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As testing season nears, Palo Alto Unified School District, as of print time, has yet to announce plans for the May Advanced Placement tests.

On Feb. 4, the College Board stated that schools would decide when and how to test students. This means PAUSD will choose if students take the digital test or paper and pencil test and whether students complete the exam at home or on campus.

In December, PAUSD released its plans to administer the SAT to the Class of `22, but did not state whether it would also be possible to bring students on campus for AP tests.

Unlike last year, the AP exams will be full length, closed note and will cover all the material taught in the course in a normal school year.

Senior Emma Wu took three AP tests online last year and said that taking the shortened exam online went smoothly. However, because this year’s tests will not be abbreviated, Wu has her concerns.

“I’m not really looking forward to full-length tests online,” Wu said. “I think they could still offer an abridged version because testing online and in-person for three or more hours are both terrible options.”

Wu also says that College Board must take strides towards improving technology issues in 2021.

“I remember some people had issues with the program saving their responses [for their AP tests] and they had to retake theirs later,” Wu said.

RE-TRYING REOPENING — Superintendent Don Austin discusses a plan to bring secondary students back onto campus for “Zoom in a room” at the Feb. 9 Palo Alto Board of Education meeting. “We expect to return Grade 7-12 students in early March if we reach the red tier for the required amount of time, which is five consecutive days,” Austin said. Photo: Akhil Joondeph

DISTRICT STUDENTS in grades 7-12 will be allowed to return to campus on March 1 if Santa Clara County is in the state’s red tier of pandemic risk for five consecutive days, according to Superintendent Don Austin.

At the Palo Alto Unified School District board meeting on Feb. 9, Austin announced plans to allow all interested students back on campus to do “Zoom in a room.” Students with last names beginning with A-L will be on campus for two days a week, and students with last names beginning with M-Z will be on campus the other two days. The student split is tentative. Students will not be required to commit to the on-campus learning option, and will be allowed to decide which of their allotted days they will attend class on campus and which days they will stay home.

All teachers will be required to return March 1 or the day after Santa Clara County returns to red tier.

“The plan would accommodate every student — grades 7 through 12 — who wants to be on campus, and requires no change of schedule or teacher, covers all, not just a couple classes, and is done with robust safety measures,” Austin said.

Parents and teachers had varied opinions on the plan. Frank S. Greene Jr. Middle School art teacher Paul Gralen expressed his concerns.

“I want nothing more than to be back in the classroom with our students, but I want to do it safely,” Gralen said at the meeting. “Putting anyone into a crowded and closed environment for six to eight hours per day at this point in time is the height of irresponsibility.”

Austin did not discuss specific health and safety protocols at this meeting, but stated that more details are to come.

He used hybrid learning in PAUSD elementary schools as an example of why the board believes it is safe to move forward with the secondary school opening plan.

“We’ve been back since October with over 2,100 students — we’ve not had to close a single school and we have not had [COVID-19] spread within a school,” Austin said. “We have had cases of COVID because COVID exists in the community, in our state and in our country, but the lack of spreads speaks to the protocols that we have in place.”

In the coming week, a survey will be sent to students and parents regarding if the model is of interest.

STUDENTS AND PARENTS shared opinions on Palo Alto High School administrators’ handling of sexual assault allegations at the Feb. 9 meeting of Palo Alto’s Board of Education.

These concerns follow the recent surge of over 20 students who shared their stories concerning sexual assault on social media in late January.

The board heard concerns from multiple community members, including Henry M. Gunn High School junior Aarush Banerjee, who voiced his disappointment with the district’s response to the allegations.

“I think by now it is far past time that we have better consent education in our schools,” Banerjee said.

Class of ‘19 Paly alumnus Warren Wagner advocated for the voices of sexual assault survivors to be heard in efforts to prevent sexual violence.

“I want people to heed the call to not only involve survivors by facilitating their healing after the fact, but involve them in building preventative structures,” Wagner said.

According to senior Dani Colman, co-president of the Paly Responsive Inclusive Safe Environment Student Task Force, students are voicing their frustrations with the district’s lack of action. RISE is dedicated to having students lead the conversation surrounding sexual assault.

“Palo Alto students are kind of feeling right now as though they haven’t been heard over the last few years,” Colman said. “We witnessed the mishandling of several sexual assault cases and I think that seeing that kind of chaos and hysteria erupt in our community has made students feel as though it’s just better and easier for them to stay silent.”

by SADIE IBBOTSON-BROWN

MANY PALO ALTANS ARE frustrated with the surge in visitors at Foothills Nature Preserve following the opening of the preserve to non-residents in mid-December.

The City of Palo Alto reported that visitation over the winter holidays (Dec. 17–Jan. 2) was 500% higher than in previous years. Palo Alto park goers have many concerns about how this surge effects the safety and condition of the preserve.

“All the parking lots are full,” said Gang Su, a Palo Alto resident and regular visitor of the preserve. “I’ve never seen so many cars in the park. It’s a safety risk in times of COVID, but also you can imagine lots of people with kids and dogs there [who are not safe].”

The large number of people congregating at the preserve is also causing a number of problems, according to Su.

