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What it means that Trump has become the third president to be officially impeached and what students have to say about his recent aquittal
shield the House impeaches, Senate acquits
Final verdict on Trump’s presidency to come in November when Americans cast their votes
GRACE NUGENT staff reporter With a new decade comes political history being made. Until Dec. 18, 2019, there had only been two U.S. presidents who had been formally impeached. On Dec. 18, president Donald Trump became the third, joining Andrew Johnson (1869) and Bill Clinton (1999). President Richard Nixon was facing impeachment in 1974 but resigned before his impeachment reached the House floor for a vote.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi initiated the process when she announced a formal impeachment inquiry on Sept. 24. The inquiry centered on two charges: (1) that President Trump abused his power by withholding foreign military aid from Ukraine in order to force them to dig up “dirt” on political rival Joe Biden and (2) that he obstructed Congress by not complying with their investigations. Trump’s defense is that the House never accused him of an actual crime.
After private committee meetings and testimonies, the House of Representatives voted on the rules for President Trump’s impeachment inquiry. After more meetings, the judiciary committee decided on the two articles of impeachment: obstruction of Congress and abuse of power. The articles of impeachment then went to the House floor for debate and a vote. The House voted separately on the articles but only needed to pass one of the articles in order for the president to be impeached.
The majority of the House voted yes for both articles on Dec. 18, and, as a result, Trump was officially impeached. After the House managers and Trump’s defense team spent about a month preparing, the Senate trial began on Jan. 21, with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. presiding. The four-month impeachment saga came to a close on Feb. 5 when the Senate voted to acquit Trump on both charges. Although he was not removed from office, Trump’s impeachment was historic. Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah was the lone Republican senator who crossed party lines to cast a vote to convict Trump on the abuse of power charge. “The president’s purpose was personal and political,” Romney said as he spoke to the Senate on Feb. 5 announcing his vote. “Accordingly, the president is guilty of an appalling abuse of the
TOP: Throughout the impeachment drama, President Trump has stayed on the campaign trail. Photo by Nikolas Liepins. BELOW: Anti-Trump demonstrators gathered in downtown Minneapolis to protest Donald Trump at his rally in Minneapolis that same week. Impeachment protests popped up all over the country following House Speaker Nancy Pelosi initiating a formal impeachment inquiry. Photo by Nikolas Liepins. Both photos were accessed on the NSPA & ACP Flickr account and are reposted here with permission.
public trust.”
Romney’s vote marked the first time a senator has voted to convict a president from the same political party of an impeachment article.
McCallum students said that the impeachment saga provided one more example that the United States government is fueled by politically charged feuds and personal agendas instead of the interests of the American people. “It’s safe to say that the political climate in the United States has been very tense,” sophomore Marina Garfield said. “The tensions continue to grow the closer we get to the 2020 elections.”
Sophomore John Hamlet, who told MacJournalism that he had been following the impeachment since the House trial began, agreed that the impeachment reflects a larger political divide, but felt that it probably won’t impact the 2020 election much if at all.
“The country is as divided as always, with the Democrats already not voting for him and the Republicans, for the most part, following him,” Hamlet said. “It’s going to just get crazier the closer we get to the election.”
Garfield said she found it difficult to read that Trump had been acquitted. She questioned if the Senate trial was even a trial at all.
“The acquittal makes me dubious of the Senate’s morality,” Garfield said. “Although I am disappointed, I am unfortunately not surprised.”
Some students who believe Trump did wrong still feel he should remain president.
“Trump was clearly guilty of abusing his power for personal interest,” junior Marley Gattis said. “I’m happy he was put on trial for the crime. For the well being of America though, I’m glad he wasn’t removed from office.”
Strengthening community at Mac shield the Hosack establishes campuswide restorative practice to build relationships
SAMANTHA POWERS staff reporter
Have you ever noticed that at school, students tend to retreat to the safety of their phones rather than socializing? Or that everyone sits with the same people at lunch? Or that teachers have to spend so long getting their kids to focus that they can’t get to the lesson?
Principal Brandi Hosack believes that a lack of personal relationships in the classroom perpetuates this cycle, and she has a possible solution. This year, she brought in an initiative meant to strengthen the community at McCallum: restorative practice.
