Palo Alto High School Principal Sandra Pearson is looking forward to a three to six- accreditation for Palo Alto High, after presenting optimistic views, at the Site Council meeting held yesterday. 

Pearson stated that though she does not yet know the final consensus on the accreditation of Palo Alto High School she did have a rough draft to distribute on an overview prepared by the Western Association of Schools and College, commonly known as WASC. 

The overview revolved around three primary issues or goals. The first concern was the need for students to have more skills and knowledge relating to post-secondary options. A second was the duty to address the needs of minority students in their academics. The last was the for students to have a balance of academic, extracurricular, and leisure activities.  

The Site Council meeting largely focused on the latter two issues. In response to the need to better serve minority students, Pearson gave an example of a student who commented on how the teachers may have given too much attention to minorities. Pearson did not interpret the comment as being reverse discrimination, but simply said, “[The comment was] a validation of the work that the school has done since WASC’s last visit.”  

In terms of stress reduction, Pearson stipulated that having “measurable goals” was the best way to go. She also stated that generally, the kids had the burden of reducing their own stress, whereas currently there is a community on designed to help solve the issue. Specifically, the school has issued a task force that specializes in reducing stress for students. The most recent achievement of this policy was the homework holiday. 

Listening to the various comments made during the meeting, the overall feel of the WASC visitation incited positive expectations. All of the attendants at the meeting gave affirmative feedback not only about the performance of the school, but the changes in the WASC process. One teacher said that there was an advantageous focus on how departments function together rather than individually, such as, how the teachers connect mathematics with social studies.  

The overview WASC released, which was titled, “Ongoing School Improvement”, was riddled with accolades for Paly. The document stated, “There is a passion for supporting the students and the school as a whole… It was clear from all community stakeholders that the students were getting an excellent education.”  

However, there is still room for improvement according to the WASC evaluators. Although they agreed with the intent of the of the plans Paly has constructed, WASC believes that the plan should be broadened to include all the needs of all the members of the community.