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School board member Rowena Chiu gives the Daily Post an interview about Ethnic Studies
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Rowena and Alison Kamhi had a lot of backbone voting against Ethnic Studies. Now the teacher and administrator unions want to punish Rowena with this smear attack. I hope the board remembers this when the PA administrators union and the teachers come to the board hoping for a raise. The board ought to say no way, we’re cutting your pay and jobs. The unions have no right to buck the board on what it wants to do, and lecture duly-elected school board members, and the board should let them know that. Kudos to Rowena and Alison.
Notice how nobody is coming after Kamhi? It’s almost as if people are mad at Chiu for emboldening racists against their colleague and not her actual vote …
Rowena Chiu is a hero, but I’m so disappointed in Nicole Chiu-Wang.
Ms. Chiu seems to have missed Intersectionality 101. Only those w certain skin colors or heritage can get out of being called an oppressor, or claim to have been oppressed. Further, no members of certain skin colors or heritage can be considered racist, while others are inherently racist. Try not to micc class next time! Ms. Reynolds seems to have gotten the memo.
I truly do not understand where you are getting this
Ms. Chiu seems to have missed Intersectionality 101. Only those w certain skin colors or heritage can get out of being called an oppressor, or claim to have been oppressed. Further, no members of certain skin colors or heritage can be considered racist, while others are inherently racist. Try not to miss class next time! Ms. Reynolds seems to have gotten the memo.
Marxism. Oppressed oppressors. End justifies the means. Ask Mao or Stalin. Or Hammas
Please publish this in the online version. It gets much greater distribution. You amplified the voice of the people against Rowena and it’s important you do the same for the voters who stand with Rowena.
Actually the print edition has about 10 times more readers than the online version. But I will consider it.
That’s great to hear but we can not forward the article in social media. It feels like bias to only allow one side to have that advantage + the advantage of the online readers. Thank you for your consideration in this matter.
Looking forward to tracking how PAUSD implements the ethnic studies class and how it will violate the Executive order on DEI, CRT and gender ideology. Only $5.4 million of fed funds at risk, PAUSD!
Thank you, Rowena.
Please stay strong.
Please continue to represent the army behind you who wants transparency into this new mandatory class.
There is a terrible smear campaign against you – and I hope you will continue to fight. We love you.
This is shameful and a transparent attempt to squash even a modicum of diverse opinion from someone who apparently is not the “right kind of minority”. Do not fall for the tactics of a bunch of bureaucrats seeking to push ideology over education in our schools and in doing so were soundly kicked off the board.
Ms Chiu is an ethnic studies scholar and raised basic issues with the complete lack of preparation or process from an administration seeking a rubber stamp for misguided policy.
She has several children in the school district and is now being threatened by people who purport to be experts in fostering dialog about “oppression”. Maybe they should start be looking in the mirror . Truly sad.
The community stands with PAUSD board member Rowena Chiu and we denounce the persistent dismissal of anti-Asian discrimination. Ms. Chiu’s efforts to spotlight Asian oppression—past and present—deserve recognition, not resistance.
Downplaying the Asian American experience ignores both history and reality. During COVID-19, Asian students endured harassment and physical attacks, often feeling unsafe in their own schools. Yet, these concerns were sidelined. Ms. Reynolds’ remarks trivializing this oppression exemplify a systemic bias that continues to permeate PAUSD.
Minimizing Asian discrimination reinforces a harmful status quo. We call on PAUSD to confront these injustices, amplify marginalized voices, and uphold its commitment to equity. We stand with Rowena Chiu in demanding accountability and meaningful change.
Groupthink is an ugly thing to observe.
Let’s focus on the real issue here. The hypocritical attack on Rowena was nothing more than a distraction. It has now been 10 days since the Director of Curriculum and Instruction made a statement that dismisses and minimizes the concerns of others, including students, who feel unsafe. Yet, we have received no clarification from the Superintendent affirming that this does not reflect PAUSD values.
Not even the usual denial—”what we heard was not what was meant.” Nothing.
Are these the guiding principles of PAUSD? Can we trust this district with our children?
