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Warning: This story mentions suicidal ideation and other mental health struggles, which some individuals may find distressing.
A movement has been sparked among current and former Sequoia Union High School District staff who claim that the district is promoting discriminatory behavior toward people of color. Since the start of the school year, the school board and district administrators have been under scrutiny as staff allege district-wide corruption amid multiple lawsuits and investigations.
Some staffers say they are leaving the district riddled with anxiety, depression and panic attacks — all as a result of what they say is a hostile work environment. This news organization spoke to eight former employees of color, who are accusing the district of discrimination. Some have already filed lawsuits.
Former staff say that they have been accused of district violations with lack of evidence, have had little to no support in demanding positions and received no acknowledgement toward serious mental health struggles.
Superintendent Crystal Leach declined to comment on the claims, saying that districts “have a legal obligation to protect the privacy of employees, so we are unable to comment on individual personnel issues.”
Blindsighted accusations
In the heat of this movement, students and parents have also come forward to address the absence of Mike Molieri, a well-known educator and varsity basketball coach at Menlo-Atherton High School.
It’s been over 100 days since Molieri was placed on administrative leave. Some parents of Molieri’s students are asking “when will Coach Mo return?” The district has no response.
Molieri was placed on leave in August after he allegedly “engaged in misconduct which includes, but is not limited to, alleged violations of students rights under the Individuals with Disabilities Act,” according to the district’s leave notice.
Mike Molieri’s brother, Dan, believes that his brother is being accused of releasing a student’s Individualized Education Program without the permission of the student or parent. Dan Molieri is a lead investigator at the Oakland-based Law Offices of John Burris.
Mike Molieri, a special education teacher of 21 years, was known for mentoring students at M-A and providing students of color with a safe space in his classroom. Multiple students spoke during board meetings asking why their teacher hasn’t returned.
Since being placed on leave, Mike Molieri has filed a retaliation complaint against the district with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. His case is being represented by San Francisco-based attorney Harry Stern.
“This is unprecedented. They should really return him to work. Any investigation should have been completed already,” said Stern. “Not only did the district retaliate against him but they are also silencing him.”
This is not the first time that the district has accused staff of alleged violations of the Individuals with Disabilities Act.
In November 2023, Ofa Taimani, who formerly worked as M-A’s instructional vice principal secretary, was also directly accused of releasing IEP files to Dan Molieri without consent. Dan was on campus for work related to the lawsuit involving the former M-A student arrested in April 2023.
Taimani, who calls the Molieri brothers her family, was taken aback when she was accused of this violation during a meeting with Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Todd Beal and Administrative Secretary Rene Alvarez.
“Mr. Todd Beal’s first question was ‘What is your relationship with Dan Molieri?’” said Taimani, who felt she was being targeted for her close relationship with the Molieri family.
An investigation followed and Taimani remembers feeling like she was having a heart attack; she later learned that she was experiencing her first panic attack.
“I was always anxious, super worried about everything,” said Taimani, who took medical leave after this confrontation.
When she initially returned to work, she was shocked to find that the district moved her to the counseling office and assigned her new duties and responsibilities. She received no support or training with her new role, causing her stress to worsen, she said. Taimani feels this is retaliatory for simply knowing Mike as a close friend and colleague.
Beal’s investigation partially sustained the complaint made against Taimani, which she said was based on hearsay. The district confirmed to her in August that all complaints were verbal and no written complaint was prepared.
In the lawsuit involving the arrest of an M-A student, it alleges that an unknown administrator also released the student’s IEP to the Atherton Police Department without consent. Although this is a violation of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, no administrator has reportedly faced any consequences of this action, according to Dan Molieri.
The Atherton police declined to say who it got the report from, citing ongoing litigation. The school district was unable to respond due to personnel matters.
Lack of concern over mental health
Taimani has been prescribed three medications to help her manage her mental health struggles, all of which she said comes from the trauma she experienced with Beal and the district.
“M-A is a hostile work environment,” said Taimani, who has been on medical leave since September, seeking treatment.
A separate ongoing lawsuit has been filed by former Woodside High School counselor Sharlett Downing, a Black woman, for wrongful termination after she was denied accommodations for her mental health disabilities.
Former district social worker Kari Cheng says she also developed severe symptoms of anxiety and depression after working with SUHSD. As soon as she was hired in 2022 she immediately began experiencing difficulties with the onboarding process followed by hostility from district administrators.
Although Cheng had interviewed for the mental health social worker position, she was hired as a 504 coordinator despite lacking proper license and qualifications for the position, she said. A 504 coordinator is responsible for helping students with accommodations for disabilities by advising teachers and making sure all protocols are followed.
