Although the virtual meeting was advertised as a “community input session,” per Superintendent Dr. Don Austin’s Jan. 26 Superintendent’s Update, many questions in the Zoom chat — where participants were directed to ask their questions — remained unanswered.

Instead, toward the end of the meeting, which ended 15 minutes earlier than scheduled, community members could fill out a form with any remaining questions. When a similar form was sent out last December, however, parent of ����ӰԺ alumni Lori Meyers emphasized the difficulty of giving specific feedback, as the substance of the course’s units and lesson plans wasn’t included.

“The community in general, and myself included, found it really difficult to understand exactly what we were giving feedback on, because it was something like, ‘What is your feedback on the section titled “Identity?”’” Meyers said. “We were like, ‘We don’t have any information’ — (the form) didn’t give us any real content to delve into.”

In a follow-up conversation with The Oracle, Lopez said that responses to questions asked on the form would be posted to the in the near future, but wasn’t able to provide a firm date.

The Jan. 30 meeting was one of many instances in which community members raised questions about ����ӰԺ’s new ethnic studies class. Passed in October 2021, California’s A.B. 101 mandates an ethnic studies-course graduation requirement for all public and charter high schools. The requirement aims to acknowledge the state’s diverse population in its curriculum, and follows in 2021 demonstrating ethnic studies’ positive impact on attendance and graduation rates for ninth-grade students.

In ����ӰԺ, freshmen will first take a semesterlong ethnic studies course — which aims to “examine California as a microcosm of the United States and focus on themes of social justice, social responsibility, and social change by increasing student agency” — before covering world history in the second semesters of ninth and 10th grade.

While ethnic studies has long been a contentious matter, tensions have risen since the onset of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7, with educators, parents and students attempting to reconcile their ideas for the content and structure and content of the course.

Path to a state mandate

On Nov. 6, 1968, the Black Student Union and Third World Liberation Front, a coalition of ethnic student organizations, (then San Francisco State College) to advocate for more diversity in the admissions process and for the creation of a school of ethnic studies. After more than four months of striking, San Francisco State established the nation’s first College of Ethnic Studies, which began operating in fall 1969.

Though it remains one of the only institutions of its kind in the U.S., ethnic studies courses have since become more common at other colleges and universities.

Five years prior to A.B. 101, former California Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law on Sept. 13, 2016, mandating the Instructional Quality Commission to develop an ethnic studies model curriculum for high schools. When the commission completed their first draft, however, it faced backlash for being ideologically left-leaning and excluding certain topics, such as antisemitism. On Aug. 12, 2019, California Board of Education President Linda Darling-Hammond announced that the Instructional Quality Commission would be submitting a new draft to the Board for approval.

“Ethnic studies can be an important tool to improve school climate and increase our understanding of one another,” she wrote in a press release. “A model curriculum should be accurate, free of bias, appropriate for all learners in our diverse state, and align with Governor Newsom’s vision of a California for all. The current draft model curriculum falls short and needs to be substantially redesigned.”

After three additional drafts, on March 18, 2021, the California Board of Education adopted a 688-page . Although the course’s primary focus remained on African Americans, Asian Americans, Latino Americans and Native Americans — the groups most college ethnic studies courses center around — the model curriculum expanded to include lessons on other ethnic groups in the U.S. Furthermore, the final draft included guidance to teachers on establishing trust when discussing complex topics and presenting balanced coverage of issues.

Current concerns

Some on the commission, however, were dissatisfied with the final model curriculum. from the University of California Ethnic Studies Faculty Council expressed concerns over the weaponization of “guardrails,” which preclude ethnic studies from promoting any discrimination, bias or bigotry.

The first draft of the state model curriculum included lesson outlines on the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel and studies of figures such as U.S. Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, whom some have criticized for anti-Israel comments. The final version does not include these lessons, instead focusing on the history and contributions of Arab American communities, as well as common stereotypes that Arab Americans encounter.

The 2023 letter contended that restricting certain material from the curriculum mirrors “conservative efforts in states such as Texas and Florida to suppress hard truths about racism and colonialism” and that “California teachers should be able to deliver lessons on important concepts such as settler colonialism, apartheid, and resistance without having to fear censorship or legal action by the state.”

Those with similar views joined to create the Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Consortium, which first convened in April 2020. The organization has their own model curriculum that aims to have students look through the “intersectional lenses of race, ethnicity, culture, gender, sexuality, ability, language, immigrant status, and class” and “analyze indigeneity, white supremacy, oppression, privilege, and decolonization, and work toward empowering themselves as anti-racist leaders who engage in social justice activism.”

