The Ethnic Studies Committee includes Assistant Superintendent of Secondary Education Dr. Gulliermo Lopez, Gunn Social Studies Instructional Lead Jeff Patrick, Paly Social Studies Instructional Lead Mary Sano and other Gunn and Paly teachers. The group was founded during the 2022-23 school year in response to A.B. 101, which mandates that all California high schools make ethnic studies a graduation requirement for the Class of 2030 — current sixth graders — or earlier.

During the meeting, Lopez, Patrick and Sano presented on the course’s new curriculum. Ethnic studies at PAUSD will be segmented into five units, starting with unit zero, Why Ethnic Studies, and continuing with Identity; Power, Privilege and Systems of Opression; Resilience and Resistance; and Action and Civic Engagement, a capstone project. Units one through three will include case studies centered around different primary sources from four ethnic groups: African Americans, Chicanx and Latinx Americans, Native Americans, and Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

Next year, Gunn and Paly will each pilot one ethnic studies class of 20 ninth graders, who will be selected through lottery at each site. According to Sano, one of the main goals of these classes is to garner feedback from students and teachers.

In response to the presentation, Paly Student School Board Representative junior Karthi Gottipati said that students should play a bigger role in the course design process, and warned that if unable to give input, students might feel less interested in to the finished course.

“It is entirely pointless to have an ethnic studies course that is designed for adults and by adults if students don’t know and don’t care what’s being taught,” he said during the meeting.

Gunn Student School Board Representative senior Chris Lee (who is also managing editor for The Oracle) also emphasized the importance of considering the intended recipients of the new course.

“The (students) who I talked to felt like the conversation surrounding ethnic studies — especially at these Board meetings — was getting further and further away from them and their priorities,” he said during the meeting. “It’s important for parents and other community members to understand that the course is ultimately for students.”

After the ethnic studies presentation, the AI ad hoc committees from Gunn, Paly and PAUSD — composed of mostly high school students, staff and technology experts at the district level — shared generative AI goals for the district. These goals included furthering equity and inclusion by using generative AI to summarize texts for English Language Learners and neurodiverse students, as well as developing alternate lesson plans that prevent — or render ineffective — the use of AI by covering topics that software such as ChatGPT hasn’t learned about.

Gunn committee member sophomore Sujay Dorai presented his hopes for AI’s future in the district.

“I think it’ll be a positive change because it’s really a really powerful technology,” he said. “I hope that the district can use this to get rid of busy work.”

Board member Shounak Dharap was appreciative of the AI committee’s work and saw it as an important focus point for the district.

“(The AI committee) is the most important thing the district is doing,” Dharap said during the meeting. “It touches every single other thing we’re doing. I’m really interested in what we’re doing and really supportive of everything.”

One of the major changes to the spring semester has been a shift to a credit/no-credit grading system. PAUSD was one of the first school districts in the country to transition—other districts have since followed. According to Superintendent Don Austin, the decision was made due to a lack of ability for teachers to transition quickly into online learning without sacrificing grading efficiency and accuracy. “Everyone around the country is dealing with this crisis,” he said. “There’s no way to have virtual classes be equivalent to in-person learning opportunities.”

For students, one concern about the system was the lack of transparency in transition. “I think it was a good solution, but there were definitely better ways to approach it,” junior Tiffany Chen said. “They could have first asked for student and parent input.”

Some parents were also skeptical of the decision. During the April 21 board meeting, parent Sudeshna Raha voiced concerns over equity for students who have worked hard to excel in their classes, yet due to the credit/no-credit system, are unable to receive recognition. “I feel what has been done with credit/no credit is inequitable to students taking honors and Advanced Placement classes,” she said. “They are putting in the work and they have been putting in the work, but they don’t have anything to show for it in their weighted GPA.”

Still, many see the importance of credit/no credit grading in the time of a crisis. “It’s a less stressful alternative for quarantine, because not everyone can put their full effort into school right now,” junior Lila Sanchez said. Colleges have currently said that they are accepting credit/no credit grading systems during the pandemic and will adjust accordingly.

Austin is also working on budget changes in anticipation for next year. Recently, the parcel tax, which is a property tax to fund California K-12 schools, was taken off of the voting ballot due to the financial impacts of the pandemic. According to a Palo Alto Online article on May 11, PAUSD has lost around three million dollars due to this pandemic. During the May 12 school board meeting, Chief Business Officer Carolyn Chow presented proposed planned budget cuts. While not directly mentioned, the proposal garnering the most public reaction was a reduction of release periods for all Instructional Supervisors and the stipends they received.

