BY BRADEN CARTWRIGHT
Daily Post Staff Writer
Palo Alto’s Ohlone Elementary School decided in 2024 to give all fifth graders laptops with no content controls for school and personal use.
Things went in surprising directions.
Parent John Craig, who is running for the school board, said his daughter and her friends built a social network on Google Docs with tens of thousands of pages.
Left on their own, the kids, ages 10 and 11, had normal conversations and role-played, for example building a hotel with rooms that sold different things, like a miniature economy.
But the girls also go into some trouble, like seeing how many times they could conjugate the f-word and roasting other students, Craig said.
Parents called in for a meeting
Teachers eventually found out, locked the devices and sent out a notice to parents, Craig said.
Principal Elsa Chen called Craig and 10 other parents in for a meeting. Chen told Craig his daughter couldn’t use the f-word and handed him a five-day suspension notice, according to Craig.
Craig said he learned that Chen held his daughter for two hours and had her write and re-write a confession. Craig said the second confession didn’t sound like his daughter and believes Chen told her what to write.
In the shared Google Docs, Craig said his daughter and friends complained about a boy who touched girls on their chest, stood too close to them and followed them to the bathroom.
13 girls corroborated harassment
Craig provided a statement to the Post signed by 13 students that detailed their allegations against the boy, including him making sexual noises, trying to kiss students and following girls around campus.
Craig said he and other parents appealed the suspension and asked the district to address the sexual harassment, but they received only a boilerplate response from then-Superintendent Don Austin.
Craig’s daughter and her friend went to the school board on March 17 and April 21 to complain about getting suspended and missing a field trip while the sexual harassment was ignored.
“This left a deep, disturbing impression on me and showed how toxic authority can be,” one girl said.
Title IX investigation
The district did an investigation under Title IX, a federal law that bans sex discrimination. But the investigation found no evidence that the boy’s behavior was of a “sexual nature.”
Rather, the boy’s behavior “was a sign of immaturity and lack of understanding of personal space,” the investigation said, according to an excerpt provided by Craig on Friday.
Craig said administrators eventually removed the suspension from his daughter’s record but never admitted they did anything wrong.
“I’m actually still confused as to what the district’s understanding of sexual harassment is, which is an uncomfortable position to be in,” Craig said.
Only board member Rowena Chiu reached out to Craig and said many Palo Alto families had been treated the same, according to Craig.
Craig said he learned about a lawsuit from Ohlone with a similar theme — a mother said her daughter was touched inappropriately by three boys in kindergarten, and Chen allegedly downplayed the touching as “a game.”
The boys allegedly went under a lunch table and poked the girl over her clothes between her legs on Feb. 6, 2024, and kept poking her after she kicked them and told them to stop, the suit said.
One of the boys touched the girl again during recess two days later and in a classroom on March 1, 2024, the suit said.
Chen assumed the girl was exaggerating and wouldn’t move her to another classroom, so she transferred to another school, the suit said.
Nightmares and trauma
The girl “experienced profound institutional betrayal” that resulted in nightmares and trauma, the suit said.
A Title IX investigation found the poking happened but “cannot reasonably be compared to more sensual, lingering touches like massaging and fondling, or to grabbing,” according to the suit, filed in federal court in February 2025.
The district is in the process of settling the lawsuit. The board will discuss the details behind closed doors tomorrow.
Chen was transferred to lead Palo Verde Elementary School this summer.
Political problem
Craig said he doesn’t want to sue the district like the other family. He said the issues are political, not legal, and there should be more accountability. And that led him to enter the school board race.
“I want a better school system that responds to people,” Craig said in an interview.
Chen referred any questions to district spokeswoman Lynette White, who said the district takes every report of sexual harassment seriously.
“Federal and state privacy laws prohibit Palo Alto Unified from discussing any specific student matter or confirming whether one exists, even when a family speaks publicly. Those protections cover every student who may be involved,” White said in an email.
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