Many, including former in favor of the state’s model, noting the dangers of using group identity as the primary lens to examine history, society, culture and politics. On the other hand, proponents of the “liberated” curriculum argue that de-emphasizing systems of power and oppression detracts from ethnic studies’ original purpose, leading to surface-level, non-critical explorations of culture and race.

According to Lopez, ����ӰԺ has partnered with the University of California, Berkeley’s High School Ethnic Studies Initiative — part of its History-Social Science Project — starting this year. Some community members have expressed concerns about this partnership, as the group lists the Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum as a teaching tool and also worked with the Oakland Unified School District, in which a

In a Jan. 19 email obtained by The Oracle through the California Public Records Act, Austin clarified to the ����ӰԺ Board of Education that the Oakland teachers union failed to follow standard processes and taught lessons that weren’t connected to the Berkeley consultants.

“During the (curriculum development) process we will consult with a lot of people,” he wrote. “That should be what is expected. There will be many efforts to silence voices, starting with who we even speak with. I am asking that we continue to share the process and timelines and that our board helps people who reach out to understand that we have identified input opportunities.”

In ����ӰԺ, Gunn Social Studies Instructional Lead Jeff Patrick said that though some lesson outlines from the state’s model curriculum may be used, most would be generated by Gunn and Paly teachers. He also noted in an email that it would be “extremely unlikely that (the district) would use anything specific from the Liberated Ethnic Studies group.”

Community feedback

In order to prepare for the 2025-26 course rollout — which was pushed back one year to allow for further course development — ����ӰԺ formed its Ethnic Studies Committee last school year, comprising Lopez, Patrick, Paly Social Studies Instructional Lead Mary Sano, and other Gunn and Paly teachers.

The committee is currently refining the course’s five core units: Identity; Race and Ethnicity; History and Migration; Language, Culture, Education, and Learning; and Action and Civic Engagement. It is also soliciting feedback from students and community members. At the Jan. 30 meeting, the committee announced a new Unit 0: “Why Ethnic Studies?,” and Lopez noted the possibility of one section of ethnic studies running at each high school next school year to allow for additional fine-tuning before the final rollout.

Thus far, alongside the two community meetings, Paly and Gunn held information and student-feedback sessions during PRIME on Oct. 11 and Oct. 18, respectively.

At the school-board level, community members have advocated for an ethnic studies course encompassing more ethnic groups — mirroring the activism that led to the state’s sprawling model curriculum.

During Open Forum on Nov. 14, 2023, 17 Middle Eastern and North African community members spoke about their experiences with Islamophobia and advocated for MENA inclusion in ethnic studies. According to Paly senior Mariam Tayebi, who is the MENA Club co-president, the group felt compelled to speak after facing bullying and discrimination following the start of the Israel-Hamas war.

“We decided that it’s really important for us to show the district and show whoever else watches (the Board meetings) that there are kids here and we are struggling and we want to be represented,” she said.

At the next meeting, on Dec. 12, eight Jewish parents and students — including ����ӰԺ parent Linor Levav — detailed personal experiences of antisemitism and asked for Jewish voices to be included in the ethnic studies curriculum. Although Jewish Americans’ history is typically not covered in most college-level ethnic studies courses — they are considered white in the context of the discipline — the California model curriculum includes lessons on Jewish Americans and antisemitism.

“I want to ask you to please include Jewish Americans in our ethnic studies class,” Levav said during Open Forum. “Antisemitism has exploded across the United States and the Bay Area. It’s fueled by lies about Jews and Israel. ����ӰԺ can and should help to correct this.”

Beyond specific ethnic-group considerations, many have advocated for transparency with the curriculum-development process.

“It’s very, very important that there is … full transparency,” Meyers said. “The more that the community and students and parents can see what’s going on in ethnic studies, the better and smoother the process is going to be, and the more likely it’s going to be that we get the kind of ethnic studies class that I think we all really want.”

While Patrick understands the community’s desire to participate and the need for ����ӰԺ to share updates and solicit feedback, he emphasized that the lack of transparency some feel can mostly be attributed to educators’ newness to the process, not ulterior motives.

“What we’re trying to do is create a course that’s going to be best for our students,” he said. “So as people are looking at our work and bringing up their own points, I hope that they can keep that in mind that some of the comments parents make might not be in the best interests of our students as a whole.”

