Perhaps if PAUSD followed the law it wouldn't have so much drama.

I sometimes wonder if our school district understands the principle of leading by example.

It is neither reasonable nor desirable to treat life (in a public school system) as if having a smooth road with no bumps, no challenges, and no problems to solve is desirable or the only condition of productivity. It’s a destructive message to give our kids. Life is what happens while we’re making other plans.

The turnover was in large part the result of this attitude. When faced with employees that lied or did unlawful things, there was no culture of improvement or correction. There was no culture to try to get to truth and come to terms with those things, the strong inclination was (and seems, still is) to sweep, sweep, sweep under the rug, because we must appear to be perfect with no problems to solve for some idiotic reason. And thus, employees who lie and retaliate do damage unchecked, get to inflict themselves on families and teachers, and then move on to higher paying jobs after getting a nicely padded resume or advanced degrees paid for by the district. The district has Stanford duck syndrome, yet decries it in its students. Kim Diorio learned the hard way from just believing what she was told from above, that she should over and over again just ignore her better judgment about investigating and resolving a problem brought to her by a family. Teachers should instead be empowered to be upstanders in the course of life, rather than just being told to tell their students to.

Our district still utterly lacks any resources or ethos allowing someone else with a similarly difficult experience or problem as that student (whether related to Title IX or not) to get the help they need, in a timely and human way, whatever it takes. It lacks the culture to make small course corrections that help it stay on course and is setting us up for the next “ICEBERG DEAD AHEAD!” moment. We have been through this before McGee, the idea that it’s possible to “start fresh”, if this leader or that leader just leaves and we bring in someone new, and now we can finally do our jobs.

The fact is, a school district is a public service organization charged with dealing with the public, meaning, complexity and solving problems will be the norm and should be welcomed as a part of the job, because welcoming those challenges helps us to get good at dealing with them. Dealing with complexity and challenges should not treated like they're a crisis, it only engenders expensive CYA every time something comes up or a complaint is received (and thus the s%^&t piles up again waiting for the the next fan).

Author Anne Lamott tells a story in her book Bird by Bird, about how she’ll run into former students, sometimes years and years later, and ask how their book is going, and they’ll often tell her about how they just need to get the kid out of middle school, or deal with some crisis and work, and THEN they’ll be able to clear their schedule and work on it. Lamott’s lesson is that these “crises" are part of life, and tries to teach how to accept that and make progress (in that case, toward the writing goal) a part of life, regardless.

Our district really suffers from this attitude. There is an enormous distrust, even a rejection of, holistic solutions. If an answer could be a win-win, or a good compromise, or cut across many areas, or come from working with families trying to solve problems over time, somehow it must be rejected (I think the legal “help" the district go had a big hand in that).

For example, it was absolutely taboo to bring up the achievement gap in the context of whether the district should spend a lot of money on the more-expensive-per-square-foot expansion of two high schools rather than spending the same money on improving the three as smaller schools. Somehow, looking at the issue in all of its complexity, at all the factors, was dismissed as unwarranted opportunism rather than sound problem solving. Thus, every time an opportunity to improve the achievement gap as a part of life, in the classroom, in special ed interactions, in solving problems in a way that attempted to get to truth and reconciliation and respected rather than attempted to crush families with problems — every time such an opportunity was part of some other whole (as is usually the case in life), our district’s tendency is to distrust and reject the added benefit that doing one thing would have to others, including the achievement gap. It’s like the heart patient thinking daily lifestyle changes that head off diabetes couldn’t possibly have anything to do with preventing a massive stroke or heart attack. And thus the heart patient is stuck in hospital crises rather than preventing major problems in many ways in daily life. This story about the district makes it look to me like the hospital patient has just recovered from the latest predictable quadruple bypass and thinks NOW he can take better care of his health by finally focusing on finding a better bypass team or better drugs, while failing to change his attitude or daily habits, and thus is headed for the hospital crisis yet again.

Special ed hasn’t been a problem because we have failed to have a special ed department, or failed to “break [it] out as its own priority goal,” it’s been a problem because parents and children with the complex array of problems that come up in the life of school and don’t fit the mold, they don’t have a place to go to get help solving those problems constructively, including that they don’t have leverage to make the right things happen if the district is flawed or misbehaving unless they have the money to hire lawyers or private advocates. It’s been a problem because the institution has failed to develop a culture of doing what it takes, of improving its culture AS A RESULT OF solving problems (as opposed creating another focus group when everything falls apart). Our district has a culture that you solve problems by making people go away, especially families whose children have those problems. Families with problems are on the receiving end of isolation, disconnection, even gaslighting, gossip, and retaliation. I cannot see that this has changed. And it can’t change as long as the district believes the only way it can do its work is in the best weather on a smooth path.

