Issue 1: September 25, 2020

The Campanile

Friday Sept. 25, 2020

City Council adopts police reform rules

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n order to help prevent the excessive use of force by police, the Palo Alto City Council unanimously voted on Aug. 24 to adopt policies based on recommendations from the 8Can’tWait campaign.

The project led by Campaign Zero calls for all U.S. cities to pass eight laws to prevent excessive use of force by police departments.

The campaign has gained significant traction since the choking death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisc.

According to 8cantwait. org, over 270 cities have adopted some or all of these laws since June.

The eight proposed laws require banning chokeholds, de-escalation tactics, warnings before shooting and say a police report should be filed every time an officer uses or threatens to use force. A 2016

study by the campaign says that these laws could reduce police violence by up to 72%.

Palo Alto Police Department is already compliant with three of the policies: requiring a warning before shooting, duty to intervene and report in cases of officer misconduct and requiring comprehensive reporting anytime an officer uses force or threatens to use force, according to a report by the Human Relations Commision. The remaining five were adopted during the Aug. 24 City Council meeting. Rev. Kaloma Smith, a proponent of the 8Can’tWait campaign, says these reforms are necessary to end police brutality.

“8Can'tWait is not the ceiling of what changes should be. It is just the beginning,” Smith said. “It is absolutely clear that we live in a time where we need to reimagine policing.”

Mayor Adrian Fine agrees, and said Palo Alto needs even greater measures to mitigate excessive police use of force.

“In society nowadays, we’re asking police to do anything and everything,” Fine said. “There’s a future where we have more community service workers, like mental health professionals and social workers (in lieu of police).”

At the Aug. 24 City Council meeting, Assistant Police Chief Andrew Binder said while PAPD supports some of these reforms, they do need the authority to use force.

“Officers don't always have the luxury to predict how we're going to take someone into custody,” Binder said.

“So, officers must have the ability, allowable by law, to use reasonable force to adapt to the dynamics of a force encounter.”

Human Relations Commision Vice Chair Valerie Stinger agreed with Binder that police need freedom to act in certain situations.

“There are some instances of police excessive use of force in Palo Alto,” Stinger said. “But there’s also a lot of good work that’s done. So our objective was to balance the need for more reform with giving the police department the tools they need to do their job.”

While the 8Can’tWait movement has largely been a nationwide one, PAPD has had previous problems with excessive use of force.

In July 2019, Officer Thomas Destefano Jr. broke a bone in Palo Alto resident Julio Arevalo’s face in a latenight encounter. Destefano said Arevalo was involved in a drug transaction, but neither video footage nor physical evidence has confirmed this, according to a report from NBC Bay Area.

In a separate Feb. 2018 incident, PAPD Sgt. Wayne Benitez and other officers visited Gustavo Alvarez’s home at Buena Vista Mobile Park on suspicions of driving without a license. After Alvarez initially refused to come out, Benitez slammed

Staff Writer

Depending on Santa Clara County’s classification under California’s new four-tier color-coded system for tracking COVID-19, in-person instruction could start as early as Monday, Oct. 12 for Palo Alto Unified School District

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students, with small groups having already begun returning to campus as of Sept. 8.

Guidelines put out by the California Public Health Department in late August cleared schools to open campuses to a maximum of 25% of the school’s population, with a focus on students with disabilities and students struggling with online

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PALO ALTO PERMIT #44

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In order to provide support to families most affected by Santa Clara County’s shelter-inplace order, Palo Alto Unified School District started delivering free meals to students during lunchtime starting Aug. 17. Lunches can be picked up through drive-thru meal pickup at Greene, Gunn and JLS and delivered directly to Buena Vista Mobile Home Park.

Nutrition Services Director Alva Spence said breakfast and lunch will be offered to students 18 years or younger, most likely until the end of the first semester.

“Under an extension of the current Emergency COVID-19 Seamless Summer Program Waiver, all school districts can offer breakfast and lunch to students,” Spence said. “We currently cannot give out meals on weekends or holidays so the last day would be Dec. 18 for free meals in PAUSD unless the United States Department of Agriculture extends this waiver again.”

Spence said there are a few key differences between the

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struggling with online learning and special education students to return to campus daily.

Students struggling with online learning started returning to campus as of Sept. 8, and students with disabilities began returning to school as

As more Americans begin to question commonly accepted cultures, systems and norms for their bias against marginalized groups, some of the country’s seemingly trivial practices — no matter their scope — have been turned on their heads; Paly’s classrooms will most likely not be exempt from such changes.

The California State Legislature is currently awaiting Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature on Assembly Bill 311, a bill that would require all California students take a one-semester Ethnic Studies course before they graduate high school. If Newsom signs the bill, California high schools will have to offer the course by 2025, and the course will become a graduation requirement by 2029.

Paly offers an Ethnic Studies course as a social science elective for juniors and seniors, and it focuses on the experiences of different racial, ethnic, social and economic groups in the context of US history. However, the implementation of AB 331 would

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Gustavo Alvarez against his car windshield, knocking several of his teeth out.

Alvarez’s security camera captured the incident, as well as homophobic remarks made by Benitez.

“He’s gay,” Benitez said in the footage before whimpering something, mocking Alvarez for his high voice. The other officers laughed.

Benitez retired in the aftermath of the incident and currently receives a $118 thousand dollars-peryear pension. According to Mercury News, it is almost impossible for officers to

learning provided the school’s county permits these guidelines.

Under these regulations, cohorts of 14 non-rotating students supervised by two adults can return to campus in “controlled, supervised and indoor environments.”

In response to these guidelines, the district created PAUSD+, a program already allowing students

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lose their pensions for misconduct.

Stinger, like Mayor Fine and Rev. Smith, agreed that these changes along with further reforms are necessary to ensure the community’s safety.

“In light of all the unrest subsequent to recent events, we felt that we needed to do something now,” Stinger said. “But it’s undeniable that there’s more work to be done.”

The PAPD did not respond to a request to be interviewed for this story.

Zack Silver Staff Writer

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Jack Galetti

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www.thecampanile.org

Palo Alto High School, 50 Embarcadero Road, Palo Alto, CA 94301

Vol. CIII, No. 1

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PALO ALTO UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT PALO ALTO HIGH SCHOOL 50 EMBARCADERO RD. PALO ALTO, CA 94301

Learn about PAUSD's online learning system in both the spring and fall semesters, as well the process through which the district outlined improvements and the conditions for a potential reopening in the 2020-2021 school year.

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Friday, September 25, 2020

The Campanile

News

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Science & Tech Editor

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PHOTO FROM TESSA EHRLICH

Overlooking all 1400 acres of Foothills Park, senior Samantha Feldmeier worries about how not everyone may have access to the park. Feldmeier said, “It’s wrong to restrict someone’s access based on where they live.”

