Personal Finance Course Contains

Current Page 4 Granite Bay Gazette wFriday, March 6, 2020 Active shooter drills can result in trauma GBHS practices protocol in case of an emergency E ver since the mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, on Feb. 14, 2018, schools nationwide have begun to take serious precautions regarding how they can prevent such a situation. On the GBHS campus, there are certain mandatory safety precautions that each classroom must go through. This ranges from certain safety slideshows to practicing how to hide and lock classrooms in the event of a real threat on or near the campus. In recent weeks, the American Federation of Teachers and the National Educators Association – the two biggest teacher unions in the country – have released a report stating that practicing active shooter drills on K-12 campuses can actually cause more trauma and fear in students. This is because of the fact that in some cases, these active shooter drills can turn out to be too realistic, causing trauma to students, especially those with special needs or who are younger. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, about 95% of American public schools conduct some form of regular active shooter safety drill – sometimes called a lockdown or active-threat drill. Granite Bay High does not participate in these types of active-shooter drills. Instead, GBHS does non-active lockdowns, in which students, teachers and staff members are instructed to be silent, lock the doors and turn off the lights – but there is no shooter simulation.. Although these lockdown drills do not involve the realistic aspects of an actual active shooter, they can still cause fear and anxiety. Rob Wilcox, the deputy director of policy and strategy for the Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, told Maine Public Radio that these active shooter drills are scaring students across America. “We’re seeing students who are suffering pretty significant trauma from lack of ability to pay attention in class, to nightmares, to nail-biting, to kind of constant fear and anxiety,” Wilcox said. After the extended GBHS lockdown that was initiated in response to a concerning note left in a bathroom stall in February 2018 – just 11 days after the school shooting in Parkland, Florida – several students and parents began to show concern about lockdowns and what they could really mean in an the event of a real threat. “The unknown can be the biggest fear,” said assistant principal Greg Sloan, regarding lockdown drills at GBHS. “That’s kind of been a focus in our district conversations, is how do we make the reunifications smooth and appropriate and also not scare parents beyond what they need to actually worry about.” Senior Sienne Le agrees that these lockdown drills can sometimes cause more unwanted fear in students. “I understand that it’s really important to practice it, and I’d rather us practice doing the (lockdown) drills than not,” Le said. “But it makes you just think about what could happen more than if (we) didn’t practice the drills.” According to Sloan, GBHS has taken several steps to reduce the odds of an active-shooter incident from happening on campus. “Some of the precautions are the physical environment,” Sloan said. “The fences that were locked (and certain) procedures (such as) coming through the front. It doesn’t prevent everything, but the idea is slowing down what could occur because every minute is crucial.” Wilcox, in his interview, reiterated that preparation is important, but it can go overboard. “Staff in schools certainly need to be made aware of the procedures and protocols. If there’s an emergency, they need to be ready to lock down a school at a moment’s notice,” Wilcox said. “ But when it comes to preparing students, we have to be mindful of the impact that this could have on them, because the data and evidence is showing that extreme drills, unannounced drills are not doing anything to prepare students and are really causing more harm than good. Because of the emotional toll active-shooter drills can have on students, the schools in the Roseville Joint Union High School District all avoid the most realistic sorts of drills. “I’ve actually been in active shooter drills where someone has a gun with blanks and they actually try to break into the room and you actually run and barricade,” Sloan said. “I signed a waiver and I’m an adult, and even I felt, ‘Oh, this is intense,’ and to do that schoolwide ... that’s pretty controversial, and that’s not something we have planned at this time. Our (drills) are lockdown drills (that) every teacher knows. It (was just) lock your doors, (administration) checked (and) everybody did it appropriately.” Although GBHS students have never experienced these types of intense and emotional drills, the reality is that thousands of students nationwide have participated in these activeshooter drills – and they have had to deal with the aftereffects. BY LINDSEY ZABELL lzabell.gazette@gmail.com Personal finance course contains errors District-wide online class includes spelling mistakes, missing links A s the class of 2020 at Granite Bay High has been swept up by a number of changes – including a new graduation date and location and a “senior week” for senior activities the last week of school – the required personal finance course has stirred controversy. This year, for the first time, students have to take an on-site final exam to complete the course. “The intent was to ensure that all students are completing their own exam,” said assistant principal Jessup McGregor, who noted that GBHS students in the past had paid students to take the online exam on their behalf. This