PALO ALTO UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT PALO ALTO HIGH SCHOOL 50 EMBARCADERO RD. PALO ALTO, CA 94301 NON-PROFIT ORG U.S. POSTAGE
PAI D PALO ALTO PERMIT #44
The Campanile
Vol. XCIX, No. 9
FRIDAY, APRIL 20, 2018
www.thecampanile.org
Adam Paulson to become acting principal
Current assistant principal will assume the position when Rodriguez takes leave By Vivian Feng, Renee Hoh & Gracie Kitayama
District wraps up superintendent search By Neil Kapoor
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Lifestyle Editor, News & Opinion Editor & Senior Staff Writer
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fter three years as assistant principal, Adam Paulson will become acting principal of Palo Alto High School as current Interim Principal Frank Rodriguez is on leave. Rodriguez was appointed interim principal after Kim Diorio announced her resignation on March 9. The Site Council was told about Paulson’s transition to interim principal by Assistant Principal Janice Chen at its meeting on April 17. “[Paulson] seems like he is the admin who works with Mr. Hall and ASB-related things,” said junior Site Council Representative Riya Kumar. “He’s a pretty approachable guy and seems really sweet, and so I think he’ll make a great interim principal.” In addition to ASB-related student activities, Paulson also currently oversees programs such as blended learning, Flex time and Camp Unity according to the Paly website. Rodriguez, who was appointed interim principal on March 2 by the PAUSD Board, is going on leave due to the impending birth of his first grandchild, and will
Palo Alto High School 50 Embarcadero Road Palo Alto, CA 94301
PALY VOICE/USED WITH PERMISSION
Adam Paulson, Paly's assistant principal for three years, will take over for Mr. Rodriguez as acting principal. also become unavailable later in the school year, according to the letter sent to staff by Interim Superintendent Karen Hendricks.
Paulson joined PAUSD in 2014 after being recommended for Dean at Palo Alto High School. As the Assistant Principal of Teaching and Learning, the administrator of the Class of 2019 and a previous elementary school
principal, Paulson’s extensive experience in the District make him well prepared for the role as the acting principal. Paulson joined the Palo Alto School Unified District (PAUSD) in 2014 after former Superintendent Max McGee recommended Paulson for appointment for Dean at Palo Alto High School. Previously, he was principal of Arundel Elementary School in San Carlos and replaced Craig Tuana as the Paly Dean of Students. Additionally Paulson previously worked as the Assistant Principal at Tierra Linda Middle School and taught history and social studies.
According to Kumar, Chen said she was unsure if Rodriguez would return as interim principal this year. Hendrick’s letter also stated Interim Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Anne Brown will be conduct meetings with staff, parents, community members and students for input in the permanent principal hiring process. Students can share their input and opinions to PAUSD Board Members about the search for principal on April 24 during lunch in the Haymarket Theater. Paulson didn't respond to The Campanile's requests for comment.
Staff Writer
fter several months of narrowing down potential Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD) superintendent candidates, an advisory panel composed of 10 community members, five District employees and two students interviewed the finalists earlier this week. According to Board President Ken Dauber, the committee aims to gain insights about each of the candidates. “Community and staff members will have a perspective that may differ from Board members or the search firm, and we want to get the broadest possible input,” said Board President Ken Dauber. The 17-member panel was formed through a series of nominations. Board members nominated two community members each, the Assistant Supt. Anne Brown nominated five school administrators and two students were also chosen: one from Paly and one from Gunn. “The students were selected with the help of the high school principals, I believe,” Dauber said. Traditionally, the Board has selected candidates for top District positions through a professional search firm. This time, however, the use of a committee in addition to a hired search firm
may help provide feedback to the Board about the candidates from the public’s eye rather than a recommendation from a professional consulting group. “The Board will incorporate the feedback into discussion of the candidates,” Dauber said. “I don't know how the feedback will differ [from the Board’s current knowledge of the candidates] — I'm curious to find out! I think community members will probably have different concerns and a different perspective than our consultants.” In fact, the remaining evaluations of the candidates will not be done by the search firm, Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates, but instead by the panel and the Board. “The search firm really did all the groundwork and the actual evaluations of the candidates were only done by the board and this panel,” said Gunn junior Kathy Liu, one of the student representatives on the panel. “After all, it would really not make a lot of sense for an outside organization to be making any type of judgments on the future superintendent of a community they might not be a part of, and everyone recognizes that.” The panel, however, may not wield significant clout on the final
Superintendent
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School board election underway Students attend journalism event Community members have begun campaigning for positions Paly's student publications took part in national convention By Yusra Rafeeqi & Byron Zhang Staff Writers
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FILE PHOTO/THE CAMPANILE
Elections are for seats of Board Member Terry Godfrey (right) and Board President Ken Dauber (second to right).
