During a special meeting on Friday, the PAUSD school board voted 3 to 1 — with member Todd Collins absent — to suspend public commenting on Zoom for the next three meetings. Any extensions of the suspension will require further discussion and another vote. The decision comes as a preventative...

With the duty of oversight and governance, the Palo Alto Board of Education deals with affairs regarding the school community, including: budgets, new curricular adoptions and superintendent supervision. The board is a group of five elected individuals who meet every second and fourth Tuesday of the...

Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD) Superintendent Don Austin announced a revised reopening proposal at Tuesday night’s school board meeting that could have 7th to 12th grade students returning to classrooms as soon as early March. For students to be able to return in-person, Austin said, Santa...

This afternoon, English, social studies and special education teachers sent an open letter to Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD) Superintendent Don Austin, Associate Superintendent of Educational Services Sharon Ofek, Director of Secondary Education Services Kathie Laurence and the Board of Education...

Karna Nisewaner, a parent of two elementary school students in the district and former Chair of the Palo Alto Community Child Care board, is running for the School Board this November on a platform of district transparency. Nisewaner decided to run after feeling dissatisfied by the school board’s...

The Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD) school board voted unanimously to approve the secondary schools reopening plan on Tuesday evening, despite vocal opposition from community members. Both student school board representatives voted against the plan. The reopening plan will give students...

Given both the disproportionately large number of elementary school teachers reluctant to return to campus and the safety concerns surrounding reopening campuses, The Oracle urges the school board to vote tomorrow against reopening all school campuses until it is safe. This editorial comes in response...

As of Sept. 8, Santa Clara County has moved from a “purple” to “red” status on the California COVID-19 monitoring system, a status that, if maintained for 14 days, could allow schools to reopen in the fall. However, district guidelines guarantee that schools will stay closed until Oct. 12—at...

On Oct. 11, 2019, a bill that mandated high schools to start at 8:30 a.m. or later and middle schools to start at 8:00 a.m. or later was signed into law by governor Gavin Newsom. Although Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD) middle schools are in compliance with this new law, Gunn’s schedule...

This summer, the non-profit organization “Vote16 Palo Alto” launched a campaign calling for the voting age in local school board elections to be lowered to 16. The petition comes as teenagers in Palo Alto—as in most other cities across the nation—cannot vote in any elections, school board...

The Palo Alto Art Center housed the first school board forum of the 2018 school board election, hosted by the Palo Alto Weekly and co-sponsored by Gunn and Paly student publications on Sept. 20. The debate showcased five of the six candidates, excluding Christopher Boyd, running for the Palo Alto Unified...

Written by Elisa Moraes-Liu In the past few months, six candidates have declared candidacy for the Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD) Board of Education elections. The PAUSD school board has five members who are elected by the public every four years. Elections occur on even years,...