Issue 9, 4/29/16

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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. XCVIII, No. 9

Palo Alto High School • 50 Embarcadero Road, Palo Alto, CA 94301 • www.thecampanile.org

Friday, April 29, 2016

Board likely to reject school proposal District expected to redistribute funding to expansion and improvement of existing schools JACKY MOORE

STAFF WRITER

ASHLEY ZHANG

SAMUEL YUN

STAFF WRITER

STAFF WRITER

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ollowing its decision to veto the creation of a third high school, the Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD) Board of Education postponed voting on a proposal to open another elementary school in the District to May 10. Due to enrollment predictions for in incoming kindergarten classes, the Board is expected to vote in favor of dedicating the $60 million reserved for potential primary school construction funds toward improving extant schools during their upcoming meeting on May 10, ending the halfdecade long discussion. This reserve was birthed chiefly from the Board’s 2011 decision to cease funding for “elementary school projects that did not increase enrollment.” In the same year, the Elementary Subcommittee of the Enrollment Management Advisory Committee (EMAC) was organized to investigate the advantages and logistics of constructing a new elementary school. Against the conclusion of the remainder of the committee, three dissenting EMAC members presented a minority report in late 2015 which advocated for the establishment of an additional two elementary schools. According to the report, the construction of these sites would render existing portable classrooms superfluous, pare down class sizes, and provide families seeking to register their children in a PAUSD school with more choices. The report further stated that the creation of the schools

PAUSD hires achievement administrator

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ANNA MORAGNE AND JACKY MOORE/THE CAMPANILE

would alleviate enrollment concerns of potential overflow stemming from the creation of new housing in Stanford. The minority report explicitly stated that the District’s need for two additional elementary schools is not precipitated directly from enrollment projections; rather, it springs from the current elementary schools’ purported failure to provide students with the “education students deserve.” Similarly, Board member Ken Dauber believes the most effective method of decreasing the District’s primary school class sizes entails constructing entirely new schools. According to his website, one of Dauber’s three main goals regarding PAUSD’s academic facilities is to “immediately reopen a 13th elementary school to reduce overcrowding.”

“Our elementary schools are about 30 percent larger than they used to be 20 years ago,” Dauber said. “It’s true that we’re seeing some declines right now in the size of elementary schools, but they would have to decline a lot before they got down to the kind of size that we really want them to be.” Prior to the release of the minority report, EMAC published a separate subcommittee report on the proposal that advised against the creation of more elementary schools. PAUSD kindergarten enrollment is expected to continue to decrease by three percent every year until 2019, regarding the large-scale operation of constructing additional primary schools inefficient. Regardless of the outcome of the vote on a new elementary school,

classes at District elementary schools will be either discontinued or added depending upon each school’s overflow or undersupply to better cope with enrollment projections. One kindergarten class will be dropped at Walter Hays elementary school and El Carmelo Elementary School, while one will be added at Escondido Elementary School. Juana Briones Elementary School will open another first grade class while Walter Hays Elementary School will open another third grade class. “We would be better served to invest in programs at our existing schools and smaller classes at the existing schools,” Board member Melissa Baten Caswell said. “If we’re conNEW SCHOOLS

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alo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD) Department of Research, Evaluation and Assessment has recently announced the hiring of Dr. Clarisse Haxton as the district’s first Program Evaluation Coordinator on April 19. Haxton will be overseeing the school district’s efforts to examine and implement programs aimed to “improve all students’ opportunities and outcomes.” Haxton is an expert on college and career readiness as well as elementary, secondary and post-secondary education. During her time as a senior researcher at the American Institutes for Research (AIR), Haxton worked as a quantitative analyst on a project analyzing trends of women and underrepresented minorities in the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields. “She brings expertise on district and state-level program evaluations of college and career readiness, early warning systems and interventions, and other programs to improve educational equity and achievement,” Christopher Kolar, the district’s Director of Research and Assessment said. “Her experience and talent will be invaluable as we continue to work on our strategic plan and district goals to improve the academic careers of all PAUSD students.” The position of Program Evaluation Coordinator and Equity Administrator was first discussed at a A3

HAXTON

Gown requirements spark debate

Science Olympiad finishes strong at state competition

White gowns eliminated to avoid gender segregation of students

Team looks to change direction in order to claim first place at next year’s competition