Foothills Park may allow non-residents Austin Xiang

Science & Tech Editor

New Student Activities director Greer Stone is a former Paly Viking, having graduated in 2007.

This is Stone’s first time serving as a Student Activities director, and he said the experience has been challenging but also rewarding and educational.

“Given the pandemic and distance learning, it’s a completely unprecedented time to be organizing student events and activities, so that has brought along a series of challenges,” Stone said. “But in a really short amount of time, ASB has been pretty active in getting a lot done.

So, it’s challenging, but I think I feel like we’ve been very successful so far so it’s a good start to school here.”

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he American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against the City of Palo Alto on Sept. 15 over the residents-only policy that Foothills Park has put in place since 1969. In May of 1959, the city of Palo Alto held an election asking voters to approve the purchase of Foothills Park from Russell V. Lee for $1,000 an acre. 62% of voters approved of the purchase, and Palo Alto subsequently purchased the land for $1.3 million.

Palo Alto asked Los Altos and Los Altos Hills to joint-purchase this land, but these cities declined. As a result, the park was opened in 1965 and made accessible to only Palo Alto residents in 1969.

William Freeman, a senior counsel at the ACLU of Northern California said the current policy violates the First Amendment and is another sign of Palo Alto’s long history of discrimination. However, the first claim filed is freedom of travel.

“It would be like saying to a resident of Palo Alto, you can’t go to Golden Gate Park because it’s owned by the City of San Francisco, or you can’t go to Union Square or you can’t go to Lake Merritt,” Freeman said. “There’s a long line of cases that establishes that people in this country have a right to go where they wish on public property, and rights can’t be infringed unless the government has a really important reason to infringe it.”

Freeman also said a residents-only policy has led to freedom of speech violations on the part of the city. Freeman said Alysa Cisneros, a resident of Sunnyvale and a plaintiff in the lawsuit, and her daughter visited Foothills Park wearing a Sunnyvale pin and San Jose T-shirt but were denied access.

“The park labels itself as a great place for discussions or nature talks or weddings and for people to get together. Those are all examples of free speech which includes free expression,” Freeman said. “But if you are not a resident of Palo Alto, you do not have the right of free speech on that property.”

Prior to the lawsuit, the Palo Alto City Council approved a pilot program at Foothills Park which will grant non-residents access to the park, starting either in fall or winter of this year.

The proposed pilot program will continue to allow Palo Alto residents to enter the park for free, while the city will grant up to 50 permits per day to non-residents at $6 each.

Lam Do, the Superintendent of Open Space, Parks and Golf said the $6 fee will go toward keeping the parks open, especially while the city is operating on a tight budget due to COVID-19.

“The cost to operate both Foothills Park and the Arastradero Preserve runs roughly $2.1 to 2.2 million,” Do said. “If there was revenue coming in from an admission fee or entry fee, it would contribute toward the expenses to operate the two preserves.”

Junior John Miller, who went to Foothills Park nearly every day during the summer to fish, said the park should be open to all.

“Perpetuating the ideas of redlining by keeping Foothills closed to the major public besides Palo Alto is not OK and not really acceptable,” Miller said. “Because in 2020 it’s time for a change. I think if done responsibly, opening Foothills to everybody is a great idea.”

Those who oppose the pilot program say an increase in visitors will scare wildlife and contribute to the erosion of hiking trails.

Carlin Otto, a resident of the Charleston-Meadows neighborhood, gathered 33 signed postcard petitions advocating keeping

Foothills Park restricted to Palo Alto residents only.

During the Aug. 3 city council meeting, she read a statement in response to the petitions, which read: “I do not want Foothills Park open to the general public. I value its quiet, its uncrowdedness, its pristine conditions, the opportunities to see wildlife. More people in the park will degrade all of these. I pay my taxes to keep it in this condition.”

Freeman said there are other examples of nature preserves that do not have exclusionary policies and are not facing environmental destruction.

“If you want to talk about an ecologically sensitive area, the Baylands has lots of wetland,” Freeman said. “Baylands is open to everybody. I’ve never heard anyone say it’s overused or that people who come from neighboring communities destroy the park.”

Freeman said allowing fewer people in the park per day, regardless of residency, could remedy environmental concerns. The current limit of 1000 visitors per day has not been reached in the past 20 years.

“To say only a few people from neighboring communities can come in at a time really doesn’t make sense at all,” Freeman said.

“If the city’s really concerned about overuse of the park, just put an overall cap on admission to the park everyday, without regard to who is coming in.”

Freeman also said historical trends show the park could handle allowing more visitors.

The annual use is around 150,000 people, while the annual use in the early 1970s was around 370,000 people.

“There’s plenty of room for more people in the park without environmental destruction,” Freeman said. “No one has ever come up with any evidence that increased use is going to damage the park.”

Opponents of the pilot program counter that Palo Alto tax money should benefit the citizens of Palo Alto, not non-residents.

“Please stop wasting our tax dollars on plans to open Foothills Park to the general public,” Otto said at the city council meeting. “If you feel that you absolutely must continue with this idea, put the issue on the ballot in November so that you can know how Palo Alto residents feel before you proceed any further.”

But Freeman said non-residents are also contributing taxpayer dollars to the General Fun, which finances the park.

“If you look at the general fund, much less than one fifth of that is made up of revenues that come directly from property owners,” Freeman said. “Now, I don’t live in Palo Alto, so I can’t go into the park, but I go down to the shopping center, eat at restaurants on University Avenue, so my dollars fund Palo Alto as well.”

For Freeman, the goal of the lawsuit is simple.

“No matter where you live, no matter who you are, you have a right to enjoy this beautiful piece of land,”

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Club Day was held virtually during lunch on Sept.

16. With 96 club applications this year, ASB implemented an extended virtual lunch period for students to browse through clubs, which were on a master Google Slide deck.

Sophomore ASB Clubs Commissioner Johannah Seah said each slide represented one club, which included links to the club’s virtual poster board as well as a Zoom meeting for presidents and co-presidents to answer any questions. After the conclusion of the virtual club day, Seah said it was pretty successful but there was some room for improvement.

“A lot of people said it was easy to navigate (but) one thing that I did notice was that there was a lot of traffic because there was a very large amount of slides,” Seah said.

“I think in the future if we do

a club day online for second semester, we may want to find a way (to) publish Google Slides (in) a way which will be accessible to a really large audience without too much traffic or online congestion.”

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7#"#.%'8+%&", ASB is discussing hosting socially-distant, in-person events to give students an opportunity to see each other, where they can bond and learn together.

“We’ve thought of a weekly event where there’s a Zoom hosted to do different activities every week like cooking or baking,” Zhang said.