Here’s a fact: The ethnic profile of students who died by suicide in PAUSD matches the ethnic composition of the district. Did PAUSD fail to provide these students with the proper support? Did the district enable or overlook bullying toward them because they fell into a category deemed incapable of feeling unsafe?
This comment rings the most true out of the few so far. Many of the suicides have been Asian kids. And over and over again, Asian voices have been ignored, dismissed, shamed. Just look at the petition for MVC or the petition to remove Don Austin just as an example. So many Asians signed it. And what was done? How long did it take and how easy was it for someone to finally make it available again. Maybe it’s because as much as the district pretends to care, the Asian kids themselves know that in the eyes of all these white oppressors, they are worthless… unless they are the right kind of Asian.
Stop vilifying white people. Hello – those attacking Rowena are progressives.
The exchange between Rowena Chiu and Danae Reynolds powerfully demonstrated the dangerously negligent attitude of the administration towards Ethnic Studies.
Chiu raises concern that some of her constituents feel “unsafe” based on the minimally published course content.
Reynolds, Executive Director of Curriculum and Instruction, scolds her for her use of the term “unsafe” relabeling it as “uncomfortable” and normalizing dismissal of safety fears.
This is a classic approach of Liberated Ethnic Studies and why racing to roll it out without letting parents see the curriculum is dangerous.
Calls for Chiu to resign are a distraction from her courageous defense of PAUSD students. Everyone condemns discrimination against minorities; however, discrimination is not a zero sum game between minorities like Reynolds implies.
The full text is here:
Chiu explained to the student board representative where the concerns around fear are coming from.
“The fear is based on an ideological framework around oppressor-oppressed that will make some students in this school district feel unsafe,” Chiu said. “Now, whilst I may not be a part of that affinity group, I have great empathy with any situation where some students feel unsafe. As a school district, we need to take time and consideration when communities come to say that issues around racism may result from the implementation of a course. Now, before the teachers put me under the bus again, I will say it’s quite possible that your course is not going to incite any of these incidents that we’ve seen in other school districts . . . However, it’s connected to the issue of transparency. If the community has not had, in their view, sufficiently transparent instructional materials . . . that fear is only going to grow.”
Later in the meeting, Reynolds made a statement related to Chiu’s comments.
“I worry about the word ‘safe’ as a person who has to worry about my husband driving and coming home if he gets pulled over,” Reynolds said. “So the word ‘safety’ is something we have to be aware of what that means. Now, being uncomfortable — absolutely. I feel uncomfortable sitting up here naming that I worry about my husband, but it’s the truth. We can feel uncomfortable. That’s part of growing and learning and being a part of being a human being but also being part of this community.”
Second all of this, so well articulated!
This is a manufactured controversy by the establishment who didn’t get the memo that both the demographics of Palo Alto and the times have changed. Next election cycle there will be two more Rowenas. But go ahead, keep up your viscous campaign and you’ll make Rowena even more famous and the calls for school vouchers will only grow louder. Meanwhile, Ms. Reynolds and Ms. Chiu should meet and resolve the misunderstanding, in private. Because that’s all it is, a misunderstanding from both sides. Not a misunderstanding was the shameful vote to approve Ethnic Studies instead of adjourning the meeting when it became clear that the information provided was bogus and the “party young pioneers” were not randomly selected into the course.
Rah, rah vouchers. Can’t wait. If enough people go elsewhere Reynolds will have to take her road show somewhere else, like East St. Louis.
Rowena is a hero. She is the only one fighting for our children and the board hates her because she refuses to go along with George soros funded agenda. I fear my Israeli children will be targeted with antisemitic hatred over the recent ethnic studies propaganda they are pushing on our children. They are teaching our kids that white people and Israelis are oppressors and teaches them to be on the side of supporting terrorism and hamas. Because Rowena will not go along with the current agenda they are trying to silence her and target her as a racist. When in fact she is sticking up for our children so they do not have to study racist biased ideology. The black woman who claims Rowena is not ethnic enough to understand her struggles is racist and discriminates against anyone who isn’t black. Stop targeting this woman because she has a different view. The Parents of Palo Alto stand with Rowena. It’s time for her and her supporters to fight back!!!
