Board President Jesse Ladomirak opened the meeting by making a statement about the student death at Gunn on Feb. 20. Gunn School Board Representative Chris Lee (who is also a managing editor on The Oracle) also spoke about the death. 

“There are difficult, necessary conversations we must have in our community about how to better support and protect our young people,” Ladomirak said in her statement. “We can’t avoid these conversations.”

Lee discussed the measures Gunn staff and students have taken since the student death to support students. He noted that the Gunn wellness team is working to improve and make their program more visible and accessible to students, and that The Oracle has shared resources with the student body via Instagram.

The meeting continued with El Carmelo Elementary School Principal Leonel Argumedo’s equity update concerning the PAUSD Promise. As a result of the decline in literacy performance at El Carmelo, specifically from third-grade Latino and Hispanic students, El Carmelo launched the Every Student Reads Initiative, which consists of three key components: professional development, small-group instruction and data-driven discussions. According to Argumedo, in the span of one year, Latino and Hispanic students’ scores increased by 17.1 points in the English Language Arts portion of the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress — almost closing the gap from standard by half.

“We still have work to do, but I am excited about the growth and progress students are making, and I am proud of the dedication and effort from our teachers,” he said.

Assistant Superintendent for Secondary Education Dr. Guillermo Lopez followed with the district-wide mid-year LCAP update. The LCAP is a three-year plan for local educational agencies to create goals, plan actions and leverage resources and has three main areas of focus: high-quality teaching and learning, equity and excellence, and wellness and safety.

“One of our goals was to provide an update for 11th-grade CAASPP participation rates,” Lopez said. “This is a great improvement for us. In 2023, the rate was 95% for Paly students and 96% for Gunn students.”

After the Staff Reports, two speakers expressed concerns to the Board during Open Forum, speaking on funding for Special Education programs and SELF integration at Gunn.

Director of Facilities and Construction Eric Holm ended the meeting with a Strong School Bond Program Update. Holm shared that PAUSD elementary school classrooms will hit 25 years old, their “death” age, by 2029, meaning most buildings will need to be either replaced or updated.

Although the virtual meeting was advertised as a “community input session,” per Superintendent Dr. Don Austin’s Jan. 26 Superintendent’s Update, many questions in the Zoom chat — where participants were directed to ask their questions — remained unanswered.

Instead, toward the end of the meeting, which ended 15 minutes earlier than scheduled, community members could fill out a form with any remaining questions. When a similar form was sent out last December, however, parent of PAUSD alumni Lori Meyers emphasized the difficulty of giving specific feedback, as the substance of the course’s units and lesson plans wasn’t included.

“The community in general, and myself included, found it really difficult to understand exactly what we were giving feedback on, because it was something like, ‘What is your feedback on the section titled “Identity?”’” Meyers said. “We were like, ‘We don’t have any information’ — (the form) didn’t give us any real content to delve into.”

In a follow-up conversation with The Oracle, Lopez said that responses to questions asked on the form would be posted to the district’s ethnic studies webpage in the near future, but wasn’t able to provide a firm date.

The Jan. 30 meeting was one of many instances in which community members raised questions about PAUSD’s new ethnic studies class. Passed in October 2021, California’s A.B. 101 mandates an ethnic studies-course graduation requirement for all public and charter high schools. The requirement aims to acknowledge the state’s diverse population in its curriculum, and follows research co-authored by Stanford Graduate School of Education professor Thomas Dee in 2021 demonstrating ethnic studies’ positive impact on attendance and graduation rates for ninth-grade students.

In PAUSD, freshmen will first take a semesterlong ethnic studies course — which aims to “examine California as a microcosm of the United States and focus on themes of social justice, social responsibility, and social change by increasing student agency” — before covering world history in the second semesters of ninth and 10th grade.

While ethnic studies has long been a contentious matter, tensions have risen since the onset of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7, with educators, parents and students attempting to reconcile their ideas for the content and structure and content of the course.

Path to a state mandate

On Nov. 6, 1968, the Black Student Union and Third World Liberation Front, a coalition of ethnic student organizations, went on strike at San Francisco State University (then San Francisco State College) to advocate for more diversity in the admissions process and for the creation of a school of ethnic studies. After more than four months of striking, San Francisco State established the nation’s first College of Ethnic Studies, which began operating in fall 1969.

Though it remains one of the only institutions of its kind in the U.S., ethnic studies courses have since become more common at other colleges and universities.