Junior ASB Vice President Diana Narancic said visual events are in the works too.

“I really want to try to get in a drive-in movie theater going,” Narancic said. “It would be at Paly with a big screen and everyone can drive in and watch movies, but it would have to be social-distance friendly. Another idea we really want to try to figure out is doing e-game tournaments, for example, chess, Skribbl and Minecraft and to have prizes for those who win.”

7#&$.3*,%., Because of the ongoing pandemic, ASB will not be able to participate in the annual Stanford Parking fundraiser where student volunteers sell parking tickets for the Paly parking lot to Stanford Football fans. However, they plan on raising money in other ways.

“We usually get a lot of money from Stanford Parking, but I don’t think Stanford is having football games this year due to COVID,” Narancic said. “We are really interested in doing a mask-selling fundraiser

to raise some ASB money because a lot of ASB money also goes to clubs.”

9%:%)"*&6'/&' 53,"'8+%&", ASB hosted Paly Welcome during the first week of school, starting off the morning with announcements and Paly Connect, which allowed students to try out activities like woodworking and baking.

Junior ASB Secretary Yubin Zhang said the events turned out well considering the limitations of YouTube Live and limited preparation time.

“We thought it was successful,” Zhang said. “But there definitely could be improvements such as better transparency with the students in terms of finding the Zoom links and preparing the time better so there’s not a huge block of time between events.”

!);//1'!<*.*" To increase school spirit, ASB has planned themed dress-up days on social media.

“We definitely want to do virtual dress-up days where we would announce the theme for the week and post your outfit every day on your Instagram,” Narancic said. “We’re going to try to start doing this social media hashtag to post selfies in Paly gear on Fridays.”

Stone said ASB wants to keep students engaged by hosting these events.

“The overall theme and idea that we’re going with is trying to create a sense of normalcy in these very unprecedented times,” Stone said. “(This is) so that students can continue to feel a connection to their school peers and continue to be able to have that lightning spirit, even when we can’t be together on campus and in class together.”

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Cronin believes the class is of great value to students.

“It’s a large world with a lot of different people and perspectives, and if you’re taught history the traditional way, then you lose out on a lot of perspectives,” Cronin said. “So what happens when the rubber hits the road and you have to deal with people who don’t look like you, have a background like you or have experiences like you?”

Evans also said an Ethnic Studies requirement could allow marginalized groups in the Paly community to have a better experience at school.

“Over the years, students have told me that they don’t feel like part of the community,” Evans said. “A lot of our lower income students and students of color feel like they haven’t totally found their place here Paly, so I think it could be an amazing opportunity to help with that.”

Cronin agrees, saying “the course could let students of color feel empowered and see themselves in the narrative as something other than victims.”

Some, however, oppose California’s proposed expansion of the course. Junior Zach Leslie goes to school at the Jewish Community High School of the Bay and believes a required Ethnic Studies course could come at the expense of certain groups. “(The curriculum) does not include Italians, Irish, Poles and other white ethnic groups, and it also still largely ignores Jews and Armenians,” Leslie said.

ART BY ADORA ZHENG

“By focusing on (just African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans and American Indians), the curriculum doesn’t take advantage of the opportunity to show how groups at the bottom of the social and economic ladder can rise to the top.”

In response to such criticisms, the California Department of Education says the curriculum has been revised to help alleviate the concerns of groups like the Jewish caucus.

“Based on stakeholder feedback, the CDE has recommended removing all language that can be perceived as anti-Semitic and has recommended a draft that provides resources educators can use to acknowledge California’s diversity,” Jonathan Mendick, an information officer from California State Superintendent Tony Thurmond’s office, said.

California State Assemblymember Marc Berman, who represents Santa Clara County and is a member of the California Legislative Jewish Caucus, views such changes as “guardrails that

prohibit the teaching of any curriculum that promotes bias, bigotry, or discrimination.”

However, Berman still anticipates further changes to the curriculum before its approval by the CDE. “While it is in a much better place than the initial draft, there are improvements that still need to be made.

It’s important that we all, legislators and concerned members of the public alike, remain vigilant and keep a close eye on the curriculum as it makes its way through the approval process.”

The prospect of expanding Ethnic Studies has garnered both controversy and enthusiasm. For Evans, requiring students to take an Ethnic Studies course before they graduate is a smart move.

“The idea that we’re all, equal, we’re all colorblind and that it doesn’t matter what color we are — that doesn’t work, and it has always caused huge problems,” Evans said. “But I think it’s really important that students learn about all of that early, and Ethnic Studies is a way for them to do that.”

Friday, September 25, 2020

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eachers strive to make their students feel safe and create an environment where they can learn, grow and succeed.

However, this sense of security was diminished for Gunn senior Andrew Kim, when his Graphic Design class was bombarded with racial slurs and images of swastikas.

As students transition to a full distance learning format and adapt to Zoom, the district’s chosen video communication platform, Palo Alto community members have raised concerns regarding Zoom’s security following two incidents at Gunn High School and one incident at Palo Alto High School.

Zoom bombing, a term used to describe a situation when an uninvited person hijacks and disrupts a Zoom meeting, occurred at Gunn High School twice during the first week of classes. Zoom bombers from Romania and New York accessed course Zoom links and disrupted classes, making racist, sexist and anti-Semitic comments.

Senior Andrew Kim, a student of the Gunn graphic design class, was jarred by the school’s inability to stop the zoom bombers.

“The feeling that security was not there and the feeling of vulnerability was detrimental to our ability to focus and study,” Kim said.

Following the incidents at Gunn, the district worked with site administration to investigate the locations of the Zoom bombers, according to PAUSD’s Chief Technology Officer Derek Moore. The district concluded the bombers were not a part of PAUSD and subsequently handed the case over to Zoom. Zoom was able to identify the bombers and banned them from accessing all ends of the platform permanently.

“It’s a huge balancing act,” Moore said.

“Being a K-12 district, we need to make it easy enough for students with less technology skills to access their learning, but not easy enough for bad actors to access the meetings.”

Because of incidents like the ones that occured for Gunn students, Zoom has updated its security — implementing Waiting Rooms and adding default passwords for all meetings. Although the tightening of security prevents Zoom bombers from accessing meetings as easily as they did before, added measures have also complicated attending classes.

“The security features of Zoom add an extra layer that makes it more difficult to get into meetings and access their learning,” Moore said. “Trying to figure out the right balance for us as an organization to meet the needs of students on all ends of the spectrum has been an interesting challenge.”

Moore said the district has created a presentation for teachers outlining the security features of Zoom, instructing teachers on how

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Supt. Don Austin said PAUSD+ will not expand to students in lab classes or hands-on classes like art. Only one to two cohorts are allowed on campus right now, he said.

