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PALO ALTO UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT PALO ALTO HIGH SCHOOL 50 EMBARCADERO RD. PALO ALTO, CA 94301
NON-PROFIT ORG U.S. POSTAGE
PAI D PALO ALTO PERMIT #44
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The Campanile Vol. CVII, No. 5
Palo Alto High School, 50 Embarcadero Road, Palo Alto, CA 94301
Wednesday, February 12, 2025
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uring a contentious five-hour special Board of Education meeting on Jan. 23, the Board narrowly approved a freshman ethnic studies course as a high school graduation requirement beginning with the class of 2029. The vote was 3-2, with Board members Shana Segal, Shounak Dharap and Josh Salcman voting in favor while Rowena Chiu and Alison Kamhi voted against. In 2021, Gov. Gavin Newsom made ethnic studies a state graduation requirement starting with the class of 2030 by signing Assembly Bill 101. Since then, a group of social studies teachers from Gunn and Paly have worked for two years to create a single-semester ethnic studies course designed to replace one semester of freshman World History. Both schools offered one pilot ethnic studies class last semester to freshmen, covering four ethnic minorities: African Americans, Chicanos and Latinos, Native Americans, and Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. A week prior to the Jan. 23 special board meeting, Superintendent Don Austin said he realized Newsom never allocated funding to the ethnic studies mandate in his proposed yearly budget. As a result, he said, the course was no longer a state mandate. After talking to the ethnic studies teachers about this, Austin said he went to the board agendizing committee, consisting of himself, Segal and Dharap. “First, I went to our ethnic studies teachers, told them what I discovered and told them why I thought it was problematic,” Austin said. “They were disappointed but understood. Then, I asked our board president and vice president to meet with me and shared the information with them. I recommended pulling (ethnic studies from the agenda), and in our case the president has final say …(so) we had an agreement (to pull it).” On Jan. 16, Austin publicly announced the decision to remove the approval of ethnic studies from the agenda of the upcoming board meeting, but after he said that message to the community, he said he received numerous emails criticizing this abrupt change. “Shortly after, (Segal) called me back and said that she’d like it agendized,” Austin said. “It was too late to put it on ( Jan. 21), so we landed on a special meeting date to have it heard.”
Only five days after ethnic studies was pulled from the agenda, Austin sent a ParentSquare update notifying the community of the special board meeting to discuss the approval of the course.While there were three public meetings about the course over the past year and a half, the full curriculum of the course was never released publicly. About 36 hours prior to the board meeting, Austin released a curriculum outline PDF titled “Curriculum and Sample Lessons.” Social studies Instructional Leader Mary Sano said during the board meeting, though, that this was not the finalized curriculum but a “brainstorming document” from about a year ago. Sano declined an interview request for this story. Before Sano's statement at the board meeting, some attendees, including parent Alan Crystal, expressed concerns about the document Austin released which included PDFs that posed the question “Is AGENCY gained when oppression is resisted?” to which the notes say, “That depends on whether or not the oppression was resisted violently or nonviolently.” Board member Rowena Chiu said prior to the meeting that she didn’t know the document Austin released was unfinished and that her understanding of the course’s content was largely based on the brainstorming document. “I was concerned to find that the materials as presented to me were either incomplete or during the meeting it was claimed that they were working drafts,” Chiu said. “I did see a slideshow, which I assumed was a form of a lesson plan, but some things seemed removed … After the board meeting. When I went back to look for the slideshow, it was removed from the packet.” Because topics taught in ethnic studies are sensitive, Crystal said openness about the curriculum is crucial. “There was an original direction that the state took about what should be included in the class, and that caused a big uproar amongst many communities because the content was really out of line,” Crystal said. “The subject of ethnic studies has been very controversial, and that being the case, I think that would be a situation where the school district would want to take extra measures to be transparent." However, all the students enrolled in the pilot course who spoke at the board meeting gave positive feedback.
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ARYAN KAWATRA/USED WITH PERMISSION
Gunn pilot student Quinn Boughton speaks at the special board meeting on Jan. 23 next to Paly pilot student Amaan Ali. "The curriculum and our teachers were able to navigate this delicate subject matter in a way that was inclusive and engaging for all students," Boughton said.