Five years prior to A.B. 101, former California Gov. Jerry Brown signed A.B. 2016 into law on Sept. 13, 2016, mandating the Instructional Quality Commission to develop an ethnic studies model curriculum for high schools. When the commission completed their first draft, however, it faced backlash for being ideologically left-leaning and excluding certain topics, such as antisemitism. On Aug. 12, 2019, California Board of Education President Linda Darling-Hammond announced that the Instructional Quality Commission would be submitting a new draft to the Board for approval.

“Ethnic studies can be an important tool to improve school climate and increase our understanding of one another,” she wrote in a press release. “A model curriculum should be accurate, free of bias, appropriate for all learners in our diverse state, and align with Governor Newsom’s vision of a California for all. The current draft model curriculum falls short and needs to be substantially redesigned.”

After three additional drafts, on March 18, 2021, the California Board of Education adopted a 688-page model curriculum. Although the course’s primary focus remained on African Americans, Asian Americans, Latino Americans and Native Americans — the groups most college ethnic studies courses center around — the model curriculum expanded to include lessons on other ethnic groups in the U.S. Furthermore, the final draft included guidance to teachers on establishing trust when discussing complex topics and presenting balanced coverage of issues.

Current concerns

Some on the commission, however, were dissatisfied with the final model curriculum. A September 2023 letter from the University of California Ethnic Studies Faculty Council expressed concerns over the weaponization of “guardrails,” which preclude ethnic studies from promoting any discrimination, bias or bigotry.

The first draft of the state model curriculum included lesson outlines on the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel and studies of figures such as U.S. Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, whom some have criticized for anti-Israel comments. The final version does not include these lessons, instead focusing on the history and contributions of Arab American communities, as well as common stereotypes that Arab Americans encounter.

The 2023 letter contended that restricting certain material from the curriculum mirrors “conservative efforts in states such as Texas and Florida to suppress hard truths about racism and colonialism” and that “California teachers should be able to deliver lessons on important concepts such as settler colonialism, apartheid, and resistance without having to fear censorship or legal action by the state.”

Those with similar views joined to create the Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Consortium, which first convened in April 2020. The organization has their own model curriculum that aims to have students look through the “intersectional lenses of race, ethnicity, culture, gender, sexuality, ability, language, immigrant status, and class” and “analyze indigeneity, white supremacy, oppression, privilege, and decolonization, and work toward empowering themselves as anti-racist leaders who engage in social justice activism.”

Many, including former California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Bill Honig, have urged schools to reject the “liberated” curriculum in favor of the state’s model, noting the dangers of using group identity as the primary lens to examine history, society, culture and politics. On the other hand, proponents of the “liberated” curriculum argue that de-emphasizing systems of power and oppression detracts from ethnic studies’ original purpose, leading to surface-level, non-critical explorations of culture and race.

According to Lopez, PAUSD has partnered with the University of California, Berkeley’s High School Ethnic Studies Initiative — part of its History-Social Science Project — starting this year. Some community members have expressed concerns about this partnership, as the group lists the Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum as a teaching tool and also worked with the Oakland Unified School District, in which a faction of the Oakland Education Association participated in an unauthorized pro-Palestinian “teach-in.”

In a Jan. 19 email obtained by The Oracle through the California Public Records Act, Austin clarified to the PAUSD Board of Education that the Oakland teachers union failed to follow standard processes and taught lessons that weren’t connected to the Berkeley consultants.

“During the (curriculum development) process we will consult with a lot of people,” he wrote. “That should be what is expected. There will be many efforts to silence voices, starting with who we even speak with. I am asking that we continue to share the process and timelines and that our board helps people who reach out to understand that we have identified input opportunities.”

In PAUSD, Gunn Social Studies Instructional Lead Jeff Patrick said that though some lesson outlines from the state’s model curriculum may be used, most would be generated by Gunn and Paly teachers. He also noted in an email that it would be “extremely unlikely that (the district) would use anything specific from the Liberated Ethnic Studies group.”

Community feedback

In order to prepare for the 2025-26 course rollout — which was pushed back one year to allow for further course development — PAUSD formed its Ethnic Studies Committee last school year, comprising Lopez, Patrick, Paly Social Studies Instructional Lead Mary Sano, and other Gunn and Paly teachers.

The committee is currently refining the course’s five core units: Identity; Race and Ethnicity; History and Migration; Language, Culture, Education, and Learning; and Action and Civic Engagement. It is also soliciting feedback from students and community members. At the Jan. 30 meeting, the committee announced a new Unit 0: “Why Ethnic Studies?,” and Lopez noted the possibility of one section of ethnic studies running at each high school next school year to allow for additional fine-tuning before the final rollout.