“We’re starting with a small number of students because we want to get it right,” Austin said. “Once we get it right, we can expand.”

For the majority of PAUSD students, however, in-person instruction will not start until at least Oct. 12, as per a memorandum of understanding between the district and the Palo Alto Educators Association, teacher’s union.

The memorandum of understanding says regardless of Santa Clara County’s tier status, PAUSD schools will not start before Oct. 12.

PAEA President Teri Baldwin said while the PAEA

agreed to the memorandum, they do not agree with the way the district is interpreting a date for reopening.

“PAEA wanted all grade levels and programs to remain in full-distance learning until January where we could re-evaluate the spread of the virus at that point,” Baldwin said. “Since October is in the cold and flu season, we really don’t believe we should be going back in-person then.”

To begin in-person instruction on Oct. 12, Santa Clara County would need to be in the Red Tier for 14 consecutive days prior to Oct. 9.

The Red Tier is part of a new, four-level tier introduced

by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Aug. 28, replacing the county watchlist. The Red Tier is the second highest level of transmission, requiring counties to have four to seven cases per 100,000 people per day and a test positivity rate between 5 and 8%.

If Santa Clara County is

not in the Red Tier for 14 consecutive days by Nov. 2, the rest of first semester will remain online, though Austin said that the district can choose not to return even if the county is in the Red Tier for 14 days prior to this date.

In a Sept. 16 update, Austin outlined the proposed return dates for all grade levels.

According to the update, elementary grades would return in a staggered format, with kindergarten through first grade returning on Oct. 12, second through third grade returning on Oct. 26, and fourth through fifth grade returning on Nov. 9.

Grades 6 through 12 are slated to begin in-person instruction on Jan. 7.The Board of Education has yet to vote on the proposed dates.

“There is much more to explain and consider,” Austin said.

Should classes need to be moved online once in-person instruction begins, that policy,

to enable the waiting room, require a meeting password, disable private chats and lock the meeting. Teachers should consider taking these measures to prevent Zoom bombings, he said.

Moore also said students should authenticate themselves by logging in through the PAUSD portal, as this is the only way teachers can identify students and allow them into meetings.

However, not all of PAUSD’s Zoom bombings have been conducted externally. In Paly chemistry teacher Aparna Sankararaman’s class, a Zoom bomber blasted loud music, interrupting her lecture. This time, however, the Zoom bomber was a Paly student.

“I don’t know if this Zoom bomber thought that their identity was safe because they changed their name, but on my report, your (student) email address (is logged). I can see your first initial, your last initial, and your student ID,” Sankararaman said.

Sankararaman sent this information to Tom Keating Assistant Principal Tom who handled the situation in accordance with the district’s disciplinary policies, he said.

At the end of every meeting, teachers receive Zoom reports, mainly for the purpose of attendance, that display who logged in and how long they logged in for. Sankararaman was surprised to see that very few of her students were aware that teachers received these reports.

“Students don’t know that we have this information,” Sankararaman said. “If a Zoom bombing happens, we have everything we need to track the student down.”

!"#$$%&'()"#*+ ;3)+()/$4%&038%<= meals used to work when school was in-person.

“All meals are free,” Spence said.

“So there is no need to give student ID numbers.”

Addtionally, parents can now pick up meals on a drive-thru basis without students present, and meals can now be delivered directly to student’s homes in a contactless manner.

Parents can decide if they want students to receive already-made meals or if the families would like to prepare the meals at home.

The USDA and the California Department of Education, fund the service, and they reimburse the district for every meal it serves.

PAUSD District Food Service staff at Gunn, JLS and Greene prepare the meals.

However, if PAUSD students return to campus for in-person learning, the rules and regulations surrounding the food distribution program will change.

“As PAUSD students are allowed back on campus for in-person learning, the food distribution program will be altered per Health Department guidelines,” Spence said.

“Current elementary guidelines have us delivering lunches directly to classrooms for younger students-K-Third grade--and having upper grades--Fourth-Fifth--socially distancing through an outdoor lunch line to pick up meals.”

Spence said depending on what PAUSD decides, the district may return to providing free meals to only those who qualify for free or reduced meals based on family income.

“If USDA does not extend the Emergency COVID-19 SSO waiver again, PAUSD will have to switch back to the National School Breakfast and Lunch Programs,” Spence said. “We would only be allowed to feed students enrolled in PAUSD schools, and we would have to charge student meals according to whichever students qualify for meals: free, reduced or full pay.”

With guidelines surrounding COVID-19 forcing constant changes, Spence and the district are still unsure whether the current distribution method of free meals for every student will continue during the school year.

“This is the milliondollar question,” Spence said. “We are all learning to adapt to the constantly changing Health Department and safety guidelines and steps to return to on-campus learning and our new normal. We need to be prepared to continue to innovate, change course, and adapt to the ways that we can offer meals.”

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Austin said to move back to virtual classes once in-person instruction begins, Palo Alto would have to move into the Purple Tier. If Santa Clara County were to move into the Purple Tier but Palo Alto remained in the Red Tier, classes are allowed to remain in-person.

If schools do open first semester, there’s no guarantee that they start in-person second semester either, Austin

said. However, the policy for returning to in-person instruction second semester is different from that for returning to school first semester, depending less on the county. “(If ) we went to Red but didn’t actually come back, but we could have, that still is the same as coming off (the Purple Tier),” Austin said. “So as long as our local indicators aren’t back in the Purple, we can come back second semester even if the county does go back to Purple.”

The district has proposed

multiple schedules for when students return to in-person instruction. Principal Kline said when students first return to Paly, classes will be in a hybrid model where half of the students, split within each grade, will spend two days on campus, while the other half spends a different pair of days on campus.

On days when students are not on campus, they will have virtual classes similar to the current, synchronous format.

Austin said it is possible schools could eventually shift into a fully in-person schedule, five days a week, during the 2020-2021 school year, with an option for students to remain solely in an online setting.

However, both the proposed schedules and the return to school itself are hypothetical.

“Students at the secondary level have to have their mind wrapped around the possibility that they won’t be back until January,” Austin said. “They should be hopeful about earlier, optimistic about January.”

The Campanile

Friday, September 25, 2020

Spotlight

A4

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W

hen the United States reported its first case of COVID-19 on Jan. 20, no one could have predicted what was to come.

President Donald Trupm called it the flu, faces remained unmasked and schools nationwide mentioned the virus only in passing when discussing current events.

But COVID-19 cases developed rapidly in Santa Clara County, and on March 12, PAUSD unveiled its first distance learning proposal; students who did not want to go to school due to COVID-19 would be able to call in sick for up to 10 days at a time.