Along a similar vein, though ����ӰԺ parent Uzma Minhas also values transparency and community involvement, she cautions the district from only listening to the loudest and most organized groups.

“They have to be very careful that oftentimes marginalized communities don’t speak up, so they may not be hearing from the most marginalized communities,” she said.

A realistic curriculum

Although much of the conversation surrounding ethnic studies has revolved around Jewish and MENA curricular inclusion, Patrick emphasized that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would not explicitly be covered in the new course, and that it’s currently a part of the sophomore Contemporary World History class.

“The scope that the state intends for the ethnic studies curriculum is narrower than the general public … is aware of,” he said. “By the time students are there in 10th grade looking at that topic, they will have hopefully developed the skills or began to develop the skills to analyze those things on their own.”

Paly senior Alma Samet — who identifies as a Mizrahi Jew (Jewish people who are of MENA origin) — agrees with this assessment, noting how including the conflict in ethnic studies could exacerbate misrepresentation.

“I really could see it just overriding and taking up a lot more space in the curriculum than it has to, especially when there are so many different topics and communities to focus on,” she said.

Still, senior Deena Abu-Dayeh stressed the imperfections of how the Middle East is currently covered in Contemporary World History, citing her own experiences.

“The only time I’ve ever heard (about) Palestine — which is where I’m from — is when it had to do with the conflict and how we are the terrorists, and that name has been portrayed on us a lot,” she said. “That kind of gives a false image that all of us are just barbarians that have to deal with poverty.”

According to Patrick, the ethnic studies course’s final unit — Action and Civil Engagement — will include a capstone activity allowing students to have more choice in the topics that they delve into.

Looking ahead, the social studies department plans to identify potential ethnic studies teachers by this spring, so that it can spend the next school year in professional development related to the course. Although specific trainings have yet to be finalized, teachers will be focusing on developing common understandings of sociological terms that may not be as prevalent in other history classes, such as “dominant and counter narratives” and “intersectionality.”

Ultimately, despite the complex and often-controversial process, Samet maintains an emphasis on the course’s central objective.

“I think the main goals are just to create more well-rounded, respectful students who are ready to go into a world that is very diverse,” she said. “Especially in America, it’s a big old melting pot, so making sure that people maintain respect for all types of cultures and traditions and also understand a bit more of a backstory on the struggles that these communities have faced.”

The next ethnic studies community meeting will be conducted as a webinar, and the district will ask for questions in advance. More information will be provided in Dr. Austin’s weekly Superintendent Updates.

Started in fall 2022, the modernization effort includes a new administration office with a more prominent entrance and a food-services complex. The latter will house indoor and outdoor eating spaces and culinary arts classrooms alongside traditional food-services facilities. Both buildings are on track to be completed before the start of the 2024-25 school year.

Senior Construction Manager Mohammed Sedqi explained that contractors lost 1 1?2 months’ worth of work time due to last winter’s unusually heavy rains. Consequently, they had to work more intensely toward the end of the school year. “When March started and we had no rain, we were pushing for more people, more crews, more labor,” he said. “You had a team taking down the columns, (another) taking down the foundation. That overlap of so many activities made all that noise.”

As construction continues throughout this year, Sedqi hopes that the work will be less disruptive. The asphalt between the quad and E-building has been replaced with concrete, and fences will be pushed closer to the construction site, opening a corridor for students to walk to the southeastern portion of campus without cutting through the quad.

Looking ahead, Principal Wendy Stratton is working with new Assistant Principal Mycal Hixon, who will be overseeing construction, and Associated Student Body President Nathan Levy to make the process more transparent and accessible. Stratton believes student involvement is key, since students are important beneficiaries and the project was funded through taxpayer dollars. On his part, Levy has formed a new Student Executive Council committee that will attend construction meetings and share relevant updates in a new monthly newsletter.

Levy hopes that classes can take advantage of the ongoing work. “It could be a learning opportunity for a lot of different classes — one where they could take tours or learn more about the construction process,” he said. As an example, Levy pointed to how students in Advanced Placement Environmental Science classes could focus on the steps construction crews are taking to minimize damage to the environment and create greener buildings.

Sedqi also expressed a desire to work with students who are interested in architecture, construction or engineering. “I’ll be more than happy to get them involved in this — just to see the progress, how we are doing the work, what’s happening,” he said.