Thus far, alongside the two community meetings, Paly and Gunn held information and student-feedback sessions during PRIME on Oct. 11 and Oct. 18, respectively.

At the school-board level, community members have advocated for an ethnic studies course encompassing more ethnic groups — mirroring the activism that led to the state’s sprawling model curriculum.

During Open Forum on Nov. 14, 2023, 17 Middle Eastern and North African community members spoke about their experiences with Islamophobia and advocated for MENA inclusion in ethnic studies. According to Paly senior Mariam Tayebi, who is the MENA Club co-president, the group felt compelled to speak after facing bullying and discrimination following the start of the Israel-Hamas war.

“We decided that it’s really important for us to show the district and show whoever else watches (the Board meetings) that there are kids here and we are struggling and we want to be represented,” she said.

At the next meeting, on Dec. 12, eight Jewish parents and students — including PAUSD parent Linor Levav — detailed personal experiences of antisemitism and asked for Jewish voices to be included in the ethnic studies curriculum. Although Jewish Americans’ history is typically not covered in most college-level ethnic studies courses — they are considered white in the context of the discipline — the California model curriculum includes lessons on Jewish Americans and antisemitism.

“I want to ask you to please include Jewish Americans in our ethnic studies class,” Levav said during Open Forum. “Antisemitism has exploded across the United States and the Bay Area. It’s fueled by lies about Jews and Israel. PAUSD can and should help to correct this.”

Beyond specific ethnic-group considerations, many have advocated for transparency with the curriculum-development process.

“It’s very, very important that there is … full transparency,” Meyers said. “The more that the community and students and parents can see what’s going on in ethnic studies, the better and smoother the process is going to be, and the more likely it’s going to be that we get the kind of ethnic studies class that I think we all really want.”

While Patrick understands the community’s desire to participate and the need for PAUSD to share updates and solicit feedback, he emphasized that the lack of transparency some feel can mostly be attributed to educators’ newness to the process, not ulterior motives.

“What we’re trying to do is create a course that’s going to be best for our students,” he said. “So as people are looking at our work and bringing up their own points, I hope that they can keep that in mind that some of the comments parents make might not be in the best interests of our students as a whole.”

Along a similar vein, though PAUSD parent Uzma Minhas also values transparency and community involvement, she cautions the district from only listening to the loudest and most organized groups.

“They have to be very careful that oftentimes marginalized communities don’t speak up, so they may not be hearing from the most marginalized communities,” she said.

A realistic curriculum

Although much of the conversation surrounding ethnic studies has revolved around Jewish and MENA curricular inclusion, Patrick emphasized that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would not explicitly be covered in the new course, and that it’s currently a part of the sophomore Contemporary World History class.

“The scope that the state intends for the ethnic studies curriculum is narrower than the general public … is aware of,” he said. “By the time students are there in 10th grade looking at that topic, they will have hopefully developed the skills or began to develop the skills to analyze those things on their own.”

Paly senior Alma Samet — who identifies as a Mizrahi Jew (Jewish people who are of MENA origin) — agrees with this assessment, noting how including the conflict in ethnic studies could exacerbate misrepresentation.

“I really could see it just overriding and taking up a lot more space in the curriculum than it has to, especially when there are so many different topics and communities to focus on,” she said.

Still, senior Deena Abu-Dayeh stressed the imperfections of how the Middle East is currently covered in Contemporary World History, citing her own experiences.

“The only time I’ve ever heard (about) Palestine — which is where I’m from — is when it had to do with the conflict and how we are the terrorists, and that name has been portrayed on us a lot,” she said. “That kind of gives a false image that all of us are just barbarians that have to deal with poverty.”

According to Patrick, the ethnic studies course’s final unit — Action and Civil Engagement — will include a capstone activity allowing students to have more choice in the topics that they delve into.

Looking ahead, the social studies department plans to identify potential ethnic studies teachers by this spring, so that it can spend the next school year in professional development related to the course. Although specific trainings have yet to be finalized, teachers will be focusing on developing common understandings of sociological terms that may not be as prevalent in other history classes, such as “dominant and counter narratives” and “intersectionality.”

Ultimately, despite the complex and often-controversial process, Samet maintains an emphasis on the course’s central objective.

“I think the main goals are just to create more well-rounded, respectful students who are ready to go into a world that is very diverse,” she said. “Especially in America, it’s a big old melting pot, so making sure that people maintain respect for all types of cultures and traditions and also understand a bit more of a backstory on the struggles that these communities have faced.”