I was impressed with the courage of Rowena to voice out some of the community members concerns. Thank you, Rowena
The call for resign is a shameful smear campaign of those who would stop at nothing to squash the slightest hint of dissent. I truly wonder how many those who signed the letter to call for resignation actually truly understand what was happening, or merely succumb to political pressure of PAMA.
Ms Reynolds’ **public** remark signifies exactly what is wrong with the Ethnic Studies course, promoting absolute and rigid dichotomy of categories purely based on their race, and monopolizing and politicizing public discourse through this “oppressor/oppressed” framework, and asserting exclusive ownership of terms like “safe” for certain ethnic groups. Rowena’s willingness to question rigid narratives reflects her broader commitment to ensuring PAUSD policies foster critical thinking, empathy, and unity. Her advocacy for re-examining the district’s approach to issues like Ethnic Studies stems from a desire to ensure curricula prioritize nuance and inclusivity over reductive ideologies.
So, thank you, Rowena. You are our hero, and we will stand with you against those Please stay strong, Rowena. You have an army of supporters behind you.
Thank you so much, Rowena, for standing up for our children. As parents, we want the full access to the Ethnic Studies curriculum. We want this curriculum being reviewed by a panel of experts in an unbiased way before it becomes a mandated class!!!
We, PA parents of two, urge PAMA, PAUSD, and the broader community to reject efforts to scapegoat Rowena for exercising her duty to engage with constituents’ concerns. Holding board members responsible for third-party comments sets a dangerous precedent that stifles civic participation and discourages elected leaders from addressing contentious issues. Let us instead focus on the substance of her critique: the need to ensure our schools teach students to navigate differences with curiosity and mutual respect, not dogma.
Rowena Chiu’s leadership has given voice to countless families who felt unheard. We with stand with you, Rowena!
The call for resign is a shameful smear campaign of those who would stop at nothing to squash the slightest hint of dissent. I truly wonder how many those who signed the letter to call for resignation actually truly understand what was happening, or merely succumb to political pressure of PAMA.
Ms Reynolds’ **public** remark signifies exactly what is wrong with the Ethnic Studies course, promoting absolute and rigid dichotomy of categories purely based on their race, and monopolizing and politicizing public discourse through this “oppressor/oppressed” framework, and asserting exclusive ownership of terms like “safe” for certain ethnic groups. Rowena’s willingness to question rigid narratives reflects her broader commitment to ensuring PAUSD policies foster critical thinking, empathy, and unity. Her advocacy for re-examining the district’s approach to issues like Ethnic Studies stems from a desire to ensure curricula prioritize nuance and inclusivity over reductive ideologies.
So, thank you, Rowena. You are our hero, and we will stand with you against those Please stay strong, Rowena. You have an army of supporters behind you.
Ms Rowena is the champion of community voices, and she will not be intimidated and silenced.
But this scares a lot of people, who have had a firm grip on the board and management circle for a long time, ignoring the call of the community for a long time. Mr. Shounak Dharap famously said the following in the meeting on delaning Bio-H:
“As board members you know we have a role I think you know when we get elected to this position it can feel a lot like our job is to listen to community input and implement community input. But that’s not our job as board members.”
He scoffed at Rowena for listening to the community voices, and bringing them to the board meeting, claiming that since we can never truly know the community voice, any attempt to do so is in vain and counterproductive.
That is the kind of force Rowena is running against, and that is exactly why we voted Rowena into the board, and we will continue to do so in the next election cycle, and next, and next!
Rowena, you may feel alone, but you are not! We are all 100% behind you, and will always be so.
Did anyone reporting on this story actually watch the board meeting? Either you did and you’re purposefully misinterpreting to further the conflict, or you didn’t and you’re getting your sources from a Twitter account. It is clear that Danae’s comments are responding to Rowena saying students/community members feel unsafe because of ethnic studies (which she says directly before Danae’s comments), and NOT Rowena’s comment about herself feeling unsafe (which she says a good 50 minutes before Danae’s comment). Do better.
I have no interest in watching a Palo Alto school board meeting. This one in particular went on too long and amounted to a bunch of nonsense. The school board should stick to what they’re good at, but they’re not good at anything so we got what we got.
