After a heated, five-hour school board meeting where a required freshman ethnic studies course was approved by a narrow 3-2 margin, newly elected board of education member Rowena Chiu, on Jan. 27, reposted an X post referencing statements at the meeting from Executive Director of Curriculum and Instruction Danae Reynolds at the Jan. 23 special board meeting. 

The original post, made by the account “Asians Against Wokeness,” alleged Chiu was “gang(ed) up on” by school employees during the Jan. 23 meeting.

Chiu has since removed the repost, which had accumulated over 1,000 likes and nearly 100 comments — many of them racist and physically threatening toward Reynolds, who is Black. However, Chiu’s comment on the post remains.

During the meeting, Chiu said she didn’t feel safe, but Reynolds cautioned attendees against using the word “safe” in a situation that is merely “uncomfortable.” It is unclear whether Reynolds’ distinction between feeling unsafe and feeling uncomfortable was addressed to Chiu, and Reynolds could not be reached for comment.

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Regardless of the context of Reynolds’s response, The Campanile thinks Chiu should take responsibility for amplifying a racist account and retweeting a post that could incite attacks toward a district employee.

The original X post posted the link to the full board meeting video and a screenshot of Reynolds’ profile on the district website. We recognize the board meeting was tense, with loud cheering, which created a potentially antagonistic environment towards those in support of pausing the implementation of ethnic studies. But we think Chiu’s first line of recourse addressing her safety concerns should have been through proper channels with district human relations. 

Although Chiu has since said she does not condone the X account, we expect elected board members to not bring attention to organizations inciting racism, hate and division. And as a minimal standard, board members also should verify and fact-check what they are reposting on social media, ensuring what they publish to the school community doesn’t cause further tension and target certain students or employees.

Chiu should also not have amplified a post that was inaccurate. The post claimed that Reynolds “lecture(d) her about how the word ‘unsafe’ is essentially inappropriate for people of Asian background because Asians are not truly oppressed,” even though no one in the meeting mentioned Chiu’s racial background. Reynolds also did not gang up on Chiu, as Chiu clamined. Reynolds’s comments were her own, and she did not coordinate with other attendees to target Chiu during the meeting.

The Campanile also recognizes the large power imbalance between Chiu and Reynolds. No employee – Reynolds – should have their superior – Chiu – retweet screenshots of their personal bio online or be subjugated to racist comments. We appreciate that Chiu released a  statement apologizing to Reynolds and that she deleted her original X post, but we also think Chiu should privately apologize to Reynolds, if she hasn’t already done so.

With 65 members of the Palo Alto Management Association and 13 former board members calling for Chiu’s resignation, The Campanile thinks Chiu, to move forward as an effective board member, must hold open, honest conversations with district stakeholders to clarify misinformation spread by her retweet and hear their grievances. 

Unlike many organizations, though, we are not calling for Chiu to resign, which we think could create a precedent for calling for resignations without giving someone appropriate time to rectify a mistake they made, especially since Chiu is supported by and represents a large community within our district. But what Chiu does need to do is to restore her credibility as a leader in our district, modeling correct behavior for the students she makes decisions for by taking accountability for her mistakes.