Also on March 12, Superintendent Don Austin said schools would not close fully because the negatives of closing schools outweighed the positives.

“A lot of students,” he said at the time, “Not only here but across the entire county, schools are where they get their lunches, their meals, their services, so to shut us down is a big deal; it puts all these people into the street.”

In a reversal of these comments, one day later, on March 13 Austin announced schools would close for three weeks beginning March 16.

Contrary to popular belief, Public Health Director of Santa Clara County Sara Cody said the Health Dept. did not decide to shut down schools.

“I remember having conversations all night on March 12,” Cody said, “thinking that we could keep schools open and the superintendents were on board, and they would keep schools open. And then by the morning of March 13, it was apparent that the schools were just all going to close themselves.”

Over the next three weeks, the district offered students Flexible Learning Options, optional assignments students could do if they wanted to. But GeoH and TrigH teacher Daniel Nguyen said at the time he found the district-imposed time limit of one hour of work per class per week foolish.

“Personally, I think this is bogus,” Nguyen wrote in a Schoology message sent to all of his students on March 12. “Especially for students in AP and honors classes. Unless you are sick, you are fully capable of handling more than one hour of material a week given you meet at least three hours a week for class.”

Since then, though, Nguyen said he has come to understand why the district set FLOs up the way they did.

“I’ve realized there are other reasons why a student might not be able to complete an hour of material per week such as isolation due to COVID-19,” Nguyen said.

Immediately before Spring Break, PAUSD officials realized the scope of COVID-19 was greater than it originally seemed.

“We thought we’re going to be closed for three weeks. We were going to hit spring break, and we’d be back,” Austin said. “And people thought we were crazy. For closing for three weeks, like, ‘How in the world can you close for three weeks?’’

On April 1, Austin announced schools would close for the rest of the Spring semester.

The district then moved from FLOs to Required Online Learning Experiences. Teachers could assign up to three hours of work per week per class, and unlike FLOs, these assignments determined whether a student received credit in a class or not.

Both students and teachers, now faced with required learning, said they had growing pains.

“I had

this student in my class last year, and he asked me — he meant this very nicely — he said, ‘You know, you’re about the least technical teacher that I know of. How are you going to do this?’” history teacher John Bungarden said. “And the answer was, ‘Well, I don’t know. We’ll do something.’”

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PAUSD announced Principal Brent Kline as Adam Paulson’s successor on March 13, the same day school closed.

“Gosh, back in March, we thought we were just going to have a temporary vacation,” Kline said.

“And the plans just kept on changing and evolving.”

When planning for the distance learning implemented this fall, Kline said he looked at feedback about ROLEs and FLOSs, lambasted across the board by both students and parents.

“ROLEs were pretty hard to learn from as an alternative to going to school since some classes didn’t even meet up,” senior Alan Zhang said.

Dr. Sarah Cody, who is also a Paly parent, said her children also found spring distance learning ineffective.

“I don’t think they found it very engaging,” Cody said. “I think it was probably hard for our district and for many districts to put it together that fast, but it was kind of a disaster.”

So over the summer, Austin said he and his administrative team were hard at work coming up with a plan.

“I worked through three weeks of my vacation,” Austin said. “We would start at about 7 in the morning, and it was very, very common for me to be working with my team until 10 or 11 at night.”

Part of this plan was to train PAUSD teachers over the summer with a module-based Schoology course provided by the district, preparing them to provide effective online instruction. Nguyen said the program was beneficial.

“We had a set of 10 to 12 modules, probably on average 10 to 12 hours,” Nguyen said. “And they covered all sorts of different things, like, ‘How do you try to build a class community online?’ ‘How to use different tech skills like Screencastify’ I thought it was pretty useful. I mean, I guess I think I know a little bit about tech, but I still learned a lot from those modules personally.”

Austin said the teachers worked hard and criticism toward their commitment is unwarranted.

“One hundred percent of our teachers went through 10 hours of training over the summer to prepare and get better for you guys,” Austin said.

“No other district did that. So that’s just the one thing I am protective of when we get criticism of effort and planning and claims that we don’t care about it and don’t treat it seriously. That’s the one place I would say people are just flat out wrong.

Everybody cares. Everybody put everything they had into it.”

As last school year came to a close, district officials and school board members said they began discussing new education formats and deciding which ones they planned to implement.

But over the summer, school board member Jennifer DiBrienza said, the board’s reopening plans were repeatedly scuttled by changes in the County’s health status.

“When we first shut down in March, it was county guidance saying that we had to,” DiBrienza said. “And when we were looking sometime late July, we were looking at possibly opening our elementaries in hybrid and ideally our secondaries hybrid.”

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However, there seems to be some confusion between the district and county. Cody reiterated that individual school districts made the decision to shut down schools.

“The decision was made by each school superintendent,” Cody said. “I am 100% certain that I did not close schools in March.”

Regardless, Austin announced PAUSD’s Fall learning plan in an email sent on June 30.

This plan had schools using a hybrid learning format, where students alternate between inperson and online school.

After Austin’s announcement, Paly’s Extended School Year program opened to PAUSD special needs students at Cubberley Community Center. It was open to both middle and high schoolers and PAUSD’s post secondary adult transition program for students aged 18-22.

Cynthia Lolong-Perez, the site administratorfor ESY as well as the special education director for secondary schools, said this in-person education benefited students with special needs.

Less than a month after the district released its hybrid schedule, Gov. Gavin Newsom imposed new regulations, requiring counties to fully stabilize their COVID-19 infection rate before opening schools. This announcement on June 30 rendered PAUSD’s hybrid plans null and forced the ESY program to close.

“It disrupted the routine. Our program was going well, and then we had to shut down,” Loleng-Perez said. “But I think in the end, we still had two weeks of full day for our middle and high school and then our post secondary 18, our post secondary program, was actually able to provide four weeks. So we have that data to help us plan for our reopening for this year.”

Cody said these regulations were enacted because of the impatience of the public. As people started to leave their homes more, COVID-19 cases spiked.

“I was pretty depressed in July because everyone sacrificed so much, right?” Cody said. “People lost their jobs. People lost their businesses. People lost their livelihoods. It’s been really really, really hard.

So we all sacrificed, and we were really, really close, and then just not patient quite long enough, and people started thinking, ‘We’ve kind of turned the corner, and we’re sick of it anyway.’ And then, boom. So it’s a really nasty virus. It spreads fast.”

The frequent changes to the County’s status regarding COVID-19 led to PAUSD’s decision to go fully online to start the 2020-2021 school year with the

hope of having students return in person date.

“At that point, the board said, ‘OK, thi lash. It’s not fair to families. It’s not fair to It’s not fair to the teachers. We just need t predictable plan,’” DiBrienza said. “So we stay ope v

ju w k t co to g to campus a possible.”

