As I sat for an interview with Principal Scott Laurence, I was greeted with a firm handshake and a friendly smile. While the start of the school year brought many changes and even more questions the principal helped explain recent news.
According to Laurence Paly finally finished the B4E or Building for Excellence construction and renovation which started at Paly in 1998.
"Freshman don’t realize it’s finally quiet," Laurence said. Laurence says that while workers on campus will be conducting general maintenance, there are no more plans for construction.
But construction has just begun across the street at Town and Country Village where several chain link fences have surrounded part of the parking lot and form an alley for students to walk through. Laurence explains that it is the first steps towards a renovation of the interior and exterior of the building that Longs currently occupies.
"Mr. Walker is working on a daily basis with ‘T and C’ management and the construction company to make the construction easy on students," Laurence said. Additionally, he points out that the pathway students traverse has been widened to accommodate students more easily.
Laurence was pleased with the Welcome Back Dance on Friday August 25, which roughly 500 students attended according to Laurence. "It’s always nice the first dance of the year, the weather is so nice outside," Laurence said. Laurence stressed the fact that dances this year will be starting 30 minutes earlier than usual to accommodate the 11p.m. curfew on driving for teens. The recent law, Vehicle Code 12814.6, makes it illegal for students to drive with others in the car without an adult or drive past 11p.m. for one year after receiving their license. Although controversial on campus, the administration wants to give students the ability to legally drive home after a dance.
Laurence also commented on a recent ranking of high schools in the United States. The Newsweek study ranked the top 1,200 schools in the US with Gunn High school ranked 79 while Paly was listed at 361. Many of those who read the ranking were confused as to why Gunn made the list while Paly did not.
"It’s an artificial measure that doesn’t show all the good things about us," Laurence said. According to Newsweek, the study takes the number of Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate tests taken by all high school students in the US divided by the number of graduating senior class.
"We’re not all about AP’s," Laurence said "We’re much more interested in other programs such as Journalism, which we’re better than most other schools at." Laurence did affirm the possibility of adding more AP classes but only if there was a strong desire, as experienced with the new Chinese-Mandarin program, which took a large effort to get a pilot program. Laurence noted the recent addition of a Japanese AP class.
Concerned with AP classes and running a school, Laurence is in a different role than he was over the summer. Over the summer he went with his son, a senior at Gunn, on college visits. But much of his summer was spent successfully recovering from stomach and intestinal surgery he had in May. "I feel great," Laurence said, happy that his surgery went well.
Finally back at work, Laurence is ready to tackle another school year. "It’s good to be back in school."