The Union - Milpitas High School - December 2021

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CAMPUS ENVIRONMENT NEEDS IMPROVEMENTS (3)

HOMECOMING ROYALTY SPOTLIGHT (4)

ORIGINS OF MUSD SCHOOL NAMES (6-7)

ARCANE REVIEW (8)

BOYS BASKETBALL 5-0 (10)

THE

DECEMBER 2021 VOLUME XXXIII ISSUE III

UNI N

MHSTHEUNION.COM FOR THE LATEST UPDATES

STUDENT VOICE OF MILPITAS HIGH SCHOOL

MUSD votes not to authorize Athletic Booster Club operations By Vania Castro

Brian Dinh | THE UNION

A driver of a Black SUV flashed a gun at a student at the crosswalk leading to the X-Building on Nov. 17.

Student threatened with gun near X-Building By Archanaa Ramakrishnan

An MHS student was threatened by a driver brandishing a gun near Escuela Parkway on Nov. 17, Director of the San Jose City College (SJCC) Milpitas Extension Michael Mooney reported in an interview. The driver, while reported to the Milpitas Police Department, has not been caught since the incident, Mooney said. The student was running late on the way to class at the extension building, when a driver in a Black SUV, according to the student’s recollection, yelled and waved a weapon at him while he was passing the crosswalk to get to the school, Middle College Principal Karisa Scott said in an interview. The student reached their classroom and spoke to science Teacher Kathleen Downum to report

the incident, Downum recalled in an interview. She reported the student’s incident to her supervisors, Michael Mooney and Karisa Scott, she furthered. “They followed me out so that I could get a description of the vehicle, and then, I sent him back to class,” Mooney said. “And so I went outside and locked the gate.” Karisa Scott, who handled the student while Mooney took safety precautions, notified the Milpitas Police Department and spoke to Officer John Mouk to issue a lookout for the described vehicle, Scott explained. “So I went and got the student and asked him to describe exactly what happened and took some notes about that,” Scott said. “Then, I just asked them if they felt that they could concentrate in class or if they wanted to take some time to process this further, and they said they’d like to go to

class. I asked them if they felt comfortable walking back across the street as well or if they’d like an escort, and they said they felt comfortable returning back across the street. So then I dismissed him and called the Milpitas Police Department.” The student’s sibling, who was in class in the main campus, received a text message from the student explaining what had happened, social studies teacher Michael Cummins said. “A student said that they had gotten a disturbing text from their sibling,” Cummins said. “So when she wanted to text her brother back to see if they were okay, I called security because I wanted to make sure that this campus knew that something allegedly happened.” The student’s sibling was then SEE PAGE 11

Angelina Barnes | THE UNION

The pie charts display data from a survey ran by The Union concerning opinions on the Pledge of Allegiance.

Poll: 72.8% of students say Pledge unimportant By Angelina Barnes

California law requires all public high schools to conduct daily patriotic exercises, and the Pledge of Allegiance meets this requirement. While the Pledge of Allegiance is recited at many schools, public schools cannot compel students to recite or stand for the Pledge. At MHS, the national anthem is played before school, and the Pledge of Allegiance is recited during daily announcements at the beginning of second period. To gain insight into opinions on the Pledge, The Union sent out three separate surveys to collect opinions from the following groups: students, teachers, and

parents. These informal surveys, which are not scientific, garnered responses from 363 students, 113 teachers, and 140 parents. In response to the question “Is the Pledge of Allegiance important to you?,” 27.2% of students and 40.7% of teachers responded “Yes.” However, 82% of parent respondents indicated that the Pledge of Allegiance is important to them. 32.2% of students reported that they usually participate in the Pledge during morning announcements while 47.8% of teachers said they participate. 25.4% of students responded that their teachers require them to participate in the Pledge, either

by standing, reciting, or both; 25.7% of teachers said that they require their students to engage in the Pledge during the announcements. Of the parents who responded to our survey, 77.2% indicated that they believe their child should be required to participate in the Pledge. When asked, “Do you think that the Pledge of Allegiance should be part of the announcements?”, 37.7% of students and 40.7% of teachers responded that it should be. Comparatively, 82% of parents believe the pledge should be included in the morning announcements. SEE PAGE 11