The next ethnic studies community meeting will be conducted as a webinar, and the district will ask for questions in advance. More information will be provided in Dr. Austin’s weekly Superintendent Updates.

The decision comes as a preventative measure after the Palo Alto city council’s Oct. 16 meeting, at which several “Zoom bombers” made antisemitic comments. The board hopes to use the time gained by the three meetings’ suspension to have an ad hoc committee generate safeguards for preventing occurrences of disruptive speech.

This approach has triggered debate over free speech and democratic participation. At the meeting, Gunn School Board Representative Chris Lee (who is also a managing editor of The Oracle) noted that removing Zoom commenting for upcoming meetings may hamper student accessibility at a crucial time. The next few meetings have issues especially relevant to students, including the math curriculum (a highly contentious topic since this spring), sustainability at middle schools and ethnic studies on their agendas. “I understand that my situation is very unique, and that not everybody has a chance to participate in person, both for our usual Tuesday meetings, and especially these special ones,” Lee said. “I’m concerned that this action may hinder student voice.”

School-board member Shana Segal, who voted against the resolution, noted that the suspension of Zoom commenting would set a dangerous precedent. “I’m concerned that eliminating Zoom comments may pose a slippery slope in that it may be perceived as having a chilling effect on the same freedom of speech,” she said. “Are we giving the Zoom bombers yet greater power by taking away our community members’ ability to participate in school-board meetings remotely?”

The board also discussed alternate solutions sent in an email by California Sen. Josh Becker, including adopting a resolution condemning hate speech and opening and closing public comment with a statement of values. Board member Shaunak Dharap and Board President Jennifer DiBrienza said the suggestions will not necessarily prevent events like those on Oct. 16, in which several of the comments containing hate speech either began through addressing agendized items and veered into antisemitism or were overtly made with intent to harm.

Board members also noted that addressing the hate speech as it happens is particularly difficult, as much of what the speakers on Oct. 16 said was permitted under the First Amendment since it did not constitute a threat or incitement of violence. If comments such as these are made in Open Forum, during which anyone can discuss any issue, board members would be unable to stop them. 

In light of that protection, Dharap emphasized the board’s power to minimize disruption, not necessarily curb specific types of speech. “This cannot be about limiting the type of speech,” he said. “This has to be about maintaining order and the ability for us to do the business of the district without disruptions and the ability of us to permit relevant public comment.”

Although Dharap and Board Vice President Jesse Ladomirak voted in favor of the resolution, they said that come December, they are unlikely to vote to continue the suspension. 

Several nearby cities, including Redwood City, Union City and Milpitas, have also adopted similar policies following recent Zoom bombings, according to Palo Alto Online.

Students hoping to share their perspectives at upcoming meetings can come in person, send an email to the board ahead of time or contact Lee with their thoughts. The next school-board meeting is scheduled for next Tuesday, Oct. 24.

Started in fall 2022, the modernization effort includes a new administration office with a more prominent entrance and a food-services complex. The latter will house indoor and outdoor eating spaces and culinary arts classrooms alongside traditional food-services facilities. Both buildings are on track to be completed before the start of the 2024-25 school year.

Senior Construction Manager Mohammed Sedqi explained that contractors lost 1 1?2 months’ worth of work time due to last winter’s unusually heavy rains. Consequently, they had to work more intensely toward the end of the school year. “When March started and we had no rain, we were pushing for more people, more crews, more labor,” he said. “You had a team taking down the columns, (another) taking down the foundation. That overlap of so many activities made all that noise.”

As construction continues throughout this year, Sedqi hopes that the work will be less disruptive. The asphalt between the quad and E-building has been replaced with concrete, and fences will be pushed closer to the construction site, opening a corridor for students to walk to the southeastern portion of campus without cutting through the quad.

Looking ahead, Principal Wendy Stratton is working with new Assistant Principal Mycal Hixon, who will be overseeing construction, and Associated Student Body President Nathan Levy to make the process more transparent and accessible. Stratton believes student involvement is key, since students are important beneficiaries and the project was funded through taxpayer dollars. On his part, Levy has formed a new Student Executive Council committee that will attend construction meetings and share relevant updates in a new monthly newsletter.

Levy hopes that classes can take advantage of the ongoing work. “It could be a learning opportunity for a lot of different classes — one where they could take tours or learn more about the construction process,” he said. As an example, Levy pointed to how students in Advanced Placement Environmental Science classes could focus on the steps construction crews are taking to minimize damage to the environment and create greener buildings.