Part of the trouble here is our district leadership’s ever push for a hierarchical organization in a place in which collaboration is increasingly expected (and expected to be taught). Innovation, in this case meaning doing new things to solve old problems, comes NOT from the top, but from the people who are experiencing the problems, have an incentive to solve them, and are willing to be the first. (Necessity is the mother of invention.). Our district leadership not only does not trust anyone in the kind of circumstance that leads to innovation, they have a culture of actively undermining them and pushing them out. There is a strong culture that the district must come to solutions apart from those, especially parents and students, most motivated to solve them (again, “win-win’s” are not to be trusted). And thus, problems build up, the district ends up in crisis, mostly people go away after being hurt and very few get their problems addressed (in a very narrow way), much less become a part of improving things. Every administrator should be required to read this Web Link
An MIT professor who has studied the conditions that lead to innovation that solves old problems; understanding how our district actively thwarts that could be very helpful to changing, including solving the achievement gap, special ed problems, etc. Seeing the way to improve things as not the result of yet another focus group but rather through the acceptance and empowerment of those who most need to solve those problems. What I see here is just more of what got us into all the “drama” of the past decade and then some.

Our district should learn from the past to create an attitude, an ethos, that we do whatever it takes. Work less, learn more, as they say in the Finish school system. Then maybe we can see our school district as always making progress and always doing its best, for families and staff and the community, in rain or shine, regardless of whether the road ahead can ever have every bump and rock removed.

The problem is the teacher's union --- absolutely resisting any accountability for its members, and thus no impetus to do the right thing. Fyi - there were two students, two separate sexual assault incidents that came out in the media in which the District and school (including McGee, Wade, Diorio, V. Kim and Laurence, and yes, Paulson) didn't do the right thing (two Cozen reports). The school board? Captive to the teacher's union - who helped get them in office.

@Making coarse corrections... Good ideas. I know that the truth is glaringly obvious to those who've been paying attention to the issues. But I have a feeling that some of your information will be redacted (thanks to censorship).

Let's not be discouraged by the decisions previous administrators have made. With 2019, I have good faith in what our Palo Alto community can do -- as long as we remain vocal, press for solutions, our voices will be heard.

@Truth Triumphs,
Unfortunately, I don't think the district has created a safe space for people to even speak up. I think everything, including this article, points to a hope, yet again, that turnover is the same as creating a positive culture in which the behavior of those who left would not again occur. You know the old definition of insanity (doing the same thing again and again and expecting a different outcome).

This feels like deja vu all over again, like when the last three Superintendents left, or the infamous assistant superintendent left, or...

Some of the people who "left" are just in nearby districts a stone's throw (or a malicious phone call) away. Given what a lot of people went through, the turnover is in and of itself not enough to make people feel safe if they feel unsafe because of being retaliated against.

I think this was said when McGee came in: if you get a car from the mob, and you don't clean things up and bring in sunlight and air, anything you find in the trunk later will come back to haunt YOU. Truth and reconciliation would not only be very good for the people who suffered/suffer, it will help the new super avoid this fate of his predecessors, and arm them with the knowledge of how to actually keep things working on the up and up. Unfortunately, the inclination to avoid responsibility or truth seems to be a disease here.

"The current board will evaluate his plan with the aim of strategically focusing on a few long-term goals — a preference often expressed by the board — rather ambitiously attempting to "swallow the ocean." "

The invoking of the ocean gets used to avoid dealing with hard problems around here, unfortunately. (That "ocean" is not saltwater, and it hasn't been here since time immemorial -- and it stinks more the longer it is allowed to pile up.)

A more productive approach is that the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first steps.

I hope our new Superintendent does not fall for the idea that felled his predecessors, believing that he could somehow keep the, um, "ocean" under the rug and away from the fan. It has never worked.

Open the trunk of this mob car yourself and face what is in there with compassion and a sense of service, be willing to actively seek a trustworthy culture that solves problems in all the little ways, and doesn't sweep anything under the rug (or hide it the trunk). If you do it soon, everyone will know the mess in there was not yours.