STAFF WRITER

ASHLEY ZHANG

STAFF WRITER

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he Palo Alto High School Science Olympiad team ended its season on a successful note with a second-place finish behind Mira Loma High School at the Northern California Science Olympiad state competition on April 16, following their continuation of a seven-year-long series of first-place victories at the Santa Clara regional competition. “This states was by far the most enjoyable of my years on the team,” Science Olympiad captain and senior Sylvia Targ said. “The culmination of all our hard work is always stressful, but this year it was also a highly positive experience due to our team’s strong camaraderie.” The team aspires to win the state competition next year, which would qualify them to compete at the Science Olympiad National Tournament. The last time they qualified was in 2013, placing 16th out of 60 competing teams from across the country. Although the “green team,” analogous to a varsity team, will lose half its members next year, the members hope to build an even stronger group with the incoming members. “We’re definitely losing some very strong people,” Chloe Hong, a sophomore on the green team, said. “That said, we’re also looking at some

very strong white team members and prospective freshmen who may rise up the ranks … by looking at the records, it’s apparent that we’ve been making steady progress, even with the rise of new competition.” The Science Olympiad team has placed second at the state-level competition over the past five years, with the exception of 2013, and they hope to break this cycle by implementing new changes to the management of the team. “We’re thinking about adopting some tactics that other successful teams have used, such as implementing a mentor system and attending invitationals,” Hong said. “Given that the Paly Science Olympiad team has already been doing consistently well as is against teams that use these resources, I feel like there’s a lot that we could easily improve, and I’m sure we’ll do even better once we add some new aspects to our already pretty successful strategy.” Although the team members treasure their achievements, their most valued takeaway from their Science Olympiad experiences are often the friendships they are able to create. “Science Olympiad has been one the best part of my high school experience,” Targ said. “The opportunities afforded to learn from and teach to like-minded teammates are unparalleled, and I couldn’t dream of a better team to end my Science Olympiad

ALICE ZHAO

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ll graduating seniors this year will be required to wear green caps and gowns during their graduation ceremony due to several parents’ complaints last spring that the tradition of males wearing green and females wearing white excludes non-binary gendered students. The administration was immediately approached with the complaints and unanimously decided to implement the change without seeking student input last summer. In the spring of last year, a new School Board Policy was released stating that Palo Alto High School could no longer separate students based on gender. Having been at Paly for nine years, Principal Kim Diorio argues that the color change was long overdue. “Any time [Paly] segregates by gender, it puts [gender-fluid] students in a pickle because gender is a spectrum and is no longer binary,” Diorio said. “The past practice of girls wearing white and boy wearing green was in some way sexist. [The change] is much more progressive, forwardthinking and supportive of all students.” According to Diorio, the administration met over the summer to discuss the color of the caps and gowns to place an order with the distributor. Green was chosen over white as the designated color because of its significance to Paly’s identity as the “domi-

DAMI BOLARINWA/THE CAMPANILE

The graduation ceremony for the Class of 2015 commences with the student procession.

nant color.” Because an order for caps and gowns needed to be made before the start of the school year, the administration ordered only green caps and gowns without considering student input. Some students feel that the sudden shift to all green was abrupt and unfair especially, as student opinion was not considered. Furthermore, there was no formal announcement of the reason for the change to the student body, causing confusion amongst the senior class. Senior Catherine Davidson had only heard about the shift to green when talking with a classmate and believes that it is unwarranted. “I definitely think there should have been a student vote,” Davidson said. “If a guy identifies as a girl then

he can wear white and vice versa, but to make the whole grade wear the same color is ridiculous. Graduation is a special day for students and admin made a dramatic change without any [outside] input. [Now], everyone is affected by [a few complaints].” On the other hand, senior Karina Chan stands by the administration’s decision, emphasizing that students’ comfort with their gender identity should be the main priority. “I do not understand how preserving tradition through the color of a gown could ever be more important than ensuring the feeling of safety and comfort that transgender and gender fluid people have the right to feel,” Chan said. “I feel like the senior CAPS & GOWNS

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INSIDE N e w s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A 1- A 4 Opinion............................A5-A7 Editorials...................................A8 Lifestyle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B1, B8 StudentLife....................B2-B3,B6 Spotlight................................B4-B5 Entertainment...............................B7 S p o r t s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C 1- C 8

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NEWS

COURTESY OF THE GUARDIAN

Sexual harassment at Cal

The university investigates numerous allegations against staff members. PAGE A4

LIFESTYLE

KAI ODA/THE CAMPANILE

Glassblowing at Paly

Taking a look at one of the most unique art programs in the country. PAGE B1

COURTESY OF NATION OF CHANGE

COURTESY OF USATODAY

SPOTLIGHT

SPORTS SPREAD

Post high school miliary options are numerous, yet often unpublicized. PAGES B4-B5

A look at talented players who blew their opportunities in the NFL. PAGES C4-C5

Armed forces pathways

Worst NFL draft picks


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