Rubber Stamping the administrations “desire” to support the contract.
This small incident has brought to light a much deeper issue the two most veteran Trustees (Land and Griffin) and members of the administration DON’T want the public to know or investigate.—A disclosure of the actual facts.
Trustee Jacobsen called BS on THE vendor but she did not the objective of the intent of the training.
Trustee Jacobsen raised a legitimate question to end the contract of Truss Leadership.
Trustee Jacobsen’s crime was that her statement contradicted the talking points and spoon-feeding of the administration. Instead, WHE inserted the facts she collected from the public and a large group of teachers who have refused to attend these PD sessions as they have stated that they became a target of this "leader" and his arguments.
The public will be outraged at what has transpired as a result of the "Information Firewall" blocking the Trustees from the facts and evidence. What is worse is the fact that some of the Trustees have embraced these practices and enabled the negligence in order to avoid extreme embarrassment and humiliaiton of what has transpired under their watch.
The Trustees have the power of oversight and the responsibility to challenge and make public, actions that are ethically or fiscally questionable.
The actions at Burlingame High School and the San Mateo Union High School District (for those who know) clearly meet the standard of being ethically and fiscally questionable.-
I reiterate that the students should be allowed to speak to the Trustees. They are the ones victimized or the beneficiaries of this DEI hoax. Imagine, I have two grandchildren who are mixed race. Half Asian, one quarter Latino and one quarter white supremist. They carry my last name, clearly they are in for it once they get to middle school. This nonsense needs to stop. The only ones who benefit are the race baiters and the pushovers among the trustees.
Sam H., for everyone’s reference and to provide context, the article states, “It’s also a problem that we say that we value all cultures and respect all cultures and that everybody is welcome and then we demonize white supremacy culture specifically,” Jacobson said. Perhaps you can expand on how you feel Trustee Jacobson misspoke?
I caught that too and it sounds like either a misstatement or misreporting of what was said. Of course no one supports "white supremacy culture", but there is a real issue regarding demonizing white people in these kinds of programs. My son has faced it at school. And the term "white supremacy" has been so over-used that it is now almost meaningless. There are very few actual white supremacists in the US or our area.
Jen Jacobson is a refreshing voice of sanity on the otherwise far-left SMUHS board. She points to real issues with these consultants being paid for their "antiracist trainings" from tax payer money. I urge those interested to read the 25 page instructional framework full of jargon and woke buzzwords, that will not help better educate our kids or make anyone less racist.
The left has two cards which they play. The ace of spades, all white people are evil, and people of color are victims of perceived racism. And then of course, TDS.
Good for Ms. Jacobson, pushing against this so-called antiracist training. For folks thinking this type of “antiracist” training promotes unity, think again. Using racism to address racism will always be a losing proposition, in more ways than one in this case, since taxpayer money is being lost paying for these contracts.
The same vendor- Truss Leadership was questioned in April 2021 by Lees-Dwyer-
The vendor has become quit "chummy" with the district and this is a continued meal ticket with quid pro quo benefits for some district staff
April 2021- Trustee Lees Dwyer "questions" the $190,000 contract to Truss Leadership because there were "no contracts, no insurance, no outline of services... nothing."
SMUHSD-April 15, 2021- cued to 2:43:30- (Note- Skelly was "scamming" the district at the same time- He would push for ANYTHING that would take attention away from his extreme negligence.
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(17) comments
Additionally, Jacobson felt Truss’ intentional lowercasing the ‘w’ in white while capitalizing other racial and ethnic identities was “dehumanizing.” Trustee Greg Land echoed this concern because he felt it was rooted in opposition
In July 2020, the Associated Press publicized that its updated style is to capitalize Black when discussing race to convey “an essential and shared sense of history, identity and community among people who identify as Black.” AP’s style is to lowercase white because white people “generally do not share the same history and culture, or the experience of being discriminated against becuse of skin color.”
She got that right. Hard to believe there was little opposition to the cap lower case. Shows the real power now is the AP.
The link attached will take you directly to Trustee Jacobson's proper questioning of the speaker and the proposed contract.
https://www.youtube.com/live/TbmjQUHXDGQ?si=e6BdwkbwuCvHvwzU&t=9865
The training includes slamming police? Anti Police is over. Ask the residents of large cities begging for more police. Local police depts need to fight this. Their kids are in these schools.
A lot of times these programs traumatize people by sharing dramatic images and video in order to kind of prove their worth. I believe that class time would be better spent having kinds write and share about their experiences. A better curriculum would stress kindness and respect in public discourse. It would be great to hear from a cross-section of students on this story. Each of these high schools has a paper so I'd encourage readers to search their archives there.
Perhaps we should ask graduating seniors what they think of the DEI instructions and what they learned from it. They many not be able to read and do math but they know all about white supremacy.
I have a soon to be sophomore in the district. He and his friends (of all races) mock and joke about this kind of teaching. They all see through it and think it is ridiculous. It certainly doesn't make anyone less racist. (It gives teen boys great ideas to mock each other - his middle school friends, mostly not white, jokingly called him "the Oppressor") Meanwhile I had to sign him up for an AP prep class this summer because writing instruction is sorely lacking. "Ethnic Studies" replaced a 9th grade history class, and one of his projects was making a poster like a third grader. (In addition to regurgitating woke nonsense which he knew he had to do to get an A.)
The REAL issue here is what sits below the retaliation against Trustee Jacobsen. It's not what she said, but that she "broke the code" and refused to advance the "talking points" that had been "provided."
Its time to end the "Information Firewall" where the Trustees and public are kept ignorant a what is actually taking place in the SMUHSD.
Trustee Jacobsen did not request an end to the training or its objective. She requested the termination of THIS vendor. A vendor who has already financially benefited from an excessive amount of public money from the district.
