Just like the typical grocery store item that has increased in price, inflation has triggered a rise in construction costs in Palo Alto. According to PAUSD Facilities and Construction Director Eric Holm, each square foot of commercial construction costs $700 to $1100. Additional soft costs for aspects of renovations and constructions such as designs, furniture planning and permit fees can add more than 30 to the construction’s non-interior costs. Classrooms range from 900 to 1,100 square feet, and the average cost of building a classroom has increased from $750,000 to $1.5 million in the last ten years, with projections estimating the total cost to reach around $2 million by 2028. In PAUSD, construction receives its budget from government bonds which are proposed, voted on and authorized by members of the Bond Citizens’ Oversight committee. According to the PAUSD website, The Measure A Strong Schools Bond and Measure Z Strong Schools Bond, approved by Palo Alto voters in 2008 and 2018 respectively, authorized $378 million and $460 million respectively for the district’s construction use. The amount requested is calculated with potential price growth in mind, and is utilized towards improvement in the district.

While supply chain and worker shortages due to COVID-19 have factored into this price increase, according to Holm, one of the main contributors to the total cost is the safety requirements that must be incorporated into every classroom. School buildings are considered tier two emergency services buildings, second only to hospitals, fire departments and other health care facilities. This status makes the school building’s safety and accessibility a priority. “In an earthquake or natural disaster, those buildings are the most critical, but just a hair below (them are) schools,” Holm said. “The state mandates parents to send their kids to school, (so the district) has to make the school safe for kids.” PAUSD is responsible for following certain mandates that ensure student safety. School buildings are under
the authority of the Division of the State Architect, which operates under strict structural and accessibility requirements such as compliance with the American Disabilities Act, the installation of fire safety devices and air filtration.

The construction team goes through many inspections to make sure they are following regulations. According to Hixon, these examinations have not interfered or slowed down the project’s progress.

“We adhere to all state and city guidelines for construction safety,” he said. “The experience has been great so far.”

The necessity of modern technology is another large cost in classroom construction projects. As classrooms continue
to modernize, they need to be equipped with the best materials. While it is an expense, digital projection boards and enhanced audio systems are essential to supporting teacher and student education experiences.

“Just putting a whiteboard up on the wall is a lot cheaper than putting a massive 72-inch or 60-inch TV and having all the controls to run it,” Holm said. “But all of that improves the educational experience.”

As parts of a building become detrimental to student safety, they must be replaced or repaired. These upgrades include gas phase- outs, electrical service upgrades, repairing aging infrastructure, installing air filtration and temperature control technology.

The new A-B-K building has an estimated budget of $27.5 million and includes even more extensive and specialized technology than Gunn’s other recent buildings, specifically food related technology. The project includes a complete renovation of the administrative building, as well as new food services facilities and a culinary arts classroom. Holm says that the large scope of the project contributes to its hefty price.

“The two factors (considered) are the size of the space and the number of modifications,” Holm said. “Similar to a house, a big house costs less on a per square foot basis than a small house because the base costs of construction are amortized over the entire space. A small kitchen or bathroom build or renovation will cost significantly more on a per square foot basis than a bedroom modification.”

According to Holm, general classrooms are the least expensive, followed by specialty classrooms such as art and music. This is because they are typically larger and have specialized modifications and casework. A step above are the Career Technical Education and science classrooms as they require extensive customization and equipment such as gas filtration systems. Administrative offices tend to cost even more due to the large number of interior walls and specialized spaces. Finally, highly specialized spaces like food service are the most expensive. This is reflected in the construction of the A-B-K building, as the food service section is the most expensive per square foot due to the required installation of stoves, filtration and other pieces of technology required for cooking.

A common misconception, especially about specialized classrooms, Holm noted, is the size of each classroom.Rather than a bedroom or living space, classrooms tend to be the size of a small house or apartment.

“A classroom is 1000 square feet,” he said. “That’s the  size of a small house. A 900 square foot house is selling for $1.8 million (in Palo Alto). So, by that metric, (a small) house is the same size (as a) classroom.”

Many displaced classes have relocated to portable classrooms — a part of Gunn’s campus known as the Village
— including history and less lab-based sciences that do not rely on any underground resources, such as gas lines, to run their classes. However, despite portables being almost 40% the price of a classroom, they are only temporary solutions. “A relocatable classroom is designed to be used on a temporary basis,” Holm said. “Their general life is about 20 years. They might be used longer than 20 years, but not without having problems.”

