The April 21 Palo Alto Unified School District board meeting is just around the corner, but following the March 30 superintendent selection process board meeting, extra commotion stirs among school and community members regarding the role of the superintendent.

As of March 19, the school board unanimously selected Director of Certified Human Resources Herb Espiritu as acting superintendent until April 21.

Before this selection, the official decision of a “mutual separation” between the long-term Superintendent Don Austin and the PAUSD Board of Education took place on Feb. 20. Trent Bahadursingh briefly stepped into the role of acting superintendent before also mutually separating from the Board on March 17.

PAUSD board member Rowena Chiu was the only board member to vote against appointing Bahadursingh as acting Superintendent. She said that the district needed a clearer switch from previous leadership — one that reflected a broader cultural reset that she believed PAUSD could benefit from. According to Chiu, a reset would improve the dynamics between the Board and the superintendent.

“Even though I respect Mr. Bahadursingh as a professional, I felt that his ties to the previous superintendent were too close,” Chiu said. “I, at the time, spoke, as did PAEA [Palo Alto Educators Association], about the need for a cultural reset, and I felt like the continuation of the cultures that we had had in the previous eight years, I just felt that it was time for a change.”

Although she voted against the appointment of Bahadursingh, Chiu also voted against his separation agreement, particularly due to the specific terms that he was leaving on.

“My reasoning around the second vote is that I’m concerned these large settlements that senior folks in our district are leaving with,” Chiu said. “I do understand they are tied to their contracts, but I’m uncomfortable with that in terms of my fiduciary duty as a trustee of this district to see such large sums going out the door, settled on folks that we are separating with.”

Chiu’s comments about the leadership shift add to the growing speculation of what the process of appointing the next superintendent will look like.

Lynette White, the PAUSD Public Information Officer, said that during the transition and search for a new leader, the Board will continue aiming to create a clear and accessible plan so that the community can stay updated throughout each step of the selection process.

“Collaboration with the Board, staff and community stakeholders [is crucial] to continue the work that needs to be done to complete the school year and prepare for the next one,” White said.

According to White, throughout the next few months, changes in the district will focus around solidifying student services, with extra emphasis on community involvement in decision making to ensure student voices are being represented.

“Our focus remains where it should be and that is on student learning, well-being and maintaining a positive, safe and supportive environment for every student,” White said. “For staff and community, we are committed to providing stability as we complete the school year and throughout the process of hiring the next superintendent.”

Especially with recent controversies surrounding how the district previously balanced power among board members, it is important to focus on rebuilding the connection and trust between students and other members of the PAUSD community.

Paly science teacher Samuel Howles-Banerji said that he hopes the district will focus more on the communication between the district office and staff, as he noticed a lack of this with the current district office, especially during the pandemic.

“When school [was announced to] shut down from COVID … it was posted to Palo Alto Online before teachers were informed,” Howles-Banerji said. “It’s very unnerving when your students and the public know things about your job before you do.”

Howles-Banerji said the disconnection between the Board and school community has persisted since the pandemic, and he hopes that the decision of selecting the next superintendent will lead to more community involvement.

“The superintendent has to work with teachers, classified staff, students and administrators,” Howles-Banerji said. “The superintendent’s primary job is to advocate for high quality education, not for a budget that prioritizes district office versus site funding, so I’m hoping that the district with the Board will include stakeholders [during the selection process].”

Likewise, similar concerns about a lack of collaboration were echoed by students. Paly junior Olivia Carlstrom said that she hopes the Board will engage the community better in its decisions because when the public is not included, district choices can feel disconnected from what students need in their daily school lives.

“I hope the district will focus on listening to some voices more in the future, as well as really communicating what’s happening, what decisions the school board is making in their meetings and what they’re planning on implementing, and communicating that to the community,” Carlstrom said.

She added that the district should focus on having more conversations with the school community to better understand student mental health needs.

“I feel like if the district has open discussions about mental health with the staff and the students, it will allow the admin to really understand what’s going on with the students and be more involved with the student body,” Carlstrom said.

According to White, student mental health remains one of the pillars of the PAUSD Promise and continues to collaborate with leadership to provide rsources and partnerships for students, families and staff.

Chiu mentions that one of her own priorities is to determine how to move forward and make improvements in the mental health climate of the district.

“I can’t imagine that [mental health] not being a priority for anyone else, because we as a community have struggled so much with the loss of Paly students and all of the young people who have died by suicide,” Chiu said.

In these dire times, Chiu said that she hopes that the next leader can guide PAUSD toward a more community-centered environment.

“I would love our next superintendent to really center a collaborative and empathetic and transparent leadership model,” Chiu said. “If we want to include parent voice, student voice and teacher voice, which sometimes may conflict with one another, it’s really hard to do that if you don’t have a transparent leadership model.”

Timeline of Superintendent changes in Palo Alto Unified School District.