The mandate for the “tolerance training” is found the district’s failure to prevent and then respond to the Swastika incidents at BHS (October 2020) as disclosed in the SM Grand Jury Report- Hate@Schools
“After the three incidents at Burlingame High School, school and District administrators stated they did not believe such incidents reflected the dominant school culture. Yet, some students at the school expressed a belief that there was a lack of tolerance for minorities. “-SM Grand Jury
-despite extensive incidents involving students of color and specific targeting Jewish students, Superintendent Skelly ignored these incidents and refused to take action.
“did not believe such incidents reflected the dominant school culture”
-What did it reflect Dr. Skelly?
Directly AFTER the BHS Swastika incidents, a training for staff was proposed to be led by the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) Vlad Kaykin. Who better to run an anti-hate seminar than the ADL’s Director of Antisemitism program Vlad Kaykin who was also a BHS graduate?
Dr. Skelly vetoed the ADL’s programs was Kaykin’s had not been “vetted” by the SMUHSD. Skelly could not control Kaykin’s message and therefore he was not welcome.
The Hate Incidents and others at Burlingame High School brought to light a “pattern of negligence” which disclosed an “Information Firewall” between the SMUHSD Board and its Administration.
Since the start of the Skelly administration, there has been a “firewall” blocking essential information from flowing TO the Trustees. The administration advances a “believable theory” of what has transpired and the Trustees swallow it up.. not questions asked
The Trustees have been cut off from the evidence and facts of these damaging incidents in the district. The Trustees are simply “parroting” the talking points handed to them by the administration or its lawyers. The Board has a separate set of lawyers who are supposed to represent “the public.”
Trustee Jacobsen simply “broke the code” and challenged the “talking points” instead of Rubber Stamping the administrations “desire” to support the contract.
This small incident has brought to light a much deeper issue the two most veteran Trustees (Land and Griffin) and members of the administration DON’T want the public to know or investigate.—A disclosure of the actual facts.
Trustee Jacobsen called BS on THE vendor but she did not the objective of the intent of the training.
Trustee Jacobsen raised a legitimate question to end the contract of Truss Leadership.
Trustee Jacobsen’s crime was that her statement contradicted the talking points and spoon-feeding of the administration. Instead, WHE inserted the facts she collected from the public and a large group of teachers who have refused to attend these PD sessions as they have stated that they became a target of this "leader" and his arguments.
The public will be outraged at what has transpired as a result of the "Information Firewall" blocking the Trustees from the facts and evidence. What is worse is the fact that some of the Trustees have embraced these practices and enabled the negligence in order to avoid extreme embarrassment and humiliaiton of what has transpired under their watch.
The Trustees have the power of oversight and the responsibility to challenge and make public, actions that are ethically or fiscally questionable.
The actions at Burlingame High School and the San Mateo Union High School District (for those who know) clearly meet the standard of being ethically and fiscally questionable.-
Want More?
I reiterate that the students should be allowed to speak to the Trustees. They are the ones victimized or the beneficiaries of this DEI hoax. Imagine, I have two grandchildren who are mixed race. Half Asian, one quarter Latino and one quarter white supremist. They carry my last name, clearly they are in for it once they get to middle school. This nonsense needs to stop. The only ones who benefit are the race baiters and the pushovers among the trustees.
Her name is Jacobson,(son, not sen).
Did Trustee Jacobson misspeak or am I reading this correctly?
"It’s also a problem that we ....demonize white supremacy culture specifically,” Jacobson said.
Sam H., for everyone’s reference and to provide context, the article states, “It’s also a problem that we say that we value all cultures and respect all cultures and that everybody is welcome and then we demonize white supremacy culture specifically,” Jacobson said. Perhaps you can expand on how you feel Trustee Jacobson misspoke?
I caught that too and it sounds like either a misstatement or misreporting of what was said. Of course no one supports "white supremacy culture", but there is a real issue regarding demonizing white people in these kinds of programs. My son has faced it at school. And the term "white supremacy" has been so over-used that it is now almost meaningless. There are very few actual white supremacists in the US or our area.
Jen Jacobson is a refreshing voice of sanity on the otherwise far-left SMUHS board. She points to real issues with these consultants being paid for their "antiracist trainings" from tax payer money. I urge those interested to read the 25 page instructional framework full of jargon and woke buzzwords, that will not help better educate our kids or make anyone less racist.
The left has two cards which they play. The ace of spades, all white people are evil, and people of color are victims of perceived racism. And then of course, TDS.
Good for Ms. Jacobson, pushing against this so-called antiracist training. For folks thinking this type of “antiracist” training promotes unity, think again. Using racism to address racism will always be a losing proposition, in more ways than one in this case, since taxpayer money is being lost paying for these contracts.
Seems like this is the kind of training that makes people racist, rather than alleviating racism.
The same vendor- Truss Leadership was questioned in April 2021 by Lees-Dwyer-
The vendor has become quit "chummy" with the district and this is a continued meal ticket with quid pro quo benefits for some district staff
April 2021- Trustee Lees Dwyer "questions" the $190,000 contract to Truss Leadership because there were "no contracts, no insurance, no outline of services... nothing."
SMUHSD-April 15, 2021- cued to 2:43:30- (Note- Skelly was "scamming" the district at the same time- He would push for ANYTHING that would take attention away from his extreme negligence.
https://www.youtube.com/live/emVDnCDE2qs?si=rtcVVfkWrufDBzeL
SMUHSD Agenda
https://agendaonline.net/public/Meeting.aspx?AgencyID=126&MeetingID=82982&AgencyTypeID=1&IsArchived=False
See O.1- Proposal for Services.- Truss and Safir
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Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
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