Verde commends the Palo Alto High School administration for their handling of the April 25 shooter threat, which led to an hour-long shelter-in-place. However, going forward, communication between administration, teachers and students on- and off-campus should be more clear. 

The shelter-in-place was announced through a schoolwide speaker soon after the discovery of the shooter threat posted on a classroom door, and teachers were instructed to close their classroom windows and doors and continue teaching. 

According to senior Vedanth Padmanabhan, while communication from Paly administration was limited, they were able to successfully implement the shelter-in-place without prompting a disruptive, panicked response from students. 

“Admins’ primary job is to protect you, not to make you not worry,” Padmanabhan said. “As a student, I think that knowing too much can harm you more than knowing too little because if students knew too much, they might be tempted to leave school or disobey the lockdown.”

History and Social Sciences teacher Mary Sano agrees that the shelter-in-place itself was sufficient to keep students safe without disrupting the learning environment within each classroom.

“At the moment, it seemed like answers did not come immediately because there were so many things to consider,” Sano said. “But then in hindsight I think it [the shelter-in-place] was the best possible situation given this unprecedented situation we found ourselves in.”

However, Sano said that communication between administrators and teachers could be improved.

“I think that communication [wise] there were things that could have been clearer,” Sano said. “For instance, … the understanding of what shelter-in-place was as opposed to lockdown, people were confused about that.”

George Pinckney, the Palo Alto Unified School District Public Information Officer, said a lockdown drill that occurred March 10th may have led teachers to confuse the difference between a shelter-in-place and a lockdown and that administration is actively working to improve communication for future situations. 

“The lockdown drill was practiced in early March at Palo Alto High School, but we’re trying to make sure teachers understand the differences in the shelter in place, which is where you continue what you’re doing,” Pinckney said. “We have also discussed making second and possibly third announcements to clarify because in some cases, students were active within the classes so they may have been discussing class work or class projects.”

Students who were in classrooms or classes that did not have speakers — such as P.E. or dance — were less informed of the shelter-in-place and shooter threat. To prevent future situations similar to this, Pinckney said that the district is working on improving the quality and number of speakers throughout the school.

“Our safety preparedness officer Mr. (Mike) Jacobs has already started revisiting and updating speakers around the campus on the outside baseball field as well as near the small gym,” Pinckney said. “We will also focus on making sure the announcements are made more than once if we have to use another shelter in place.”

Safety of staff and students should be the number one priority during situations like these and Verde commends administration for working to improve communication.

Sano said she shares this sentiment, acknowledging the success of current protocols in handling the shooter threat while hoping for improved measures in the future.

“There are things [general protocols] in place, which is why things worked,” Sano said. “But we can always make things better.”

We appreciate the Paly administration for their handling of the shooter threat and shelter-in-place. In the future, however, we urge the administration to use all communicative resources, regardless of the threat’s credibility, in order to ensure the safety of all students and families.