With th came man lenges in one of e at-risk school preside nak D “I k ers are c in and m sure that students w showing up, said. “It’s more now than it ever make sure that we those steps to r at the data o scale, so th board ca decisio big sc need A the D pion prog PAUS help t and un leged stu “It’s a fi tempt just to we’re not lettin fall through the cr Austin said.

Although the District and B fully mapped out their fall plans, they are to revising their plan because of how unp distance learning is, Dharap said.

“Distance learning is something that h looked at by every district, as you know, a not we’re not reinventing the wheel in ter distance learning. But we’re sort of invent wheel,” Dharap said. “This is a totally new that we’re in. And so my perspective is th perfectly normal to recalibrate along the w needed, because otherwise we’re not doin need to for our students.”

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Students returned t online on Aug. 17. A long summer of pre Austin said teacher more prepared in t 2021 school year.

“Trying to man classroom through

Friday, September 25, 2020

The Campanile

Spotlight

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is is whipo students. to have a e decided to y with that ening allvirtual plan that the governor had implemented ust a few weeks ago, knowing that we, of ourse, want get back as soon as

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squares on a screen, no one wanted to do that. No one was trained to do that,” Austin said. “But this year, the expectations are going to be different.”

Teachers also said they feel more confident about using technology and interacting with their students online, which makes students more comfortable with the learning model.

“I think now that students have had a chance to get acclimated with what they’re doing and change their approach to learning online, I think they’re able to benefit a lot from the more structured instruction provided this fall,” Nguyen said.

Unlike previous years, both PAUSD high schools have the same schedule this year, which Austin said he pushed for.

Mondays are now seven period days. But Nguyen said he noticed these days are difficult for students.

“Anecdotally, students aren’t big fans of Mondays,” Nguyen said. “It’s like walking from one place to another, just trying to change your mindset in 10 minutes from one period to another.”

Freshman Hana Foster agrees, and said she is having difficulty getting used to Paly’s schedule.

“It was hard to adjust at first because I was not used to using Zoom, but after four weeks of classes I think I I got the hang of it,” Foster said.

“However I find Mondays difficult. Since we have 30 minutes of each class every Monday, we get homework from almost each class, and it’s usually due the next day. Since I haven’t had the chance to experience Paly at school, it still feels like I’m in middle school in a way.”

Attending six hours of Zoom meetings daily can be made even more strenuous by technology issues. Only 81.2% of students have working microphones and many say they are struggling with the PAUSD issued Chrombooks. But Kline said he hopes to resolve this problem soon.

“I know that the Chromebooks have a lot of issues, especially visually and audio,” Kline said. “We have passed out some MacBooks for classes that need specific programs, so that’s in the conversation.”

Austin said the school has been prioritizing help at-risk students as well.

“We have dedicated a tremendous amount of resources to making sure students don’t fall through the cracks,” he said. “We have our safe counselors. We have layers of support systems.”

But Austin acknowledged that virtual check-ins are not the same as in-person learning, and said until school returns in-person, all PAUSD can hope to do is minimize the growth of the achievement gap.

“Somebody sends you an email? Good,” Austin said. “Somebody gives you a phone call? Better.

But somebody sees you walking across the quad during the day and goes over and puts their arm around you? That’s what helps.”

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“The achievement gap will widen during distance learning. Anyone who denies that is not being honest.

It’s an awful thing to have to say, but it’s true.”

Austin said he predicts the achievement gap will increase during remote learning, especially as the common denominator between at-risk and other students has been removed.

“We already had an achievement gap,” Austin said. “Then you put a bright light on it by saying the one

place where everyone had in common was the school facility and the quality of teachers. And you put teachers and handicapped them by saying, ‘OK, now you’re going to have to learn a whole new thing yourself.’ And you take the facility away. So, yeah, the gap is going to widen.”

For Austin, the only way to combat this is inperson school.

“The reality is, we need to get back to school for people to feel good about school,” Austin said.

“So, we’re doing the best we can. And hopefully, we’re coming to an end of this pandemic.”

Cody said that once Santa Clara County is out of the Purple Tier, the state’s classification for counties hit hardest by COVID-19, for four weeks, school reopening will be in the hands of the superintendents. Santa Clara moved from purple to red on Aug. 28.

“So Palo Alto Unified technically could open for in person education as soon as (Sept. 22),” Cody said. “Many districts are deciding to do kind of a phased approach, which I think makes sense.”

Austin said PAUSD will follow a phased plan once it is ready to return.

“Starting Oct. 12, our plan is to bring back the youngest guys first, kindergarten and first grade,” Austin said. “Online is not fun for anybody, but it’s awful for 5-year-olds, so we want to start there, and every two weeks we bring back in two more grade levels (up to grade five).”

Austin also said secondary schools will most likely come back in person at the semester break.

The Palo Alto Educators Association would rather the district take things more slowly, though.

PAEA is the teachers union, and over the summer it negotiated that the earliest day in-person school could return is Oct. 12.

PAEA President Teri Baldwin said the union’s first priority is safety.

“One thing that is at the forefront is making sure we are not increasing COVID-19 spread or putting our staff and students at risk unnecessarily,” Baldwin said. “We are hopeful that at some point we will be able to return, again if science and conditions permit, so it is also a priority to prepare for that by making sure there is a comprehensive and detailed safety plan.”

California Assemblyman Marc Berman, though, said schools provide more necessary services than just education, and that students should return to in-person school as soon as it is legal and safe to do so.

“When schools closed in the spring, we were all reminded of the plethora of services schools provide beyond education,” Berman said. “They serve as essential child care, food distribution, device and internet access, and they provide safeguards against child abuse.”

Although online schooling has been a difficult experience, looking toward the future, PAUSD will be much more equipped for days with poor air quality, which has been a large problem in the past.

On Sept. 22, the board of education school unveiled its reopening plan to the public. The plan was met with much criticism, mainly from teachers who say district safety protocols are inadequate and that the district plan to teach them safe has not been communicated clearly to them. But many parents expressed concern too.

“Technical glitches are one thing, playing with people’s lives (is) something else,” said PAUSD parent Jennifer Siddeek at the meeting.

But the Board is likely to approve the plan, and kindergarteners and first graders will probably return to school on Oct. 12.

“Kids belong in schools,” Austin said. “To the degree possible, they belong with us.”

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A5

Timeline THURSDAY, JANUARY 31, 2020

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Friday, September 25, 2020

The Campanile

A6

Opinion

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ART BY VALERIE CHU

Bruno Klass

Senior Staff Writer

Classrooms? More like class Zooms. While schools are now taking place online in the comfort of our own homes, students are still divided on whether or not the benefits of comfort outweigh the costs of decreased social interaction. But in many ways, online learning has expanded our horizons.

