Superintendent’s Blog: Honoring Bellevue’s Diversity and Preserving Civil Rights in Our Beloved Community

Dear BSD Community, 

Welcome back from Mid-Winter Break. I hope you all had a wonderful week and are excited to be back in school (or are excited to have your kids back in school). There is an unparalleled energy and excitement that permeates our school buildings when kids come through those doors the day back from break. 

Since the start of this new year, there have been many celebrations and commemorations across our community. Families have spent the past month celebrating the Lunar New Year and the start of the Year of the Snake. We commemorated International Holocaust Remembrance Day. This whole month, schools have been honoring Black History Month with lessons, units, and assemblies about the contributions of the Black and African American community in our country’s history. And, starting this Friday, many in our community will celebrate the start of Ramadan — a holy month in the Islamic faith. The world truly comes together in Bellevue, and we uplift and celebrate the diversity of this global community. 

Update on Federal Actions and Guidance 

Amidst the celebrations, there have also been many in our community who have experienced fear and uncertainty. In response to the executive orders coming from the federal government, many students, families, and staff — particularly our immigrant community, our LGBTQIA+ community, our families with children with IEPs and 504s, and our communities of color — have worried about their education, safety, and belonging.  

Listen to the recording in English, Spanish, Chinese and Russian. 

As a district, we are doing our best to navigate the flurry of K-12 education-related executive orders and communications from the US Department of Education. In his most recent video communication, Washington State Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal addresses how the state’s school districts, including the Bellevue School District, are to respond to the executive orders. I encourage students, staff, and families to watch his video to get a better understanding of the implications of the recent executive orders. I’ve captured a few of the key points from Superintendent Reykdal that apply to the Bellevue School District, including corresponding BSD policies and procedures that support these points: 

• The Civil Rights of Undocumented Youth – In our state, all children have a civil right to education — regardless of immigration status. We articulate our district’s positions on this topic in the superintendent blog from January 23, 2025. (Corresponding BSD Procedure 4310.1P)  

• The Civil Rights of LGBTQIA+ Youth – Our state’s civil rights laws include protections for LGBTQIA+ students, including our transgendered youth. Unless there is a change to state or federal law, we will follow our state’s current civil rights laws. (Corresponding BSD Policy 3211 and Procedure 3211P) 

• Our Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion – On February 14, 2025, the US Department of Education sent a memo threatening to withhold federal funding (of which Bellevue receives approximately $12 million) from schools and districts if they continue “DEI” practices. This letter misrepresents the values of diversity, equity, and inclusion, and is not legally binding. Therefore, we will continue to celebrate diversity, promote the value of equity (equal opportunities for all students), and strive for inclusive schools. (Corresponding BSD Policy 0130 and Procedure 0130P)  

• Focus on Funding Public Education – Public education in Washington state is something to be proud of, and, as is their paramount duty, our state legislature must commit to our state’s children by fully funding public education, including special education. 

The Impact of Executive Order 9066 on My Family in Bellevue 

In closing, this past February 19 during Mid-Winter Break, many in the Japanese American community came together to commemorate the 83rd anniversary of Executive Order 9066, signed by then President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1942 authorizing the forced relocation of Japanese Americans along the west coast to internment camps. Many of you know that my family was personally impacted by this executive order. My entire family, who owned farmland on the north end of Lake Bellevue (formerly Midlakes) and sold produce at Pike Place Market, was sent to the Tule Lake Internment camp and then moved to the Minidoka Internment Camp for the duration of the war. My father’s aunt, Mary, was a student at Bellevue High School and never got to graduate from Bellevue. 

Yet, even in what was a very dark time in my family’s history (and in the history of Bellevue and the United States), there was hope. One of my grandfather’s former elementary school teachers, Ms. Bonsgard, helped my family to keep their farm so that they could return to it after the war. I have a picture of Ms. Bonsgard and my grandfather, Akira, in my office. The Aramakis were one of 11 families out of 60 Bellevue Japanese American families who were able to return to their farmland after the war. Most families in Bellevue and across the west coast lost everything. I never fully appreciated the unimaginable courage it must have taken Ms. Bonsgard, a public-school teacher, back in the day to stand up for a former Japanese American student and his family when the federal government and local community said we were the enemy. Until now. 

As we celebrate Public Schools Week this week, we honor the students and families who choose to be part of the Bellevue (Public) School District, as well as the outstanding educators who invest in our children every single day. As a global and beautifully diverse community, let’s strive with courage to live out Dr. King’s vision of the “Beloved Community,” where we (students, families, staff, and neighbors) care for one another and work to eliminate hunger, poverty, and any form of hatred. 

With love for the Beloved Bellevue Community, 

Dr. Aramaki 

Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love. 

― Martin Luther King Jr.