Palo Alto Unified School District Superintendent Don Austin held the second meeting of the Superintendent Advisory Board on March 17, with hopes to get more student voices in district policy decisions. 

During the meeting, students discussed topics including the de-laning of Biology and Biology Honors courses, as well as the district’s transgender athlete policy, AI and immigration policies. Students shared opinions on these topics, one of which being the de-laning of biology. 

“As a district, are we really going to take away opportunities for students to learn and to expand and to grow?” one student said. “I understand the reasoning for wanting to take away the honors lane for biology, but it just seems … unnecessary to me.”

However, some students disagreed, wanting the content to be the same between the classes. 

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“The main difference between the two is probably that Bio H went a little more in depth, and it went a little faster,” another student said. “I think that it [de-laning Biology] is beneficial for all so long as the content is staying the same.”

Gunn High School junior Deven Sharma, also a board member, says that these types of discussions are important for students. 

“We have a space where students feel safe enough to talk about issues that they care about,” Sharma said. “I think that the superintendent often hears from a lot of parents speaking on the behalf of students. Oftentimes, it’s not always what the students actually want that the parents are advocating for.”

The March 17 meeting was expected to be the last meeting of the year. 

However, Amalia Tormala, the co-founder of the board, said she hopes that next year the meetings will be held every three months.  She also  encourages more students to attend to help make their voices and opinions heard. 

“At the end of the day, this is a school district for high school students,” Tormala said. “We are the people who the policies are actually impacting.”