This unique architecture that dominates southern Palo Alto was created by real estate developer Joseph Eichler. Though he first worked as a dairy businessman, living in a home designed by famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright inspired him to think of ways he could bring modernist home elements to the general public. In 1949, he founded Eichler ����ӰԺs Inc. and partnered with various architectural firms to deliver on this objective.

Eichler ����ӰԺs Inc. marketed three key priorities: design, community and affordability. These concepts are best illustrated through Palo Alto’s Greenmeadow neighborhood, an area of the city bounded by Alma Street, East Charleston Road, Middlefield Road and San Antonio Road. There, Eichler sold homes featuring open floor plans, post-and-beam construction and clerestory windows—windows located at the top of a structure’s wall. When they were first introduced to the market in 1950, the homes were sold at a modest price of $17,000. They were also in close proximity to the Greenmeadow Community Center, which housed a pool and a clubhouse to host various events. According to Greenmeadow resident junior Naya Nebriaga, the community center continues to be an integral part of the neighborhood today. “Every weekend (there’s always) something going on,” she said. “They have barbeques, wine tastings for the adults and home renovation tip sessions.”

In many aspects, Eichler’s architectural legacy has endured the test of time: Out of the 2,700 Eichler homes originally built in Palo Alto, Atria Real Estate Founder Kevin Swartz estimates that roughly 2,000 of them still remain. Some Eichler owners, such as Nebriaga, have opted to modernize their homes to make them more suitable for 21st-century living. “When we moved, we had to redo all of the plumbing and electrical and add insulation to the walls,” she said. “This past summer, we also invested in HVAC units for all of the rooms.”

While renovations are oftentimes necessary, Eichler Network Director Marty Arbunich noted their potential to detract from the classic Eichler aesthetic. “Many remodels are off the mark, and this could be attributed to one key factor: not having a clear understanding of the architecture at the onset,” he wrote in an email. While remodeling their Eichler, Nebriaga’s family recognized this risk and ensured that the new changes would complement qualities such as the interior-exterior fluidity. “When we renovated the house, we made sure that the floorings were very similar to the outside concrete area, so that it was a seamless transition,” she said.

Along with Eichler’s architectural legacy, his community ideals still pertain today, according to Swartz. “The sense of community, parades and block parties are really unique to Eichler homes,” he said. “The people who are buying and living in these homes all love their Eichlers and have a common denominator between them. It’s a great asset to the neighborhood and families, being able to participate in that.” Nebriaga also enjoys the sense of community that owning an Eichler affords her. “Our neighbor next door wants to renovate, and they’re asking us questions on what to do because renovating an Eichler is different from renovating a regular home,” she said. “If I have a friend who lives in an Eichler, it’s also really cool to see their layout, because in a way, the houses are supposed to be very similar, but each one is super different depending on what they decided to do with the interior design.”

Despite their numerous benefits, Arbunich does not foresee similar community-oriented developments being built in the future. “In the Bay Area, we’ve simply run out of space to develop new tracts of any kind,” he said. “When Eichler was building in the postwar (period), there was plenty of available land, but so much of that has been filled over the past 60 to 70 years.”

Unlike design and community, Eichler’s third ideal of affordability has fallen short of maintaining a modern-day relevance. In February, the median sale price of a home in Greenmeadow was $1.97 million, over 10 times Eichler’s original asking price adjusted for inflation. According to freelance writer Bo Crane, Eichler’s reasonable asking prices facilitated racial integration in Palo Alto. “Eichler was the first local builder to proclaim that he favored selling houses to buyers of various racial and ethnic backgrounds,” he wrote in a Palo Alto Online article published in February. “The Greenmeadow tract welcomed Eichler’s first Black homebuyers.”

Although Eichler’s socially progressive values resonate with many, the Bay Area’s low housing supply and high demand have impeded their continued application. “I’ve heard many Eichler homeowners and buyers comment on how they were aligned with the history of how he was inclusive and wasn’t discriminating,” Swartz said. “But there are a lot of people who want to live in an Eichler, and they’re looking for where they could possibly afford one. The price is definitely a big barrier.”

Nevertheless, Arbunich believes that when it comes to fostering a strong sense of community, few neighborhoods can match Eichler neighborhoods’ camaraderie and cohesion. “Eichler owners are different in that regard,” he said. “It would take a lot of education and instilling pride in home ownership to build a (similar) support network behind most other communities.”