!"#$%&'$%#()"*+,-$ ."#/$"0'$1-&/'+'2$ -'3+/"'*-') Online learning gives you the opportunity to find your perfect study place. It doesn’t matter whether you love loud punchy music while you work or find comfort in the familiarity of your favorite TV show playing in the background, no one’s going to ask you to turn it down.

It’s all possible. With online learning, you now have the ability to customize your learning space to your needs to help you do your best work.

So go! Be free! Whether you want to color-code the entire room from top to bottom, play classical music until you become Mozart himself, or make so much coffee you put Starbucks out of business, now you can. Just don’t forget to actually study.

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In-person school doesn’t give much flexibility when it comes to the pace of work given, and this pacing may not be compatible with your own learning style. But now, attending school online gives you a chance for something different. Many teachers are providing more time for students to do their own, asynchronous learning. This now gives us more options: you can spread out work out throughout the week, doing it all ahead of time, or leave it for the night before and procrastinate like you might’ve anyway.

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Students no longer have to drive or take the bus to school. Hooray! No more early morning commutes, unless you count the walk from your bed to your desk which tends to feel just as long, especially on a Monday morning. In fact, drivers are saving money and the planet by not having to pay for gas and polluting the air.

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Time management is essential to learning successfully online. Without having physical class to sit in and a teacher to look over your shoulder, what you do with class time and after school is up to you. As a result, many students are learning how to better manage their time and are becoming more self-disciplined. These skills will help students in high school, college and beyond.

While online learning may not be for everyone, it’s important to try to make the best out of the situation we find ourselves in and work toward the best possible outcome.

ART

BY A

JAY V EN

KATR AM

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Stanford should have exercised greater transparency in its decision to cut varsity sports !"#$%&'())*++",&-"'-.*+/&0-"&$"1+&#*+2(.+&.3*4"-/*+*"/&+(&'()5"+"&1(Evelyn Cheng Sports Editor

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ike many of you, I went through my high school years with the impression that Stanford University was a paragon of intellectual vitality, athletics and integrity. Ever since my brother committed to Stanford as a recruited fencer, I dreamed of doing the same when my time finally came.

Stanford’s decision to cut 11 varsity sports, though, turned the world upside down for me and other aspiring high school athletes across the nation and the greater communities of the affected sports.

While most articles about these cuts seem to focus on the plight of current Stanford athletes, it’s also important to know the perspective of recruits who became former recruits as a result of these cuts. That includes me. I wish to share my perspective as a former Stanford fencing recruit.

I applied as a recruit in early June after committing to Stanford in the spring. Historically, recruits hear from the university two weeks after submitting an application. Two weeks passed. Surprisingly, I didn’t get a response. Then three, four, five weeks. Nothing.

After a month of checking my email every morning, I woke up one seemingly normal July day expecting the same silence. But for the first time since June, an email from Stanford stared back at me. An email that left me more betrayed than any rejection.

While every recruit understands Stanford’s recruiting process is by no means a guaranteed acceptance, I only could fathom two possible responses: acceptance or rejection. This third response, that the fencing team was being cut, blindsided me.

Stanford’s abrupt and ill-timed decision to reduce the varsity athletic program was inconsiderate to the recruits.

If the university had been more transparent from the beginning, recruits wouldn’t have been subject to the consequences of committing to Stanford.

After the varsity sports reductions, the university extended an invitation to the affected recruits to join the regular admissions pool of 2021 and to compete at the club level, the opposite of the Division I level. This meager compensation, a literal slap in the face to the effort we recruits poured into our sports, is indicative of the lack of consideration Stanford had for our futures.

Falling from being a recruit at one of the top universities in the nation to being back at square one of the recruiting process was emotionally draining.

The decision to terminate fencing’s var-

sity status was made late in the sport’s remade. The athletics department claims to have cruiting timeline, giving recruits next to no exhausted every financial possibility in trytime to reach out to other universities. Many ing to maintain the cut teams’ varsity status. other universities had already finalized reBut according to an FAQ about the cuts, cruiting 2021 high school graduates and Stanford Athletics said it won’t bring back would not take any more recruits at that point. the cut teams, even with significant outAs someone who turned down offers side donations, because they claim the from other universities with Division I fencphilanthropy of the donors could not coving teams to commit to Stanford, the late cut er the cost of the current varsity sports of the team felt like a slap in the face. SacriThis claim is flawed. ficing these opportunities for a school that Stanford Athletics jumped to the conclusion never intended to accept me was a nightmare. that no donors would step forward and, withSenior at Leigh High School and former out batting an eye, they closed the door on any Stanford fencing recruit Justin Liu said he felt possibilities. But the fencing team, for examfrustrated. Frustrated that many schools he ple, has survived on external funding for years. reached out to post-cutting of sports had inStanford Athletic Director Bernard Muir formed him that they were no longer resaid the athletics department has been concruiting, and frustrated that he had sidering varsity sports reductions for years. turned down other offers for If the financial concerns regarding athletnothing. He said he wishes he ics have been looming on the horizon for was made aware of fencing years, then the university should have nobeing cut earlier because tified potentially affected parties sooner. he would have been able If Stanford had been considering cutting to make his decision acvarsity sports for so long, why did it decide cordingly and commit to announce it now, when it hurts recruits the to a different school. most? If the announcement had been made a For recruits like few months earlier, recruits would’ve held back Liu and myself, who before turning down other university’s offers. lost their recruiting A more considerate option could have spots after committing, been not accepting recruits’ applications to this poorly-timed decibegin with if the university already knew sion could have taken away it was likely sports programs would be cut. our chances to ever fence The decision to terminate 11 varsiat the highest collegiate level. ty programs seems to have been made in Liu said he felt devastated that all the a vacuum, without concern for the fuhard work he had put into fencing and recruiting ture of newly committed recruits. was annulled by something out of his control.

We gave up other options for an opportuniStanford junior and fencing team member ty that never belonged to us in the first place.

Sophia Sanchez said she was deepStanford unreasonably spat in the ly hurt by Stanford’s decision face of our dedication and sacrito cut these sports. She said fices; in the faces of all of the she remembered thinking recruits that dreamed of bethat this is not the Staning a part of Stanford’s legford she knew and loved. endary athletic program.

