The District Board of Trustees met for its monthly meeting on Wednesday, April 23. The Board received an update from the Western Association of Schools and College, agreed to continue revising its Ethnic Studies curriculum, and approved new courses for next year. During closed session, the Board met with legal counsel where they discussed three lawsuits, considered labor negotiations, and voted unanimously to dismiss a school employee with unpaid leave.
WASC
Following a three-month self-study, WASC representatives visited and assessed District campuses from April 14 to 16 to determine the next periods of accreditation for each school. M-A WASC Coordinator and English teacher Susie Choe and Principal Karl Losekoot introduced the organization and gave a presentation about M-A’s assessment.
WASC highlighted M-A’s high enrollment and pass rates in AP classes and exams, heterogeneous courses for ninth-grade students, and a strong sense of belonging on campus. They also complimented extensive resources on campus, including PAWS and the Prom Closet.
Losekoot and Choe also noted areas for improvement, which include better grade alignment across departments, improving career pathway opportunities, and increasing support for English Learners, who saw a 4.5% decline in English CAASPP progress from the 2023-24 school year.
To address some of these concerns, Losekoot said that M-A will add more Career Technical Education classes to expose students to additional career paths.
Losekoot also complimented Woodside’s phone policy, where all teachers are expected to enforce cell phone pocket systems in their classrooms. “We’re looking to follow your lead,” he said.
Ethnic Studies
The Ethnic Studies revision team presented an updated curriculum that implements aspects of the state curriculum, along with feedback from the community.
Because the Board voted to make Ethnic Studies a graduation requirement in October of 2020, the District’s current curriculum was developed before the state released its own. In its short time as a mandatory class, Ethnic Studies has faced significant backlash.
The Board approved revisions to the curriculum but pushed motions on mandating Ethnic Studies as a graduation requirement to review in the Fall. They will continue to hear input on the class and develop the planned curriculum.
Approved Course Offerings
In anticipation of the 2025-26 school year, the Board voted to affirm the District’s course offerings. This means that the detracked core classes for ninth and tenth graders will continue. As a part of this vote, two new CTE pathways, Sports Medicine and Biotechnology, as well as AP Physics Mechanics and AP Seminar, were affirmed.The Board’s vote was preceded by a wide range of public comments both commending and critiquing detracking.
M-A English teacher Abbie Korman voiced her appreciation for M-A’s current courses, emphasizing how M-A currently has more advanced coursework than “any other district in the area.”
East Palo Alto Vice-Mayor and M-A parent Mark Dinan criticized detracking and advocated for increasing the number of advanced classes available to underclassmen. “Detracking is a message to send your kids to private schools if you want them to have a rigorous education,” Dinan said. “People in EPA are especially dependent on public schools and don’t have the same access to rigorous opportunities as other students.”
Wednesday’s meeting was the first time that the District’s new group of trustees had voted on detracking, an issue that many of them campaigned on.
The Board will convene again on May 7.
