Walking around campus, one is sure to notice at least one thing–the trash. In the 2003-2004 school year, Gunn generated an average of 65 cubic yards of garbage per week, in addition to 17 cubic yards of recycling. However, not all of this is placed in the garbage can by students. In a survey conducted by The Oracle Sept. 20, 45 percent of the 146 students surveyed reported that they had knowledgeably littered at Gunn.

Trash levels tend to rise especially after brunch and lunch, putting a strain on the custodians. "We spend the majority of our time picking up trash," custodian Neil Barana said. "It's our main priority throughout the day." Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD) employs eight custodians each for Gunn and Palo Alto High School (Paly) to help maintain clean facilities. Of the full time custodians, two work in the morning for eight and a half hours, four work in the afternoon for eight hours, and one works in the afternoon for four hours. Gunn's custodians work a total of 55 hours per day cleaning up our campus, compared with 64 hours at Paly, even though Gunn has more students.

The Gunn Green Team, though, a group of students, parents, administrators, teachers and community members founded last year, is working to cut down trash levels on campus. "Our goal is to reduce trash by one-third," junior Green Team Chair Emmiliese Von Clemm said. One way that the team plans to accomplish their goals is by revamping the recycling system in classrooms. Members of the team have also lobbied the Parent-Student-Teacher Association to use biodegradable plates, cups and cutlery at this year's Homecoming barbeque.

Both the maintainence budget and the number of custodians are determined by a formula at the district office. In the past, the inputs into the equation for Gunn and Paly have been equal, because the difference in the number of students was never larger than 100. In the last couple of years, however, Gunn has had approximately 170 more students than Paly, but the same number of custodians, contributing to rising amounts of garbage.

Restrooms are also a sanitarian concern on campus. The often over-flooded toilets, sticky and stained floors and the usual lack of supplies discourage many students from using the restrooms in school. Though the janitorial night staff is supposed to clean and stock the facilities daily, the job is not always finished. In addition, the lack of supplies is also caused by student irresponsibility, since many students do not use toilet paper and soap efficiently. Supplies are littered on the ground in many of the restrooms on campus. The administration has taken steps to maintain cleaner facilities. One way is by the signs placed in the restrooms that recommend that students inform the main office when supplies run low, so that they can be restocked. However, many students do not call the office. "Even though there are signs, most people just ignore them," junior Nathan Ma said.

Outdated buildings and facilities are another problem, despite the recent construction on the Bat Cave and main office. "Gunn is actually lacking behind in its facilities area compared to most other high schools in the area," Assistant Principal Tom Jacoubowsky said. "Other schools have bond measures in which people vote to raise property taxes to raise revenues for building facilities. Therefore, they have better facilities and equipment than we do." For the 2005-2006 school year, the most recent report available, PAUSD lost $4 million in state funding designated for site support, which includes maintenance of facilities. The same year, the local property tax, which helps fund the district, was lowered by 3.4 percent through a city-wide measure, even though the district's student population grew by 1.3 percent. Saratoga Union School District (SUSD), in contrast, approved a $79 million bond measure to improve their facilities in 1998. Much of SUSD's bond money is still being used for reconstruction on Saratoga High School.

Student defacement of school property is also a problem. Students write song lyrics on restroom doors and spray paint inappropriate language on walls. Students responsible for these acts of vandalism are subject to disciplinary action and referral to the police. There have been multiple instances of graffiti over the past year.

Both bond measures to raise more money for the facilities and increased student contribution to cleanliness have been ways suggested to help improve the campus. "If students would just clean up after themselves and stop littering, life would be much better at Gunn," Barana said.