From: Atlas Gerritsen
To: Council, City
Subject: Student Input on Suicide Prevention
Date: Friday, February 20, 2026 1:25:28 PM
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To the Palo Alto City Council,
We are reaching out to thank you for your action in response to the recent suicide of a Palo Alto High School student. As friends and fellow students, we are incredibly invested and care very deeply about this, and it’s truly encouraging to see it taken seriously. We wholeheartedly support the proposed item to approve a contract to employ guards at four grade crossings— installing guards at the crossings is exactly what we want, and what we’ve been asking for.
Thank you so much for listening to the needs and concerns of your community and its youth— we earnestly hope you continue to do so going forward, in the implementation of these measures.
These trained guards are an incredibly important first line of defense to de-escalate these suicides by train, and will always be the most effective first response (who will be faster to save a life than any camera surveillance system). We strongly urge the city council to implement this measure as quickly as possible, as it has been proven time and again that existing security measures fall painfully, heartbreakingly short.
We also do not believe that these guards are a temporary necessity. These crossings will always be dangerous, and employing guards for just one year is not enough. We understand that the current contract with Orion is likely just one year for flexibility’s sake, and that it will probably be renewed at a later date. But we feel the need to stress that it must indeed be renewed, whether with Orion or not.
Sincerely,
Atlas Gerritsen, Alexander Deisseroth, Kaavya Dhand-Kalluri, Michelle Fang, Milo Johnson, Charlotte Liu, and An Nguyen on behalf of the Palo Alto Unified student body.
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