The district hired Cheng with acknowledgement that she has an associate’s degree in social work and is working to gain the necessary hours to obtain her clinical social worker license.
Cheng proceeded to work for the district as a 504 coordinator with no training or support, leading to increased stress, anxiety and depression, she said. She had to take mental health leaves as a result but never clarified to the district that it was for her mental wellbeing because she feared she’d be fired.
She was also working on building a social emotional learning curriculum and was fundraising outside of work to buy materials for students.
Her mental health worsened when the district alerted her again that she would be switched into a different role after she was making progress as a 504 coordinator. Cheng said the district’s lack of clarity on her new role impacted her students and her own mental health.
“Because there were too many changes and I couldn’t deal with it, I stopped sleeping and I couldn’t drive anywhere. I eventually wasn’t able to come to work,” said Cheng, who tried to take unpaid family leave in January.
The district informed her that if she went on unpaid leave for more than 30 days she would lose her benefits, which Cheng made sure not to exceed.
The district was unable to clarify the standards to maintain benefits when employees take leave because “each situation is unique.”
Other inconsistent policies arose when Cheng realized her associate license had expired and took immediate action to schedule a meeting with Stephen Emmi, the district’s wellness coordinator. Meetings continued to be canceled and rescheduled, Cheng said.
Emmi had mentioned to her in passing that they should meet to talk about next steps, but the process accelerated when Cheng was called to a meeting with Beal. Cheng was pressured to meet with him despite her clarifying she was uncomfortable meeting him in private. Her discomfort came from her knowledge that uniform complaints filed by her colleagues were not being investigated properly by Beal.
Cheng agreed to have him speak with her with colleagues present. During this meeting on May 4, 2023, he confronted her about being unlicensed and told her she can no longer work in classrooms. Immediately after, Cheng said she was locked out of her district email account without notice and was put on unpaid leave.
Despite the district telling her she could take up to 30 days off without losing her benefits , Cheng said she lost them as soon as she was on leave.
She said Beal’s actions felt retaliatory. Since the incident she has sent multiple emails to the school board on her worsening mental health conditions but has not received any acknowledgement from the board or district. The school board did not provide a comment.
“My mental health just got worse and I started having suicidal ideation because I just felt really hopeless in this situation and no one was really addressing my mental health. I hospitalized myself for safety reasons,” she said.
Cheng’s contract with the district ended in 2024.
Alleged history of racism
M-A has a diverse makeup of students. There are wealthy students from Atherton and West Menlo Park and students who come from historically disadvantaged areas of East Palo Alto and Belle Haven.
The school motto is “strength in diversity,” yet former M-A paraprofessional and Black Student Union adviser Jeremy Arey claims that the school doesn’t support minorities. Arey is Cheng’s husband.
“I’ve seen situations where students, if they’re rich and their parents threaten the school with a lawsuit, they move instantly. [Administrators] will come up with solutions,” said Arey. “Other students that were poor or a minority, would get no solutions. It’s all based around what the school feels like is going to come back on them as a lawsuit or consequence.”
From 2021 to 2023, Arey also volunteered on the district’s Equity Committee, African American Leadership Council and worked with the Student Voice and Advocacy Club at M-A.
Former Seqouia Union High School District employees Kari Cheng, left, and Jeremy Arey, right, hold hands in Stafford Park in Redwood City on Oct. 1, 2024. Photo by Anna Hoch-Kenney. 
Former Seqouia Union High School District employees Kari Cheng, left, and Jeremy Arey, right, at Stafford Park in Redwood City on Oct. 1, 2024. Photo by Anna Hoch-Kenney.
As he started to get to know the school and its students, he began to witness issues such as student starvation, guns on campus, drug use, sexual assault and frequent use of racial slurs among staff and students. Despite bringing it to the attention of administrators, Arey said that actions were never taken to address these issues.
“We constantly voiced this through the Equity Committee, through emails and then it would just not get resolved, or it would just not get addressed,” said Arey, who ultimately decided to resign from M-A after witnessing no progress.
Arey alleges that there is corruption among the administration, using the district’s promotion of Emmi from M-A’s vice principal to now the district wellness coordinator as an example. Emmi is involved in the M-A student lawsuit for allegedly using physical force and causing emotional distress on the student.
“Teachers see [the promotion] and understand that corruption gets rewarded,” said Arey.
Another former M-A teacher, who requested to not be named in this report for fear of retribution, resigned when he began to see the district’s lack of racial equity for staff and students.
“I got really frustrated with the way the school was running and I think the last straw for me was when we had a training for teachers across the district and it was supposed to be about equity,” said the former math teacher.
The source is referring to a districtwide diversity, equity and inclusion training which was hosted by the University of Southern California Race and Equity Center in September and March 2023. Arey and the former math teacher both recall a shocking moment where staff made racist and insulting comments during the training sessions.
