Upfront
Reaction (continued from page 7)
its effects on campus,” the Q&A states. This could also warrant transferring a student to another school, “consistent with Title IX guidance,” the firm wrote. But it is “absolutely the school’s responsibility,” the Gunn mother said, to address any effects of harassment or sexual assault, whether it happened on or off campus. The mother said involved administrators as well as board members, who have said they were largely in the dark about the specifics of this case until media reports last week, should be held accountable for their apparent failure to adhere to district policy — and federal law — in this case. Last week’s news has spurred difficult conversations about sexual assault, consent and safety in homes, on campus and on social media. Acknowledging that not all facts about the different incidents are publicly known — and might not be, given the students involved are minors and the school district is limited in what it can say
Correction
by federal student privacy laws — students and parents have expressed concern about the district’s handling of the case, particularly the fact that the male student remained at school and has been playing on a varsity sports team. Some parents are taking matters into their own hands when it comes to trying to stem sexual violence and misconduct. Two days after KTVU broke the story, 50 parents gathered for two hours midday at a Palo Alto parent’s home to learn about the ins and outs of federal anti-discrimination Title IX from Stanford University law professor Michele Dauber. They planned to talk about “how the process is supposed to work when someone reports a sexual assault, how we can talk to our daughters about sexual assault, rape and rape culture, and how to empower our girls,” parent Jill Asher wrote in a Facebook post inviting others to the event. Paly parent Laura Prentiss, a social worker, said she and another local mother, a marriage and family therapist, started teaching an informal workshop out of Prentiss’ home to teach other mothers
Due to an error in a city report, the May 12 story about increases in municipal fees stated an incorrect proposed fee for employee permits in the Evergreen Park Residential Preferential Parking program. The correct proposed fee is $280 per year. The Weekly regrets the error. To request a correction, contact Editor Jocelyn Dong at 650-223-6514, jdong@ paweekly.com or P.O. Box 1610, Palo Alto, CA 94302.
how to talk about sex, consent, body image and related issues with their daughters. They started it because of incidents in the district, she said, from the former Paly principal being disciplined for sexual harassment to student media reports about a “rape culture” at Paly. They just started a second group for mothers of boys. Parents’ desire for more information and guidance, she said, underscores the need for a comprehensive sex-education program that continues through high school and touches on these topics. “To me, it’s all related,” she said in an interview with the Weekly. “I don’t know that these assaults could have been prevented with (students) having had more information about consent, but I do think that the more and more kids are talking about it and knowing about it and know who to go to when things go sour and how to get the proper help, then at least some of the damage can be reduced when these kind of situations happen.” “My hope is that this is the straw that breaks the camel’s back,” she added about the Paly case, “and the district really stops and looks at how our district handles these kinds of issues, what kind of messaging our kids get about sexual relationships, about consent (and) about safety on campus.” Q Staff Writer Elena Kadvany can be emailed at ekadvany@ paweekly.com.
District (continued from page 7)
its work investigating Title IX violations, this spring to investigate past sexual misconduct cases as required by a resolution agreement with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. The board had called the closed meeting to evaluate three top district officials over their involvement in the case: Superintendent Max McGee, Paly Principal Kim Diorio and Chief Student Services Officer Holly Wade, also the district’s Title IX coordinator. All appeared to dodge a bullet Tuesday. Godfrey announced that the board took no personnel action. The board will conduct McGee’s annual evaluation in June and share the results of that publicly “to the extent we can,” Godfrey said. She later said the board hopes the firm will start its investigation “as soon as possible” and complete it in time for McGee’s evaluation. Even as the administrators remain in their jobs for now, the attorney for the male Paly junior who was convicted of one felony for an incident that occurred off campus in 2015, issued a statement that the teen has “elected not to complete the school year on campus.”
The district attorney’s office also filed a charge against him for “consensual underage sexual activity” for an incident that occurred at Paly last October, attorney Stephanie Rickard said. It’s unclear if he was convicted of this crime, a misdemeanor, since court records for that charge are sealed. Students and parents filled a standing-room-only meeting at the district office on Tuesday afternoon to express their shock, outrage and concern at the district’s handling of the multiple sexual assault allegations, calling on trustees to show leadership in addressing what one parent called an “epidemic.” “We don’t expect passivity. We expect things of this nature and things of this consequence to be handled proactively, and that’s just not what I feel has happened here,” Paly parent Chris Cummings told board members. Multiple speakers called for the firing of McGee, Diorio and Wade. Others came to tell of their own experiences with inappropriate behavior at the hands of other students, including stalking, at both Palo Alto and Gunn high schools. Eleanor Lee Wang said her daughter, a Gunn student, was groped on campus and reported it to the school after seeing the (continued on page 12)
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