Problems may involve a leak or general wear-and-tear of materials. Portable classrooms, which can range from $50 to $150 per square foot, have thinner walls and different logistics for heating and cooling. In contrast to a physical classroom where everything is designed to circulate air in a balanced manner, portables occasionally have issues with temperature regulation, especially when smaller units are stacked together.

“The roofing is not as robust,” Holm said. “They’re not as waterproof, (and) the windows aren’t as nice. They’re a cheaper building, but then there’s a whole bunch of ways about how you install them. That changes the cost too, if they’re on a concrete foundation (versus on) a wood foundation.”

Another contributor to the cost of facilities are the constant upgrades required to ensure safety. Holm noted that if a construction team doesn’t update an establishment after it is built, they are not obligated to keep making changes. However, once they do, they must keep updating it and the other buildings around it, whether it means smartboards, alarms, HVAC systems or full renovations.

Member of the Gunn Facilities Committee Laurie Pennington says that need, impact and safety are taken into account to determine the priority of construction projects, which then determines the typical order in which projects are carried through and how they allocate funds.

“The front office building for instance, was one of the oldest buildings on campus,” she said. “It had no ventilation whatsoever. It wasn’t going to be possible just to put ventilation in that building (since) the walls were old and everything was bad.”

With the constant need to improve the quality of buildings and equipment, Holm believes that a major aspect of a successful construction project is finding an optimal time frame for each project.

“We can do a mid-year (transfer), but that’s really stressful for the teachers and students because the new room is not set up,” he said. “In a history class, (teachers might put up) historical posters, or literary (posters in an English class).(And if classes are moved,) a lot of those teacher touches are kind of invisible.”

Pennington realized that her years of experience at Gunn has allowed her to help make decisions about temporary classrooms and lodgings, which have been useful for minimizing disruption in the past.

“I’ve been here a long time,” she said. “I said, ‘If Culinary Arts is going to move out, why don’t we just put (them) back to the science (building) because all the gas is still all underneath there?’ And they hadn’t thought about that. So, it’s nice to have people that have been around for a while or people that are concerned about different departments.”

Construction has proven itself to be a far more complex process than just slotting bricks together. It takes months of planning, pitching and budgeting to finally spur a project into action. While a large part of construction cost has to do with the economy itself, directors and committees continue to strategize effective financial resource utilizations when it comes to a project that requires such a large sum of money.

Having observed the campus construction since she moved to Gunn, Principal Dr. Wendy Stratton feels the A-B-K project, set to end in December, has been worth all the time and resources and is grateful for the construction team and their work.

“I have a lot of confidence in our construction team,” Stratton said. “They’ve been really good about being communicative and inclusive. I’m really looking forward to the move and the energy that move will bring and that feeling of new beginnings.”

Gallery • 4 Photos

Vin Bhat

Students leave Gunn following the shelter-in-place mandate.

At 1:58 p.m. today, a message on the intercom instructed students to begin sheltering in place. This mandate lasted for one hour and 48 minutes, eventually lifted by an intercom announcement at 3:46 p.m. 

According to the City of Palo Alto Police Calls for Service map, 1:51 p.m. calls reported a man with a gun and a 1:53 p.m. call reported a bomb threat, both near Georgia Avenue and Miranda Avenue. The City of Palo Alto has now confirmed that these calls were hoaxes — the first two, at 1:51 p.m., stated they had seen a teen boy carrying a rifle and two pipe bombs walking toward Gunn, and that a man in his twenties wearing body armor and carrying a rifle was approaching the school. The 1:53 p.m. call came from a man who said he was approaching Gunn with a bomb. 

This initial shelter-in-place announcement was reiterated at 2:01 p.m., emphasizing that the situation was not a drill. Two more announcements at 2:31 p.m. and 3:06 p.m. reminded students to keep sheltering.

At 2:15 p.m., Principal Dr. Wendy Stratton posted a Schoology update detailing that there was an unconfirmed threat on campus, and that the Palo Alto Police Department was present and partnering with admin to provide more updates. 

A PAPD thread on X, formerly known as Twitter, posted at 2:35 p.m. said that school officials had also instructed students to shelter in place at Fletcher Middle School as a precautionary measure. Police also confirmed that all students and staff on Gunn’s campus were safe.

At 2:48 p.m., staff members received an email from Stratton stating that students would be released from school at 3:50 p.m. and would be permitted to transport themselves home or be picked up by a parent. All after-school events, including athletics, were canceled. Parents received the same information via ParentSquare at 2:54 p.m., and students were notified via Schoology soon after.