Sedqi also expressed a desire to work with students who are interested in architecture, construction or engineering. “I’ll be more than happy to get them involved in this — just to see the progress, how we are doing the work, what’s happening,” he said.

Chiu-Wang’s experience in education began during her undergraduate studies at the University of California, Irvine. “[While attending Irvine] I was working with 10th graders [at Santa Ana High School] and saw that they weren’t reading at grade level,” she said. “We had gone into the high school to work on world history, but it culminated in working with the other students. Teacher’s assistants and graduate students created supplemental learning materials that were distributed to [more than] 3,500 teachers and students in Santa Ana.”

Through this and similar experiences, Chiu-Wang formed some of the foundational beliefs that guide her campaign today. “If we ever want to have equity, if we want to end systemic racism, it starts in school,” she said. According to her campaign website, Chiu-Wang believes that addressing problems such as socioeconomic and racial achievement gaps should start at early childhood education.

Unlike the other candidates, Chiu-Wang only moved here recently. However, she does not view this as a negative factor for her campaign. “The more people I’ve talked to in the community, the more I hear stories like mine, where they moved here for the schools,” she said. “And that’s an important perspective.”

Furthermore, Chiu-Wang is resisting being labeled and associated with established factions. “I don’t think you have to be either for closing the opportunity gap and serving the historically underserved or for supporting those students that are really already thriving and wanting to accelerate even more,” she said. “Those two things aren’t completely opposed and I don’t think we should think that way as a district.”

If citizens vote “yes,” the contested legislation would be upheld, and the ban on flavored tobacco products would be implemented. The Committee to Protect California Kids is leading the campaign for upholding the legislation, along with the support of Governor Gavin Newsom, the Democratic Party of California and the California Teachers Association. According to the California Legislative Analyst’s Office, California could lose up to $100 million in lost tax revenue due to SB 793.

If voters vote “no,” the law would not go into effect and flavored tobacco products would remain legal in the state. Californians Against Prohibition has led the campaign for voting down the legislation, alongside the Republican Party of California and the National Association of Tobacco Outlets.

This proposition relates to Proposition 98, which guarantees a minimum annual funding level for public education. Under Proposition 28, schools would receive an amount equivalent to 1% of the funds they received from Proposition 98 the previous fiscal year.

Proposition 28 does not implement a new tax for California citizens, instead relying on California’s recent budget surpluses. The California Legislative Analyst’s Office notes that the ballot initiative would lead to $800 million to $1 billion in additional state spending.

If the proposition fails, schools would continue to receive state funds under Proposition 98, but no fund would be created specifically for public music and arts education.

Senior Katie Shih is the Editor-in-Chief of The Oracle and oversees production of the newspaper alongside two managing editors.
For each of the newspaper’s nine yearly issues, Shih works to turn story ideas into compelling reads and rough layout sketches into completed pages. “[As] Editor-in-Chief, it’s cool to see each page evolve and change,” Shih said. “It’s rewarding at the end of production week when it’s distribution day and we get to see the paper in print.”

When Shih first joined staff during the second semester of her freshman year, she didn’t plan on leading The Oracle staff three years later. “I thought it was scary and did not want to be the Editor-in-Chief at all,” she said. “[Ultimately,] I ended up doing it because The Oracle has been a big part of my high school experience and I wanted to take it a step further.” Shih has set many goals for the year. “My biggest goal is to increase circulation and readership,” she said. “We’ll probably do more advertising on Schoology or have students give us story ideas that they want to see in the paper.”

While one issue of The Oracle takes about a month to assemble, most of the progress happens with print pages during production week, where section editors undergo a process of editing and finalizing layouts. “I think most people don’t know that we stay after school until 9:30 p.m. to put the paper together,” Shih said.

Members of The Oracle have to be flexible in their roles: News Editors might work on sports pages if they’re behind, or a graphics artist might have to edit an illustration that they didn’t initially draw. Shih finds community to be key to this process. “[The staff] is a team inside the classroom and [everyone] has to work collaboratively,” she said.

As one of the few student-run classes on campus, Shih appreciates the unique structure of The Oracle. “We don’t have units or tests,” she said. “We do learn things, but it’s not a class specifically to learn [about] a subject—we work together to [create] something.”

Shih encourages interested students to join the staff. “You get to see your name in print, [which is] a really rewarding process,” she said. “It’s also really cool to be able to see your work in front of you at the end of [publishing].”