According to the National Weather Service, the winds were due to the atmospheric river currently impacting the San Francisco Bay Area. The NWS has issued a severe high wind warning and moderate flood watch until 11 p.m. on Tuesday, March 14.

The winds resulted in a fallen tree by the library near Arastradero Road, which has since been cordoned off. The severe conditions also caused a decorative metal panel on the P-building to fall on a student who was walking beneath it. 

Buildings on the northern end of campus—including the P-building, N-building and Village—experienced a power and WiFi outage toward the end of second period, with power being restored at the start of lunch. Sophomore Laura Cheunkarndee was in the S-building during the outage. “We were playing in orchestra and all of a sudden, the lights (went) out,” she said. “We just kept playing because we could (still) read the music.” The sudden outage also resulted in the cancellation of the High School Musical sneak peek of “Status Quo.” 

Before lunch, Assistant Principal Harvey Newland sent out a Schoology update advising students of the extreme weather conditions. “Due to high winds, we have asked staff to keep their classrooms open during lunch if possible,” it stated. “We recommend that you find a place to eat indoors to avoid flying debris and broken trees.” At 11:52 a.m., teachers were instructed to open their classrooms to students during lunch to provide shelter from falling debris. 

At the end of lunch, administrators broadcasted a schoolwide announcement. “All students and staff should remain where they are and not go to class until further notice,” it stated. A few minutes later, a follow-up announcement ensued. “We are no longer transitioning to third period at this time,” it stated. 

Budget Manager Silvia Griswold communicated with administrators to secure areas on campus. “The winds were very strong and it was unsafe to be outside because trees and other things can dislodge,” she said. “(The administrators) wanted to make sure that everyone was safe and asked students to shelter inside until further notice. All the administrators went outside at lunch to make sure students were sheltering in place.”

The outages elicited mixed reactions from students. Sophomore Melinda Huang noted the unprecedented nature of the outage. “The winds have been super strong,” she said. “It’s been scary having to take cover because (this) has never happened to me before.” Others, such as freshman Tom Scheib, were more relaxed. “It was windy, but there are people in charge to make sure that the problems don’t get too big,” he said. 

At 1:11 p.m., administrators announced that students should go to class immediately, and that they would not be allowed out unless for emergency bathroom breaks. “Students should go directly to third period and avoid any areas with trees and only using open walkways,” they said. 

At 1:15 p.m., power went out for the southern end of campus, which had not lost power during the previous outage.

Gallery • 5 Photos

Photo courtesy of E O'Connell

A deciduous tree falls down under the force of the winds near the F-Building

Thirty-six years later, divides continue to persist, particularly in regards to schools’ resources and funding. While equity advocates may have won the legal battle through the Tinsley settlement, its application remains far more complex.

History of the VTP

In the late 1960s, Palo Alto and East Palo parents joined to form the Midpeninsula Task Force for Integrated Education, due to concerns regarding the racial disparity between RCSD and neighboring school districts. Tinsley attorney Jack Robertson noted the stark demographic statistics in an interview with the Palo Alto Weekly. “East Palo Alto was 100% Black [while the] other districts were practically all Caucasian,” he said. Eventually, the 33 parents in the task force worked with Robertson and two other lawyers to present their case in court, selecting Margaret Tinsley—an African American East Palo Alto mother—as the main plaintiff.

The VTP originally allowed for up to 206 minority kindergarten through second grade RCSD students to attend schools within eight surrounding school districts’ boundaries—including Palo Alto Unified, Menlo Park City and San Carlos. If more students applied to transfer than spots available, a lottery system would be used to determine who could participate in the Tinsley program. Once their racial minority population reaches 60%, districts are no longer required to reserve the court-mandated spaces for the VTP: As of 2022, the Redwood City School District and Belmont-Redwood Shores School District have met the population threshold, resulting in the current 135 annual transfer spots.

Furthermore, the court order also allows students attending school in the eight participating districts who are not minorities to transfer into RCSD. This option, however, elicits significantly fewer participants: from 1986–2006, only two non-minority students transferred into East Palo Alto. In contrast, 2,508 students transferred out of RCSD during the same time period.

Transportation Issues

In accordance with the Tinsley settlement, Palo Alto Unified School District (����ӰԺ) allows 60 students from RCSD to attend Palo Alto schools. Although these students could previously choose to enroll at the ����ӰԺ site of their choice, the district terminated bus routes to several schools—including Gunn—at the end of the 2021–2022 school year.