I stand with Ms Chiu! Thanks to her I see how ugly the school district is. It’s a shame that a the schools are so biased and unsupportive of an Asian women who speaks truth. I see oppression and racism within the other school board members, superintendent and the fellow principles and teachers. This is not the best school district. Something needs to change in the Palo Alto education system.
Ms. Chiu and Ms. Reynolds both made a mistake and both should sit together and sort it out.
Events in the past two weeks have unveiled the silent, but prevalent racism against Asians in Palo Alto school district.
It’s come out now; what should be done?
Should Asians be discriminated against because they take classes outside of school to master the subject, because they practice piano more, get to advanced classes more, want to get to ivies and do everything to achieve that, can crack SATs better?
Stop this discrimination!
I am deeply concerned about the way the recent board meeting was conducted. It was entirely manipulated by Board President Shana, preventing fair participation and transparency. Parents who arrived on time were not allowed to enter the meeting room, despite their right to observe and participate. Additionally, parents who had registered to speak were completely denied the opportunity to do so.
This lack of openness and disregard for community voices is unacceptable. A board meeting should be a space for genuine discussion, not a controlled narrative where only certain perspectives are allowed. I urge the board to address these issues and ensure that future meetings allow for fair and transparent participation.
Many of us were lined up at least an hour early. Once room capacity reached the limit, people had the option of waiting or engaging by Zoom. People on every side of the topic were let in if they planned early or not allowed in if they came after the room was filled. People could speak on Zoom or in person, but there was a limit. Speakers on both sides were able to speak if they signed up early or not able to speak if slots were filled. This how it always works. There was simply a lot of interest on this topic, but the early birds got a seat in the room or speaking time. No one had VIP access or speaking priority. It’s easy to draw false conclusions when emotions are high, but I encourage to go to low vs. high interest meetings and watch the procedures.
Many people did not behave well. But let’s keep our eye on the main point – the school board mandated a curriculum sight unseen on a very sensitive topic causing lawsuits everywhere, even though the slate of candidates against this won a large majority. Can we spend time on that please?
How did people behave? Please give examples. We have a video, so share the time stamps please. I attended all 5 hours and saw people clapping, snapping and holding signs on both sides. A teacher shouted out a correction when Rowena said a false fact about the 9th grade schedule. Most board members would have welcomed such feedback so that they can make informed votes. I’ve seen audience members react and clap or shake their heads at other tense meetings. That being said, there were no arguments amongst the audience. No verbal or physical threats towards board members. Security did not get involved other than to enforce the room capacity limits. People listened and were engaged, but i did not see anyone act badly.
I agree 100%!
Ensuring every student’s opinion is heard is crucial for creating an inclusive and supportive environment, not just some selected ones. Were parents’ voices heard and respected? Ms. Chiu spoke up for parents and students, we support her with our heart!
PAUSD is a bullying, racist mafia that will try to crush anyone who attempts to question it. Reynolds’ comment on who gets to use the word safe is outrageously racist, and no one spoke up about it in defense of Rowena. Then, in an amazingly orchestrated manner, all these local news jump on telling the story how Rowena is expected to resign – but forget not, Rowena had the highest number of votes, the people of Palo Alto love Rowena and support her. Shame on you all for interfering with democracy.
Rowena, the people have chosen you and we will do everything we can to support you. And, everything we can to rid of these racist, bullying people who run our schools and are destroying our kids education.
Please respect voters choice. Board members are elected by the voters and this one won highest votes.
Please respect teachers and let them lead the curriculum. When they spend 2 years on a class, receive community input and pilot the class with overwhelmingly positive student outcomes, we need to listen, not micromanage. Would you like parents with no teaching experience micromanaging every history or english class?? I don’t.
Rowena has overwhelming support from the community, with nearly 2,000 people already expressing their support. Join them here: https://tinyurl.com/SupportRowena-SignedLetter
How political these old school board leaders are? They only cared about their own power, but not kid. They tried their best to kick out the person who represents the parents but against them. It is a shame. Be strong Rowena.
I thank board members that voted to require ethnic studies.
