Titan Talk
Henry M Gunn High School
About us
Email: mgordon@pausd.org
Website: https://gunn.pausd.org/
Location: 780 Arastradero Road, Palo Alto, CA, USA
Phone: (650) 354-8200
April 19, 2020: Vol 3 Issue 30
PAUSD School Closure Resources- PAUSD will continue this school year remotely.
Beginning Monday, April 20, PAUSD will begin a live webinar series for anyone interested in hearing more detail about numerous aspects of the closure and submitting questions and / or comments. The webinars, called Backstage with the Superintendent, will run live each Monday during the closure at 5:30 p.m. We have two options for those who wish to participate. Click here for more details.
Please visit the district's School Closure Resource Page for answers to questions you may have regarding the closure. This page addresses questions regarding meals for students, technology needs, special education and 504 plans, EL support, and mental health support among other things during the closure of our schools.
Please read PAUSD Superintendent of Schools, Don Austin's Letter on Credit/No Credit.
Schoology Resources
Community Resources for helping Families in Need.
Gunn PTSA has partnered with a variety of community organizations to provide help and information for families during this crisis. Please check out these resources on how you can provide or receive help.
Any PAUSD family in need from COVID-19 can get a grocery/gift card. Families can contact their counselor for referral. They can also email sheryl@rise-nonprofit.org (a former Gunn parent and alum!) and Spanish speakers can call/text Blanca at 650-823-9957.
You can also donate to the Palo Alto Community Fund's COVID-19 Relief Fund to help our community families as well.
The Wellness Center:
Gunn Wellness
The “Virtual Wellness Center” has launched as of 4/14 and students can speak with a Wellness and Counseling Team Member through a virtual request support form (located on the Gunn Wellness tab on the Gunn website as well as posted to schoology for students)! Submitted requests will be answered during the course of the school day, Monday- Friday, 8:30-3:30, to ensure that students are able to access confidential “drop in like” support to meet their needs. Students are able to choose their preferred dates and times as well as preferred telehealth modality (phone or zoom appointment)! We look forward to continuing to be present for all of our students and being another layer of support for the adolescents and their families in our community!
Mindful Minute
We wanted to offer some other quick resources for your children to access support during this time. Please see this flyer for more helpful resources in this community!
Check out the Child Mind Institute's Family Resources on how to how to navigate the challenges of parenting on a variety of topics including anxiety, substance abuse, depression, and more.
SELF (Social Emotional Learning and Functionality)
As part of the district-wide effort to keep connecting our community, SELF mentors have continued to reach out to students to check on their well-being and to offer group activities that promote social connection. We'd also like to share some resources that our team has come across that might be of use to students and their families:
Other resources:
Article: Why Taking Care of Your Own Well Being Helps Others, from The Greater Good
Article: How to Keep Coronavirus Worries from Disrupting Your Sleep, from The Greater Good
Videos/Resources: EQ in your PJs: Managing Stress, Navigating Relationships in Tight Quarters, and Bouncing Back from Challenges, from School-Connect
We hope everyone is doing as well as possible: getting good sleep, practicing healthy habits, and staying connected. The SELF program and all of our wellness groups on campus are here to support students in any way we can.
Gunn Counseling
Here are the latest Newsletters for Seniors and Juniors for the 4th Quarter. Sophomores and Freshmen Newsletters to follow soon.
Senior 4th Quarter Newsletter.
Families in need of support:
- If you are aware of, or are in need of financial assistance during this crisis, please reach out to your counselor. Here are some community resources that can be of help also.
Grades: The district has moved to credit/no credit grading for the spring quarter of 2020. All coursework for 2nd semester will be reported as Credit/No Credit on all PAUSD transcripts. Please contact your teachers on the standards for receiving credit in your particular classes.
Off-campus course update:
- District policy remains as follows: 1) Graduation requirement courses must be taken on campus. 2) Students may take a maximum of 40 credits of elective courses off campus throughout their high school careers. 3) Students may earn a maximum of 80 credits per year, including from courses taken on- and off-campus.
