Issue 9, 4/28/2017

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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. XCIX, No. 9

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

Friday, April 28, 2017

Private student data temporarily leaked

Names, addresses and test scores of over 14,000 PAUSD students were publicly accessible NOAH BAUM

STAFF WRITER

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GRACE KITAYAMA

fter targeting Schoolzilla, a former data warehouse platform of the Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD), a computer security researcher found the personal information of about 14,000 current and previous PAUSD students was exposed, as announced by the District last Thursday. The information included students’ names, school ID numbers, addresses, dates of birth, genders, test scores and information about 504 plans. Additionally, the data included the names of some parents in the District, according to the District. Along with a notification of the leak to all PAUSD families via email, families with information in the leak will receive a letter in the mail informing them of their situation. California Law requires the District send the notice in the mail, according to Derek Moore, the District’s Chief Technology Officer.

"This is a very unfortunate and serious mistake that [Schoolzilla] made, but they have been very forthcoming — even telling us the mistake was made."

Derek Moore PAUSD Chief Technology Officer The District decided to enact the regular data breach protocol because the security researcher who accessed the unsecured data, Chris Vickery, was not commissioned to access the data by either the District or Schoolzilla, according to Moore. Vickery said in a blog post that

One Acts to feature six student plays STAFF WRITER

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1.3 million students had information that was exposed during his targeting of Schoolzilla. Schoolzilla secured the information soon after Vickery reported it, the company said. Vickery said in his blog post that the “sheer volume” of student information he accessed convinced him to purge it from his storage in an “expedited fashion.” MacKeeper Security describes Vickery’s role as assisting companies in “plugging serious data exposure vulnerabilities.” Schoolzilla confirmed to the District that the only external user in their past data logs was Vickery, ac-

Sex ed curriculum sparks controversy

cording to Moore. The District also said in a letter to parents that Vickery provided a sworn affidavit to Schoolzilla declaring he had deleted all of the data he accessed in the incident. Social Security Numbers, California ID numbers and driver’s license numbers were not exposed in the breach as PAUSD does not collect the any of the said information from families, according to the District. According to Moore, Schoolzilla informed the District about the breach later than other users of the platform because PAUSD no lon-

ger uses the company’s services and Schoolzilla did not intend to still have the District’s student data. “It wasn’t until [Schoolzilla] did further research that they figured out our data was still exposed there,” Moore said. Schoolzilla was supposed to delete the District’s student data after PAUSD terminated its contract with the company in May 2016. “This is a very unfortunate and serious mistake that [Schoolzilla] made,” Moore said. “But they have DATA BREACH

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tudents are in the early stages of producing and directing their very own one-act performances as Palo Alto High School’s theater department readies for its final production of the year. This year’s One Acts showcase will feature six unique plays, all of which are student produced and directed. Instead of a single long production that takes several months to prepare for, One Acts are several smaller shows created so students can participate in a low-stress production at the end of the year. “I’m excited to see all the different variety of shows ranging from really funny shows to more dramatic ones,” said junior Sam Kim. The One Acts productions are generally favored in the Paly Theatre Department because they give students the opportunity to try different aspects of theater that they would not otherwise have tried. “It’s really inclusive and it’s a really great time to go outside your comfort zone,” Kim said. “I know a lot of actors that are working lights and sound and just the technical aspects of the show while there’s actually a lot of [stage technicians] here that are acting. It also allows students the chance to produce and direct shows.” Junior Emily Zhang is going out of her comfort zone for One Acts by doing multiple stage jobs for the production. “I’m doing both acting and tech A3

ONE ACTS

ASB hosts annual volleyball tournament Paly's most popular intramural sport entertains students on the quad

Parents protest "vulgar" new program reforms RENEE HOH

STAFF WRITER

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petition against the newly implemented sex education curriculum in the Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD) middle schools garnered 1,600 signatures both online and in-person in regard to the potentially explicit and age-inappropriate content. The petition was presented to the PAUSD Board members at the District Board meeting on April 18. The petition cites the “age and cultural inappropriateness” of the curriculum in highlighted excerpts of the Health Connected program, Teen Talk for seventh graders.