If you have felt the bite of discrimination no matter your ethnicity, then ethnic studies is one way to address it and it should be supported.
Rowena showed disturbingly poor judgment by retweeting the blatantly racist site. She needs to apologize to our community and straighten up if she is to continue on the Board. And those calling her a hero need to get off it.
She shouldn’t be demonized or seen as a hero. She is neither. She is a person in a role of great responsibility and must meet its challenges wisely. If from here forward she can’t, she should resign or be recalled.
She isn’t a hero, she’s a victim.
As a family of PAUSD alumni, I’m shocked and saddened by what happened related to the Jan.23 special school board meeting. After watching the whole 4:51:25 YouTube video of the meeting, I think Ms. Chiu, as an elected board member, did a great job voicing a perspective that many parents/students shared, even if it differed from the school administrators/teachers in the meeting room. I’m not convinced by the PAMA letter calling for her immediate resignation over “racism.” Instead, I’d really like to see the “constructive dialogue” and “inclusivity” the letter itself promotes.
Rowena Chiu was articulate, reasoning and so refreshingly logical. She spoke against a group of students that sounded like programed robots and teachers oozing with animosity (I don’t know why) and all she said was that this was a switcheroo that happened, providing them with a brain dump of ideas, not an actual curriculum, and that it needed more time to ACTUALLY see a curriculum – a completely logical request. Why were the teachers so reticent for this? What are they trying to hide? This is a dangerous precedent, especially with some of the cited sections in the “Ethnic Studies” course being extremely biased and inflammatory! Why shouldn’t parents be served the opportunity to actually REVIEW the actual curriculum? Sometjhing is rotten in the kingdom of Palo Alto – and from what I understand, all of Santa Clara County!!!!
We stand with Rowena. Whoever organized Thursday night’s meeting should resign. The process was clearly neither transparent nor fair—it was biased and intimidating. How can a topic that was already taken off the table be reintroduced in such a manner? Inviting groups to support making Ethnic Studies mandatory, staging a show of force by surrounding PAUSD board members, and pressuring them into a predetermined decision is entirely inappropriate. Regardless of one’s stance on the issue, isn’t it clear that this process is fundamentally flawed and compromised?
We stand with Rowena. Whoever organized Thursday night’s meeting should resign. The process was clearly neither transparent nor fair—it was biased and intimidating. How can a topic that was already taken off the table be reintroduced in such a manner? Inviting groups to support making Ethnic Studies mandatory, staging a show of force by surrounding PAUSD board members, and pressuring them into a predetermined decision is entirely inappropriate. Regardless of one’s stance on the issue, isn’t it clear that this process is fundamentally flawed and compromised?
And every action / mistake has consequence! Dr. Don Austin should be terminated from his position as Superintendent for SO many reasons. There is one more now – for providing the wrong document to the board members and the community. How was that mistake over looked? How was he let go so easily? Just for that reason, a proper document should be given to the board and then voting should happen again!
Everything about how the board meeting was held that Thursday was completely wrong!
What about only letting the select few entering the board room – is that legal?
I completely support Ms Chiu’s request to get more detail about the Ethnic Study course. This is a course that very few people would want to take. Why make it required? It may also violate the recent EO from the WH about “ending radical indoctrination in K-12 Schooling”. The attack on Ms Chiu is pure evil, and will not prevail. We can all see the boarding meeting was conducted in a way to prevent fair participation.
I commend Chiu and Kamhi for taking a stand against further political divisiveness and hate, and trying to maintain some semblance of whatever sanity is left in the government schools. We all know what an Ethnic Studies requirement means: favoring minority groups and their culture over that of the “dominant white culture”…and if you are white, you have no rights, and your culture according to these forces of evil doesn’t exist.
Parents concerned about the woke, anti-white curriculum have a superior alternative: homeschooling. As a homeschooling parent, trust me, once you decide to homeschool, your kids will never want to go back. May the public schools go bankrupt with declining retention rates in their zeal to promote Marxist activism.
Ms. Chiu, we are with you! Please stand against unjust accusations.
