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Nathaniel Yu

SRVUSD's Defamation of Nathaniel Yu 

In February of 2017, Nathaniel Yu was a junior-year student at San Ramon Valley High School.  As a candidate running for student body president, he posted a spoof video portraying himself as a James Bond kind of character who rescues another student from a Palestinian terrorist with a scarf looking like that of Yasser Arafat. The video was reportedly up live on the internet for just one evening/night.

The video was taken down the next morning, at the recommendation of a friend, who apparently feared that SRVUSD Thought Police might be offended, with repercussions to follow for Nathaniel. That's exactly what happened.  Nathaniel won his election, but was removed from his leadership position by District authorities, suspended from class for 5 days, had his grades withheld for a time, and was slandered District-wide (and worse).  Nathaniel and his parents sued, and in 2020, SRVUSD finally settled the case for $665,000.  The following links tell the story.

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Danville student settles free-speech lawsuit against SRVUSD (Danville/San Ramon)

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School district reaches $665K settlement with student over Bond parody (KTVU)

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SRVUSD activists drive defamation of student, who then wins lawsuit (East Bay Times, re-phrased article title here)

Key Case Documents in "N.Y" [Nathaniel Yu] v SRVUSD, U.S. District Court


This scandal led to several resignations, and revelations of the twisted sympathies of many SRVUSD staff personnel.  Among those departing was Superintendent Rick Schmitt and the hiring of new Superintendent John Malloy, who himself slandered the Cal High Stunt Team in 2022 for a supposedly "racist incident," a cynically false characterization.

The apparent settlement-required apology letter of Supt. Schmitt

 

The SRVEA teacher-union president at the time of the Nathaniel Yu scandal led an effort which collected over 1,000 petition signatures, with a condemnation of alleged "Islamophobia" and calling for "cultural sensitivity training" by the "Islamic Network Group and/or the Southern Poverty Law Center," the latter itself a thoroughly disreputable outfit. â€‹â€‹

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