Some California parents are refusing to let a poor grade—or even an unfavorable report-card comment—go unchallenged.
The Palo Alto Unified School District has faced two lawsuits this year from parents disputing how their children were assessed, according to the Wall Street Journal.
One case concerns a third-grader’s conduct on the playground. The other involves a high school student whose English essay was flagged by AI-detection software.
In the most recent case, Weiwei Luo, the mother of a Walter Hays Elementary student, is asking a Santa Clara County judge to overturn a school board decision that allowed three critical comments to remain on her son’s 2025–26 report card.
Teacher Holly Harrison wrote that the boy was “working on his responses to peers when he is frustrated or upset,” was “developing his ability to listen to others’ perspectives and collaborate with humility,” and needed “continued practice with showing respect and cooperating with others.”
Luo is not disputing her son’s letter grades or his social-emotional ratings—only the written comments.
The conflict began in October 2025, after the boy became involved in several playground disagreements, including a game of tag and an incident in which he accused another student of kicking him. The petition acknowledges that Luo had previously conceded her son was behaving foolishly toward the other child and that sticking out his tongue was inappropriate.
Still, Luo argued that the teacher’s remarks were inaccurate and unsupported. She filed a formal challenge under student-records laws in June.
The district agreed to revise one progress note but declined to remove the other comments. On Aug. 18, the school board voted 4-0 to reject her appeal, concluding that the remarks were substantiated and not misleading.
Luo is now asking that the comments be deleted or corrected—or that she receive a new hearing—because she says her attorney was improperly excluded from the virtual board meeting.
“My lawyer was been removed by the host. I don’t know why this Happen! Please add her in,” Luo wrote in an email to an assistant superintendent, according to the court filing.
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The district disputes that account, saying Luo was instructed to remain available from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. and did not ask for a postponement when her case was called.
Luo is also seeking attorney’s fees. The district said it will respond in court.
Another Palo Alto parent took a dispute over his child’s grade to federal court.
Takashi Kato, the CEO of a Silicon Valley AI startup, sued the district in May after Turnitin determined that his son’s essay on Arthur Miller’s The Crucible was 76% likely to have been AI-generated.
The 10th-grader was required to rewrite the essay in class and received a score of 65 out of 100, lowering a grade that had previously been a low A or high B, according to the complaint.
Kato submitted a 1,162-page packet of evidence, including drafts and revision histories, that he said showed his son had written the essay himself. He also proposed a resolution: award his son a B by early March and end the dispute. The district rejected the offer.
His lawsuit alleged 14 violations, including discrimination, retaliation and denial of due process. Kato claimed his son was singled out because he was a multilingual Asian male and alleged that boys were four to five times more likely than girls to be required to rewrite essays.
The complaint also said another Asian student in the class, whose grade had been 99%, received a D after being ordered to rewrite an assignment.
Kato additionally accused an assistant principal of having a secretary type his son’s handwritten exams so they could be submitted to Turnitin without the family’s knowledge.
He dismissed the lawsuit in September. The district said there was no settlement.
The Post has contacted Luo and Kato for comment.
