As Piedmont Unified School District students head back to the classroom on Monday, Aug. 10, here’s what’s new for the fall:
PUSD’s new “bell-to-bell” cell phone policy goes into effect
The Board of Education approved the more restrictive policy at the end of the last school year to comply with the state’s 2024 law that requires all school districts to develop policies limiting or prohibiting phone use by July 1, 2026. “Dumb phones” — devices that can only text and call — are OK, according to the PHS student handbook. High school students are most affected by the change as the district’s middle and elementary schools already had restrictive phone use policies in place.
Superintendent’s last day is Aug. 12. Search is underway
Dr. Jennifer Hawn, who served as Piedmont’s superintendent for three years, announced her departure in July. The Board of Education is undertaking a search for a replacement. A new interim superintendent will be introduced and appointed at the Aug. 12 school board meeting, Hawn said in her last Piedmont Pulse message on Aug. 1.
Regular Board of Education meetings are held on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month, unless otherwise noted. You can attend in person or view the proceedings live on KCOM or a recording later in the week.
New traffic patterns in the center of town = a new drop-off zone for Havens Elementary School
The city re-striped a section of Bonita Avenue this summer to accommodate more parking in the civic center area and has moved the Havens Elementary School drop-off zone to Highland Avenue. The back entrance to Havens will no longer be a drop-off zone and that section of street between Vista and Oakland avenues is now a one-way street.
Piedmont police officers will be stationed at the Oakland/Bonita intersection for the first week of school. (Note that school-related traffic disruptions could start on Friday due to the high school walk-through registration process and other “welcome back” events for younger students.)