At 3:09 p.m., PAPD noted in the same X thread that they had “uncovered no evidence to corroborate that any actual threat exists,” but that they would continue the shelter-in-place while investigating. Half an hour later, they announced the end of their search.

Police were still present on campus as students were dismissed. According to an officer who wished to remain anonymous due to the pending investigation, the lockdown and search went according to police and PAUSD protocol. However, there is still an open, criminal investigation. According to a 4:46 p.m. Schoology post from Stratton, a police presence will remain on campus throughout the week, and there will be additional staff members available at the Wellness Center. 

Police confirmed that Orinda’s Miramonte High School, located just east of Oakland, was also in lockdown as of 3 p.m., but police at Gunn stated that there was no known connection between the two incidents.

According to Gunn Safety Committee member Vin Bhat, Gunn’s safety committee will be convening after school on April 23, and the districtwide committee will be meeting on Wednesday, April 24. Gunn administrators said they could not comment until Tuesday, April 23.

According to the CAASPP Parent Information Night slideshow, CAASPP test data measures PAUSD’s “equity, access and opportunity growths and weaknesses for student subgroups.” The federal funding Gunn receives also depends on the CAASPP test: If the participation rate drops below 95%, the school won’t receive funding and will thus have less money to work with. Junior Site Council Representative Chloe Wang noted that state testing allows PAUSD and Gunn to better understand and address students’ educational needs.

“(State testing) allows funding to be allocated properly, targeted strategies to be created and evidence-based innovation to thrive so that every student can succeed at our school,” she told The Oracle.

In an interview with The Oracle, Principal Dr. Wendy Stratton voiced concerns about students’ failure to participate.  

“By not taking the assessment, it’s actually undermining (Gunn’s performance) because then you are given a zero, and that averages into the rest of our overall score for Gunn and brings us down automatically,” she said.

According to the CAASPP Parent Night Information slideshow, state testing is also a way for students to qualify for the State Seal of Biliteracy and the Golden State Seal Merit Diploma, as well as bypass introductory English and math courses at California State schools. Stratton added that testing can also affect students’ college applications.

“Look at it from a college’s perspective, like, ‘I have two of the same students with the same profile, and roughly a similar transcript, but they’re coming from two different schools,’” she said in an interview. “A college may say, ‘I’m going to pull up those two schools to see how they perform. Is it the same?’”

With these motivations, Stratton encourages students to take — and do their best on — the CAASPP. 

“There’s nothing to lose by trying, and so in a way it’s like engaging in an assessment or giving your attention to something because you have to do it anyway,” she told The Oracle. “I’m hoping that we get a true reflection of our impacts, so that we can reflect on our ways.”

The meeting also shifted gears to other topics, including mental health and summer homework for advancement placement classes. Sophomore Site Council Representative Deven Sharma believes the mental health programs at Gunn have improved since the beginning of the year.

“I feel that mental health has improved and I do feel that people are reaching out more and getting the support they need,” he said in an interview. “The resources that we have really helped, like the Wellness Center and the therapists. I feel like talking to a friend really, really helps too because I know if I’m stressed out, talking to them makes me feel better.”

The next site council meeting will be April 16’s Data Night.

Gallery • 3 Photos

Chloe Wu

On Feb. 27, during an extended lunch in the library, Gunn administrators hosted a Listening Session to allow students to voice their perspectives on Gunn’s wellness initiatives and student mental health in the aftermath of Feb. 20’s student death. 

Tables seating six to seven students were organized in the library, each focused on one of three topics: SELF and Other Offerings, Student Supports (the Wellness Center, counseling and staff), and Mental Health and Stress. Students sat at tables of their choice with one to two adult mental health professionals —  including the district’s head of mental health services Dawn Yoshinaga, student services district officials, school and district psychologists, school counselors, Wellness staff, the crisis response team, and staff members with expertise — along with admin and counselors, who helped facilitate. 

The event had originally been planned for Feb. 23, the same day as the student walkout. In an effort to safeguard at-risk students and offer them with a safe space, Stratton convened with six student leaders — ASB President senior Nathan Levy; SEC Special Events Commissioner senior Ruth Jaquette; School Board Representative senior Chris Lee (who is also a managing editor for The Oracle); SEC Wellness Commissioner senior Daniel van Schewick; Reach Out, Care, Know Club co-president junior Beverly Lamis; and ROCK board member junior Grace Missett — about arranging a Town Hall. 