- For spring 2020, no courses taken off-campus will be put onto the PAUSD transcript. This includes all courses taken off-campus that have received prior approval from the site counselor and administrator. If you complete an off-campus course in spring 2020, you must provide colleges with a separate transcript for the course(s).
- Courses taken in summer 2020 will appear on the PAUSD transcript with the letter grade earned and applied to the 80 maximum credits per year to be taken in the 2020-21 school year.
AP Testing. College board has moved to online testing for AP's this year. Please see the following link on information and resources.
Counselors and teachers will be available through email to answer questions and concerns during normal school hours. Please contact your counselor or teacher through Schoology, or direct email. Counselors will not be checking phone messages regularly.
HOW TO TAKE A BALANCED APPROACH TO COLLEGE ADMISSIONS by Challenge Success.
Sources of Strength
Stay present. Stay well.
Gunn Sources of Strength
ROCK (Reach Out Care Know)
Let’s recognize first responders and essential workers! Find a rock, paint it brightly, and write “Cops Rock,” “Nurses Rock,” “Doctors Rock,” “USPS Rocks,” and deliver them or share a photo.
We know this is a tough time for anyone. If you need to talk, please email rockatgunn@gmail.com or message @rockatgunn on Instagram. Learn more at our website.
Gunn Oracle Is still publishing
Even though school is closed, The Oracle is still reporting! Support student journalism and follow us on Instagram at @gunnoracle to see our social media coverage during our stay at home. We are also publishing content to our website, www.gunnoracle.com, to keep the community informed.
The Oracle #8211; The Student News Site of Henry M. Gunn High School
The Student News Site of Henry M. Gunn High School
Please check out the latest publications of the Oracle online.
Instagram @gunnoracle
College and Career
The Guidance Team is here to help—reach out and expect a reply in a timely manner.
Wait Listed? Keep connected to your college as if indeed you would go no matter what… let them know as this is a year when the holes of kids not coming or not returning could impact how a freshman class is selected. If you are willing to show up at a time other than September, feel free to let the college know. Schools have been migrating to sophomore admissions to fill gaps and this may be used more than ever and they will provide instruction on what to do with that time preceding.
The Exploring College Options scheduled for April 26th has been cancelled.
The NACAC college fair scheduled for April 25th has been cancelled…they have cancelled all spring fairs, this experience will be available in Fall of 2020 and Gunn IS hosting the fair this year!
SAT/ACT are cancelled through May and as a result, some colleges may go test optional for the fall. New info from College Board will be released on April 9 regarding SAT. Please visit the sites of either SAT or ACT before assuming the testing will happen and get fresh information on what they want done to be admitted to the next open test option.
Seniors: I have reached out to all seniors and Mr Lang too so as the time draws near to decide on where you will go…do not hesitate to make contact with me or him. We are here and you should get a reply within a day during the normal week. Key points that are slowly emerging:
Colleges are in consultation right now about how they will open in September. What does this mean? Some are going completely virtual teaching, some may have to find a way to keep the distancing and that will be problematic. You could be offered a later start time. There will be cuts to services that impact you, professors, amenities to so expect to hear something from your college in July. Not much info is leaking out as they try to ensure they actually fill all the seats needed to meet fiscal demands. Life will not be the same as crowds will be curtailed so you may not get the joy of some of the sport or entertainment in the ways it was delivered in prior years. Science majors…research in non essential areas may be sharply curtailed as money flows in for topics related to covid.
Please fill out the senior survey… juniors will want the info you are sharing. If you come off a wait list at any time, and I mean any time, just send me an e-mail with that info.
Do not forget to fill out the extra box that asks where you will ATTEND. Once you get to college, please share your stories with us to help us get out the word to the juniors who will be wondering how well you were cared for that year.
NAVIANCE: Some students may have heard back from all or some of their colleges. Please enter the results in the Naviance site where colleges are listed and students have applied. if you know where your student is going, have them look for the box that asks what college they chose and enter the name there. Be sure they hear back from all locations. Some colleges are still using the decide and deposit on May 1 and some are moving this out to June.
