On June 3, the Palo Alto Board of Education met to evaluate superintendent Don Austin’s performance in his role, ultimately voting 4-1 to continue his contract, thus extending it to 2029 and increasing his salary.
Austin began his time as the Palo Alto Unified School District superintendent in 2018 and has since had his contract renewed six different times. Austin’s latest extension in office was applied given his satisfactory evaluation from the board that allowed his contract to continue.
Contrary to initial perceptions, Austin’s annual pay raise to $421,272 was per a clause in his contract including a several-step salary plan that raises over time.
Community members and PAUSD parents expressed concerns with Austin’s performance, disagreeing with the board’s decision to continue his employment, during public statements at the June 3 meeting. A petition was also created prior to the meeting that demanded Austin’s removal from office and amassed over 1,000 anonymous signatures.
The petition was created by several anonymous parents in the Palo Alto Unified School District and makes claims of Austin’s alleged record of, as written in the petition, “stonewalling, intimidation and gaslighting.” The document urged parents across Palo Alto and its neighboring cities to sign before it was presented at the June 3 board meeting.
The petition said Austin exhibited poor communication with parents and disregard for student mental health instances. The document cites recent PAUSD decisions, including that of removing honors biology and implementing only gender-neutral bathrooms at Hoover Elementary School without addressing parental concerns.
Austin said the petition is full of false claims concerning his work and performance as superintendent.
“People can sign whatever they’d like to sign,” Austin said. “If they want to put their names on something that has inaccuracies or is distributed worldwide, they can absolutely do that.”
Austin said his job as a superintendent is not the same as that of the Board of Education, and as such, many of the complaints that the petition made do not fall under his jurisdiction.
“Most people wouldn’t know what a superintendent does,” Austin said. “That’s clear when some of the things in the [petition’s] statements were board actions, … and if the people didn’t like it, they attribute that to me.”
As Austin maintains his position as PAUSD’s superintendent, he said he has a good connection to his community and school district thanks to the duration of his experience working with the school board.
“The depth and breadth of what we offer students is unparalleled,” Austin said. “I feel really good about our future together.”