“The petition had a lot of misleading information and parts of the curriculum taken out of context and didn’t have all the information necessary, which may have alarmed some parents." Laura Prentiss PAUSD Parent Additionally, the petition states the curriculum promotes risky behavior such as underage drinking, drug use and increased students’ curiosity in sexual activities. The topic was discussed during the open forum portion of the board meeting. Over 20 individuals, ranging

INSIDE

News....................................A1-A4 O pi n i on . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A 5 - A 7 E d it or i a l . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A 8 Lifestyle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .B1-B3, B6-B8 Spotlight...............................B4-B5 Sp or t s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C 1 - C 5 , C 8 Sports Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .C6, C7

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Check us out at www.thecampanile.org

from community members to parents to students, spoke for or against the new sex education curriculum. Parents opposed to the new curriculum argue that the scenarios, which include real teenager’s experiences with sex, may be insensitive to cultural values, contain explicit descriptions of oral, anal and vaginal sex and feature 14- to 18-year-olds rather than the target audience of seventh graders. “People from different cultural backgrounds have different values they use to raise their children,” said Farha Andrabi Navaid, a PAUSD parent. “In order to teach sex education we do not have to use material which might be considered vulgar in certain cultural or religious viewpoints.” Other individuals spoke out in favor of Health Connected program and how PAUSD has addressed the issue of sex education. “The petition had a lot of misleading information and parts of the curriculum taken out of context and didn’t have all the information necessary, which may have alarmed some parents,” said PAUSD parent Laura Prentiss. “I think the program itself is very good and very necessary.” Parents in favor of the program also argue the real world scenarios provide students with clearer and more realistic viewpoints about sex. SEX EDUCATION

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PETER GOLD/THE CAMPANILE

PETER GOLD/THE CAMPANILE

Students prepare to return the ball in the annual Associated Student Body Spring Volleyball Tournament on the quad at lunch.

SHANNON ZHAO

STAFF WRITER

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alo Alto High School's most popular intramural sport tournament drew an impressive crowd this past week. ASB presented the fourth annual Spring Volleyball Tournament that took place on April 24-28 on the quad during lunch time. Kasra Orumchian, ASB Sports Commissioner, encouraged all students to come out and cheer on the teams. As a participant himself last year, Orumchian learned that having a large audience when playing is very motivating. “I'm confident that with the amount of teams participating, the audience size will grow as well,”

DAN DELUCA/CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSED

LIFESTYLE

Orumchian said. This year’s tournament experienced a major upset. Just on the first day the 2016 champions, the Dab Daddies, lost during the first round. The level of competition on the courts rose higher when compared to last year. A particular team that gained attention quickly within the first few days of the tournament is Team24, primarily a YMCA basketball team. However, they expanded their horizons and served as the tournament's underdogs. “We came in nervous, we heard they had game,” said junior Team 24 member Ole Erikson. “But we competed and were able to pull out a big win. It feels as if we got the best chemistry in the tournament.” Each team was allowed up to eight

PALY SJP/USED WITH PERMISSION

SPORTS

Sports and Social Justice pathways graduate their first seniors.

An in-depth look at the team that almost won it all.

The importance of sleep

The road less travelled

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Giving up down time comes at a much greater cost than most think.

KAI ODA/THE CAMPANILE

SPOTLIGHT

Vicente Fox speaks at Paly

Former Mexican president discusses the importance of unity.

members with a quorum of six members. The only requirements was that each team had to include at least one underclassman and one upperclassman. Teams also could not consist of more than five players from the same grade or more than one varsity player per team. ASB posted online and used oncampus publicity to acquire participants early on. Volleyball nets were set up two weeks prior to the tournament to promote the event. The top three winning teams received gift cards to various businesses, worth $20, $15 and $10 dollars. The team brackets were chosen randomly and posted outside the Student Activities Office, on Schoology and on ASB Social Media.

Paly basketball 2017 PAGE C8


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