On September 19th, the Sequoia District Healthcare (SHCD) Board President Aaron Nayfack wrote an email to the Sequoia Union High School District (SUHSD) Board of Trustees. The part that sets off alarm bells goes as follows:

“The Healthcare District has a long history of supporting Sequoia Union High School District and many of its feeder districts through our Healthy Schools Initiative. This support is now between 4-5 million annually.

“It has come to my attention that the study session tomorrow evening will be focused on undoing some of the strong equity reforms that SUHSD put in place in 2019. I strongly urge you to reconsider this path as I would hate to have anything jeopardize the long partnership between SUHSD and the Sequoia Healthcare District.”

[While not entirely clear, it’s likely that the “equity reforms” Nayfack is referencing are the removal of a two-track English curriculum for freshmen students in recent years, with schools like Woodside offering English 1 only, rather than an advanced “AS English 1” version. More information on the board of trustees meeting can be found here]

When I first read this, I couldn’t believe it.  An elected public official and chair was intimidating a school board.

Nayfack mentions how important the Sequoia Healthcare District is to the school by donating huge sums of money (4-5 million dollars), states something he is opinionated about – these “equity reforms” – and then says “I would hate to have anything jeopardize the long partnership,” implying that unless the district meet his ‘suggestion’, those 4-5 million dollars are also in jeopardy.

19-year-old district board member Sathvik Nori described how I felt perfectly: according to the Palo Alto Daily Post, “Nori said he read Nayfack’s email as a threat.”

SHCD Board President Aaron Nayfack is trying to use his own position to dissuade the school district’s Board of Trustees from discussing curriculum reforms. In other words, Nayfack is threatening the SUHSD Board of Trustees for doing their job, which is “to ensure that school districts are responsive to the values, beliefs and priorities of their communities.”

The SUSHD Board of Trustees plays a vital role in our community. One of their key jobs is curriculum development. As the job description states, the board acts as a check and balance to the school district, so parents, students, residents, teachers, and other community members can express their concerns. It’s a catalyst for positive change.

Then you have Sequoia District Healthcare, originally formed in 1946, and whose mission is “enhancing access to care and promoting wellness through responsible stewardship of District taxpayer dollars.” And if you are a resident of San Mateo County, whether you knew it or not, you pay for its existence: “Sequoia Healthcare District receives approximately $0.14 per $1,000 assessed valuation (or 1.4 percent of the one percent property tax rate).”

Sequoia District Healthcare furthermore (as described by Nayfack) donates a large fraction of that taxpayer money to the school district: a sum of about 4-5 million dollars. This raises further questions Why does SHCD act as a middleman? Why don’t those 4-5 million dollars of taxpayer money just go directly to the district? While it is questionable that the Sequoia District Healthcare even exists – especially since SCHD additionally agrees that “the voters are still being taxed for a hospital the District does not own” – the main point is that it should at no point be able to write such a menacing email to a school district board of trustees, threatening funds if the board of trustees doesn’t heed SCHD.

If Sequoia District Healthcare’s mission is “enhancing access to care and promoting wellness through responsible stewardship of District taxpayer dollars,” how does writing this threatening email achieve either of those? Why is he interfering with the school board?

While Nayfack has since claimed that “he had no intention of eliminating funding to the district, saying it would hurt the students his district is worried about,” this is an obvious attempt to rewind his menacing statement. Even if Nayfack had no intention to make a threat—hard to believe, given the obviously threatening nature of the email—the mere fact that he sent such an email to the board is problematic, as it simply isn’t his role as SCHD President to weigh in on curriculum changes.

Nayfack and Sequoia District Healthcare should learn from their mistake and focus on achieving their stated mission: “improving the health of District residents through enhancing access to care and promoting wellness” – not meddling in school affairs.