[5][6] Piedmont High was the last school in California to resist pressure from the state to stop enforcing a provision in their dress code which required students wear a uniform.

[7] Piedmont High School has an open campus, by which students can leave during brunch, lunch, and unscheduled periods.

The quad connects the former site of the Alan Harvey Theatre, the library, the cafeteria and student center, and the amphitheater.

Weeks,[5] the school has undergone several reconstructions, for reasons such as expansion, earthquake retrofitting, and combatting dry rot.

The last construction was an expansion of the gymnasium, during the 2003–2004 school year, to include an entrance room that also displays trophies.

Other electives offered include the Pride (yearbook) and the Piedmont Highlander (school newspaper), law and society, public speaking, multiple computer classes, and creative writing.

[15] The options are shown in detail below:[15] ROP-funded journalism, sports medicine, and biotechnology were added.

Both have existed since the early decades of Piedmont High history, and participants of each publication are involved by taking the offered course.

[16] In 2007, the library's Teen Advisory Board revived the publication of the literary magazine The Highland Piper, which had last been published in the 1970s.

[18] In 2004, the San Francisco Chronicle highlighted the lack of racial and socioeconomic diversity in Piedmont in a Sunday front-page story.

The literary magazine, The Highland Piper, was launched in the spring of 2007 to publish student original writing.

[21][22] Piedmont High is home to the nationally known Leonard J. Waxdeck Bird Calling Contest.

The offense relies on confusion, and its unconventional look can wreak havoc on even bigger, stronger and faster teams.

In 2004 and 2005, the nationally-ranked women's basketball team won two consecutive division IV state championships.