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Palo Alto Unified School District Henry M. Gunn High School 780 Arastradero Rd Palo Alto, CA 94306
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PAUSD discrimination suit reaches appeals court Shawna Chen and Samuel Tse
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On Jan. 21, the United States Departments of Justice and Education filed an amicus curiae (“friend of the court”) brief supporting the Chadam family in a DNAprivacy lawsuit against the Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD). The case, which was originally filed in 2013, dismissed in the district courts and appealed on Jan. 14, involved former Jordan Middle School student Colman Chadam, who was ordered to transfer schools after his medical information was divulged to another family without his parents’ consent. The district removed Chadam from Jordan in 2012, when he was 11 years old, claiming that a doctor’s recommendation had caused district officials’ decision to transfer Chadam to Terman Middle School. According to the appeal however, that doctor has never examined Chadam or spoken with Chadam’s parents. Chadam carries the genetic marker for cystic fibrosis (CF), an inherited disorder in which the lungs and digestive system become clogged with thick mucus starting in early childhood. But because he inherited only one marker and not both defective genes, which must be present for a person to actively carry the disease, he is not affected nor does he affect others. The Chadams were asked to fill out a medical form upon registering at the district and included Chadam’s condition. On Sept. 11, 2012, when a teacher mistakenly revealed to another Jordan family that Chadam has cystic fibrosis without permission from the Chadams, the family— named family X in the lawsuit—asked for Chadam to be moved to a different school so that their two children who do have CF would not cross infect. People with CF are generally recommended to keep at least six feet away from others with CF, according to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. A person with the disease can be a carrier of bacteria that is easily transmitted and harmful to others with CF. Chadam, however, “does not have, and never has had, cystic fibrosis and is a healthy teenager,” says the amicus brief filed by the Departments of Justice and Education. This is not the first discrimination lawsuit against the district. In the 2011-2012 year, PAUSD handled four Office of Civil Rights (OCR) cases, two of disability-based harassment, one a claim of race-based discrimination and the last alleging the district’s failure in following procedures in managing accommodations under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. The district disputed the OCR findings in 2013, with the Board of Education exceeding its legal budget by $110,000 and then-board Vice President Barbara Mitchell accusing the OCR of interviewing students without parental consent even though internal PAUSD documents contradicted her statements. Principal Dr. Denise Herrmann also stated that “the district does incur significant legal expenses throughout each year.”
The case
Though Chadam’s parents presented the district with a letter from one of Chadam’s doctors, who said that Chadam does not have CF and is not “any risk whatsoever to other children with [cystic fibrosis] even if they were using the same classroom,” the district only said its decision to transfer Chadam was according to a letter from an unspecified Stanford doctor. DISCRIMINATION—p.5
Jackie Lou
Low-income students sacrifice for better education
ning of the debt that we started sinking down in,” Fischer said. Fischer’s mother has a high school diploma, while her father attended college for two years in the United States before Every day, junior Karla Henriquez wakes up at around 6 a.m. dropping out due to financial reasons. Fischer’s father now while most of her friends are still asleep. Her parents have to works three jobs so that the family can get back on their feet leave at 4 a.m. in the morning to start their work, so she is left financially—working in maintenance full-time as well as drivby herself to get ready and eat breakfast. At 6:30 a.m., she then ing for Uber and Lyft part-time. According to Assistant Prinhops on a bus for a 40-minute ride to school—and that’s the cipal Heather Wheeler, the challenges that stem from being a easy ride. If she needs to take the bus back home after school, low-income student start with the little details that the average she has to ride three different buses for a total of 1 hour and Palo Altan—who makes one of the top incomes in the nation, 30 minutes before she can according to CNN—might finally step into her home, not notice. “[Some take] it for catch her breath and start granted that somebody could “It’s way too hard to have a life here in Palo Alto her homework. pay to go out to lunch, or pay when you are living on a budget of a home where Henriquez lives in East to get a tutor or pay to go on two parents have low incomes.” Palo Alto. When she was a school trip,” Wheeler said. in kindergarten, there was Henriquez has experienced —junior Karla Henriquez a shooting in front of her these disparities first-hand. local elementary school. Although she was the top student in “My mom has tried to sign me up for free lunches five times, and her class, her parents were scared and did not want to risk her I tried to sign up myself up and my brother up this year, and still safety, so they decided to transfer her to the Palo Alto Unified we just can’t get in,” she said. “The district thinks that my parents School District (PAUSD), where they knew the education was are rich but I can barely afford bringing a lunch from home.” top-class and where they knew she would be safe. “It’s honestly Henriquez faces barriers in the opportunity to further her all about the money,” Henriquez said. “It’s way too hard to have education. “I was nominated for these [programs] made by the a life here in Palo Alto when you are living on a budget.” government and one of them was to go to Washington D.C. and A long bus ride and lofty housing prices are only an ounce of Oregon, but it is so expensive, so I obviously just could not say the struggles that low-income families face in Palo Alto, accord- yes,” Henriquez said. “The money has stopped me from doing it.” ing to PAUSD Director of Academic Supports Judy Argumedo. Argumedo believes high rigor at Gunn can further debilitate Low-income students face obstacles in various aspects of their a low-income student’s ability to thrive academically. “Some academic and social life throughout their high school experience students go out and get extra help from tutors, which gives them and beyond, she says. an advantage. A low-income student is not going to have that resource, and so it makes the gap much bigger,” Argumedo said. The obstacles Henriquez, whose parents do not speak English as their Junior Sally Fischer (name has been changed to protect her first language, is often jealous of students who are able to identity) and her family have had financial struggles for several use their parents to obtain academic support. “My parents years ever since her parents brought her brother to the United have a hard time reading my school material, so at times States from El Salvador. Although Fischer and her parents were they don’t bother,” Henriquez said. “It upsets me, but I grateful to finally have everyone together, it was the beginning can’t be mad at them because I know they try, and if they of financial struggles for their family. “[It] kind of set the beginINEQUALITY—p.3 Deiana Hristov and Shagun Khare
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