This story was first published in Friday morning’s Daily Post. To get local news stories first, pick up the Post in the morning at 1,000 Mid-Peninsula locations.
BY BRADEN CARTWRIGHT
Daily Post Staff Writer
A family has dropped their lawsuit against the Palo Alto Unified School District that said a student was falsely accused of using Al to cheat.
The family’s attorney Evan Nelson said the student has transferred to a different school.
“When the response from PAUSD became further retaliation instead of introspection and an attempt to improve and grow, the family determined it was better to move to a different and better situation where the student’s superior talents would be appreciated and allowed to flourish,” Nelson said in an email to the Post. Takashi Kato and his son sued English teacher Sarah Bartlett, Assistant Principal Jerry Berk-son and Title IX Coordinator Robert Andrade.
Kato said his son turned in an essay on The Crucible on Nov. 13, 2025.
Bartlett allegedly said a plagiarism checker flagged the essay as 76% AI.
She required the student to rewrite the essay and docked his score to 65/100, the suit said.
Kato said he provided drafts, revision history, timestamps and notes that showed his son wrote the essay.
“Despite this evidence, the accusation of academic dishonesty was not withdrawn and was used to justify the compelled retake and resulting grade penalty,” the lawsuit said.
After Kato’s complaint, he said teachers increasingly scrutinized his son to justify the administration’s previous actions. His son ended up getting a B in the class.
Nelson said the lawsuit was never about the grade — the student has a 4.5 GPA — nor the money, because the family only demanded $150,000.
Due process lacking
Kato and his family came from another country and “had a very distinct expectation about the rights, freedoms and protections, including due process protections and fairness, that should exist here in the United States,” Nelson said. “When the experience at Paly proved lacking, they tried to correct it for all students past, present and future.”
Nelson said dozens of students have fallen victim to the false Al usage claims. The suit alleged that Asians and male students are more likely to get flagged.
Nelson agreed to drop the lawsuit on Wednesday (Sept. 2), court records show.
Kato, who graduated from college in Japan, founded an Al company based in Palo Alto in July 2024.
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