Palo Alto School district weighs response to board member's controversial social media post

PALO ALTO, Calif. - The Palo Alto School District Board considered taking action against a board member, Rowena Chiu, after dozens of administrators called for her to resign. Chiu has been under fire since re-posting a social media post on X, something some in the community deemed racist and harmful to another district employee.

"The goal of this resolution is to be impact-oriented. It is not intended to be a punitive measure," said Board Vice President Shounak Dharap. 

At Tuesday night’s board meeting, the Palo Alto Educators Association, and other district employees, including 60 administrators, called on the board to move forward with a resolution that would reassign committee assignments for Board member Rowena Chiu. The resolution would also require Chui to have conversations with those affected by the post she re-posted. 

"We all know the power of social media and I need your assurance that we are safe when we share our views. Please pass this resolution. We need time to rebuild the trust that was lost," said one young woman during the public comment session. 

Chiu has been criticized for re-posting Asians Against Wokeness on social media in January. It included the name and photo of Black administrator, Danae Reynolds. Chiu says she felt silenced as an Asian woman when Reynolds challenged her for saying she felt unsafe during a discussion about the district’s ethnic studies program, which Chiu voted against.

"In this instance, it’s a public leader who needs to step down because this conversation is causing fear," said Sean Allen, NAACP San Jose/Silicon Valley President. 

Chiu has since released a statement explaining she felt silenced during the meeting but apologized for the repost which also contained hateful comments. Dozens of people came to the meeting to express their support for Chiu.

‘If you are in support of Asian students in Palo Alto, who account for 40% of our student population, how can you in good faith shut down an Asian woman’s voice that defended herself against racism?" said another commenter. 

The board voted not to move forward with the proposed resolution, but Chiu pledged to have conversations with those in the district who may have been offended, and to be reassigned to different committees.