The MUSD Board of Education voted not to authorize the MHS Athletic Booster Club (ABC) for on-campus operations on Oct. 26 due to the lack of a regular system of checks and balances as well as old bylaws, according to MUSD Superintendent Cheryl Jordan. The ABC is a non-profit that raises funds to support MHS athletes and sports teams through membership drives, concession stands, and more, according to the 2019-2020 MHS Student/ Parent Handbook. “Given the current condition that the board set for its approval on campus operation of the high school athletic booster club, the staff recommends that the board not approve its [ABC] operation on campus,” Assistant Superintendent of Business Services Wendy Zhang said at the Oct. 26 board meeting. When the board acted on their recommendation, Jordan sent a letter to ABC President Ferdie Centeno informing him that the board would not approve of the ABC’s operations until they present revised bylaws, Jordan said in an interview. “I also made suggestions and let them know that Principal Rojas or Assistant Principal Mach would be working with them to establish expectations for that,” Jordan said. When the superintendent asked him what stance he took regarding ABC’s bylaws, Principal Francis Rojas said that ABC activities should be paused until they finish their bylaws and that the school board agreed, Rojas said in an email. “I don’t recall exactly how old they [bylaws] are,” Jordan said. “But they are not specific enough to address … how the deposits would be made and how receipts would be kept.” Moreover, ABC members loosely interpreted the bylaws, and they had no comprehensive list of amendments for any conflicts that might arise, Assistant Principal Jonathan Mach said in an interview. “There were a few board meetings where the board received public comments by members of the ABC,” Jordan said, explaining how the ABC’s issues first reached the board. “The different people who approached the board had asked the board to help them solve a problem.” The board then brought the issue to the superintendent, and Mach interviewed several members of the ABC about their different processes, Rojas said in an interview. “I was appointed by the board and the superintendent to oversee the entire inquiry of what was going on for this event,” Mach said. “I was supposed to compile all the facts.” The inquiry report stated that the ABC’s election process for new board members needed to be clearly defined.

“There are some areas that were not very clear about who can vote and who can’t,” Jordan said. In addition to the report, Mach said that MHS Bank Technician Jim Hollenback also conducted an audit into the ABC’s statements and numbers. “Mr. Hollenback’s role was just to look at the finances because he’s the bank clerk,” Mach said. “He got a hold of their statements, and he just wanted to make sure… that all the numbers were accounted for.” The ABC’s system of checks and balances was lacking because they bought materials on a needto-need basis, Mach said. When a member has to buy materials, they get reimbursed, but they first have to put in a request and then get approval, Mach added. “They’d just buy [materials] and then they forget,” Mach said. Furthermore, one area of concern was an alleged theft of concessions in January, according to the inquiry report. “There was no finding; that was just an allegation,” Jordan said. To give context, Mach said that the ABC donated drinks to volunteers who helped reorganize book rooms, and Assistant Principal Jennifer Hutchison sent a letter thanking the ABC. However, the ABC did not realize that the drinks were donated until a member questioned the missing inventory, Mach added in a follow-up email. “There was contention on paperwork and trails,” Mach said. “It was all found out during the investigation that, within themselves, they were not clear. There was a lot of miscommunication.” Mach recommended that before September, the ABC should vote on new bylaws specifically relating to purchases and sales of concessions, he said in an email he sent to Centeno in June. “I believe the new bylaws need to be more specific about processes for financial transactions, approvals, checks and balances, elections, scholarship process,” Rojas said, also in an email to Centeno. If the bylaws did not meet the district approval deadline in September, Rojas would recommend a provisional approval for the ABC, as long as they had a plan, a timeline, and were making progress, he said in the email. “It was reported to me by staff present at their [ABC] meeting, after we had sent my suggestions, that ABC leaders publicly went against our recommendations by saying that our recommendation went against their current bylaws,” Rojas said in a follow-up email. Currently, the ABC is prohibited from fundraising on campus; however, the school allowed concessions during football senior night, Rojas said. A volunteer, Joseph Weinstein, was in charge of the sales, and a few ABC members volunteered as individuals, Rojas SEE PAGE 11


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