A former Palo Alto High School assistant principal wrote down about 25 allegations of sexual harassment from students and teachers over a three-year period against former school Principal Phil Winston before reporting it to the district, according to a report from federal officials.
Read MoreA formal letter of findings from the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights released on Thursday details how the Palo Alto school district repeatedly failed to "promptly and equitably" respond to and investigate reports of sexual harassment and assault on and off its campuses -- and thus violated federal anti-discrimination law Title IX.
Read MoreLess than a month after approving a budget that relied on an almost 9 percent increase in property-tax revenue for the coming year, the district has learned that the Santa Clara County Assessor is projecting an increase of just over 5 percent. The shortfall will be about $5.2 million, although the actual budget impact will be around $3.7 million due to the automatic elimination of a 1 percent bonus for employees in 2017.
Read MoreThe Palo Alto school district is suddenly facing a $3.7 million budget gap due to a new property-tax revenue estimate from the Santa Clara County Assessor's Office that is about 3 percent lower than the district had planned for.
Read MoreFormer Palo Alto High School principal Phil Winston, who resigned last June 13 citing health and "work-life balance" reasons, was under investigation at the time by school district officials for multiple allegations of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior involving both staff and students, according to documents obtained by the Weekly from the district.
Read More