On Tuesday, Jan. 14, the Tamalpais Union High School District (TUHSD) held its first board meeting of 2025. During public comment, concerns were raised that the development of the Ethnic Studies curriculum was being rushed.
Passed in 2021, Assembly Bill 101 requires California schools to offer an ethnic studies course for the 2025-26 school year and to require the Class of 2030 to pass the class. The class would teach the histories, experiences and culture of various racial and ethnic groups. The TUHSD board is looking to finalize the Arab American and Jewish experiences unit, the source of complaint, on Jan. 28. Parents argued the lack of urgency for finalizing the curriculum, saying that there won’t be enough funding to go through with Ethnic Studies next year.
Additionally, The Board of Trustees was updated on the long-awaited solar canopy project in the back parking lot. The installation will cost an estimated $2.9 million. The project will start in the summer of 2025 and end four weeks after the start of the 2025-26 school year.
To combat the inevitable parking crisis that will occur next school year, the board allocated $500,000 to build temporary parking for the first four weeks of school. Temporary parking will be built on the basketball courts between the gym and the portable classrooms, behind the Ghilotti field and in between Doherty Drive and the football field.
However, senior Odin Palin said that the investment would incentivize students to drive to school and that the school should invest in more sustainable transportation options, such as by increasing the number of bus routes.
TUHSD superintendent Tara Taupier discussed the benefits and drawbacks of paying for temporary parking.
“We want to be good neighbors. The neighbors get very upset when students park on the street,” Taupier said.
Taupier recently announced her retirement after seven years as TUHSD superintendent and 30 years working for the district. TUHSD Board Trustees were given a presentation by employment agency Leadership Associates, who pitched a plan and will be helping find the district’s new superintendent.

Board Trustee Ida Green expressed her criteria for a new superintendent.
“Longevity is a concern. It’s too common for superintendents to leave after two to three years. We are blessed to have Dr. Taupier, who has been [in this position] for seven years,” Green said.
Senior Emily Hitchcock, TUHSD Board Representative, shared recent news at Redwood. Hitchcock shared that since not enough students signed up to participate in the Student-Led Anti-Racist Movement (SLAM) class for semester two, it had to be canceled. Board Trustee Cynthia Roenisch expressed her concern about the lack of interest at Redwood in combating racism.
The pool will finally be replastered with funding from the passing of Measure B. The process involves draining the pool, chipping out the existing plaster and tile and replastering the pool. The project will start at the end of the 2025 school year and end in July.
Additionally, Redwood’s journalism program is now certified by Career and Technical Education (CTE). This qualification designates the journalism program as a multiyear sequence of courses that will prepare students with a pathway to postsecondary education and careers. Nonfiction, the current prerequisite for the Bark, will now be replaced by Journalism and Media (JAM) 1-2, while junior year will be JAM 3-4 and senior year JAM 5-6.
The next TUHSD board meeting is scheduled for Jan. 28.