Please note that the following events may have been canceled, Please contact organizers to see if events are rescheduled or happening.
Summer Programs:
Summer programs are not going to happen or they may offer an on line options. Till the Covid virus is under control and till we are free to move about, summer life as it was a year ago will not happen. If you have applied and were accepted to a program—make contact to see what the plan is or ask for your money back. If the program was designed to be experiential it has no way of happening while we do shelter in place. If it was an academic program it is being offered on line in many locations. Bottom line: check back with the program to find out what is happening.
If we do get leave our homes more, the kinds of options for this summer may be volunteer more than anything else. If jobs open up we may see adults snagging more of what were teen jobs but anything relating to work…send Rachael Kaci a note to see what information is coming to her as she is our work experience coordinator.
Use the time to read, keep physically active and spend time on some of the work required for re entry to HS. Khan Academy has good learning opportunities and may colleges re going test optional so you do not need to make that the focus of your summer academic engagement. Explore areas that could become a major with more energy. You have the time to really do some college on line exploration which should make creating a list much easier in the fall.
Attention Junior Parents: We have been telling you that many colleges are going TEST OPTIONAL and they mean it. Go to FairTest.org for the full array. I have met with almost all juniors prior to school closing. Thank you Grace for scheduling more in semester one! There are about 10 of you who have not had this contact…not to worry. I have your contact information and will be setting up a way to do this interview. I have my needed materials here at home. Remember this post high school planning is to talk about all kinds of options…that is why I have not tagged it with the word College. I have had folks who planned on CC think we do not need this meeting but there is so much going on at Community College it is worth the time
Any junior parent who wants additional time, even if we have met…I have all my notes from our meeting and I am available to do more discussion so just send me an e-mail and we will set at time. If you need Mandarin translation Denise is most helpful in assisting — we have done some conference calls.
Foothill College & Gunn High School Workshop:
Foothill will be hosting a Zoom Meeting for our Gunn Students interest in attending Foothill College. Do you have questions or concerns about Foothill admission please join this Zoom Meeting.
Adiel Velasquez is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Foothill College & Gunn High School Workshop
Time: Apr 21, 2020 11:00 AM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
Join from PC, Mac, Linux, iOS or Android: https://cccconfer.zoom.us/j/91794587351
New way to log into Naviance through Rapid ID:
There is a new mapping to log into Naviance through your Rapid Id using PAUSD
Single Sign-on. Students who had accounts created in the past can log in using their
Naviance ID and through PAUSD Single Sign-on. There have already been a handful
of students who have logged in through Single Sign-on from Gunn since the integration
was completed. If you are having issues logging into Naviance, please try it this way.
Please contact Mr. Lang if yu are having difficulty. llang@pausd.org
Middle College - accepting applications thru April 30, 2020
We hope you and your families are all doing well! We know that it's been a challenging few weeks for everyone as we've transitioned to online classes. To give you more time to learn about the program and apply, we've extended our deadline to April 30, 2020. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions -- we'd be happy to set up a time to talk with you and your parents (annett.trail@mvla.net).
Gunn High School Measure Z Bond Project- Public Community Meeting # 1
The Palo Alto Unified School District will host a Gunn High School Community Meeting to present the Schematic Design Plans for the Renovation of the Administration Building. The meeting will be conducted by HED Architects and will be held online via Zoom at https://pausd.zoom.us/j/723978306 or dial +1 669 900 6833 and enter Meeting ID: 723 978 306 then press # to join the meeting. Meeting ID: 723 978 306
Wednesday, April 15, 2020 at 2:00PM
PTSA
Here are some Frequently Asked Questions for parents on the school closures.
The Gunn PTSA supports Gunn high school in many ways such as teacher grants, student activities, fundraising and organizing volunteers. Please visit the Gunn PTSA website for more information.
Palo Alto Partners in Education
Thank you to all that have supported Partners in Education (PiE). The donations to PiE continue to support many programs at Gunn, including our