Silicon Valley school district pauses contract with ‘energy healer’ after parental concern

A Silicon Valley school district announced this week that it was pausing a contract worth tens of thousands of dollars with an “energy healer” who was providing meditation sessions for administrators after parents protested over what they saw as a budgetary extravagance.

Mountain View Whisman School District made the decision at a meeting of the Board of Trustees on Thursday after the San Francisco Chronicle reported that the 4,500-student K-8 district was paying $189,000 in exchange for 160 meditation sessions to energy healer Alycia Diggs-Chavis.

The district’s superintendent Dr. Ayindé Rudolph told the trustees and parents that they decided to pause work with Diggs-Chavis and her company Blue Violet Energy after she completes her current contract.

Diggs-Chavis described herself on her website as a “master energy healer” who “uses Sacred Geometry and Sound Healing to successfully change lives.”

At Thursday night’s meeting, Rudolph tried to downplay the spiritual nature of Diggs-Chavis’ work, saying that the contract was for stress-related meditation, as far as he knew. Diggs-Chavis did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

“In the meditation we focus on how do we recenter ourselves so we’re able to keep going. It’s not about energy or rocks,” Rudolph told trustees.

Some of the trustees were surprised by the Chronicle article and the costly contract with Diggs-Chavis.

“I was taken aback. I was shocked by [Diggs-Chavis’] website… just as I wouldn’t invest in a chaplain for the school district, I wouldn’t invest in sound and energy healing,” said Devon Conley, the president of the Board of Trustees.

Some defended the work the energy healer had done.

“Alycia is actually my coach. A few years ago I was on the verge of quitting because of the stress management,” said Principal Vern Taylor who works at Jose Antonio Vargas Elementary school. “I was on the verge of quitting, and meeting with her and having her coach me through some strategies I could use for wellness but then also some leadership strategies was actually very beneficial… I understand that it’s a lot of money for our district to spend on leaders but I do think that it is a valuable resource and it has helped me personally get through some very difficult times over the past few years.”

The frustration over the contract with Diggs-Chavis came amid other budgetary issues in the district that suffers from a significant achievement gap. In addition to the Diggs-Chavis contract, parents also were frustrated about a contract with a D.C. public relations firm for more than $180,000 a year as well as an in-house public records custodian who is paid more than $200,000 a year.

“I don’t think the parents are happy. I don’t think the teachers are happy and I’m sure the taxpayers aren’t happy about it,” said one parent at the Thursday night meeting.