Not only did the school board give the big single digit to the people who opposed the eithnic studies requirement, but they’re poised to drive Trustee Chiu, who is obviously a sensitive lady, off the board entirely. That’s the thing with DEI. When someone even seems to be standing in the way of DEI, DEI devotees respond with racism, the thing they claim to hate. The teachers union in Palo Alto loves
DEI because the union is largely made up of DEI hires. The superintendent and Paly principal are white males on purpose so they can be charged with racism and fired if they don’t tow the line. I have never voted for any ballot measure to support Palo Alto schools and will never vote for one in the future.
Thanks you Chiu for being the backbone of your community and your voters.
There are so many issues at play here, and so much bad behavior.
1. Administration trying to ram down a mandated curriculum without providing the relevant information (which was only exposed by Rowena’s questioning). The school board’s job is oversight – but the administration’s incompetence and lack of transparency failed to provide the board (and the rest of us) what they needed to do their job. So the meeting and vote was a farce from the outset.
2. Rowena’s questioning appeared to me to be respectful and appropriate. I saw nothing at the meeting to even hint thst Rowena is not doing her job well. There was no hint of racism.
3. Mrs Reynolds lecturing Rowena that the word “unsafe” is only reserved for a select few was absurd and needs to be addressed. Two things can be true; this is not a zero sum game. People of all ethnicities can feel unsafe speaking up about or debating sensitive issues relating to race. I will never know what it feels like to have lived as a black person in this country, although i can seek to understand the experience and to work toward creating a more perfect union. But i fail to understand how that disqualifies me from expressing feeling unsafe in certain situations. I truly hope pausd does not become the vocabulary police. I agree with other posters that Mrs Reynolds should apologize or explain her remarks.
4. Rowena exercised incredibly poor judgment by reposting a tweet from a racist poster. I understand she has taken the tweet down. I think she needs to apologize for it as well.
5. As offensive and unfortunate as reporting a tweet from a racist poster was, the calls for Rowena to resign by Dauber are a gross overreaction – including by many former board members who behaved shamefully during this election, including by spreading lies about Rowena. Many of our former officials appear to me to be dogmatic bullies. I will state again, this does not have to be a zero sum game. We can work to provide fairness and opportunities for our underrepresented communities as well as all other students who attend our publuc schools. My great fear is that the folks i refer to as the dogmatic bullies, while meaning well by focusing on the needs of certain populations, are driving those who can afford private school straight out of pausd because we are not focused on providing fairness and opportunities to ALL. And, to my mind, that is a recipe for disaster not just for our schools but for our city as a whole.
I hope everyone will take a deep breath, we tell our administration we deserve better, and we all try to move forward with fewer agendas and greater understanding for the betterment of all of our students
Public schools in the U.S. today are monopolies. It’s very hard to argue that monopolies do a good job of anything. A good example: PG&E. Automobile manufacturing is not a monopoly but a good example of a car developed under imposed monopoly conditions: the Trabant. Now, I understand that a tiny group of people own Trabants as kind of a sick in-joke. They remind me of supporters of U.S. public schools or Ms. Reynolds with her nice tenured job doing whatever she wants, just like Ms. Julie on the City Council.
Rowena and Alison had a lot of backbone voting against Ethnic Studies.
The Ethnic Studies course content is not completed. The content of World History get impacted didn’t present in the meeting. It is too rush to make such decision. Social media is an excuse. Rowena did nothing wrong. If they have questions, they should ask the original social media author directly.
We strongly support Rowena!
Anyone can feel unsafe. No matter you are Asian or black, or white, or from any community. When we say we are feeling unsafe, we DO NOT need a lecture from someone telling us only her community is “oppressed” and only their feeling of unsafe is real.
This whole issue might have started with the Ethnic Studies (ES) course, but it’s about much more than that. People may have different opinions on ES, but one thing we all agree on is the importance of democratic processes and open discussions to bring our community together. The real problem here is just one example of how PAUSD’s bureaucracy has repeatedly ignored parents’ voices—especially those from the Asian community.
For years, Asian Americans have been active, engaged, and responsible members of society, yet our concerns continue to be dismissed. We saw this happen at the Ethnic Studies meeting. Even though parents and students showed up in large numbers despite very little notice, many Asian parents were left outside and couldn’t participate, while only a few were let in.