She mentioned that the group of students persuaded the administration team to postpone the event to allow students more time to process. They also advocated for a Listening Session rather than a Town Hall for more voices to be heard and for students to talk in smaller groups — reducing the risk of a student’s breaking down in front of the entire group. 

Prior to table-group discussions during the Listening Session, Principal Dr. Wendy Stratton addressed misconceptions and concerns regarding the student death and subsequent events. SELF Coordinator Kathryn Catalano, Assistant Principal Courtney Carlomagno, and Stratton then explained the event’s guidelines.

“I’ve learned from this experience so far that when you don’t necessarily communicate what you’re doing, people will think you are doing nothing,” Stratton said to the group. “That could not be further from the truth.” 

Board President Jesse Ladomirak and Board member Jennifer DiBrienza also went over Board policy regarding memorializations. According to them, the priority is protecting the most vulnerable, at-risk students — who might potentially be harmed by a public memorial — even if it may not align with other students’ wishes.

During discussions, facilitators prompted students with initial conversation-starters regarding the table’s topic, including questions such as, “What opportunities and challenges do you see in the school’s delivery of the SELF program?” To ensure all participants could voice their concerns and experiences, each table provided a bubble wand to help facilitate turn-taking, while the professionals recorded notes to be used for reference in future meetings.

Senior Henry Peng, who attended the event, appreciated that he was given an opportunity to speak with administrators, who have a direct impact on how the school operates and decide on the changes made. 

“I expected a presentation — I didn’t expect a group chat,” Peng said. “(But) I think it’s better than a presentation, (because) rather than just people sitting there listening to a lecture, it’s pretty nice that students get to be involved with how the school is viewing stuff. I really like how the school is prioritizing students’ views right now.” 

Sophomore Alisa Sonehara — a board member on Solis, a local student-led nonprofit promoting youth mental-health awareness — echoed Peng’s sentiments. However, she had hoped for more nuanced discussion on a variety of issues, feeling she was constrained to the three initial questions.  

“I wish we could cover more in depth of other parts because I feel like at one point, everyone at the table was kind of just repeating themselves, but overall, it was pretty good,” she said. 

Processing grief and shock as a community is the pathway to recovery and achieving some form of inner peace, according to event facilitator counselor Cora Ross. She echoed that open conversation and communication is one of the most effective ways the administration can aid students through difficult times.   

“The way in which I understand or know to process myself, or to encourage others to process that seems as effective as possible, is to talk,” Ross said. “It is to come together as a community, to grieve and to communicate our needs. Just to get that little knot that sits in the top of our throats, often just pars(ing) through it with somebody else (or) sharing what you’re going through can often be an enormous relief.”

Events such as this one also make way for a more student-centric educational approach, according to Stratton. She noted that students also helped shape the Schoology post she sent out on Feb. 29 about student wellness.

“I see now the paradigm shift where experts dictate ‘dos’ and ‘don’ts’ versus centering students at the center of discourse is much richer,” she said. “We’re showing that we don’t necessarily have all the answers right now, but we’re listening and trying.” 

According to Stratton, administrators’ next course of action, after recording around 34 pages of notes, will be to hold a series of meetings — each on a single theme and its corresponding student feedback — with five to six student leaders. Thus far, Stratton and Catalano regrouped with the student-leaders on March 1 to debrief facilitators’ notes, using a “four-step thinking process” to address the facts and consider policy changes. According to Levy and van Schewick, student suggestions included requiring freshmen to visit the Wellness therapists for earlier exposure to resources, creating a publicized list of teacher response protocols during difficult times, and implementing Wellness team visits to Advanced Placement and SELF classes.

“I’m really excited to know that there’s a structure like this that I can now tap into to get information on whatever is occurring and moving forward for the students,” Stratton said.

Gallery • 8 Photos

Chloe Wu

On Friday, Feb. 23, students skipped SELF and Study Hall to participate in a walkout, gathering on the football field to discuss student mental health in the aftermath of Tuesday’s student death. 

During the meeting, student organizers freshman Aya Gurevich and sophomore Milcah Morrison directed students to sit at the center of the field, where they proceeded to speak about Gunn and district wellness measures. Students were then invited to come up and speak about their own thoughts and frustrations. Toward the end of the meeting, Principal Wendy Stratton brought three boxes of pizza for the participants, part of a Parent Teacher Student Association gift for all Gunn students.

Attendees learned about the event through social media. According to Gurevich, Morrison proposed coordinating a walkout after seeing his Instagram story suggesting that students “boycott SELF.” As the word spread, students were encouraged to show up in green, a color symbolizing mental health awareness. 

