A growing pattern of limited communication and perceived withholding of information has raised concerns among PAUSD families. From the quiet reinstatement of a teacher previously accused of misconduct to confusion surrounding the rollout of the district’s new Ethnic Studies curriculum, many community members say PAUSD’s lack of transparency has fractured public trust.

Differences in perceptions of transparency may be one reason as to why it is difficult for PAUSD to maintain transparency. On one hand, there are guidelines and laws the district follows that were set up to abide by the community’s need for openness. On the other hand, there is a double standard that can be seen set up by parents on specific issues, which dispute the means of transparency previously implemented.

In two controversies, specifically regarding the reinstating of former Greene and now current Fletcher P.E. teacher Peter Colombo, along with the debate over PAUSD’s Ethnic Studies curriculum, parents have accused the district of failing to inform the community and not being openly transparent until after major decisions were made. However, in both cases, the district complied with their legal obligations to inform the public, just not pressing requests from the community that strayed away from the specific legal guidelines. At the same time, though, officials have cited ongoing litigation or procedural confidentiality as reasons for withholding information. Families amongst the community argue that this pattern leaves them feeling alienated and undermines trust.

According to Public Information Officer Lynette White in an email to The Oracle, PAUSD alerts the community when necessary.

“(PAUSD) issues public announcements for matters that significantly impact our community, including policy changes, safety concerns, major operational decisions, and events of broad community interest,” she wrote.

In June 2022, PAUSD put Colombo on unpaid leave after allegations of sexual assault of a former student in 2001 surfaced. In March 2023, the prosecutor dismissed the charges, citing insufficient evidence to proceed. In February 2024, Colombo filed a lawsuit against PAUSD, alleging that the district intentionally concealed documents that could have cleared his name during disciplinary proceedings. District leadership, including Superintendent Don Austin and Deputy Superintendent Trent Bahadursingh, declined to comment at the time, citing “ongoing litigation.” Bahadursingh also declined to comment when The Oracle reached out regarding district transparency for this article, redirecting to another district employee.

By March 2024, Colombo had been quietly reassigned to work at Fletcher Middle School. According to district records and subsequent reports from parents and students, no notice was sent to Fletcher parents or students. It wasn’t until August 2025, when Colombo was reinstated, that parents and students learned of his return.

For many families, the discovery felt like a breach of trust. With no announcement or explanation from PAUSD officials, Fletcher parents organized petitions and peaceful protests, calling for transparency and accountability.

Parent Clark Barrett reported that neither he nor other parents received any warning or official notice.

“The really sad thing is I found out from my daughter,” Barrett said. “There was this atmosphere of fear and worry among the kids, and they told their parents.”

After verifying the news, Barrett initiated a petition in May 2025 to halt the reinstating of Colombo. Barrett sent the official petition to Superintendent Don Austin, Fletcher’s Principal Melissa Howell, HR director Herb Espiritu and PAUSD school board members. The petition received a quick, brief response from Espiritu and board member Josh Salcman.

“They basically said, ‘We’ve made this choice,’” Barrett said. “They implied they were doing this for legal reasons — they felt like they couldn’t not give him the job or else they’d face legal repercussions.”

The parents continued their efforts, peacefully protesting at Fletcher on the first day of school. Additionally, on Fletcher’s back to school night, parents asked why administrators hadn’t been responsive to concerns about Colombo and were turned down.

“Someone tried to ask the principal a question and she said, ‘There’s no question and answer. You’re dismissed.’ She just shut it down,” Barrett said.

Community members continued to push for communication during a board meeting on August 20, but according to Gunn junior Iana Kibardina, the meeting was unproductive.

“We (each) had a minute to say something,” Kibardina said. “(The board members) just kind of moved on. They didn’t say, ‘Oh, we’re gonna work on this.’”

Later in the school year, Howell proposed an in-person meeting with concerned parents. During the meeting, Barrett reported that Howell said Fletcher will find ways to address parent worries.

Barrett and other parents are disappointed in the frequent lack of communication from the district regarding Colombo.

“It’s really disrespectful to the parents for (PAUSD) to not do anything, to not listen to our concerns, to not engage with us in any way,” he said. “There’s now this aura of distrust between the parents and the leadership. We’re not quite sure what else we can do.”

When contacted by The Oracle, Howell and Fletcher’s administrative team declined to comment.

The Colombo reassignment fits a pattern in which PAUSD information reaches the public late or after legal pressure. In 2020, the district settled a California Public Records Act suit brought by Chief Executive Officer at KnowLearning Matthew McClain regarding failure to respond to record requests for student assessment data dating back to 2010, including contracts and demographic breakdowns.