Then, during the same meeting, PAUSD employee Danae Reynolds told Rowena Chiu that Asians shouldn’t use the word “unsafe” because they aren’t truly oppressed. That’s a shocking thing to say, especially in California—a state with a long history of anti-Asian discrimination.
So, if this isn’t discrimination, then what is? I, along with many others—both Asian and non-Asian—stand with Rowena Chiu. She was elected to be our voice, and trying to remove a board member who has strong community support is a serious and troubling move. It’s the opposite of inclusivity—it’s silencing voices in the name of inclusivity.
Stop with the conspiracy theories. A room can only legally hold a certain maximum of people, enforced by the Fire Dept. Now and then there’s an overflow crowd that can’t all get in. Happens at City Council chambers too. If one wants to get in, go early. There was no conspiracy to exclude Asians.
Parents don’t set policy for our schools (thankfully). The School Board members are elected to do this via a majority vote. Doing so after getting input from professional educators (teachers), the Superintendent and the public. Just because some in the public want this or that doesn’t mean they have a right to get it.
Ethnic studies as passed by the school board will aid in addressing historic and current discrimination toward ethnicities including Asian. Enough tilting at windmills.
This isn’t about room capacity or random overflow. The issue is that a room full of pre-organized activists who were aligned with a specific agenda didn’t just happen by chance—it was arranged in advance. When a group is strategically placed to dominate the discussion and block others from having a fair opportunity to participate, it goes beyond coincidence and becomes a deliberate effort to control the narrative.
This kind of pre-coordinated action unfairly limits open dialogue and excludes diverse perspectives, which is exactly why concerns about fairness and transparency are being raised.
Thank you Rowena, you have our full support!
You challenged a course whose content is not completed yet, questioned them why making such a rushed decision to make it a requirement.
You stand strong against the bully you experienced in the board meeting, when someone claimed you are not ethnic enough to understand her struggles.
You stay calm and courageously fight against the unadjusted accusation.
The good news is there was no actual racism here, which makes sense since there is close to zero actual racism in Palo Alto.
The bad news is this “woke” tragi-comedy shows that despite decreasing national support for “woke” ideology nonsense there is no sign of this fever breaking on the peninsula any time soon.
At the meeting, Ms. Chiu said the nature of the criticism directed at her made her “feel unsafe.” It’s not clear she knew she was doing so, but by using the magic words “X makes me feel unsafe,” Ms. Chiu used a well-known cynical “woke” jujitsu move of trying to place the person or people arguing against what Ms. Chiu was arguing for at a disadvantage by placing them under completely undeserved scrutiny for racism or sexism or some other moral wrong.
Ms. Reynolds very legitimately could have pointed out that there was no good reason for Ms. Chiu to “feel unsafe” and that it was manipulative to use this “woke” jujitsu move.
Instead, Ms. Reynold cynically countered with her own “woke” jujitsu move that only race Y or group Z is entitled to use the “X makes me feel unsafe” jujitsu move. It was very inappropriate (and arguably “bullying”), but not racist, for Ms. Reynolds to include Ms. Chiu’s race in her criticism of Ms. Chiu.
Next, on X, Ms. Chiu legitimately criticized Ms. Reynolds for inappropriately using race in her criticism of herself. This legitimate criticism by Ms. Chiu was then used as a pretext for the 13 former board members, the Palo Alto Management Association and Palo Alto Educators cynically to use still more “woke” jujitsu to falsely characterize Ms. Chiu legitimate criticism of Ms. Reynolds as “villainizing a PAUSD staff member,” with the deplorable implication that Ms. Chiu was in some way engaging in racism by legitimately criticizing Ms. Reynolds’ inappropriate race-based criticism of herself.
A main tragedy of this bankrupt divisive “woke” ideology is that many of the current generation of students, including some who have made comments to this article, have been brainwashed to believe that this is a valid framework for interpreting the world. To do so, these students must buy into corruptive ideas such as that racism is rampant in Palo Alto when obviously there is almost no racism in Palo Alto. What would be appropriate is for the 13 former board members, the Palo Alto Management Association and Palo Alto Educators to apologize to Ms. Chiu.