“It’s just kind of to get teachers and staff and the administration to notice that what they’re doing isn’t working, and kids aren’t happy with it,” Gurevich told The Oracle. “At 15 years old, I experienced, in my school, somebody died. That’s something that shouldn’t happen.”

Although the event was promoted as a boycott, Morrison cautioned against using such labeling: The event’s goal wasn’t to condemn the school, but rather to foster discourse. 

“You can’t blame staff, you can’t blame the Board,” she told The Oracle. “You can’t blame the people that are just here from their nine to five … I’m sure it’s great that we have activities out there to help people, but we really need to sit down and just talk about it.”

According to Stratton, conversations with the crisis response team — including counselors and therapists — made it evident that students needed an outlet, and the walkout seemed like a peaceful way for them to express their emotions. 

“We know that we need a community response, and we don’t want to inhibit students who have a need right now — especially coming into the weekend on a Friday — to connect and work through whatever they’re going through,” she said. “So my feeling — and our feeling — was to give them space to do that.” 

After Morrison and Gurevich spoke, the attendees were invited to come up and share their perspectives. Those present expressed wide-ranging frustrations — critiquing Gunn’s academic culture alongside Wellness Center guidelines and SELF lessons — and shared their experiences, both in speeches to the rest of the group and in interviews with The Oracle.

“SELF is more of a Band-Aid solution,” freshman Dante Chung told The Oracle. “It’s generalized mental health care, and that’s not what mental health care support is supposed to be about.” 

While SELF Coordinator Kathryn Catalano anticipates that the SELF program will continue to adapt based on feedback, she added that mental-health guidance and resources may not be within the program’s purview: It was established in 2017 to address California’s social-emotional learning standards.

“It’s important to note that the SELF program, it focuses on social emotional skills,” she said. “While there is, of course, a lot of overlap between that and having strong mental health resources and things of that nature, that’s not what the SELF program was established for.”

Other students, including sophomore Noam Morris, addressed Gunn’s academic culture, telling The Oracle that offhand comments — such as saying “I’m going to kill myself” after getting a bad grade on a test — trivialize mental health struggles.

“I think we as a community really need to come together and start working towards giving those topics the respect they deserve, talking about them in a more healthy way,” he said.

Some speakers requested a day to memorialize the student who died. While current district policy doesn’t ban memorials, it does prioritize protecting vulnerable students. “Suicide contagion can be instigated with the death of an individual, even if the death is not due to suicide,” the policy reads. “Therefore, schools must respond to all school community deaths in a thoughtful and similar manner that maximizes safety and carefully considers the impact of memorialization on participants and the broader community.”

To bolster student voice, Stratton called several students to her office this morning — ASB President senior Nathan Levy; SEC Special Events Commissioner senior Ruth Jaquette; School Board Representative senior Chris Lee (who is also a managing editor for The Oracle); SEC Wellness Commissioner senior Daniel van Schewick; Reach Out, Care, Know Club President junior Beverly Lamis; and ROCK board member junior Grace Missett — to arrange a Listening Session Event. The event will take place during an extended lunch on Tuesday, Feb. 27, in the Acorn Lounge, next to the library. 

During the session, students will have an opportunity to share thoughts, concerns and suggestions in the wake of the student death. Students can submit input, concerns and questions that they want administrators to address to this form. 

The goal of administrators and students alike, however, is to provide robust support systems during this time. 

“Be there for your friends first and foremost — that is what matters,” junior Gene Chumakov, who attended the walkout, told The Oracle. “Because this isn’t just an issue of admin not doing enough. This is an issue of students not caring for each other, and having such a lack of faith in the resources and the therapists that we’ve been provided.”

The Oracle has since conducted investigations into wellness measures at Gunn in a continuation of its 2019 “In Pursuit of Wellness” series. Part I, an investigation into SELF, can be found here.

If you are worried about yourself or a friend, contact the National Suicide Prevention lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-8255, the Wellness Center, suicidepreventionlifeline.org, a therapist, a doctor or a school counselor. If the threat is immediate, call 911.

According to the Palo Alto Police Department, the initial incident occurred between Gunn students and the Wilcox basketball team. Several Gunn parents and school staff intervened, which caused an altercation among parents. One Wilcox parent was arrested.

Tuesday’s game — held in Titan Gym beginning at 7 p.m. — was close, with Gunn clinching an 82-81 victory in overtime. According to several student spectators, tensions had been running high prior to the end of the match, although there were no physical confrontations.

