On February 25, Tamalpais High School’s Black Student Union (BSU) hosted a Black Excellence Rally during Tutorial in the Gustafson Gymnasium, better known as Gus Gym. It started off normal with a student singing the Black national anthem. Then there was a commercial break. Right when the commercial break was done, Principal Pasarow came out to tell everyone that plans had changed. He told all students to return to their Tutorial classes and apologized for the inconvenience.
After the rally was cancelled, students and staff from the BSU walked out to an area near The Hub in lower Keyser Hall. Some began reading poems out loud that speak about the injustices Black people face in America.
“The truth is, I’m a young Black man,” a student read. “I’m not a threat, not a thug, I just want a fair chance. I’m not the story they keep sharing when they want something to destroy.”
A dance-off was held after poems were read. There was also some singing.
According to freshman Cody Chew, a member of the Black Student Union, this was a planned walkout to protest against discrimination that many Black students feel they are facing at Tam. He claims that one of the teachers involved with BSU was forced to resign for “no good reason.” He also mentioned that the school board disliked the idea of Tam’s Black History Month spirit week.
Shaniya Valentine, BSU’s student president, mentioned that administrators were unaware of the walkout before it took place. She also claims that Black people at Tam are “not being seen and heard” by their peers.
Valentine has also noticed that most people only attend Black Student Union’s events when there is something being offered, such as food. “When we hosted student-teacher olympics, very few people came to support us,” she said.
Pasarow sent a letter to families addressing the situation at 2:05 p.m. on February 26. “I want to state clearly the vital importance of The Hub and the Black Student Success Team (BSST) to Tam High’s culture,” Pasarow wrote. “These resources are essential for fostering a sense of belonging and providing dedicated support for our Black students.”
Kathy buquia ♦ Feb 26, 2026 at 11:11 am
I am a grandmother of one of the students that goes to Tam. I’m the grandmother of the one that was singing the black anthem and I feel as you know we trying to teach our kids to do better and why can’t they do better because the fact of it is you know all kids need to get a education and buy y’all putting them on the under the bus stereotyping our young black kids and stuff that’s not fair. Where is the justice? When is it gone be over we have a voice too just like everybody else have a voice and we want our kids to be successful just like everybody else’s kids whatever race color creed or whatever you know and that’s unfair and I was something need to hurry up and get done because we are a minority and we should be treated as such so that’s all I gotta say thank you for listening bye.