School board member Chiu will only meet with unions if meeting is recorded and there’s a third-party witness

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BY BRADEN CARTWRIGHT
Daily Post Staff Writer

In the wake of a heated debate over Ethnic Studies, the rift between Palo Alto school employees and board member Rowena Chiu has only grown deeper.

Teachers and principals said at Tuesday’s school board meeting that Chiu will only sit down with them if she can record the meeting and bring an attorney, reflecting “a pattern of avoidance.”

In an interview with the Post on Wednesday, Chiu said she’s been subject to a “smear campaign,” and district employees have made her feel like there’s no path forward.

Special education teacher Ashley Cheechoo said at Tuesday’s meeting that she’s looking for a conversation with Chiu, not a deposition.

Teri Baldwin, president of the teacher’s union, said Chiu’s preconditions are “unworkable.”

Palo Alto High School Principal Brent Kline, representing the union for principals and psychologists, repeated his calls for Chiu’s resignation.

“Under this current board, we have been caught in a cycle of blame, personal agendas and political posturing,” Kline said at Tuesday’s meeting.

Chiu has been in the hot seat since the board voted 3-2 on Jan. 23 to mandate Ethnic Studies for freshman starting in the fall.

After the meeting, Chiu reposted on her X account a post from Asians Against Wokeness that called out Executive Director of Curriculum and Instruction Danae Reynolds for her comments about who could feel unsafe. Reynolds was subject to racist comments underneath the post and hasn’t been at a board meeting since.

Judy Argumedo, principal at Barron Park Elementary School, said Reynolds experienced a “public digital lynching.”

“Her career is now tainted. She was targeted for being a strong, black, educated woman who engaged in a discussion,” Argumedo said on Tuesday.

Chiu invoked her background as a Harvey Weinstein rape survivor and #MeToo advocate in her repost of Asians Against Wokeness.

“In 1998, Weinstein told me, as he attempted to rape me, that he ‘liked Chinese girls, because they’re discreet.’ In 2025, as an elected official, I spoke up about Asian oppression, and I was suppressed yet again,” Chiu said in her repost.

Board members Shounak Dharap and Shana Segal introduced a resolution at the next board meeting on Feb. 11 to re-assign Chiu from committees working directly with school employees.

“When board members take actions that create the potential for harassment of our employees, we risk fostering a hostile workplace environment,” Segal said.

The resolution also called on Chiu to meet with district employees, address their concerns and rebuild trust.

Chiu apologized at the meeting, agreed to meet with employees and accepted her committee re-assignments.

“The resolution seems to be an attempt to silence dissent,” she said at the meeting.

Board members Josh Salcman and Alison Kamhi said they didn’t think the resolution was necessary.

“I wonder, are we engaging in public shaming to some extent?” Salcman said.

Since that meeting, Salcman said he met with 11 principals along with many teachers and other school employees.

Kamhi said she has met with more than 45 employees and learned recent board meetings were more damaging to morale than she imagined.

“I have had principals who worked here for many decades asking me if we were a district that no longer valued every child. I had staff asking if we as a board condone racism. These questions have been heartbreaking,” Kamhi said on Tuesday.

Kamhi and Salcman said they agree with employees on three recommendations for the board: do a bias training, review social media policies and hold a community listening session.

“As board members, we set the tone,” Salcman said.

Chiu didn’t speak on the issue at Tuesday’s board meeting but said Wednesday that she’s publicly apologized multiple times for her repost.

Chiu said her repost was up for less than 48 hours to her 1,500 followers, and she didn’t read the comments underneath — a “grave error” that she said she deeply regrets.

Chiu said she had one meeting with a school psychologist that went “horrifically badly.”

“The person I met with, her opinion is that I have harmed the district so badly there is no recovery, and therefore there’s no constructive thing I could do that would restore trust,” Chiu said Wednesday. “The meeting felt very one-sided. I found it to be incredibly difficult for me to express an opinion or to be heard or seen or understood.”

Chiu said she doesn’t feel comfortable going into another meeting with district employees without a third party.

But she isn’t set on bringing her lawyer. She said she’s been working on finding a neutral, third-party mediator both sides would agree on.

Chiu said she was quiet at Tuesday’s board meeting because she doesn’t feel “psychologically safe.”

“That’s exactly what happens when you condemn somebody as the epitome of evil and that person is regarded as a bigoted racist and canceled for such, and their children are getting death threats. I’m not going to be saying anything at all. I think that’s really obvious,” Chiu said.

Superintendent Don Austin said on Tuesday that Palo Alto is a destination school district, where people come from all over the world to attend.

“It is disappointing right now that it feels like we’re trying to scream that from the mountains, and all we hear is adult stuff and negativity,” Austin said.

“Everybody who’s got anything to do the school district needs to look in the mirror and see what their part of this is, because this isn’t good enough.”

The Ethnic Studies debate and ensuing resolution led some of Chiu’s supporters to start a recall against Dharap on Feb. 17.

Salcman, Kamhi and Segal said they’re against a recall while Chiu declined to comment.

The recall ceased on Feb. 21 because the campaign didn’t provide verifiable addresses for those who signed a petition, the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters said.

Parent Avery Wang, who was acting as spokesman for the recall campaign, initially said the campaign would refile its paperwork and continue the effort.

But Wang said told the Post on Wednesday that he dropped out of the campaign. So did parent William Watson, who signed on as campaign treasurer.

“It didn’t seem like the right thing to do right now,” Watson told the Post on Wednesday, noting that Dharap is termed out next year.

A few parents defended Chiu at Tuesday’s school board meeting.

“Please stop asking Rowena to resign and wondering why it’s a toxicenvironment,” parent Allyson Rosen said. “The people voted for her, and she’s brilliant and cares. We want Danae Reynolds here too.”

Resident Deborah Goldeen said frustration with the school board has been building among parents for the last 10 years, and the board and administration haven’t responded.

“So they elected an activist to the board. And you guys still aren’t getting it, and it’s very frustrating,” Goldeen said.