The administration is attempting to increase student safety after two recent attempts by adult males to lure children into their cars, as well as a declaration of Code Yellow across the Palo Alto Unified School District last month.

In one case of the attempted advances, an adult male tried to convince two boys bicycling through Mitchell Park to leave with him by offering them toys. In the second case, an adult male yelled at a female student at Jordan to leave with him. The children in both cases ignored the attempts of the men and left unharmed. The March 7 Code Yellow was declared because a sexual predator had escaped from the Palo Alto Veteran’s Hospital.

At Gunn, however, administrators are less concerned with the possibility of students being convinced to leave with strangers than bodily advances on Gunn’s pupils. “In high school settings, we are less worried about students being lured into cars as they were educated in elementary and middle schools to deal with these events,” Principal Noreen Likins said. “Instead, our focus is self-defense and teaching students how to deal with a situation in which they have to protect themselves.”

The main program that teaches students to protect themselves is the required self-defense unit taught in physical education. “We basically try to raise awareness [about sexual predators] and empower students to defend themselves,” Physical Education and dance teacher Allison Rockwell said.

Included in the unit are visits from the Palo Alto Police and the Rape Crisis Treatment Center. Other activities include demonstrations on how to defend themselves, starting simply by saying “No!” in an assertive voice. “We start with voices, as a lot of people have trouble screaming, ‘No!’ in a loud voice; then we teach students how to hit, kick and jab in order to stun the attacker,” Rockwell said.

Students have also weighed in on the influence of the course. “I think the self-defense unit is very effective because you get to try out the moves,” sophomore Aurora Zhang said. “Otherwise you wouldn’t really know where to hit and jab if you were attacked.”

Also high on the administration’s priority list is informing parents and students of the recent incidences. “We try to publicize information as widely as possible by sending a letter home or directly by email through the Gunn Connection,” Likins said.