At the San Mateo Union High School District Board of Trustees meeting on Thursday, March 28, the Board went over the results of the annual Panorama survey, completed by students and their families at the beginning of the year, to voice their perspectives on the school community.

One of the main areas for improvement that the Board discussed was meeting the needs of black, indigenous and other people of color (BIPOC) students, as they answered less favorably to certain survey questions. A “favorable response” refers to the two most positive responses to a question.

“We continue to see these differentials in their favorability outcomes when asked questions about their sense of connection and climate on campus,” Director of Curriculum and Assessment Brian Simmons said.

For example, when asked the question, “How fairly do students from your school treat students of different races, ethnicities or cultures?” 76% of white participants responded favorably, compared to just 37% of African American participants and 56% of Pacific Islander respondents. 

The Board also expressed the need to both recognize and address hate speech when it occurs on campus. In the survey question, “When there are instances of hate speech at my school, I see adults respond in a way that makes me feel safe,” 49% of students responded favorably — a proportion that the Board hopes to raise in the coming years.

“It was 50% last year, it’s 49% this year, still not where we’d like to see it,” Simmons said. “What’s interesting to note here is that the student perception of staff’s ability to address issues of difference in hate speech is much lower than adults.”

A group of 16 students from Capuchino High School Student Equity Council then presented their findings from the results, emphasizing that 81% of the students at their school who completed the survey said they had been a target of hate speech.

To tackle these issues, the Board proposed a number of strategies, including the continuation of Student Equity Councils and the implementation of the district’s Anti-Bias Grant.

“We got a grant last summer, a couple hundred thousand dollars over three years to invest in some affinity-based support for African American staff to bring them together, to give them some fellowship and connection, but also take on some real issues that are not their responsibility to address in the district,” Simmons said. “It’s not just their responsibility to make a difference, it’s all of our responsibility.”

A bright spot in the survey was the increase in participation — 78% of the district’s students and 1,200 families completed the survey, and overall the answers from families were quite positive and indicated feelings of safety in the district.

“Families feel pretty good about the level of respect they’re experiencing when they come on our campuses,” Simmons said. 

The Board also congratulated the Burlingame boys’ soccer team — some of whom were in attendance — on their recent NorCal Championship.

“It was a pleasure all year coaching these guys, a tremendous group, and I’m just proud to represent Burlingame and the district as a whole,” head coach Anthony Dimech said. “We won the league handily and we went to Norcal and had a great run and won the first NorCal championship ever.”