By mid-May, the board voted 5-0 to settle the matter for $9,964 and agreed to produce the requested records. However, the situation highlighted the inertia in district action until legal means were enforced.

More recently, in 2025, the district faced yet another transparency controversy, this time surrounding the rollout of its Ethnic Studies curriculum. This began on Jan. 21, when a scheduled PAUSD school board meeting erupted in debate regarding this course.

During the Open Forum section of the meeting, parent Lenor Lavaba expressed the main concern of many parents: that the district lacked communication and transparency behind the course itself and what would be taught. After filing a request to see what was being taught in the pilot Ethnic Studies course three months prior to the meeting, Lavaba stated that she had only received a single document with disabled links.

“This isn’t just my right as a parent, it’s required by both district and state law,” Lavaba said at the meeting. “This lack of transparency should concern everyone. Why can’t we see what’s being taught? And most importantly, why is the board rushing to vote on a graduation requirement for a course that (they) won’t even show us?”

Many teachers refuted these arguments during the meeting, stating during the meeting that years had been spent crafting the course. Palo Alto Social Studies Instructional Lead Mary Sano at Palo Alto High School shared the context in which the curriculum was developed.

“The curriculum development was based on the two years prior of a lot of discussion, brainstorming and planning,” Sano said. “Then, our four pilot teachers took all of this material and crafted it into the class that was run. This entire process has been a significant amount of dedicated work by this whole team. It is some of the most meaningful work I’ve done.”

Additionally, Jeff Patrick, then-Gunn Social Studies Instructional Lead, offered his perspective during the meeting as an Ethnic Studies course developer.

“When (the Ethnic Studies panel) is hearing that there are concerns about the course and the way it’s being presented to students, we can’t help but take that personally,” Patrick said. “And that’s the job that we thought we had the trust of the board to do.”

Patrick also stated that other courses such as art and history classes were approved by the board on January 21 without having to submit lesson plans, which sets a double standard targeted at Ethnic Studies.

“If we start opening ourselves up to every request that we get from a community member to provide a lesson plan for the day, that starts a chilling effect on my ability to respond to the needs of my classes and students,” he said at the meeting.

Social Studies teacher Ariane Tuomy, who piloted the course, addressed the issue regarding parent concerns of lack of transparency about the course curriculum.

“From my perspective as a teacher, there’s a form that we always use for course adoption, and that is the course description,” Tuomy said. “So in our minds we were being transparent because we filled the correct form to be submitted and reviewed.”

Students at the meeting also expressed support for teachers and the implementation of Ethnic Studies. Palo Alto High School Class of 2025 member Oliver Chancellor spoke on behalf of the Black Student Union and Social Justice pathway at Paly and their need for the course.

“I ask (the board) that you trust our teachers to make the right decisions for our students as you trust them to teach each and every day,” Chancellor said. “I trust them to teach me and my fellow students.”

Parents and community members affiliated with the Palo Alto Parent Alliance filed a complaint against the district under the Ralph M. Brown Act, which mandates that school boards must conduct business transparently and allow community participation at meetings.

In the case of Ethnic Studies, complaints alleged that the Jan. 21 meeting violated those provisions by approving curriculum and policy changes that had not been adequately disclosed to the public.

The conflict escalated in July 2025, when the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law and local parents alleged that the district intentionally misled the community and withheld curriculum materials in a lawsuit.

According to the lawsuit, parents had requested course outlines and instructional materials ahead of the January meeting but only received partial or outdated documents, some arriving mere days before the vote. The lack of timely disclosure, they argued, silenced the community’s voice in major decisions.

In her email regarding communications, White wrote about the purpose of school board meetings.

“Our board meetings serve as business meetings where topics are formally agendized in advance, allowing community members to see what will be discussed,” White wrote.

PAUSD’s subsequent actions from both the Ethnic Studies and Colombo controversies abided by the corresponding rules regarding transparency. However, the overwhelming varied opinions from the district community on the rules of clarity sway this meaning of transparency — when it comes to a specific issue of their choosing, transparency seems to be interpreted in different ways.

While district leaders assert that confidentiality, legal proceedings and procedural requirements limit what can be shared, many families feel that these same boundaries are used to justify silence. To parents, transparency means open communication and proactive disclosure; to the district, it means compliance with legal thresholds.

This difference in interpretation has become the root of the ongoing frustration. In both the Colombo reinstatement and the Ethnic Studies rollout, PAUSD followed formal guidelines for public notice, but failed to meet the community’s expectations for more honesty and dialogue. The result is a growing divide: one between the district’s definition of transparency and the public’s desire for genuine openness.