A little after 9 p.m., however, a Gunn student descending from the bleachers and a Wilcox player on the court approached one another, with the Wilcox player’s teammates assembling behind him. Spectators, along with Assistant Athletic Director Kevin Johnson, pushed the two parties apart, with Athletic Director Curt Johansen escorting the Gunn student off of the court to avoid further escalation.

A few minutes afterward, a Wilcox parent shoved Gunn boys basketball head coach Brandynn Williams and a Gunn parent. Video footage shows a different Wilcox parent trying to end the altercation while repeatedly yelling “calm down” before pushing a Gunn parent — who had been filming the fight on the court — to the ground. 

As things became physical, the athletic directors called 911. According to boys varsity basketball team member Dylan Lu, Gunn players were told to go to the locker room, where they remained until the police arrived. 

“I was really scared,” he said. “We were all locked in the locker room — we locked the doors. The coach was like, ‘No one go out, no one walk home, just stay here until the police come.’”

As spectators began to exit, the fight moved to the Titan Gym lobby. Video recordings show the Wilcox parent who had shoved Williams throwing air punches before grabbing Johnson. The crowd dispersed after the police’s arrival.

According to PAPD, one Wilcox parent was later arrested for battery and subsequently released on a criminal citation. Officers are sending a report to the District Attorney’s office to review charges for another adult. 

The following morning, on Feb. 14, Principal Dr. Wendy Stratton notified parents and students that the Gunn administration was working with the Wilcox High School administration, as well as Santa Clara Valley Athletic League officials and local law enforcement, to investigate the incident. She added that there are no confirmed reports of physical altercations between students.

While such events may be anomalous at Gunn, Stratton notes that they’re part of a larger pattern of post-pandemic spectator misbehavior. In August 2023, two Bay Area high school games ended because of fan violence. The year before, in September 2022, administrators canceled a Gunn vs. Paly football game due to student spectator misconduct. 

Given this trend, Stratton hopes to partner more consistently with administrators from opposing teams to curb concerning behavior, as well as hire additional security for athletic events that may draw bigger crowds.

“Proactive preventative action will include increasing our vigilance when monitoring spectators — in order to redirect unacceptable fan behavior early and often,” she wrote in an email. 

In light of the violence during the players’ senior night, Stratton will be holding a luncheon with the boys varsity basketball team next Wednesday to celebrate their accomplishments. 

“That was their senior night, and it should have been — the whole evening should have been — nothing but fun and a great memory,” she said.

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.

—Additional reporting by Chris Lee.

Administrators adopted this measure after noticing an upward trend in discriminatory behavior. According to PAUSD’s Uniform Complaint Procedures logs, there was a 21.6% increase in logged reports and complaints of discrimination at Gunn last year, from 37 reports in fall 2022 to 45 reports in fall 2023.

Assistant Principal of Student Equity Courtney Carlomagno, who helped create the initiative, noted that the new reporting method will allow administrators to respond to incidents more quickly and effectively, as well as gauge the true number of cases on campus.

“We (wanted to) take away the obstacle of having to come to the office and speak to an administrator right away,” she said. “Instead you can access this form at any time of day, and you could access it whether you were the one who was impacted by something that occurred or you just observed it.”

This approach also addresses students’ and community members’ dissatisfaction with the administration’s apparent lack of response to discriminatory behavior, according to Principal Dr. Wendy Stratton.

“The perception I think within our community is like, ‘Oh, nothing really happens,” she said. “You hear something, and there’s no visible evidence that we stand against that and that we don’t tolerate that. We need to do more on this to make it really clear that behavior along the lines of hate speech or something like that is really not acceptable here.”

Cases reported to the form through the QR code are submitted to PAUSD Title IX Coordinator and Compliance Officer Robert Andrade, who reviews the report and determines whether it should be further pursued as a district investigation or if the case should be handled at the site level.

The consequences for those who are reported to the form vary, depending on the context. They range from suspension to restorative meetings, in which offenders can learn how to repair relationships with those they have mistreated. As part of the initiative, corrective action focuses less on punishment and more on education and growth.

“The growth is so rich if you can turn around and have a conversation and really get something out of it,” Stratton said.

As of Feb. 6, the form has not yet been used to document any cases of harassment or discrimination. Still, Co-Diversity Commissioner junior Nia Porter anticipates that the form can improve student experiences at Gunn.