“I recently completed the ethnic studies pilot protimely and transparent fashion, and so we also, as board gram. I'll admit I had some reservations going into this members, have asked to see a full curriculum.” course,” Gunn pilot student Quinn Boughton said. “I Crystal agrees. wasn’t sure how much it would apply to me as a white “I’ve been very disappointed by the lack of transstudent or whether the topics might make people feel parency,” Crystal said. “There have been community divided or uncomfortable; those fears turned out to be members and parents who’ve been asking the adminiscompletely unfounded. The curriculum and our teachers tration for months … for information about the class. were able to navigate this delicate subject matter in a Many community members have been concerned about way that was inclusive and engaging for all students.” understanding what’s going to be in the class, but the And both Paly ethnic studadministration has really not ies pilot teachers, Benjamin been forthcoming at all.” Bolanos and Christopher For Chiu the environment of Farina, said they provided the the Jan. 23 board meeting made community with sufficient her feel pressured while casting materials needed for the school her vote to pause the course, and board to approve their curshe wondered how the other riculum. board members felt about that board members vote in “We provided the same before they cast their vote. thing that we provide for all of “I think it is safe to say favor of ethnic studies as a our course proposals, which is generally that the atmosphere in a detail of all of the essential the room was very hostile and graduation requirement questions and learning target intense,” Chiu said. “The room documents across all of our felt very one-sided. There was units,” Farina said. finger clicking and cheering for certain positions and And Bolanos said the community should have more for other positions. Of course that made things very trust in teachers and their ability to create a class, withhostile. So certainly I think everybody on the board felt out community input. pressure, but I think it is fair to say that the three new “We’re the expert on the curriculum and curriculum board members felt more pressure.” development,” Bolanos said. “We were trained to teach Following this board’s decision to approve the course the discipline we studied and how to do that while it’s for next year's freshmen, Austin said teachers will have effective and with the best strategies in the classroom.” full jurisdiction over the course. In addition, Austin said there’s a balance to be had. “The board’s role on that class ends with approval,” “There are people that say they just want to see the Austin said. “(It’s) beyond the scope of the board. The daily lesson plans. That’s unprecedented,” Austin said. teachers are happy to revise as they go and to see what’s “There’s no course in our entire district where every working and what doesn’t work.” daily lesson plan is presented. Also, I don't want our Farina agrees. school board to think it’s their role to approve daily lesHe said, “We do have a continued opportunity son plans. That would be quite an overreach.” to reach out to the community and help them feel He also said teachers will be providing a syllabus for comfortable with the version of the course that we’ve the California Ethnic Studies course soon with a more developed and understand that we do really feel like it in-depth layout of the course. is in the best interest of all of our students to have this Even so, Chiu said there wasn’t enough information course." for her to vote to approve the course. “I feel like there’s been very little transparency and Kamhi and Salcman did not respond to interview inability for the current board members and all the requests for this story. community who are concerned to even judge this,” Chiu said. “We have asked for materials under the California Ed Code … that pertains to instructional materials. Dalia Saal There has been some concern within the community that the district has not provided the materials in a Staff Writer
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Teleféric Barcelona filed a lawsuit in December against Macarena, a new Spanish restaurant set to open in downtown Palo Alto, accusing the co-founders of recipe theft and misuse of confidential information. The lawsuit, filed in Santa Clara County Superior Court, claims Macarena’s cofounders, David Linares and Elisabet Reviriego, former employees at Teleféric,
downloaded thousands of proprietary documents before leaving the company. These documents included customer data and marketing materials, which the Padrosa siblings, who own Teleféric, allege were used to help launch Macarena. In an email response to The Campanile, Macarena denied the allegations. “Teleféric Barcelona’s allegations are baseless, merely an attempt to stifle competition and hurt our reputation in the press,” the Macarena team wrote. “Our recipes are entirely our own, and we stand by the originality and quality of our culinary creations.”
Teleferic did not respond to multiple requests for an interview. The lawsuit also alleges Linares and Reviriego deleted confidentiality agreements and used Teleféric-provided contacts. In addition, the Padrosas, the co-founders of Macarena, are accused of using Teleféric’s private data to secure business proposals with high-profile partnerships, such as a contract with the San Jose Sharks for the 2024-2025 NHL season. The San Jose Sharks did not respond to inquiries regarding the status of the partnership.
Sophomore Lily Liu said the debacle sheds light on competitiveness in the Palo Alto restaurant industry. “It’s surprising to see such serious legal allegations surrounding something like food,” Liu said. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anything like this happening around here before. I’m interested in seeing how it’s going to play out.” Angela Molyneux, an employee at Sweet 55 in Town and Country, agreed and said the situation may impact hiring practices in the local food service industry. “It’s going to be hard to trust anybody
that works for you,” Molyneux said. “You might even have to get agreements going soon.” Despite the ongoing lawsuit, Macarena said it will proceed with its launch as planned. “We remain confident in our values and the steps we’ve taken to launch the restaurant,” Reviriego wrote in the email. “We are excited to serve the Palo Alto community and deliver exceptional experiences for our patrons.” A case management hearing will be held in July to determine the next steps.