year, seniors were told they had to complete all course materials at an on-site final exam – and their failure to do so would put their graduation at risk. “Per (district) graduation requirements, all students must pass the exam in order to graduate,” McGregor said. The new requirements have resulted in several challenges. According to a senior female who asked to remain anonymous, her exam was “score boosted” after she failed the exam several times. According to the student, an adult proctor – who was not a GBHS staff member – identified herself as “admin” and allowed the student to pass even though she had not achieved the 70 percent minimum passing score. The student could not identify the district official who boosted her score. A senior boy who struggled to score above 68 percent said the same thing happened to him. “I tried so much, but then the administrator … came inside the classroom and said ‘I appreciate your effort and I’m glad you came out here. Let me just ask you a true or false question since you were so close to passing and if you get it right, then I’ll boost your score,’ ” the senior boy said. “So I answered right and she changed my score to a 70.” In addition to score boosting, according to students, the course contains numerous content and spelling/grammatical errors, as well as irrelevant information. “To me, I felt as though the information that was given was not effective as I went through the whole course without watching one video and I did not retain any information after I took the test,” the senior boy said. “There were a lot of spelling errors, (and) I felt like the whole course was quickly made and no effort was made to revise any mistakes.” As students have found more problems with the course and exam process, they are being encouraged to report them to the administration. “I’ve been able to get a number of items fixed as they are reported to me,” McGregor said. “I would encourage students to bring up their concerns so we can address them.” Several students presented the district with screenshots of misspellings and of broken links for videos, as well as a list of exam questions for which the course provided no information. Some students brought their concerns to GBHS AP government teacher Jarrod Westberg. “Seeing... what my students showed me with the amount of mistakes and lack of care … that was frustrating,” Westberg said. “It’s unbelievable that’s the product they decided was going to be a requirement for your graduation” Westberg was further disappointed by the fact that the course has been consistently approved and supported by the school board. “As a government teacher, I teach (students) how governments are supposed to matter – then you see a local government who praises that,” Westberg said. “It’s incredibly disappointing.” Former GBHS assistant principal Mike Fischer, who now serves as the district’s director of STEM curriculum and instruction, was the original creator of the personal finance course content, but he no longer oversees the course and is not responsible for the recent revisions that have sparked negative feedback. “When the course was first developed, board members actually vetted the course outline, reviewed the material and gave very specific feedback about the original content,” Fischer said. “I do know that a new editor made some major revisions about two years ago, so it’s changed quite a bit since the original version.” Fischer was able to gather the content from various sources including other state courses, the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank, commercial banks and credit unions, which often sponsor content specifically for high school finance courses. The revised course, however, has significant problems. “I know the revisions that were made a year or two ago were pretty significant, and that there have been some concerns raised recently about some of the content,” Fischer said. According to superintendent Denise Herrmann, instructional technology coordinator Marie Criste was responsible for the changes. Students have reported grammatical errors, broken links and inaccurate information. Fischer said he believes the student focus on the course is a sign they are viewing it as an important graduation requirement. “The fact that there are recent issues being raised about the content seems to be a sign that students are paying more attention,” Fischer said. The feedback of students and staff has ignited conversations in the district to consider including the personal finance course as part of the curriculum in economics courses, which students are required to take as seniors. This adaptation would allow trained teachers to make the personal finance content part of their classroom focus and avoid the problems with an online course. Westberg said these conversations should include acknowledgement of the inconveniences the class of 2020 has endured as a result of the poor management of the requirement. “If they cared, they would admit they put together a pretty weak product and have (the) wherewithal to come back and say ... sorry, seniors,” Westberg said. “My fear is (students) are going to leave here not knowing anything and thinking it doesn’t matter.” Although the personal finance course has created additional frustrations for the class of 2020, students are open to new ideas to further improve the efficiency of their financial education. “I feel as though this course could be taught proficiently if (there) were an actual class for it during the last term of senior year,” the senior boy said. “That way, people are more engaged to actually retain the information given to them.” BY ASHLEY LUCIA alucia.gazette@gmail.com

