Upfront ELECTION 2014
Claude Ezran enters Palo Alto’s council race Founder of city’s World Music Day looks to serve on a bigger stage by Gennady Sheyner
C
laude Ezran, a veteran of the Palo Alto Human Relations Commission and the founder of the city’s World Music Day, announced Tuesday that he will seek a seat on the City Council in November. In declaring his candidacy, Ezran became the first non-incumbent in Palo Alto to enter the race for the nine-member council, which could see as many as five new members next year. Councilman Larry Klein will term out this year and Councilwoman Gail Price, who is now completing her first term, said she will not be seeking a second one. Of the other three council members whose first terms are expiring this year, only Councilman Greg Scharff said he plans to run again. Mayor Nancy Shepherd and Councilwoman Karen Holman have yet to declare their plans. Ezran, a native of France who moved to Palo Alto 24 years ago, recently completed his second term on the city’s Human Relations Commission, which focuses on is-
sues relating to social justice, police oversight and human services. As a commissioner between 2008 and March of this year, he helped evaluate the needs of local nonprofits seeking government grants and was a leading advocate for having Palo Alto take public stances on national issues such as campaign finance and marriage equality. At times, his positions went beyond the council mainstream. In October 2012, Ezran urged the council to support a constitutional amendment that specifies that corporations are not people. The amendment, which was spearheaded by the group “Move to Amend,” was a response to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which affirmed a corporation’s right to spend on independent campaigns. Ezran argued that the decision has given corporate interests outsized influence and that the ruling is “eroding democracy” and “putting our nation on a path of gradual decline.” The council ul-
timately voted not to support an amendment but to submit a letter voicing the city’s opposition to the Citizens United ruling. Ezran also had a hard time convincing the council to stop providing grants to Catholic Charities, a nonprofit whose parent organization faced criticism for not offering adoption services to same-sex couples. The organization faced a lawsuit in Illinois, where the state and the American Civil Claude Ezran Liberties Union (ACLU) alleged discrimination by Catholic Charities against gay couples. Despite Ezran’s urging to the contrary, both the Human Relations Commission and the council supported continuing the grants after learning that the local chapter of Catholic Charities has not been subject to any discrimination complaints.
Ezran was far more successful in his 2009 bid to launch World Music Day in Palo Alto. The street festival has become an annual tradition, with dozens of musicians and thousands of visitors flocking to University Avenue on Father’s Day. The festival is now in its sixth year and employs a staff supervisor. A native of Saint-Cloud, France, Ezran modeled the event on similar endeavors around the globe. In an interview Tuesday, Ezran told the Weekly that with his commission tenure now completed, he felt the time was perfect to take the next step in civic service. He praised the current council and City Hall management, saying that on the whole city leadership is doing a good job (“It’s not like I’m running to ‘throw the rascals out,’” he said). Still, there’s room for improvement, particularly when it comes to planning for growth, Ezran said. “Recently, history has shown that we were giving probably too many benefits to developers and sometimes the city has not gotten
its fair share,” Ezran said. He singled out the city’s “planned community zoning” (PC) process, which allows developers to barter so-called public benefits for zoning exemptions. Last year, after years of community consternation and the failure of two controversial PC proposals to win approval (a housing development on Maybell Avenue and an office project on Page Mill Road), the council agreed to place a moratorium on the zoning designation until reforms are enacted. Ezran stressed the importance of balancing the city’s needs with those of developers and pointed to the infamous example of Caffe Riace, where a Sheridan Avenue plaza intended as a public benefit for nearby residences was ultimately turned into a seating area for the restaurant. “I want to balance between what the developers get and what the city gets,” Ezran told the Weekly. “That means quantifying (continued on page £È)
EDUCATION
With superintendent selected, school board prepares contract Hiring of Glenn ‘Max’ McGee scheduled for discussion next week
T
