Tamalpais High School students, parents, and community members are still fighting to bring back the Black Student Success Team.

Three weeks ago, the board voted not to renew the contracts of Tenisha Tate-Austin and Paul Austin. Before the final school board meeting of the year, a group rallied in support of the Austins and the program they created.

"In the end, it's about the kids," said Paul Austin.

Austin lost his job when the Board of Trustees voted against renewing his contract, but right now, he's worried more about the kids than himself.

"They're sacred. They're devastated," Austin said about what he's hearing from the kids he used to support at the school.

Prior to this school year, Black and brown students said they were dealing with a lot of racism, frequently called racial slurs, and there was even a photo circulating online of a girl with one written on her face.

Austin believes that it began to change with the addition of the Black Student Success Team, or BSST.

"We've seen how culture is shifting," Austin said. "We know it can't happen overnight. And we're not just talking about culture for our black babies. We're talking about the entire culture at Tam. When you get folks to rise you can rise everybody, no matter where you are the tide rises."

The group went to the Tamalpais Union High School District Board meeting and maxed out the number of public commenters allowed to speak.

Christine DeBerry has two children at Tam. They're half Black. She said they were in tears when the board voted against the contracts.

"You have caused real harm to my family and many of the families in this room by the hostility, the disrespect, the inability to communicate with us, and an unwillingness to problem solve with us on an issue that matters today for our kids," DeBerry said during public comment.

DeBerry and other parents offered to raise $250,000 to keep the program going at no cost to the district, but the board was not willing to discuss it at the meeting.

Superintendent Dr. Tara Taupier tried to address the crowd. She is retiring at the end of the month and asked people to give her successor, Dr. Courtney Goode, a chance to figure this out.

"I'm asking our community members who are passionate about this to work with Dr. Goode in reimagining what the Black student success support team could become," said Taupier before she was cut off by an angry crowd.

The crowd pushed back, saying they already had a successful program with the Austins. President Cynthia Roenisch tried to silence the crowd.

"Please afford Dr. Taupier the opportunity to finish her comment," said Roenisch. "Public comment is over, if you cannot respect the rules then you will need to leave the room."

Dr. Taupier chose not to continue her comments.

Austin said they are still planning for next year, even without a contract.

"As soon as August comes up, I plan to be right back here," said Austin. "Because it's also about accountability. I think they need to be held accountable for the actions that they're taking because they're harmful."