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Superintendent departs
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Superintendent Don Austin dealt with a wide range of criticism and controversies during his time in Palo Alto, clashing at times with teachers, parents, students and board members. Here’s a look back at his tenure:
BY BRADEN CARTWRIGHT Daily Post Staff Writer
Superintendent Don Austin left the Palo Alto Unified School District yesterday, ending an eight-year tenure that was the longest in his position since 1975. Austin said he is leaving because working in education for 30 years has taken a toll on him, and the timing feels right. “There was no event. There’s no single thing to point to,” Austin said. “It’s just one day you wake up and think, DON AUSTIN, photo from the website of his consulting firm. ‘Maybe I’ve gone as far as I’m going to go here.’” “Changing leadership is not easy, and was closed to the public. Austin said The separation was a joint decision between Austin and the board, not a I can promise you this decision was not he and the district signed a severance agreement to continue paying him in retirement or a firing, board president made lightly,” Dharap said. The board voted to end Austin’s con- an advisory role through June 30, and Shounak Dharap said in a letter to the [See EXIT, page 18] tract in a special meeting yesterday that community.
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MOON ORBIT: NASA aims to send four astronauts on a mission to fly around the moon in March after acing the latest rocket fueling test. TRUCKING SAFETY: All truckers and bus drivers will have to take their commercial driver’s license tests in English as the Trump administration expands its campaign to get unqualified drivers off the road. A truck driver arrested Wednesday for allegedly running a red light and causing a fatal crash in Indiana is an illegal immigrant from India, police said. Seacliff Carmel
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FIXER UPPER CANCELED: HGTV’s “Rehab Addict” has been canceled after its star, Nicole Curtis, was caught on video using the n-word while filming the series. SEAHAWKS FOR SALE: The Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks are for sale. The price is expected to range from $9 million to $11 billion. The team is owned by the estate of Paul Allen, the Microsoft co-founder who died in 2018. AVALANCHE PROBE: Authorities looking into the deadly avalanche in California’s Sierra Nevada will investigate whether criminal negligence played a role in the tragedy that killed eight. Among the questions [See THE UPDATE, page 4]
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In a major blow against President Donald Trump, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled yesterday that he does not have the authority to impose the wide-ranging tariffs that have caused economic uncertainty in the state, nation and beyond. Trump cited the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 as he set tariffs on goods from most countries around the world soon after he took office early last year. In a 6-3 decision, the court said only Congress OPEN SAT & SUN 1-4PM
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APRIL 21, 2020 — Parents protest [See CONTROVERSY, page 18]
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APRIL 16, 2019 — Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian halts talks with Stanford over plans to expand its campus after Austin reached a side deal with the university, throwing off the county’s negotiations.
Here’s how tariffs have affected California
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NOV. 29, 2018 — Austin and two board members spend $2,026 to stay at a four-star San Francisco hotel for an education conference and trade show.
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has the broad power to impose taxes on Americans under the act. “The President enjoys no inherent authority to impose tariffs during peacetime,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority. Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito Jr. and Brett Kavanaugh dissented. Trump said in a press conference yesterday that the decision is “deeply disappointing and I’m ashamed of certain members of the court.” He called the justices appointed by Democratic presidents “a disgrace” and insinuated [See TARIFFS, page 19]
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