“I was pretty happy to see that they had something, because I’ve heard a lot of people sharing their experience and talking to me about how it wasn’t handled well by admin,” she said. “They don’t really know how to ask for help, but I think the form is going to help with that a lot.”

Stratton noted that the initiative emphasizes the importance of educating students at Gunn outside the realm of academics.

“A really important part of being an educated person is to recognize that you can have free speech, … but you need to be respectful of people around you, and that’s part of being a community member,” she said.

Report cases of hate and discrimination at tinyurl.com/GunnSeeSomethingSaySomething

“If you’re still struggling with consent, just imagine instead of initiating sex, you’re making them a cup of tea.”

This sentence starts the popular consent-education video “Tea and Consent.” The video, which was used in PAUSD student consent education in 2021, likens consent to the acceptance or refusal of a cup of tea. While this metaphor may be clever, it fails to identify the major factors of consent—that it must be freely given, reversible, informed, specific and enthusiastic. More importantly, it masks the severity of sexual harassment, sexual assault and rape. Although PAUSD and Gunn have the resources, they fail to provide students with proper, consistent education on consent.

The PAUSD Policy and Regulations book states that consent is not silence or passivity. “Consent is communicating permission,” it reads. “It is voluntary approval that can be withdrawn at any time without coercion.” Even if someone shows initial interest, they can change their mind at any point, and it is crucial to ask before doing anything that could make someone uncomfortable. Moreover, consent one time does not mean consent every time. Additionally, even if minors are willing to have sex, they cannot legally give consent.

Sexual harassment involves repeated requests to engage in physical conduct such as dancing, kissing, touching or sex. Additionally, sexual harassment includes negative comments directed at a person’s sex, gender identity or sexuality, such as body shaming. Sexual assault includes nonconsensual touching of any nature, such as grabbing, groping, grinding, fondling, kissing or sex. Since consent isn’t covered well enough throughout the year, students often do not realize that they have been sexually assaulted or harassed. Even if they do know, they sometimes aren’t sure how to file a report of a Title IX violation or find support from administrators.

The district’s educational programs fail to impart this information and address these nuances. Last year, the district did not provide any education on consent. The Title IX Club and Support for Survivors Project provided the only consent education, a video about consent at Prom shown during SELF. The video defined consent, explained that sexual misconduct acts as an umbrella term that covers any inappropriate sexual act, including sexual harassment and assault, and detailed how to report sexual-harassment incidents and resources on campus. Rather than leave the onus on the Title IX Club to provide consent education, the district should be proactive in consistently providing resources before large school events.

PAUSD’s slow progress on implementing consent education further precludes necessary, proper consent education for students. Despite first meeting over a year ago, from Sept. 26, 2022, to March 23, the Consent Education district committee has failed to plan and implement consent education lessons. Instead, at the April 18 school-board meeting, the committee shared its key takeaways and recommendations as an information item, meaning no action was required. The district committee also failed to provide any actionable conclusions that would have allowed the Title IX Club to move forward with consent education in the 2023-24 school year.

In light of PAUSD’s inaction, Gunn should address this issue head on and come up with solutions as a community. For example, an Oct. 11 meeting between the Title IX Club co-presidents and Principal Wendy Stratton jumpstarted conversation about implementing outside consent-education curriculum and involving students in the Consent Education committee’s discussions. Beyond these growing conversations, SELF lessons — which currently contain no consent education, according to Assistant Principal Courtney Carlomagno — could teach consent through videos and realistic examples of different forms of sexual misconduct. It cannot be up to a small group of dedicated students to coordinate consent education, as in past years — it takes collective perseverance and action to truly create change.

PAUSD currently fails to consistently make resources and information accessible to students. If education is provided throughout the year, students will be much more likely to remember and act on this information. The district can also turn to curricula from national consent- education organizations to provide students with comprehensive, effective consent education. Equipped with this information, students will know how to file a report if incidents happen, leading to a stronger sense of safety on campus.

Although most of the priority areas carried over from last year, Innovation replaced Healthy Attendance in this year’s Promise following more consistent attendance and increased interest in new artificial intelligence tools. Key subgoals include incorporating technology into curriculum and instruction, increasing students’ access to postsecondary opportunities. Because these goals are recent and constantly evolving, PAUSD Board Member Shana Segal explained the importance of engaging students. “We’ve been hearing that it’s hard for students to attend after-school committee meetings, so we’re trying to hold more meetings during lunch and use the feedback to guide teaching practices and improve learning experiences,” she said. “As a board member, I’m very appreciative of students who come and speak because I take the words of every student into account and find it very meaningful.”