he Palo Alto Board of Education this week met to work out the contract terms for Illinois education veteran Glenn “Max” McGee, chosen last week to be the new superintendent of the Palo Alto Unified School District. The board officially offered McGee the position — and McGee accepted — after touring the public Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (IMSA) in Aurora, Illinois, where he served as president for six years. “I think when I first saw his resume, I looked at it as, ‘This is what you would want to design if you were trying to build the background of someone for Palo Alto,’” board President Barb Mitchell told the Weekly. “I think that many of the areas that he has focused his time on are a great fit for our community. It really reflects a passion and advocacy for creative and innovative improvements for all students.” She referenced multiple efforts to encourage innovative STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) programs at IMSA and a reading initiative he launched as superintendent of Wilmette School District 39 after a report, conducted by the district, found a widening gap between boys’ and girls’ academic performance. She said she was also impressed with his rapport with
students and staff at IMSA, addressing every person who walked by by first name. “That said a lot about the depth of his relationships,” she said. On last week’s trip, Mitchell, three other school board members and a group of Palo Alto education officials met with about 15 of McGee’s former colleagues, from IMSA faculty to the former president of the teachers’ association in Wilmette, where Glenn “Max” McGee he was superintendent for five years before joining IMSA. The public school district serves about 3,500 students with four elementary schools, one middle school and one junior high school (grades 7 and 8). Mitchell said the former teachers’ association president described a “turnaround” that McGee led in the district, which had been dealing with acrimony over employee relations before he was hired. “That was important for us to hear, too, that he has a history of strong accomplishments but also of working well with a variety of individuals who have complex interests. ... (It isn’t always) easy for
by Elena Kadvany superintendents to succeed in the way he has,” Mitchell said. McGee, also a former state superintendent, is currently head of school at a private, Chinese-backed STEM boarding school in Princeton, New Jersey. Though he said the decision to leave the Princeton International School of Mathematics and Science — a startup venture he helped build from the ground up since leaving IMSA in 2013 — was a difficult one, he said he was won over by the Palo Alto entourage’s visit last week. “I walked away from that thinking, ‘These are the kinds of people I would like to serve, with whom I can collaborate to make a difference,’” he told the Weekly in Illinois last week. “I came away feeling really positive about the final decision to sign on.” McGee is scheduled to speak at the school board’s final meeting of the year on June 17. The board held a special meeting Tuesday to discuss the terms of his contract. When current Superintendent Kevin Skelly was hired in May 2007, his initial contract included a base salary that started at $225,000, with promised incremental increases of $11,250 at the end of his first year, a boost of $11,813 at the end of his second year and then a third increase of $12,403. He also received a $1 million interest-free
loan to help purchase a house within the district, plus a $25,000 moving-expense reimbursement. The contract also included a car allowance of $750 a month for a vehicle used for district business. Prior to Tuesday’s closed session of the board, the public was allowed to comment. Leslie Braun, a former longtime college adviser at Palo Alto High School, voiced concern about the district’s recent hiring decisions and urged the board to think carefully about why McGee is interested in taking the helm in Palo Alto. “I believe that the district has made several poor hiring decisions in the past few years,” Braun said. “It is now at a critical juncture in light of the resignation of our current superintendent.” She referenced the “revolving door” of the Paly principal’s office, from Fred Dreir’s two-year tenure in the early 2000’s to Sandra Pearson’s return to help from 2002 to 2004 and Phil Winston’s three years, from 2010 to 2013. “We have not made good choices,” Braun said. “There should not be six or seven principals going through a high school in a span of 10 years. There just needs to be more continuity.” Braun also reviewed McGee’s resume, ending with his latest post in Princeton and posing the question: “Why is Dr. McGee
interested in PAUSD after only a year at this school?” Mitchell responded that the school district recruited McGee. He, like three out of the four semifinalists for the job, did not proactively apply for the position. “I think hiring a superintendent is the most important job that the board does, and it’s why we’ve been very careful in the process we’ve undertaken and the people that we brought in to build consensus around this decision,” Mitchell said. “I come before you not representing myself, (but) probably representing many of my peer groups (in) saying, ‘Please, make the right choice,’” Braun said. “I hope Dr. McGee is the right choice. You obviously feel it is.” McGee’s appointment will be up for discussion at the board’s meeting on Tuesday, June 3, and for action on June 17. N Online Editor Elena Kadvany can be emailed at ekadvany@ paweekly.com.
In next week’s edition Look for next week’s indepth cover story about Glenn “Max” McGee, the new superintendent of the Palo Alto Unified School District.
ÜÜÜ°*> Ì " i°V ÊUÊ*> Ê Ì Ê7ii ÞÊUÊ >ÞÊÎä]ÊÓä£{ÊU Page 7