By Leyton Ho & Eric Li
Staff Writer & Sports Editor
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ith two seats in the Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD) Board of Education opening up in November, lawyer Shounak Dharap and Palo Alto parent Kathy Jordan have announced interest in running. While Dauber has stated that he will run for his second term in the fall, Godfrey has announced that she will not. Dharap, who has officially declared his candidacy, is a 2008 Gunn High School graduate who is looking to use his experience as a student in the district and unique perspective as a lawyer to improve the District. “I'm a product of Palo Alto schools,” Dharap said. “I went to JLS and went to Gunn and my wife went to Ohlone, JLS and Gunn as well and so there’s a sense of responsibility, a desire to give back. I have very strong ties to the community. As my wife and I want start our own family here, we want to be able to bring our future kids to the schools that we
INSIDE
went to knowing that I did everything possible to give them the best opportunity for success.” Dharap felt an urge to run due to the lack of engagement currently on the school board. His goals, if elected, center around three main issues connected to increasing engagement. The first of these issues is the lack of student empowerment in our district, especially in regards to elective courses. “ One is, I'd like to see more focus on student empowerment,” Dharap said. “I'd like to see elective courses and extracurriculars given the same weight as other classes culturally speaking and we can do that through curriculum. For example, perhaps we can wait more elective courses so that it will incentivize students who do care about being able to get a boost in their in their GPA, maybe they'll take those classes spark a passion. Dharap’s second issue is the lack of alumni and community collaboration with the school district. “We can also do more in terms of community collaboration and
I'd like to see more communication with City Council, ” Dharap said. “I'd like to see more communication with alumni. I think we would do well to get the perspective alumni and more communication with local businesses were in hard Silicon Valley. Let's build relationships with them to provide more opportunities for our students.” Dharap’s last issue is the need for administrators to better equip teachers and students for success. “The third thing is administrative support,” Dharap said. “We could see more support for teachers, more training for teachers, more support for special needs students, more training for instructional aids and we could give more administrative stability to the district as a whole.” Dharap believes he is uniquely suited for a board position because his experience as a student in the District would allow him to understand what current students are going through. “The perspective of somebody who's been there, who's been
School Board
Lifestyle
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ver 130 Palo Alto High School journalists attended the 2018 Spring National High School Journalism Convention in San Francisco last Friday, joining several thousand other delegates from across the country in the largest gathering of student journalists in the country. The convention, co-sponsored by the Journalism Education Association ( JEA) and the National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA), organized hundreds of practical learning sessions that included workshops and professional conferences about the different aspects within journalism. Journalism teacher Paul Kandell said that due to the great number of student participants, Paly journalism teachers negotiated the first bulk discount with JEA and NSPA, allowing a larger number of Paly students to attend. Thirty-five Paly students stayed for an additional two hours
to enter write-off contests about news writing, feature writing, design and page layout, of which 18 received an award. Junior Asia Gardias, for example, entered the press law and ethics write-off, focusing on student rights and the court cases involved in determining them. The challenges in the write-offs included essays, vocabulary questions and specific tests relevant to the topic of the competition. “I chose to go to the convention because [Paly students] were lucky it was conveniently close this year,” Gardias said. “I thought it would be good to expand in knowledge on the subject [of the write-off ] in case we needed someone on staff who was well versed in the subject.” Gardias said that the convention further motivated her to pursue journalism after hearing the inspiring feedback about careers of professionals. “The best part of this experience was delving into the stories of journalists and publications that went to court and battled to uphold the press and free speech,”
Gardias said. “The freedoms we enjoy at Paly as student journalists stem from people who were willing to sacrifice their reputations or even personal freedoms, and the [write-off ] was a perfect way to remind myself of that.” Two Paly students returned to San Francisco on the next day, the last day of the convention. NSPA held a Best of Show competition for student journalists and advisors who entered their student publications. At the awards ceremony on Saturday, The Paly Voice received a Pacemaker Award and Verde’s special edition, Veritas, received second place. The Campanile received ninth place in the Newspaper Pacemaker Award Finalist, as well as seventh place in special edition newspaper. For the following years, Kandell hopes the convention will change its write-off rulings. “I wish we could enter more of our students into the contests because they only allow one person in each category,” Kandell said. “We were already putting people in slots that we know are not natural fits for them."
