BY BRADEN CARTWRIGHT
Daily Post Staff Writer
The Palo Alto school board today (Feb. 23) picked Deputy Superintendent Trent Bahadursingh to replace Superintendent Don Austin while the district searches for a permanent new leader.
Bahadursingh, 60, of East Palo Alto, worked with Austin at his previous district in Southern California and is one of three employees at Austin’s leadership coaching business, called SimpleWins.
Bahadursingh will be acting superintendent through June 30, board president Shounak Dharap announced today.
“Bahadursingh will be basically running the district, keeping the lights on, giving us continuity and stability as the board dedicates its efforts to a (hiring) process,” Dharap said.
The appointment comes after Austin left the district on Friday. Dharap said the separation was a joint decision, and Austin was neither retiring nor getting fired.
The district and Austin signed a settlement agreement to continue paying Austin, but Dharap has so far refused to release it to the Post.
Bahadursingh takes over as the district faces tense labor negotiations with the teacher’s union and three student suicides in the last year.
The board on Feb. 10 approved a $3.25 million settlement with teacher Peter Colombo, who said the district rushed to suspend him without investigating unsubstantiated rape allegations made by a former student. Bahadursingh was one of four defendants in Colombo’s lawsuit, along with Austin, Legal Compliance Manager Amanda Bark and former HR Director Lisa Hickey.
Bahadursingh grew up in Rio Linda, north of Sacramento, and graduated from Cal Poly Pomona, according to his district profile.
He was hired from the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District in December 2020, replacing Deputy Superintendent of Human Resources Karen Hendricks. Austin had been superintendent of Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District before he was hired in 2018.
“Trent knows this district, its people, and its priorities from the inside, and the board has full confidence in his ability to provide the continuity our community deserves during this transition,” Dharap said in a statement after today’s meeting.
The board voted 4-1 in a closed session to approve Bahadursingh’s appointment, with board member Rowena Chiu voting no.
The board also voted 4-1 today to reach out to search firms that would look for a new superintendent.
The district will tell potential search firms to get feedback from the community and involve all five board members, Dharap said.
Chiu voted against the process. She said she wants to put out a formal “request for proposals,” or RFP, that allows any search firm to bid its services.
But Bahadursingh and Chief Business Officer Charen Yu said the RFP process would take longer than the district reaching out to search firms.
Board member Josh Salcman said he wants to hire a new superintendent before the next school year starts.
Board member Shana Segal said the board solicited four proposals when Austin was hired in 2018 rather than doing a formal RFP.
So the majority of the board voted to skip an RFP and solicit proposals from five to seven firms, including at least one that would do a nationwide search.
Chiu said the board is rushing an important decision, and an RFP is more thorough, transparent and in line with other school districts.
Chiu referenced a comment made on Friday by teacher’s union president Tom Culbertson, who said Austin’s departure “marks the conclusion of a difficult chapter … defined by top-down mandates and a breakdown in the collaborative spirit.”
Chiu said she wants to make sure the search firm uses different tactics to get feedback on the new superintendent, so everyone feels involved.
“Certain segments of the community have felt extremely disenfranchised, and I personally would like to see the cultural reset that (the teacher’s union) speaks of,” Chiu said.
So let me get this right: One of the main guys sued by Colombo and found to be at fault, not at trial but settlement amount tells you everything you need to know, is now made Temporary Sup? Trent B is and was in charge of Title Nine which was never done in Colombo case which was a major part of Colombo retaliation claim.
Not doing a Title Nine is against Federal Law and Trent B made that decision. I cannot believe this guy has not been packing yet and then on top of that gets promoted? WOW!!!!
Of course he was selected. He will save the District enough to cover his never needed before Don job in staff negotiations alone. My guess is one of the newly elected Board members voted no. The other, probably wants something that Don and Trent have promised. There actually was a time when educators did not need subsidized housing or unions. The Promise? Silly teachers and staff, that is for children, not adults. What a spoiled crock of what was once Palo Alto.
The Board and Don Austin were happy partners in which they approved his raises and he played nice publicly with them–until it predictably went to heck. Three student suicides indicate complete failure of the Wellness programs, dating back to the Kevin Skelly-era suicides of 2009. It just hasn’t stopped. And now there will be a bunch of Don Austin crony hires to deal with, including Trent Bahadursingh. Will the Board have Leadership Associates play kingmaker again? They chose Skelly and other superintendents, and changes are needed. If no changes are made, the mediocrity will continue.
There is only 1 or 2 important things the board will look at. Ability to process and run basic aid funding and push thru their personal behind closed doors agendas. What would be nice, and it won’t happen, if all closed door meetings were recorded like past Presidents started in the White House so long ago. The Board speaks of “transparency”, let’s really go there and start recording. Then, Don and Trent could let us play back what he said in that meeting attended by our community student representative. That would be transparency.
Austin runs a “leadership coaching” business? Sounds like a cult to me.
Of course the district needs time to find a replacement. Let’s just hope the board can do better than what they have now.
Bahadursingh is an Austin protege through and through and is clearly not a long term answer to what ails 25 Churchill.
One hopes no pay raise comes with this band aid position given it was his incompetence and blind allegiance to Austin that helped create this situation. He should not be rewarded in any way, shape, or form.
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Not publishing and providing both Don Austin’s amended contract and Trent’s contract as Acting Superintendent is straight up illegal. They are public records and are supposed to be read out and entered into the record during meetings where they are voted on. Can you publish Dharap’s refusal communication? Could be used in legal proceedings against him if it is an outright refusal.
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Then file a PRA.
PAUSD is a taxpayer funded public trust, so why all the smoke and mirrors? Stakeholders have the right to know where their money is going. Withholding such information just leads to further and possibly unnecessary suspicion. If Trent Bahadursingh is the best the board can do for the time being, then fine. At least let folks know how much they are paying for this “interim solution”. Again, Mr. Bahadursingh should not be getting a raise because he was clearly part of the problem and did Mr. Austin’s unethical and illegal dirty work without question. The Colombo malfeasance is a perfect example. Trust me, it is not the only one.
In addition, Mr. Bahadursingh should have nothing to do with the Simple Wins side hustle whilst serving as interim superintendent. I still find it puzzling that the board let him and Austin run such a scheme when 100% of their focus should have been on PAUSD.