Students at sites no longer served by the district’s buses can opt to attend a school that does have bus service or find their own form of transportation. Junior Stephanie Castillo Baltazar noted the adverse impact of the arrangement on both her and other Tinsley program families. “A lot of students that live in East Palo Alto have parents who work two jobs or have more than one kid,” she said. “The change was super stressful because we had to figure out how I was going to get to school and back home. My mom drives me now, but she’s emotionally drained and has less time to get dinner ready.”

According to Assistant Superintendent of Equity and Student Affairs Yolanda Conaway, two main factors drove the decision to cut routes: a lack of bus drivers and excessively long bus rides. “We are one of the most resourced districts in the area and yet we couldn’t find bus drivers,” she said. “This was also an equity issue, since we were essentially saying, ‘If you’re [a VTP student,] you have to get up at 5:00 in the morning and don’t get to sleep.’ It ultimately came down to the fact that getting kids to school was more important than having [their] first choice school available.”

Tinsley program parent Alma Navarrete expressed frustration with the district’s lack of communication regarding the substantial decision. “There were a lot of changes in the program like the termination of bus routes,” she said in a conversation translated from Spanish by her daughter. “While I appreciate the district helping us out and allowing my daughter to have a better education, it seems like they’re cutting off valuable resources and not eliciting feedback from parents and students.”

Social Impact

Beyond transportation, VTP students, such as freshman Elizabeth Perez, have noticed social impacts stemming from her longer commute to Gunn. “I wanted to go to some of the football games, but wasn’t able to because it’s too far away and my mom can’t give me a ride,” she said. Castillo Baltazar echoed Perez’s thoughts and offered deeper insights. “Living farther away changes everything,” she said. “A lot of people in Palo Alto view East Palo Alto as ‘ghetto,’ but most of us can’t afford to move to Palo Alto. Sometimes, I feel like I don’t necessarily belong at Gunn because I wouldn’t be going here without the Tinsley program.”

Data and Professional Development Teacher on Special Assignment Tara Firenzi points to the challenge of increasing student body diversity while avoiding feelings of isolation. “I would love to see more students from underrepresented backgrounds on campus,” she said. “That being said, [the students from East Palo Alto] are still a very small population of students when compared with the majority groups at Gunn, and it can be easy for them to feel a profound sense of isolation.”

Firenzi, a former Social Emotional Learning and Functionality (SELF) coordinator, began an attempt to ameliorate this issue in 2018. Alongside Assistant Principal Courtney Carlomagno, she worked to create a SELF cohort solely consisting of students in College Pathways, a program that aims to close the resource gap for underrepresented and first-generation college students. “The students had a stronger connection to each other and to their mentor,” she said. “They were able to talk about their feelings of being discriminated against and not feeling connected to the wider school community in an environment where they felt safe.”

World Languages Instructional Lead Daissy Tabares volunteered to mentor for the cohort—she noted the students’ unique perspectives on certain SELF lessons, such as ones on racial disparities and redlining, in which they may have personally experienced the consequences. “A lot of kids opened up more than they would have if they were in another class with other students,” she said. “I would often hear something along the lines of ‘[Things are unfair for us,] but how are we going to fix it?’ They didn’t believe that things could be better.”

While not all Tinsley students participate in College Pathways, many face similar challenges to those who do. Perez acknowledges the merits of the experimental group, but also believes minorities should not be treated as a monolith. “Every opinion is different and a lot of people want to be around the people that they most relate with,” she said. “Personally, I don’t like feeling different from the rest. I’d be okay with [being in a similar cohort,] but it wouldn’t be my first choice.”

Likewise, Firenzi recognizes the importance of striking a delicate balance between the sides of this dynamic. “It’s really hard because you don’t want to tell students that they should only be with others that look like them,” she said. “At the same time, that can also make minority students feel much safer and more connected. Ultimately, you need to have specialized opportunities for students to feel safe, and you need to do a better job of creating a school culture where everyone feels welcome.”

Student Supports

Although the ����ӰԺ website states that one of the goals of the VTP is to improve educational achievement of Ravenswood students, some are concerned with their teachers’ approaches in meeting the aim of “achievement.” “Teachers will ask if I need help, but it doesn’t seem like they actually mean it,” Perez said. “They ask for the sake of asking and don’t truly want to do anything.” For Castillo Baltazar, her experience was less about teacher apathy, but rather teachers failing to properly advocate for and believe in their students. “I feel like we get cushioned compared to everybody else,” she said. “In middle school, other students got a blank set of notes, but my friend [who is also from East Palo Alto] and I received filled-in ones. I was in sixth grade and definitely could have done the blank notes on my own.”