YCS-Interact to host Service Day
Youth Community Service club organizes day of volunteering By Sophia Moore
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Staff Writer
ontinuing its yearly tradition, Paly’s Youth Community Service (YCS) Interact club, which “[offers] fellow club members multiple long and short-term service opportunities each week,” will organize another Service Day event, in order to provide a wide array of volunteer opportunities at local organizations, on Monday, April 23. According to Co-President Mailinh Truong, the board of YCS-Interact starts planning Service Day about two months prior to the day of the even. This year, a total of 219 students have signed up. “Service Day is important because it allows Paly students to give back to their community, be able to do service with friends, and become exposed to an activity of their choosing,” Truong said.
Science & Tech
Some of the options within Service Day include aiding those in a senior center, helping with the restoration of Half Moon Bay, aiding children in schools, providing relief to the Ecumencial Hunger Program and working with Animal Assisted Happiness. Sophomore YCS member Shanthi Deivanayagam is taking the reins in order to lead in the effort to restore the Baylands. “I chose to lead the Baylands because I really enjoy outdoor service that benefits the environment,” Deivanayagam said. “My favorite part of service day is being able to work all day and see what our help is doing for the environment and the community. I really like both YCS and Service Day because I am passionate about service and helping those in need by using the resources that I have access to.” Additionally, sophomore Ariana Tabrizi has decided to lead
Spotlight
the Blossom Birth service option. Blossom Birth is an organization which provides assistance to families who are expecting. “I chose to lead Blossom Birth because I'm not so much of an outdoor person, but I really enjoy organizing things and helping out with everyday tasks,” Tabrizi said. “My favorite part of service day is getting to meet a ton of new people and help out my community. I enjoy service day because I feel like it's a really great time for our school to come out and show support for our community.” Although Service Day will run from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., it will not interrupt any class periods, as it will take place on a flex day. On service day, no classes will be held so as to allow volunteers to work without the possibility of falling behind. While signups have closed for this year, Service Day will continue to be an annua Paly tradition.
Sports
this edition
News . . . . . . . . . . A1-A4 Opinion. . . . . . . . . A5-A7 Editorials. . . . . . . . . . . A8 Lifestyle. . . . . B1-B3, B6 Spotlight. . . . . . . . B4-B5 Science & Tech. . . B7-B8 Sports. . . . C1-C3, C6-C8 Sports Spread. . . . . C4-C5
FILE PHOTO/THE CAMPANILE
Girls in Rock Bands
Female musicians' perspectives on a mostly-male genre of music. PAGE B1
PHOTO BY DOUG WHELLER/CC2.0
Stephen Hawking
Reflecting on the man who changed our view of the universe. PAGE B7
ALYSSA LEONG/THE CAMPANILE
Homeless Students
Exploring the stories of underrepresented students. PAGES B4-B5
PHOTO BY RENNO_NEW/CC0
Injury and Rehab
Student athletes grapple with injury on and off the field. PAGES C4-C5