The trouble is that the district seems to think that things are now clean and they are starting from a clean slate, as if that's even desirable or possible in a public service organization like a school district, which is what sunk McGee.

@don't: Respectfully requested: It's unclear to which incidents you're referring when you accuse PAEA of helping cover up? Can you be specific? Also, which board members do you think are in PAEA's pocket? They typically only endorse one/two?

My 2 cents:
1. District is so disorganized, they don't know what's happening across the hall, let alone across the city.
2. District is too busy trying to avoid conflict/scandal that it goes into "hush-mode" for the wrong things--caving on the things it should fight and pushing against the things it should fix. I'm looking forward to seeing if the compliance-focus Shanouk mentioned has a positive impact on this situation. Follow Ed Code.

I agree that it's politics, I just don't think it's PAEA that drives it.

re PAEA - the only current trustee endorsed by PAEA is Dharap. They contributed ~$1K to his campaign. None of the others were endorsed by PAEA - Dauber, the incumbent, was pointedly *not* endorsed. They endorsed no one in 2016. PAEA endorsement has about as much influence on the school board race as mine.

@meanwhile, it's "Shounak" (rhymes with "sonic") not "Shanouk" - if you're on a first name basis, at least get the name right. Would love to hear about those "hush mode" issues that you know all about. You are such an insider!

@Parent: Consider me educated on the spelling of the name, thanks.

Regarding the "hush mode"--no insider cache claimed or needed. Just the public reports regarding the high profile handling of the infamous Title Nine case and direct orders to Paly site admin. Vicki Kim to not offer the UCP option after she asked 3 or 4 times if it was prudent to do so. Hope that clarifies as to both my meaning and my tone.

@Meanwhile,
" District is too busy trying to avoid conflict/scandal that it goes into "hush-mode" for the wrong things--caving on the things it should fight and pushing against the things it should fix."

You hit the nail on the head. (I don't think PAEA is the problem, either.)

PAEA might not be "hiding anything" but they definitely could be a force for.change instead.of.staying silent on matters that affect students. Many teachers spoke in favor of Diorio and the administration during the sexual assault atrocity even though she was more concerned about her own reputation than student safety. Teachers were aware of the Out 2016 boy's actions and reputation yet did not push for any action. PAEA too often comes off as only being concerned about salaries and their own workload.
I'm sure many teachers truly care about students, but too often they do not come forward to affect the changes that are needed.

@meanwhile - if I can provide any other spelling tips, please just ask.

Not offering UCP to the complainant was not a "hush mode" issue. Doing a UCP / Title IX complaint and investigation wouldn't have made any difference on the public profile of the case - the UCP log wasn't even being published then. They didn't know how to properly handle sexual assault and harassment issues, and didn't see the value in figuring out and following the law. In that particular case, they seem not to have believed the complainant - a lousy excuse. But don't confuse flat out incompetence and lack of effort with some nefarious intent - it was much more the former than the latter.

@Parent,
You don't really believe that the school administrators and the district didn't know what they were supposed to do when someone comes to them with a sexual assault complaint? Give me a break. That's what they want you to believe. They tried to claim they weren't trained and the process is SOOOOOOO confusing. All bunch of crap. They all went through training. Paly staff/admin could easily have made the UCP offer on their own when the district told them it wasn't necessary. Kathy Laurence could have actually punished the students that were bullying the girl instead of giving them a lecture. She also could have informed the other staff of the bullying. She did not. For everything that she failed to do, she was promoted. Adam Paulson was well aware of what needed to be done with the Nov 2015 sexual assault case. He did not offer a UCP. For everything he failed to do, he was also promoted.

Diorio, Wade and McGee were all allowed to resign instead of being fired. Wade is now in a different school district, McGee is helping districts find superintendents and Diorio is riding on Esther Wojcicki's coattails and working for her. No wonder The Campanile continued to protect Diorio.

It's incompetence, lack of effort and nefarious intent.

And, given what's been going on at Paly this school year, not much has changed. Look at the handling of the vaping and fire alarms (blaming students for pulling the alarms instead of telling the truth that most were due to kids vaping) and also the handling of the abusive robotics coach by trying to silence the students until they filed their own UCP and went to the board to air their complaints in public. Only then did anything happen.

As an aside, your spelling advice comes off as smug and arrogant.