Comments from Supporters, and an Update!

With almost 500 signatures, we thought we would share some touching comments from our supporters. From former Gunn English teacher Mr. Mark Vincenti, "I support this petition and the students' concerns wholeheartedly. I would gladly make a small contribution, if you start taking donations. Not only is the yearly upheaval disturbing, but the many "special," one-day schedules that come along are disruptive for teachers and students." From parent Magali Bohn, "I discussed this issue with my daughter, we spent a lot of time on this topic. Gunn students are very frustrated by the lack of communication with the administration, and feel excluded of the decision process. They feel ignored and that their opinion has no value. Decisions are top-down and are not including the ones that are the first to be impacted: the students! Please, communicate more with them, involve them, make them part of the decision process: you will get better adoption, motivation and create a good spirit in the school." From parent Jeff Greenfield, "I believe the students make a compelling request and I support this. I am also concerned that the loss of a tutorial period will reduce opportunities for students to bond with teachers and potentially increase the gap for students who most need this extra face time with teachers." Finally, from Paly Bell Schedule Review Committee member and parent Ella Rustique, "As a parent representative fortunate to be serving on Palo Alto High Schoo's Bell Schedule Review Committee (BSRC), I want to encourage Gunn High School’s parents, teachers, and administration to hear your students' voices and put their needs, first and foremost, at the heart of the schedule. A schedule is not a colored chart with days and times; a schedule directly shapes a student’s experience, expectations, interactions with each other in and outside of the classroom. A schedule can make a difference between feeling prepared or pressured, relaxed or stressed, supported or isolated. For the past several months, Paly’s BSRC have met to define the problems, understand the dynamics, and make recommendations to improve the school schedule. It has been a hard, complex, and emotional process. For every action, there is an unintended consequence. And we are still not done. What has kept us grownups grounded and accountable are the passionate and caring students on the committee who represent their peers and who I have enjoyed getting to know. I applaud the initiative and leadership taken by these Gunn students on behalf of their classmates and on behalf of Paly’s BSRC I want to say: Stand your ground and speak your truth. To Gunn’s admin: The first step to improvement is listening. Are you listening to what Gunn’s students are saying? School is a job and career for staff and administrators, we can get through whatever schedule is put before us, but for these young people, it is four years of their life. Make it right for them." These are exactly the sentiments we advocate. We believe we have a legitimate case to show the neglection of student voice in this issue. While we know that Tutorial as it is can no longer stay, our solution will hopefully preserve what benefits it has, and it will prevent yet another destabilizing change to student lives. Recently, it was revealed that the Bell Scheduling Committee was never supposed to make the final decision; the Wellness Committee would be the final arbiter -- the students of Gunn think this is unfair. While we accept the need for SEL, to have the Wellness Committee choose the schedule would be a conflict of interest. The Wellness Committee, having created SEL, would be a biased interest and we feel they would not consider all the negative academic consequences their well-meaning change would cause. We students call on Administration to turn the decision back over to the Bell Schedule Committee -- with a larger grasp on the holistic effects of any schedule change, students feel they would be able to effectively balance SEL and the rest of students' lives at school. To our Administration, please listen. Your silence now only widens the trust gap. We are all willing to negotiate with you on this issue -- we can't get anywhere without discussion and a proper back-and-forth. We hope you consider this offer to engage with student voice. To all you amazing supporters of this petition, keep sharing! More support never hurt! Thank you so much for your advocacy!