Talk:Gunn High School/Archive 1

School name
"The school is named after Henry M. Gunn (1898-1988), who served as the Palo Alto superintendent from 1950-1961. During his tenure he saw the school district expand from 5,500 students to 14,000. He also oversaw the expansion of 17 new schools, and is credited with the establishment of De Anza College and Foothill College, two local community colleges. In 1964, the Palo Alto Unified School District announced it would name its third high school after him."

The above segment seems it should belong under a new separate entry for the person (Henry M. Gunn), and this article (Gunn High School) should simply link to it:

"The school is named after Henry M. Gunn." 169.229.108.115 23:03, 28 February 2006 (UTC)

Student Pranks
I have added info about the prank in which some students hijacked the P.A. system. I do not exactly remember if this was 1987 or 1988, but I can absolutely confirm that it happened having been a student at the time. I'm sure the event was discussed in The Oracle if you need some sort of citation. 69.104.57.32 04:41, 28 June 2006 (UTC)

Daisy Robinton
69.107.68.1 just removed a line under Notable alumni saying "Daisy Robinton, class of 2005, national Abercrombie and Fitch model". . I'm letting this edit stay since I can't verify that she was. –dto 19:12, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

Campus Traditions
Is the seniors ripping up homework tradition really on the last day of school for seniors? I thought it might be before that... –dto 00:49, 22 August 2006 (UTC)
 * It would be advisable to find a verifiable reference for these uncited claims. --Dystopos 02:47, 22 August 2006 (UTC)
 * Might be kind of hard for something like "Campus Traditions," but I agree. I'm going to try to verify the claim (which I didn't make) with some current students/faculty. –dto 03:07, 22 August 2006 (UTC)
 * You might want to read up on Verifiability. Asking around isn't really going to cut it. --Dystopos 04:50, 22 August 2006 (UTC)
 * Agreed. Not too pertinent info anyways. –dto 05:10, 22 August 2006 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the link and for being nice :). –dto 05:13, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

Trivia
I just removed an unsourced comment by 71.131.206.81 about Cindy Sheehan coming to Spangenberg to discuss her book in 2006. I do not recall such an incident, though it may well have occurred. —dto (talk contribs)  03:17, 11 October 2006 (UTC)

Pranks section
I have removed all of the uncited material from this section:

In 2007, a senior wearing a cardboard mask came into a classroom and threw eggs at a substitute teacher. The mask resembled a spartan helm, much like the ones seen in the film 300[]. The student was subject to an expulsion hearing, but was allowed to walk with his class during graduation.

In the spring of 2005, the school purchased a digital announcement board that was posted in front of the entrance to the school parking lot on Arastradero Road. A couple of students managed to dial in to the announcement board and put up a message reading "Heavy traffic ahead, detour" complete with a large, friendly arrow pointing in to the parking lot. Of course, the parking lot only had one entrance, so any drivers who actually followed its advice were forced to wander the gargantuan parking lot before realizing the only way out was the way they came in.

The day before the first day of class in fall 1994 a group of seniors spent the night in the quad. During the day, they filled the quad with sand and built a moat around it. The moat was more flimsy than planned and had to be reinforced with automobiles pulled up to it, somewhat detracting from the effect. Technically not a prank, the idea was submitted by the previous year's junior class council and was approved by the administration. It was also chaperoned by volunteer faculty and parents who kept mostly to themselves in a nearby building. Alcohol consumption was widespread at the event and yearbook photos depicting the carousing had fruit superimposed over any visible beer cans.

In the Spring of 1995 a couple of students acquired a master key to the classrooms and organized a large group of students to come in the middle of the night to remove all the desks from the rooms. The next day the quad had been stacked three desks high and most students took lessons on the floor. The administration simply ordered the desks to be returned to class by the end of the day.

Previously that year, bricks had been pried out of the surface of the elevated "Quad" (the main courtyard in the school) and replaced with cement, spelling "1994." This prank backfired, as the school administration then took the money needed to replace the bricks from the class of 1994's party fund.

In 1992, students, presumably from the senior class, entered the school's library, removed all the books and placed them in stacks in the exterior courtyard area of the Quad. In the same incident, much of the library's furniture was hoisted onto the roof of the building. Some students were amused by the ambitious prank, while school administrators immediately reacted with harsh condemnation. A considerable number of the library books used in the prank were damaged, as a consequence of having been roughly handled. The prank was widely viewed as retribution by the senior class for the cancellation of an annual skit show called "Senior Frolics."

In 1988 some students hijacked the school's public address system and for a period of a few hours broadcast various humorous recordings and rock music. School administrators were initially unable to turn off the recordings and many classes were disrupted. Some teachers went as far to rip the wires out of the speakers in their classroom, leaving a number of classrooms that, for years afterward, were unable to hear morning announcements. Many teachers just took their students outside and had their students do independent study on the grass. The prank was picked up by local news and became a minor news item. This prank was repeated near the end of the 2002-2003 school year.

At some point in the late 1980s, pranksters filled the enclosed "Batcave" area with water and stole a number of carp from a local hotel. The carp were then placed in the flooded Batcave. Perhaps unanticipated by the pranksters, the carp then died en masse, creating a rather fearsome stench.

Wikipedia is neither the Gunn High School yearbook, nor does it exist for the glorification of past senior pranks, the mere existence of which is supported only by original research. Wikipedia consolidates information that has been published in other reliable sources. Please use these to support any further additions to this section. Thanks. Canderson7 (talk) 13:04, 13 November 2007 (UTC)