This decision was met with some backlash from the community, especially Visual and Performing Arts (VAPA) instructional leads who are faced with dropping from one release period and a stipend to no release periods and a stipend. According to Instructional Lead for VAPA at Palo Alto High School Brittney Kerby, VAPA instructional leads are necessary for the mental health of students. “The proposed reduction of the VAPA [Instructional Lead] to only a stipend position will diminish our vibrant arts program and impact the student experience,” she said. “Time and responsibility that is required to support our specialized programs and advocate for our passionate students cannot be accomplished under a stipend reduction.”

According to Student Activities Director Lisa Hall, there may be many potential changes awaiting students in the coming fall, and the administration is considering smaller class sizes. “Given what we know right now, I suspect that student life at Gunn is going to be pretty different,” Hall said. “Right now they are looking at models that reduce class sizes so we can manage groups that may be in close contact.”

Furthermore, one of the major PAUSD initiatives going into the next school year is the alignment of the bell schedules. Gunn Principal Kathleen Laurence is heading the committee in charge of determining the education changes for next year and creating a modified bell schedule; at the May 12 board meeting, district officials presented a potential schedule with A/B schedules. This aligned bell schedule will allow teachers who work at both Gunn and Palo Alto High school to move seamlessly between classes and allow staff to work more collaboratively in the district—the A/B schedules will also try to ensure that transmission of COVID-19 is reduced. The schedule is still in draft phase and will be finalized.

Finally, changes to standardized testing will affect upperclassmen and underclassmen alike. In March, the College Board, a nonprofit organization in charge of such testing, announced that AP tests would be moving online, be reduced to 45 minutes in length and consist of solely free-response questions; additionally, only units that students were expected to learn by March will be tested.

According to AP Computer Science teacher Joshua Paley, students must consider how these changes will affect them in the long run. “The question you should be asking is whether, from a student’s perspective, AP tests this year are worth it,” he said. “Given that it’s a $150 investment for something like $4000 in college credit, it’s important to consider whether colleges will consider it—whether you’re getting a return on your investment.” Chen expressed concerns over how much shorter AP tests are. “It’s kind of stressful that AP scores will depend solely on how you respond to one or two [Free Response Questions],” she said. “It’s definitely not representative of a student’s knowledge about the subject.”

Ultimately, Austin understands the crisis that everyone is going through and believes that PAUSD will adjust as time goes on. “I’m looking forward to getting back to some normal as soon as possible,” he said.

Over the 2017-2018 school year, the CS CDAC met monthly to coordinate the implementation of CS education at each grade level, designate preliminary curriculum and organize a budget for the plan. Along with delineating the many academic benefits CS brings, the committee highlighted the current opportunity gap for underrepresented populations in the high schools. “There are 1,928 female students in our high schools,” sophomore Mallika Parulekar, a member of the committee, said at the May 22 board meeting. “Only 157 females are taking computer science, which is a mere 8 percent of the female population.” On the other hand, according to the committee, 362 males are taking CS, approximately 18 percent of the male population. She further highlighted the implications of this equity gap. “If we do not bring computer science to all of our students when they are poised to use the skills and mindset in their subsequent lives, we are contributing to the gulf between the haves and the have-nots,” she said.

The comments from the committee provoked many responses from the audience at the board meeting. Those against the proposed requirement mainly argued that the addition of another mandatory class will limit student choice, contribute to the inherent Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) bias from Silicon Valley and bring unenthusiastic students into classes. Junior Corinne Sears expressed such disapproval during the meeting. “High school is meant to be a time for students to discover new interests and become more well-rounded individuals,” she said. “By forcing even more STEM requirements on them, it continues to push this idea that STEM is the only viable career option, which already is a major problem in Silicon Valley.”

The board carefully noted each argument. Given the mixed response, it is likely that no action will be made anytime soon. Interim Superintendent Karen Hendricks supports this extended time frame, and believes that this work will continue through additional advisory committees. “I see this moving into next steps that will move into next year,” Hendricks said. Regarding the proposal’s content itself, board member Todd Collins particularly liked the idea of integrating CS education into already-existing core classes such as math or science, as his personal experience has shown him the benefits of cross-disciplinary education. “That’s what I have been taught the most: the value of integration across fields,” he said. “I would be very happy to see that explored.”  

As the issue makes its way from the proposal form to possible implementations, both sides of the argument have a lot of research and discussion to do, according to Chief Academic Officer Barbara Harris: a change in education policies can have severe impacts, especially with over 12,000 students in the district. This means the work of the CS CDAC is just the beginning of a longer process. “[The committee] created the launchpad,” Harris said. “The launchpad is solid. They don’t have the liftoff yet, and that might take some time.”