Serve and Celebrate Others, defined in the 2022-23 annual report as “building people up through positive interactions and acknowledging those who invest in others,” has been a long-standing priority of the district. Still, Board President Jennifer DiBrienza noted that it continues to adopt new meanings. “We have a long history of expecting kids to do community service and then putting it on their transcript,” she said. “But we’re trying to move from doing it for credit to doing it because it’s a worthwhile thing to do. There are so many amazing things our staff does — we’re trying to recognize those.” Examples of this recognition include the traveling builder helmet, awarded to employees who are positively impacting their communities, and the State Seal of Civic Engagement, awarded to civically active high schoolers.

Post-pandemic, Mental Health and Wellness has been another district priority, and it is one that DiBrienza expects will remain in future Promises.

In addition to providing tiered levels of support based on student needs and expanding the Social Emotional Learning curriculum, the district is also working to bolster staff mental health support, according to Principal Wendy Stratton. “We now have a therapist for staff that anyone can reach out to, and I’ve already heard from some Gunn staff who said they’ve reached out,” she said. “I think it’s so important that staff are supported because they’re on the front lines of working with our students.”

The goals of Early Literacy and Equity and Excellence were also renewed from last year’s Promise. Data from the iReady Assessment, Smarter Balanced Assessment and Panorama Survey indicate that the district has made strides in supporting the academic achievement of underrepresented groups and the development of a more diverse and inclusive curriculum.

Stratton hopes that Gunn will continue to progress in both areas this year by maximizing resources and opportunities in equitable ways. “To interrupt predictable patterns of performance for target groups’ students, we know that you have to look at many areas, like school climate, curriculum and instruction, and community engagement,” she said. “We’re working hard at Gunn with the SLAM (Student Leaders Anti-Racist Movement) program, the Student Leaders for Equity and the diversity commissioners on SEC to have more events that celebrate all of our different students and make them feel seen and special for who they are.”

Math Instructional Lead David Deggeller began the meeting with a brief overview of mathematics options after AP Calculus BC at Gunn: AP Statistics, Applied Math Honors, Advanced Authentic Research and computer science electives are offered, as well as classes such as multivariable calculus and linear algebra available through local community colleges. These community college courses, however, do not count toward students’ GPAs.

The presentation was followed by an activity in which students wrote down their “hopes and dreams” for multivariable calculus on sticky notes and pasted the sticky notes on posters labeled “Statements” and “Questions.” After students grouped similar concerns together, administrators and teachers read out sticky notes that captured larger student sentiments. 

“I hope that multivariable calculus will be offered as a course at Gunn,” one sticky note read. “If offered at Gunn, I hope it’s a weighted class.”

“Why is advanced math perceived as negatively affecting student mental health?” another read. “Is there any data that admins are basing this conclusion off of?”

Some sticky notes revealed possible misconceptions about multivariable calculus offerings: One noted, “Every single district around us offers it.” Although some districts, such as the Mountain View Los Altos Union High School District, offer the in-person, weighted class within a regular schedule that some students are looking for, other Santa Clara County school districts, such as the Fremont Union High School District, do not.

Students also argued against including multivariable calculus as an offering at Gunn on their sticky notes. Junior Sophie Guibas, who accelerated ahead a year in math and is currently enrolled in AP Calculus BC, is strongly opposed to the addition of the class to Gunn course lists. “If you add multivariable calculus to Gunn now, that’s going to be the ending point and now everyone’s going to be expected to skip,” she said. “I feel like it’s just totally unnecessary, and you can always take multivariable calculus outside of school.”

In many ways, the perspectives shared echoed those at the Aug. 22 school board meeting, at which 25 students spoke out about math issues. However, Principal Wendy Stratton noted that the purpose of this meeting was to bring forward more voices than those that had already been heard. “That’s why we used this (sticky-note) structure, not to stymie voice, but to actually bring forward (new voices),” she said. 

The meeting closed with a reminder that students’ feedback would be solicited and their questions answered via a “Question and Answers” document sent out after the meeting. According to Deggeller, it is unlikely that a similar meeting will happen in the future. If changes are to be made to the high schools’ math offerings, they would be through the Math Steering Committee, composed of district administrators, site administrators and instructional leads. “I would guess (that) if any changes were made, it would go through that body, but there’s lots of other forces in the district,” he said. 

Paly is expected to have a similar meeting on Monday, Sept. 18.