“There used to be turkeys, deers and fish,” Su said. “It was very vibrant. But with that many people you can imagine everything that has gone.”

In attempt to mitigate the park’s overcrowding problem, City Council implemented restrictions on the number of visitors allowed on the preserve at one time on Jan. 9. The restrictions prohibit more than 750 visitors on the preserve at one time between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. on weekends and holidays.

Su is in favor of opening Foothills to all, but feels like the restrictions on the amount of people came too late.

“I’m a little bit concerning about how it [overcrowding] was handled,” Su said. “Not only is this a disturbance to nature, it put a lot of maintenance pressure on the staff. I hope in the long term, they [City Council] wil ... come to a more sustainable model.”

Season One sports teams at Palo Alto High School are competing through March 16, according to Santa Clara Valley Athletic League guidelines.

Sports allowed in the purple tier include tennis, cross country, golf, track and field, and swimming and diving. The teams began practices on Jan. 19 and began matches on Feb. 16. Each sport is implementing COVID-19 safety precautions at competitions to ensure the safety of players and coaches.

Contact sports, which are not allowed in the purple tier, may hold athletic conditioning sessions, according to California Interscholastic Federation sports guidelines.

Paly Athletic Director Nelson Gifford says there are lessons to learn from to this year.

“I’m encouraging everybody to go out for whatever sports are available,” Gifford said. “If this pandemic has taught us anything, it’s to ... enjoy whatever opportunities we have.”

by ISHAAN BATRA

TENNIS TIME — Sophomore Sophia Austin smashes her backhand shot at a February practice. The Paly tennis team is preparing for upcoming matches beginning this month. “I didn’t think there would be a season, but I’m glad that Paly and the coaches made it work,” Austin said. Photo: Anushe Irani

UP TO 140 PALO ALTO Unified School District high school students who opted into hybrid learning before the January plan was canceled are back on campus as of Jan. 25.

PAUSD Superintendent Don Austin announced that 10 cohorts of up to 14 students each were to return to high school campuses, after Gov. Gavin Newsom lifted the shelter-in-place order on Jan. 25. Middle school and high school campuses are scheduled to open for on-campus learning on March 1.

Junior Max Vroemen was among the group of students who decided to carry out their virtual learning from the classroom.

“There were definitely pros and cons,” Vroemen said. “Some good things were that being out of my house and seeing some people again was fun, as well as that the school made it very safe with plastic dividers on desks, desks that were very far apart, cohorts, everyone’s temperature taken and, of course, everyone wearing masks.”

Vroemen says he wishes there was more time to socialize throughout the day. While students are with their peers on campus, each person attends their own Zoom classes, so the program is still lacking in-person interaction.

“We were still in the same Zoom classes, and with masks and headphones on all day, you couldn’t really work or talk to any of the people in the class except for lunch,” Vroemen said. “In the future I would like the school to start some in-person classes, because I don’t think that doing Zoom calls from school all day is a hybrid learning model.” Senior Stella Essenmacher also returned last month, and appreciates how the program provides her a separate space to focus on academics — something she had been missing with at-home school. “I made the choice to sign up because I wanted to find a better balance between my academics, social life and being active,” Essenmacher said. “I would recommend this program to anyone looking to add some dimension to their life.”

by PAISLEY ANNES

RETURN READY — Senior Stella Essenmacher logs into her first Zoom class of the day at Palo Alto High School last Thursday morning. Although socialization is currently limited, Essenmacher is hopeful that this will improve come spring. “I imagine we would get more freedom to eat and maybe take classes in the Quad, but that’s just speculation,” Essenmacher said. Photo: Emma Lin

THE ADMINISTRATION and Associated Student Body are planning options for the Class of 2021’s graduation ceremony, according to Palo Alto High School student board representative Medha Atla.

There is a great deal of uncertainty regarding which events will be allowed to take place, but Paly administration and ASB have created a Senior Events Planning Committee to discuss safe in-person possibilities alongside virtual alternatives.

“Obviously we want to do something that has an in-person component,” Atla said. “I think it’s safe to say that we [seniors] all miss those experiences.”

According to Atla, when schools closed in March 2020, graduation was not on her mind, and planning for the Class of 2020’s events was slightly rushed.

“We now have more time [compared to 2020] to plan events and I would like to do something more unique and memorable,” Atla said.

Many seniors have looked forward to graduation their entire high school career, and senior Leslie Aboytes hopes for hers to resemble a pre-COVID observance as much as possible.

“I am hoping we will be able to safely have an in-person graduation ceremony because lots of us have been looking forward to it for so many years,” Aboytes said.

Though many seniors have their hearts set on an in-person ceremony, safety still remains the primary concern.

“I think that a lot of people have become desensitized to the virus after 10 months, but we have to remain cognizant that there’s bigger issues going on in the world than graduation ceremonies,” senior Siddhartha Sahasrabuddhe said.

According to Atla, ASB is still moving forward with end-of-the-year plans for the Class of 2021.

According to parent planner Kristen Anderson, Paly has made a reservation at an outdoor venue for Grad Night. The venue allows for social distancing, and there will be no self-serve options. This venue hosted multiple outdoor events last summer with no outbreaks, according to Anderson.