Castillo Baltazar also noted a less-subtle ordeal with a teacher that made her feel uncomfortable. “[During] my freshman year, I remember one of my teachers saying that I was having trouble in his class because I was Latina, and that I would need to put in more effort to pass,” she said.

Granted, these experiences are not unique to students in the VTP. “These are much larger systemic issues that we’re looking at,” Firenzi said. “We need to be focusing on all the factors, including how accessible and safe we make a student’s social and academic environment across the board.” Conaway shared similar thoughts. “We should do our best to make sure families and students from East Palo Alto feel welcome here,” she said. “But from an equity leader’s perspective, there’s just a lot more work we need to do in general to make people of color and people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds feel like they are welcome in a place that is predominantly wealthy. We have work to do, but that’s our nation’s work, not just Palo Alto’s.”

Future Outlook

While a major component of the Tinsley settlement order was the creation of the VTP, two additional parts, the Models Schools Study and Ravenswood Improvement Program, are often overlooked. “The consultant shall estimate the high, average and low enrollments expected in model schools, develop a plan for a model school(s) and explore the problems, costs, advantages, disadvantages, feasibility and reasonableness of said plan,” the Tinsley settlement states. “The consultant shall consider the creation of one to three model schools designed and located to attract both minority and non-minority students.”

Unfortunately, a model school was never built in East Palo Alto, leaving the district with no dedicated high school. Currently, students in RCSD attend Menlo-Atherton High School, located in Sequoia Union High School District, to finish their secondary education.

Firenzi believes the unrealized part of the settlement is a crucial aspect of achieving education equity through the VTP. “We shouldn’t need to have students take a bus and be dislocated from their communities,” she said. “They should be able to go to a good school with lots of resources in their neighborhood. Without a secondary school in the Ravenswood community that serves the needs of East Palo Alto, you get stuck with some non-ideal options.”

Conaway reiterated Firenzi’s thoughts while considering realistic benchmarks for the near future. “I do agree that we need to think about a better solution because every community deserves a high-quality school,” she said. “There are some rockstar teachers in East Palo Alto that just need more pay and more opportunities to do what is right for students. I don’t know if that’s going to happen soon, but I do know that in the meantime, the 600 to 700 kids that we have in the Tinsley program deserve our best.”

Although the VTP is far from perfect, those in the program—such as junior Andy Vega—appreciate its ability to provide opportunities for underrepresented groups. “Being able to help students go to better schools for multiple years is [in itself] a success,” he said.

In a survey sent out to VTP parents in Fall 2019 and published in the 2021 ����ӰԺ Western Association of Schools and Colleges report, one parent voiced similar thoughts. “As a mother of a child in special education, one can see the difference in the amount of support that my son receives,” she said. “My children are exposed to a diversity of cultures and this allows them to learn new languages and traditions. [Overall,] the academic level is much better.”

Chiu-Wang’s experience in education began during her undergraduate studies at the University of California, Irvine. “[While attending Irvine] I was working with 10th graders [at Santa Ana High School] and saw that they weren’t reading at grade level,” she said. “We had gone into the high school to work on world history, but it culminated in working with the other students. Teacher’s assistants and graduate students created supplemental learning materials that were distributed to [more than] 3,500 teachers and students in Santa Ana.”

Through this and similar experiences, Chiu-Wang formed some of the foundational beliefs that guide her campaign today. “If we ever want to have equity, if we want to end systemic racism, it starts in school,” she said. According to her campaign website, Chiu-Wang believes that addressing problems such as socioeconomic and racial achievement gaps should start at early childhood education.

Unlike the other candidates, Chiu-Wang only moved here recently. However, she does not view this as a negative factor for her campaign. “The more people I’ve talked to in the community, the more I hear stories like mine, where they moved here for the schools,” she said. “And that’s an important perspective.”

Furthermore, Chiu-Wang is resisting being labeled and associated with established factions. “I don’t think you have to be either for closing the opportunity gap and serving the historically underserved or for supporting those students that are really already thriving and wanting to accelerate even more,” she said. “Those two things aren’t completely opposed and I don’t think we should think that way as a district.”