Dick Spotswood: Tam District trustees were right to reject contracts

Once again, the Tamalpais Union High School District is facing controversy. The issue now is two contracts totaling $250,000 to fund half-time, one-year deals for the leaders of the Black Student Success Team at Tamalpais High School.

Students at Tam High predominantly come from Mill Valley, Marin City, Tamalpais Valley, Sausalito, Stinson Beach and Bolinas.

The contracts issued in 2024 went to a married couple, Tenisha Tate-Austin and Paul Austin. As the IJ reports, Tate-Austin received $150,000 to “oversee the Black Student Success Team and to monitor student test, attendance and academic data.” Austin was paid $100,000 “to run the Tam Hub drop-in student mentoring and tutoring center.” Their services were delivered only to Tam High, not to the district’s other four campuses.

The question is whether the contracts should be renewed. After much public comment and deliberation, district trustees decided in a 3-2 vote not to renew their contract.

Anything involving race at Tam Union and in most schools is fraught with controversy. A substantial segment of the meeting’s audience supported renewal of the couple’s services. Some contend that failing to renew the African American couple’s contract went against the district’s Racial Equity Board Policy. That commitment was adopted in 2023 after incidents of racism were exhibited by a few Tam students.

Given that background, district trustees exhibited political courage to address the issue. The dispute would have evaporated if they’d just rubber-stamped the “on again, off again” recommendation of soon-to-retire district Superintendent Tara Taupier. According to Trustee Kevin Saavedra, Taupier previously told him that she was recommending nonrenewals. She switched her position prior to the public session.

The three trustees who voted against renewing the contract were board President Cynthia Roenisch, Saavedra and Jenny Holden. They understood that their fiduciary duty to district students and taxpayers was not to be a rubber stamp. Their assignment is to read reports, listen to public comments, research the data and use their best judgment. They did just that and made a tough decision.

Some of the comments from a segment of the public amounted to bullying. That included bogus slams that the majority’s decision was racist. That’s one more reason why some folks are hesitant to serve on school boards.

The mess could have been avoided last year when the contracts were first proposed. There are valid reasons why public contracting should go through a tried-and-true process, one of which is to prevent favoritism.

Tam Union should have made a request-for-proposal open to all qualified contractors, asking each for a competitive price for their services. Tate-Austin and Austin then would have had to compete with others based on qualification and cost. Nor did the contracts include specific metrics to learn after the first year whether the contractors delivered what they promised.

Instead, upon the recommendation of Taupier, the district selected a single-source, Tate-Austin and Austin, to assist qualified existing staff to improve scholastic results for Tam High’s Black students.

Presented to trustees was a statement that there’s been a substantial decrease, year over year, in D, F or “incomplete” grades among Black students, a reduction in absences and an increase in reports by Black students of feelings of belonging. While those grade statistics are a bit misleading, progress is being made.

There’s little to prove to what degree those accomplishments were achieved by the quarter-million-dollar contracts. The reality is that Tam High teachers and administrators also made a determined effort to achieve that success. That includes establishing The Hub, a resource and support center for Black students.

Despite pressures for trustees to reconsider, the three-trustee majority should stand firm. This is why we elect school trustees. Voters expect them to develop their own independent-considered opinion for the benefit of the whole community, not just insiders.

Columnist Dick Spotswood of Mill Valley writes on local issues Sundays and Wednesdays. Email him at spotswood@comcast.net.