Breaking: Smoke reported in 200s building, students evacuated
December 1, 2022
Firefighters are on Palo Alto High School’s campus after smoke was reported in the 200s building.
Around 1 pm, students with classes in the 200s building were instructed to meet in the Peery Center instead. An announcement was made to the whole school, alerting students to evacuate the building, although, the school-wide fire alarm was not triggered.
According to Principal Brent Kline, the evacuation was caused due to a mechanical failure.
“It was a faulty HVAC system that shut down, but now it is back on,” Kline said.
The Paly Voice will follow up on this reporting as more information becomes available.
![Shounak Dharap, president of the school board of Palo Alto Unified School District, announced Friday morning that Superintendent Don Austin separated from his superintendent position at PAUSD. Corbin Dodd, an Ethnic Studies and AP Seminar teacher at Palo Alto High School, said that Austin's separation from the district surprised him and his colleagues. "Negotiations are happening right now, so there's a lot of talk about the school board and the superintendent, but it [Austin's separation] wasn't on my radar, and I don't think it was on the radar of any of the teachers I've spoken to," Dodd said.](https://palyvoice.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/IMG_7950-300x225.png)