Hosack previously implemented the practice when she was principal at Akins High School. It helped to reduce discipline by 50 percent and cut suspension rates by 40 percent, Hosack said.
“The black and white data is there, but the feeling of the school changed,” Hosack said. “That’s what’s important. It started to feel like a community.”
Originally adapted from a form of problemsolving in the prison system called restorative justice, this method strays from disciplinary norms in public school.
Hosack explained that participants in the discussion sit in a circle, so to emphasize equity, and calmly communicate in a constructive manner. The purpose is to get down to the very root of a problem and solve it systemically.
“I have my campus leadership team go through a protocol called the five whys,” Hosack said. “When you see something and it doesn’t look right, ask why. Then when you answer that question, ask why again and then when you answer that question, ask why again, so that you drill down to the root problem. And what I’m looking to disrupt is … institutional bias against any given group.”
Hosack is implementing restorative practice at McCallum through a student
ABOVE: Sherwynn Patton demonstrates a restorative practice circle to the McCallum vertical team during a teacher workday on Jan. 6. Photo by Larry Featherstone. Originally published on the McCallum High School Twitter feed. LEFT: World geography teacher Robert Bucher observes his class’s SEL lesson led by sophomore Alysa Spiro. Photo by Dave Winter.
leadership program where student leaders were recommended by their teachers for their ability to demonstrate leadership qualities.
This group, which is comprised of 75 students, will continue to lead restorative practice meetings and work at implementing the practice campus-wide. Hosack plans to utilize the team in social-emotional learning and in professional development.
The student leaders have already met a number of times. Their first meeting took place on Dec. 12, and most of the time was spent getting acquainted with their new teammates and brainstorming ideas on how to foster positive relationships in the academic environment.
“It was really fun being able to meet new students and have deep conversations,” freshman Jayden Mason said. “I just think that it’s awesome that we get to have a voice.”
The largest-scale meeting the student leaders had was a workday with teachers and administrators from the vertical team that
took place on Jan. 6. Hosack and the staff were impressed by the performance of the students. “I think that Jan 6 was a pivotal day for this campus,” Hosack said. “[The teachers] were so impressed with our student leaders. I’m so impressed with our student leaders. I think that there were quite a few adults on our campus and in the vertical team that are like, ‘Our kids are simply amazing,’ and they are. And if you’ll just stop and listen to them for a second, they’ll show you that.”
Although cultivating personal relationships with teachers and classmates may seem daunting at first, Hosack believes it will boost efficiency and morale in the classroom. Building an empathetic environment will save time in the long run, Hosack says.
“If you take 10 minutes to build community with your classroom, you will save the 30 minutes that you waste trying to get them back in line and back on track and focusing,” Hosack said. “And so it is an investment in time in the beginning, and ongoing, but you reap the benefits tenfold.”
Besides improving student-teacher relationships, restorative practice is also meant to serve and strengthen the student community. Junior Emily Arndt described how quickly she was able to bond with her fellow student leaders during their preliminary meetings.
“Even though there were 70 of us, I still feel a personal connection to these people, because some people were telling some really personal stories,” Arndt said. “Some things hit close to home, some of them, I couldn’t relate to at all, but I can understand the feelings. It was very impactful.”
Senior Connie Pierce appreciates the diversity of the student leadership team.
“It’s really nice because a lot of the people that are in it are not people I would see every day,” Pierce said. “So it’s like making new friends, but also seeing different perspectives from people who don’t necessarily think the way you think, so I think that’s really cool, and it helps us keep an open mind during the process.”
Although the road to restoration of the McCallum community is a challenging one, it is a road Principal Hosack is willing to take to reach equity. By beginning to problem-solve from the bottom up, Hosack is optimistic for McCallum’s future.
“Everybody has to feel like they belong here,” Hosack said. “Every single person, meaning every single student, every single adult, every single parent, has to feel like they have a place at the table.”
—with reporting from Maeve Walsh
News in a
FLASH
Water leak disrupts routine
McCallum custodians, administrators and security personnel worked to contain a water leak on the entrance to the science hall closest to the courtyard on Monday, Feb. 3.
The hallway was blocked off all day Monday to investigate the leak and clean up the water. The source of the leak was reportedly a chiller line to an air conditioning unit, which has since been repaired.