Several spelling errors were found throughout the course Source/ BLACKBOARD Gazette illustration/SOPHIE CRISCIONE

GBHS to add Ethnic Studies

New elective course prompts students to study underrepresented racial groups to further their cultural understanding

Starting in the fall of 2020, ethnic studies will be offered as an elective course at Granite Bay High School. Open to all 9th through 12th graders, the course will be taught by International Baccalaureate History of the Americas teacher Jillyan McKinney. According to McKinney, the course will focus on the interdisciplinary study of race and ethnicity, as understood through the perspectives of major underrepresented racial groups in the United States. “This course will provide a space for difficult, complex and sometimes overshadowed discussions in regard to race and identity,” McKinney said. “It will ask students to question the origin and continuity of race and racism, and perhaps discover their own area of research and actions that can affect social justice for all.” Designed by a team of teachers led by Keshila Jones and Avery Beebe from Roseville High, the curriculum will focus on four major under-represented ethnic groups – African Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans and LatinX Americans. Within those groups, students will analyze the concepts of identity, indigeneity, power and privilege, migration, and regeneration and transformation. “This course gives a voice to the voiceless and the historically marginalized or forgotten,” McKinney said. “My intention is to provide a space for students to have a meaningful dialogue about our nation’s history and how to overcome these tensions through education and discourse.” As the world becomes more and more connected, courses BY SHREYA DODBALLAPUR sdodballapur.gazette@gmail.com Gazette illustration /HEBA BOUNAR

like Ethnic Studies that instigate cross-cultural dialogue become more and more important. “Teachers and district officials believed that this course was necessary in order for our students to become culturally competent, global citizens,” McKinney said. “My hope is that students will find value in diversity and it will strengthen their understanding of equity and justice … (and) will also provide them the necessary skills to thrive in their future employment and life.” Senior Becca Nelson said she wishes she had the opportunity to take ethnic studies while she was still in high school, as she believes it would benefit her in the real world. “I think this course will make younger students more aware of the world we live in,” Nelson said. “This is extremely important in that knowing about different cultures can help you better understand others and the connection(s) you can form through the knowledge and respect of another’s heritage is incredibly valuable.” Nelson said that even though she won’t be able to take the class, she is excited for others to delve into a subject that doesn’t get talked about in other classes. Junior Krista Nabil said she is also excited for her generation to receive a cultural education. “I’m taking ethnic studies because I think it’s so important to learn about our world in the sense of race and how people view their lives,” Nabil said. “Our campus has a lot of problems with racist slurs and other issues, and I think if we all just understood the origin and exactly why we should respect everyone and the impact it can have on people, (it could) lead to a decrease in those issues.” The social impact generated from ethnic studies courses might be significant enough for it to become a state-wide graduation requirement. The California State Legislature is currently reviewing Assembly Bill 331, which would have the ethnic studies course become a graduation requirement beginning in 2024-25. Until the bill is voted on and passed, the course will remain a social science elective. “I think it should be a required class because having the human knowledge of ethnic studies and being able to respond to issues we see in society is important,” Nabil said. Nelson said she also believes ethnic studies should be a requirement, especially considering how evolved the world is today. “Other classes haven’t really given me significant education in racial content or ethnic studies, just because I think that teachers do not have enough time to go into the depth required for cross cultural examination of history or literature,” Nelson said. “I haven’t really been exposed to many other cultures, so I think other students and I would benefit immensely from learning about different customs, histories, traditions, and foods too.” Ethnic studies will be an important class that can have a societal impact that will carry on for generations. “We live in a world and in a community where citizens are constantly grappling with their identity, racial tension, historical fallacies and much more,” McKinney said. “Ethnic studies will help students describe how social movements have resisted oppression in the past and present, and use these movements as models to bring about transformational change in their own communities. “I have never been more excited about a course in my career.”