In March, the USC training presenter withdrew from continuing their work with SUHSD after the negative comments had gotten to be too much.
The USC Race and Equity Center did not respond to a request for comment from this news organization.
“It felt like some were drinking the Kool-Aid too much and were not addressing the issues,” the former teacher said. “There were more white-allies than allies for people of color.”
‘There were more white-allies than allies for people of color.’
former sequoia district teacher
This news organization has acquired four additional complaints filed against the district with the California Civil Rights Department from 2010 and 2022.
Heated public comments
Public commenters have spoken at school board meetings with shaking voices and tears as they recounted their traumatic experiences.
“I’ve attended board meetings and spoken at many of them. I’ve left some in tears. I’ve had a panic attack in the parking lot one night after [a meeting],” said Abbie Korman, an English teacher at M-A during a Sept. 11 board meeting. “I know staff of color who did not feel safe walking to their car after one of our largely attended and at moments, hostile meetings.”
As a white educator, Korman has been voicing her concerns about the district’s treatment of staff of color since November 2022 when the school board voted to “oust the district’s first Black superintendent, Darnise Williams,” she said.
Public commenters have also received legal letters from school district attorneys claiming their words were threatening or were in violation of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.
In August, Dan Molieri was sent a 14-day “stay away order” by the district for making what administrators deemed as threatening comments toward Beal during a board meeting on Aug. 21.
In September, school district attorneys sent Arey a cease and desist letter after he made a comment about board member Shawneece Stevenson’s daughter during the Sept. 11 board meeting that the district determined was a FERPA violation. His comment was to advocate for Mike Molieri’s return to school.
“Even board President Shawneece Stevenson’s daughter found refuge and support in [Mike Molieri’s] class and I worked with her,” Arey commented during the meeting. The district’s letter stated that he must “immediately cease and desist from sharing confidential information about district students that you obtained when you worked in the district.”
Shortly after Arey’s comment Stevenson said, “My child’s information is confidential and it was broken. I’m sorry that there’s been a lot of investigations but that is not the board’s fault. We have to investigate. Talking about someone’s child without their parents’ consent is absolutely wrong.”
Arey argues that he did not violate FERPA in his comment and that Stevenson had disclosed her own daughter’s status in her response. He told this news organization that he and other staff have sent Stevenson emails about their experiences of hostility but the district never conducted a “proper and impartial investigation.”
“Instead of listening and then making changes based on diverse input, our district has continually ignored, chosen to not even ask, and sadly gone as far as vilifying and firing folks who have sincerely brought up their issues and concerns,” Korman said in an email to this news organization.
Community members also created an Instagram page for this movement: @investigatingsuhsd.
Help is available
Any person who is feeling depressed, troubled or suicidal can call 988, the mental health crisis hotline, to speak with a crisis counselor. Spanish speakers can also call 888-628-9454.
People can reach trained counselors at Crisis Text Line by texting RENEW to 741741.
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3,000,000 Million dollars and climbing only being used to defend administration lead by Leach, Beal, Hanson and the already named defendants that have factually committed Federal offenses yet the district keeps Mike Molieri and others away in an attempt to cover up their illegal actions . Parents seriously know your rights as your children are in danger with those corrupt individuals.
Thank you to everyone who has spoke out against SUHSD and brought forward their experiences. I hope this is just the beginning in the tide turning and the truth being exposed until major changes are made.
Crystal Leach and many others need to be replaced with more competent, genuine, honest people who are unapologetic about doing the right thing and doing the hard work of real leadership. The district relies on hiding so many appalling realities and putting forward a false image of performative progress when they fail to address a hostile, retaliatory work environment and major, preventable issues every year. Crystal Leach just received a $60,000+ per year raise, signed off by Shawneece Stevenson, when her time in the district has seen increasing racial attacks in school, school protests, walkouts, students and staff being physically and mentally harmed, students losing valuable services and mentors, multiple uniform complaints and lawsuits, and millions spent on defense attorneys instead of educational services and retaining top talent who have solutions to turn this all around. Why are these poor results being rewarded?
Don’t let your children be harmed by these individuals and let us protect your children , employees and teachers . We stand tall for all lives matter and Leach past school board, Hansen Beal and Loosket use tax payers funds to defend their factual crimes. The recent e-mail received for Loosket is disgusting and his integrity is no better than a drug dealer trying to convince a child to use drugs. The district’s game of attempting to coverup their federal and state violations will be clearly proven by evidence in any federal let alone state court. The district continues to pay the multiple lawyers they have hired to defend their actions but at the end children will continue to be harmed. In conclusion, Mike Molieri is at home because he refuses to participate in the Shay Caldwell coverup.