When walking down the main hallway towards the breezeway this week, however, students could still look up to see a hole in the ceiling.
—Kristen Tibbetts
Head custodian Daniel Sena and assistant principal Gabe Reyes push trashcans into the main hallway to help collect the water leaking from the ceiling. Photo by Dave Winter.
Library registers seniors to vote in Texas primaries
On Jan. 31, the library hosted a voter registration center where students could fill out the paperwork needed to register to vote in the 2020 primary elections. By day’s end, the library brought its total number of registered seniors for the school year to 62 students, and the Friday registration push came just in time for Monday, Feb. 3, the last day to register before the primaries.
“Just being registered is good because you can be registered and be like, ‘Alright I’m not going to vote,’ but that puts the pressure on you because now you know full well that you can,” said senior Ruby Del Valle, who registered to vote on Jan. 31.
Del Valle said that it was important for her to register so she could help elect a president who represents all Americans. Del Valle and volunteer Pamela Orr who helped with the registration process agreed that getting registered was as easy as it was rewarding.
“You just fill out this form, and I sign it and date it and give you a receipt, and then in 30 days you’ll get a card from the tax office where the voter registration is located,” Orr said. “ [Voting is] the only way that you can feel like you have a say in what’s going on. You don’t always get
PREPARING FOR THE PRIMARIES: Seniors Ruby Del Valle, Duval Bingham and Preston Howard register to vote with the help of volunteer Pamela Orr. All students who were at least 17 and 10 months had the opportunity to register to vote in the Texas primaries. Photo by Lydia Reedy.
your way, but imagine if everyone did go vote, what we could do.”
Also at the event was Sami Sparber, a journalist for The Daily Texan and intern for the Texas Tribune and Texan photojournalist and Texas Tribune intern Eddie Gasper. Sparber is writing about the voting registration Texas high schools are required to provide twice a year and hoped to get the perspectives of first-time voters as they registered.
“I got in touch with Jain [Thompson] and heard they were registering students to vote here. I wanted to talk to the students, because obviously it’s one thing to register but it’s [another] thing to actually go vote,” Sparber said. “I’m just curious to see if students are actually excited for voting because people always say that if young people voted it would completely change the outcomes of elections, so I wanted to see if that’s really true.”
The library will continue to register students during weekdays from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
—Lydia Reedy and Josie Bradsby
Shield a finalist for top national award
The National Scholastic Press Association named 28 schools as national Online Pacemaker finalists last Thursday, Feb. 6, and for the third year in a row, The Shield Online was named as one of the finalists.
“The Pacemaker is the association’s preeminent award,” said Laura Widmer, NSPA’s executive director. “NSPA is honored to recognize the best of the best.” The 28 Pacemaker finalists represent 12 states. California, Missouri and Texas set the pace with five finalists each.
“I guess that shows we’re doing something right,” said Shield Online editor in chief Max Rhodes. Rhodes is the only Shield staff member who has been on staff all three of years that the staff has been an Online Pacemaker finalist. His national-award winning blog, “Rhodes Traveled,” has also been a central feature of the site during all three years. When asked for a reaction to the news, however, Rhodes was quick to praise the work of his colleagues.
“With a rock star staff like ours, this news is not a huge surprise.”
It’s also not a time for the staff to rest on its laurels. Between now and April 18, NSPA will be monitoring The Shield Online and the other 27 finalists to determine which finalist websites will be named Online
BUILDING A BETTER MACJOURNALISM: The MacJournalism crew spent much of the morning of Feb. 6 thinking about how it runs its Instagram account and how the process and product could made better. During FIT, Shield visuals editor Bella Russo convened a meeting of newspaper and yearbook staff members to consider how the staff might improve its coverage the rest of this semester and beyond. Photo by Dave Winter.
Pacemaker winners at the Spring National High School Journalism Convention in Nashville on April 18.
“The judging teams will now continue to study the sites named as Pacemaker finalists on a frequent basis,” said Gary Lundgren, NSPA associate director and coordinator of the Pacemaker competition. “The Pacemaker winners will be selected shortly before they are named on April 18, so for the 28 schools we are naming as finalists today, the competition is really just heating up.” —Dave Winter
