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• Improve the staff to student ratio
• Improve reading, writing, math, science, art, language or other programs
• Increase elective availablity and additional periods in the upper schools
• Increase student services such as counseling and homework support in the upper schools
• Ensure that all students in PAUSD have the same high quality of education

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Italian Street Painting Expo Brings in $14,000 for Palo Alto Schools

During the annual Palo Alto Festival of the Arts, passersby on Tasso Street were treated to an assortment of vivid chalk renderings, courtesy of the annual Italian Street Painting Expo, a five-year tradition benefiting Palo Alto Partners in Education (PiE), a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting Palo Alto public schools.

Staring up at visitors from squared off sections of the pavement were the chalky visages of Steve Jobs (taken from a Newsweek cover) a Japanese Geisha with flowers in her bun, Tom and Jerry, a ballet dancer with an adjacent sign proclaiming a welcome to new PAUSD Superintendent Kevin Skelly, and many more.

And on Saturday (Aug. 25) more than 70 children, aged 2 to 12, chalk-painted rainbows, flowers, dragons and the like on 2' by 2' squares in a special section called the "Chalk-A-Lot" set aside for younger artists. More than 50 artists participated this year -- "a record number," said Palo Alto parent Cindy Ziebelman, who co-chaired the event with fellow Palo Alto parent Mary Haverstock.