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Setting up the Dim Sum meal from Harmony, eyes turn toward the Chinese food catered for the dinner portion of the evening.

The second installment of the “Just Dinner” series, a discussion hosted by the Tamalpais District Racial Justice Task Force (TDRJTF), drew a large crowd on Wednesday evening in Redwood’s Covered Eating Area (CEA). The Tamalpais Union High School District (TUHSD) invited parents to participate through email earlier this month, aiming to foster ongoing dialogue about racial matters in the community.
Superintendent Tara Taupier helped facilitate the discussion and opened it by establishing norms for the evening’s conversations.
“It’s okay to get uncomfortable, and we ask you to lean into that [discomfort],” Taupier said. “It is our job to acknowledge [disparities in systems] and change these systems [for the better].”
Taupier encouraged participants to let individual experiences stand alone before turning the mic over to senior Associated Student Body (ASB) member and TDRJTF representative Kate Hilleboe, who emphasized the discussion’s importance to the district community.
This is Hilleboe’s second year on the task force, where she serves on the content and design committee.
“[Our committee’s role is to] say that we want to do [certain] action items and we want to allocate [a] budget for it. [This can be] allocated for Wellness, counseling [and] affinity group spaces,” Hilleboe said.
Being involved with the financial side of the task force has allowed Hilleboe to shape the organization of events like “Just Dinner.”
“A lot of our questions focus on student experiences, so I want parents to think about what the experience is like [as] a student in high school and what they can do as parents — as community members — to improve student experiences, whether that’s through racial justice [discussions] or making [a] student feel more belonging,” Hilleboe said. “It is the Racial Justice Task Force, but our goal for this is [increasing] belonging [not just] at the parent level, but also figuring out how parents can foster belonging at the student level.”
This focus on belonging set the tone for the evening, bringing all 10 discussion tables together in a common agenda.
“Talking about racism and discrimination in schools — a lot of people don’t want to have that kind of uncomfortable conversation, so one of our community [goals] is to [embrace the] discomfort,” Hilleboe said. “We try to balance people’s discomfort while also understanding that this is an important conversation that we need to have.”
While many parents participated in the discussion groups, a layer of discomfort seemed to billow in the room as sensitive topics arose in conversation. However, this discomfort is one of the main goals of these “Just Dinner” conversations, to be honest with the current state of discriminatory affairs. Hilleboe highlighted the danger of ignoring these issues.
“Even if we’re uncomfortable with [talking about] it, issues are still happening,” Hilleboe said. “If we just continue to ignore problems, we’re not really getting anywhere and we’re allowing that problem to fester.”
To ease participants into the evening, the task force provided a warm meal catered by Mill Valley’s Harmony Restaurant. Christopher Losa, a member of the food and logistics committee for the task force and was at the forefront of this addition, emphasized the importance of combining comfort with critical conversations.
“[People are] having really deep, meaningful conversations [about belonging], especially when you are not of the privileged dominant culture that we have in Marin,” Losa said. “If we get this idea [of belonging] planted in 400 people, then [they can] begin to invite others [within the community].”
With five total “Just Dinner” events scheduled for the 2024-25 school year, the task force hopes to have a turnout similar to Wednesday, which hosted nearly 100 people in the CEA. Having this magnitude of perspective helped foster a diverse community of anecdotal learning, which Losa felt throughout the room.
“We all move in small social circles that tend to look a lot like we look, but to understand and to be reminded that even in this county — in this school district — there is diversity and there is real interest and dynamism in that diversity… this is life, and part of the beauty of life is diversity,” Losa said.
Helping to put the night into action, volunteers from ASB members across TUHSD campuses helped set up the event and guide discussions. Table hosts, comprising of task force members, parents or students, led conversations centered on belonging and racial justice.
One table group speaker, who identified as “Jen,” hopes the community will take more action.
“Instead of having it be a reaction to these events, [we should be] proactive about it,” Jen said. “It doesn’t have to be with big words—it just has [to be caring].”
Others like Julie Sullivan, an Archie Williams parent, advocated for safe conversational spaces where mistakes are accepted as essential to the learning process.
“[We should] have spaces [where we] are able to stumble,” Sullivan said.
As the meeting concluded, Taupier shared a final sentiment with the crowd, encouraging them to take their learnings from the evening and work to dismantle “implicit and explicit biases” within the community.
The next “Just Dinner” events are scheduled for Feb. 12, April 2 and May 14. Hillboe encouraged more parents to attend.
“I understand that [parents] are super busy, but if you have the time, we would love to have you here — we would love to hear your voice and we want to know what you have to say,” Hilleboe said.