Statement on recent events: 'We need to support one another'

During these uncertain times, the Auburn Enlarged City School District and its Board of Education wants to express our heartbreak over the unnecessary and tragic death of George Floyd at the hands of law enforcement in Minneapolis. We are a nation in the midst of turmoil and attempts to raise the national consciousness and conscience regarding equal treatment and justice under the law.  Here in Auburn, we are not immune from the turmoil or the need to continue in our quest for equality.  We are compelled to acknowledge the local unrest this is causing to our families here in Auburn, especially the African American community.  

The mission of the Auburn Enlarged City School District is to develop citizens that are capable of meeting the challenges of their future by providing equitable, fiscally sound educational opportunities necessary to develop confident life-long learners.  Every student in the Auburn Enlarged City School District is valued regardless of race, color, gender, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, or disability.

Through our Code of Conduct, the Dignity for All Students Act, our “human dignity” initiatives and the daily efforts of our instructional and non-instructional staff, we strive to foster respect for one another, and to provide a safe place for students to interact and celebrate their cultural, religious, ethnic and racial uniqueness, as well as our common humanity.  We are proud of those efforts and will continue building upon that framework, both within the schools and in partnership with others in the community.  

In this time of protests and national unrest we need to listen, learn, reform, and support one another. To that end, the Auburn Enlarged City School District and the Board of Education affirms the quest to end discrimination and its consequent disparities of treatment; and commits to continue honoring the diversity within our student body, our personnel, and within the Auburn community as a whole.

We are all in this together. We need to stay Auburn Strong.

Sincerely,

Jeffrey A. Pirozzolo, Superintendent of Schools

AECSD Board of Education