Sixty-five members of the Palo Alto Management Association, the union that represents certificated management employees, psychologists and classified management employees, released a letter on Jan. 30, calling for Palo Alto School Board Trustee Rowena Chiu to resign. In addition, the teachers union, the Palo Alto Educators Association, revoked its endorsement of Chiu on Jan. 31. They cited what they said was Chiu’s inappropriate repost of a Jan. 27 post on X referencing statements from Executive Director of Curriculum and Instruction Danae Reynolds towards Chiu at the Jan. 23 board meeting.
According to the PAMA letter, Chiu’s conduct “contributed to a hostile and antagonistic environment,” “undermines the district’s ability to lead effectively” and “sets a dangerous precedent that racism and divisive rhetoric will go unchallenged.”
Additionally, 13 former PAUSD school board members, including last year’s outgoing members Jennifer DiBrienza, Todd Collins and Jesse Ladomirak, also signed a separate letter condemning Chiu’s repost.
That meeting was dedicated to deciding whether or not the board would approve an Ethnic Studies class as a required course for next year’s freshmen, the graduating class of 2029.
The X post that Chiu reposted is from an account called “Asians Against Wokeness,” which claimed attendees at the board meeting “gang(ed) up on” Chiu. The account posted the link to the full board meeting video and a screenshot of Renyolds’ profile from the district website. The post gained over a thousand likes and dozens of comments, including racist language, images and threats toward Reynolds.
“I am a Harvey Weinstein Survivor,” Chiu said in her repost. “In 1998, Weinstein told me, as he attempted to rape me, that he ‘liked Chinese girls, because they’re discreet.’ In 2025, as an elected official, I spoke up about Asian oppression, and I was suppressed yet again.”
Chiu took down her repost and her comment after facing criticism. On Feb. 4, Chiu sent out a statement titled “Statement on Ethnic Studies & Racism by Rowena Chiu,” addressing her safety concerns, the X post, Asian suppression and the ethnic studies course. She said she recognizes her poor judgment in reposting the X post.
“My intent in that moment was to elevate Asian perspective, reiterate how I felt during the meeting, and self-validate my feelings,” Chiu said. “I do not identify, and I am not associated with the group that made the original post. I fully acknowledge that in reposting, I may have overlooked any possible impact on the individual identified in the repost, and I am so immeasurably sorry.”
Chiu also said she did not intend to cause harm or perpetuate racist ideas through her reposting.
“Horrifyingly, the original post (not mine) drew appalling racist comments against both African-Americans and Asian-Americans, and against this district employee personally,” Chiu said. “As soon as I became aware of these racist comments, I deleted my post.”
In addition, although Chiu voted against Ethnic Studies during the Board meeting, she reiterated her support for the class in her statement.
“I want to acknowledge the challenging circumstances under which (teachers) were asked to work (on the Ethnic Studies curriculum) – without the benefit of clear course standards to guide the process and with the added pressure of being expected to roll out the course quickly,” Chiu said. “I look forward to seeing clarity, inclusivity, and transparency, as the new mandate is rolled out for Fall 2025.”
The board meeting had its fair share of controversy. Board members, teachers and community members disagreed over what the actual curriculum for the course was. The concerns, particularly over a supposed unit on oppressor and oppressed racial dynamics, stemmed from a document included in the board packet by Superintendent Don Austin, which was mistakenly presumed to be the curriculum for the course.
Before realizing the board and community members had based their understanding about Ethnic Studies on a misleading document, social studies teacher Benjamin Bolanos, who piloted the Ethnic Studies course for freshmen last semester, challenged the board’s assertions.
“Are we allowed to correct some things you have mentioned here? Are we allowed to correct? Because there is a lot of stuff you said that’s really, amazingly wrong,” Bolanos said. “Have you guys come to our classes? This is the first time I’ve met you guys. You’ve never come to our classrooms to talk about this stuff. Unbelievable.”
Later in the meeting, Social Studies Instructional Leader Mary Sano clarified that the document was a brainstorming document from a year ago and that the official curriculum had not been released.
Chiu responded to Bolanos around 20 minutes later after interruptions from the audience throughout the meeting.
“I was challenged as to why I didn’t come into the classroom — I will say, I want to say, personally, I have not felt very safe in this room,” Chiu said. “I do not feel safe up on this dais. I am attempting to maintain an open mindset, but the feedback that I’ve had from the community so far has made me feel very unsafe. I have felt very unsafe in this meeting. So I will attempt to be constructive and ask questions with an open mindset.”
Chiu then expressed concerns over student reception of the course content.
“The fear is based on an ideological framework around oppressor-oppressed that will make some students in this school district feel unsafe,” Chiu said. “Now, whilst I may not be a part of that affinity group, I have great empathy with any situation where some students feel unsafe. As a school district, we need to take time and consideration when communities come to say that issues around racism may result from the implementation of a course. Now, before the teachers put me under the bus again, I will say it’s quite possible that your course is not going to incite any of these incidents that we’ve seen in other school districts . . . However, it’s connected to the issue of transparency. If the community has not had, in their view, sufficiently transparent instructional materials . . . that fear is only going to grow.”
Later in the meeting, after Chiu talked about students feeling unsafe, Reynolds made a statement seen by some community members as suppressing Chiu’s earlier feelings about her own safety.
“I worry about the word ‘safe’ as a person who has to worry about my husband driving and coming home if he gets pulled over,” Reynolds said. “So the word ‘safety’ is something we have to be aware of what that means. Now, being uncomfortable — absolutely. I feel uncomfortable sitting up here naming that I worry about my husband, but it’s the truth. We can feel uncomfortable. That’s part of growing and learning and being a part of being a human being but also being part of this community.”
Reynolds did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Read the full letter from PAMA here. Read Chiu’s statement here. Watch the full recording of the Jan. 23 board meeting here.
This is a developing story. We will continue to update this article as more information becomes available.
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to reflect a more accurate timeline of events and to include Chiu’s Feb. 4 statement.