In Closing

In creating this toolkit, one of the first people interviewed was Castro Valley Unified School District Superintendent Parvin Ahmadi, a longtime advocate of the LGBTQ+ community. When Parvin was questioned about what advice or insight she could offer into the ways school districts can better support the LGBTQ+ community, the first thing she shared was great concern for young people who are afraid of who they are and who they want to be, and for the students who don’t have accepting families at home. If their school doesn’t support them, then who will? 

“It’s your moral imperative.” Parvin simply put it. “If you have a moral compass, you cannot say you are about the rights of everyone if you really don’t stand for the rights of everyone. You cannot exclude anybody—especially those who are marginalized—and then say you believe in supporting everyone and the whole community.” She firmly stated her commitment to doing right by kids, and shared the belief that folks who stand in front of other people’s children’s progress need to step out of the way. 

When met with opposition, Superintendent Ahmadi will try to engage people with pointed questions meant to delve further into what may be causing someone to lash out. Hatred often comes from fear and a lack of information or understanding, and being a good listener that tries to discover the root of the problem and work through it earnestly and compassionately can be very persuasive. Some techniques she has found helpful include pointing to shared values and making connections through points where agreement has already been established. There will always be areas people disagree on, but if you know that what you are doing is right, then stay with it. Be very clear, and hold a strong line when it comes to non-negotiables; what you stand for and what is and isn’t acceptable. “If your vision is clear, that this is what you're about, it just becomes the way you do things.”