Sanchez said she was To make matshocked at how Stanters worse, there are ford officials treatstill many former reed the recruits during cruits who have not the whole process as found opportunities Stanford coaches made at other universities. a promise to the reAll of this could cruits who committed. have been avoided had Stanford asked recruits Stanford Athletics takto fall back and stop looken a moment to consider SOURCE: U.S. DEPARTMENT ing elsewhere, and to trust that the needs of its recruits. If I OF EDUCATION the university would catch them, would have had all the informaonly they didn’t. The university should tion when I needed it, I would have not have had recruits commit if they knew committed elsewhere and not spent a month they would not be able to support them aflost in uncertainty, wondering if I’d ever get ter the decision to cut their sport was made. to fence at the Division I level in college.

Stanford fencing head coach Lisa PosthuI was fortunate enough to be remus had her own sentiments about the varsity cruited to another Division I fencreduction. She said the timing of the decision ing program at a different university. was terrible for recruits, and she wishes the While the fear of not being recruituniversity had honored the recruits’ status gived is a relic of my past, Stanford is responen they were the top athletes in the country. sible for creating the desperate situation In their open letter to the affected parties, that many of their former recruits face. however, Stanford Athletics said the decision If Stanford is the ethically considerate inwas made to confront the financial challenge stitution it considers itself to be, it should posed by COVID-19, and that they alerthave been more transparent with its reed the public as soon as the final decision was cruits in its decision to cut 11 varsity sports.

The Campanile

Friday, September 25, 2020

Opinion

A7

Palo Alto’s history of redlining !"#$"#%&'()'*&+,(-'.'"*/+&")0").'"*+(1+&2"+,%*&+$"3%')+,$"4%-")&+

Editor’s note: This story is the first installment of a series of articles addressing the inequalities in our city, our community and our school.

Shiva Mohsenian, Kris Risano, Ben Stein & Wumi Ogunlade Editors-in-Chief, Guest Writer

T

he divide between East Palo Alto and Palo Alto is undeniable.

From the achievement gap to the literal splitting of the cities by the Bayshore Freeway, East Palo Alto and Palo Alto face a cultural split so large many East Palo Alto residents attending school in Palo Alto feel like they live two separate lives, former East Palo Alto Mayor Laura Martinez said.

“I feel like I grew up in two cities because I had friends and extracurricular activities after school in both,” Martinez said.“It was like living in two worlds.”

For an affluent city that preaches racial tolerance, Palo Alto’s controversial history with fair housing issues is often ignored.

Despite being located across the country from the Jim Crow era south, the Palo Alto of the early to mid-1900s exhibited segregationist behaviors.

From blatant redlining to Ku Klux Klan rallies marching on University Ave., the racist tendencies of Palo Alto’s history have had long-lasting effects on the community even today, particularly for local minorities and students of color.

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Palo Alto entered the 20th century as a town of around 1,500 according to the United States Census but quickly grew to 6,000 by 1920. However, increases in the Black and Asian populations of Palo Alto during this time period prompted the Chamber of Commerce to pass a resolution vowing to force all incoming minority residents into a segregated district.

The Northern California American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California described the spirit of the resolution as a guideline for realtors in the Palo Alto housing market.

The real estate industry carried out these segregationist policies using a combination of block-busting, where realtors identify neighborhoods to sell houses to African Americans and encourage white residents to leave, white-only deed restrictions and not insuring mortgages in nonwhite neighborhoods.

These actions pushed minority buyers into what would later become East Palo Alto. Incorporated in 1983, the city had a 60% Black population at that time, compared to the 2.3% black population in Palo

The Bayshore Freeway, a segment of Highway 101, splits Palo Alto and East Palo Alto into two cities and redirects residents of color away from Palo Alto.

Initially constructed in 1962, the freeway contributes to the economic and

racial segregation of Palo Alto and East Palo Alto, as visible today in Palo Alto’s lack of Black and Latinx residents.

According to 2019 Census data, only 1.6% of Palo Alto residents identify as African American. In East Palo Alto over 10% of residents identify as African American. The percent of people who identify as white in Palo Alto is nearly 60%, while in East Palo Alto the number is 30%. These are still two different cities, and barriers built in the past hinder meaningful change.

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The racial makeup of East Palo Alto has shifted to predominantly Hispanic or Latinx, but, whether through segregational real-estate practices or unequal housing opportunities, the redlining of Palo Alto continues.

The dramatic differences in education and housing opportunity between Palo Alto and East Palo Alto provide a clear example of the effects of redlining. Known as the murder capital of the world in 1992, East Palo Alto has re-established its image as a safe, suburban, Silicon Valley suburb.

But because of its proximity to Stanford and major tech corporations, it has also become subject to the effects of gentrification.

According to Census data,

East Palo Alto’s Black population has fallen significantly. In 1980, 55% of the city’s residents were Black. In 2013, that number was just 15%. East Palo Alto’s median household income has shown minimal growth from $39,597 in 1980 to $46,932 in 2013.

This loss of Black residents is a clear indicator of residential displacement. As housing prices increase SOURCE: U.S. CENSUS but wages remain relatively stagnant, this disparity median forces long-time residents to exit the city.

East Palo Alto, previously considered a backwater of affluent Silicon Valley, has seen steady increases in the cost of living and is nearly as unaffordable as Palo Alto.

High rent and mortgage rates from increasingly high property values force low-income residents to relocate to lower-income neighborhoods.

Palo Alto Historical Association member Steve Staiger said while some East Palo Alto residents were forced out of the city because of the surge in housing prices, many chose to leave because their neighborhoods became gentrified.

“Part of it is there was a sizable population of Black people in East Palo Alto who, as they got older, were suddenly owning a house with much greater value in a community they maybe didn’t want because it was changing,” Staiger said. “I think there are others who definitely got pushed out, but for those who earlier had bought the property ... as the property value went up and their community became less a part of them and they became less a part of the community, it was easier for them to leave.”

!"#$%&''(%(')*%#+$,-,*.%'/%*'+,#0%.)(,#%('1 !"#$%&#'()&#*+#,-.$/0.&#1.*2(.#%-,("/$(3/("#43/5&56#5$-7&"$5#-5&#*"./"&#0.($+*3,5#$*#5%(3&#3&5*-34&56#5-00*3$#'/$%# Krista Robins Lifestyle Editor

For some, activism means getting on your feet and protesting, calling representatives or donating to organizations supporting your cause. But a new form of "activism" is sweeping the nation, especially among youth, in this time of national unrest.

In response to the seemingly endless stream of social and environmental justice issues currently plaguing society, many students have taken to social media to express their advocacy and provide resources for change. But this influx of so-called activism begs the question: how effective can social media activism really be?

Paly is located in one of the wealthiest regions in America. It is predominantly white and Asian, with very little negative police presence.

Yet, we as a community and a school convey messages of inclusivity and

equality. So why is a town so self-righteously woke so extremely ignorant?

Wealthy communities are almost always a by-product of redlining, which is the systematic denial of services by federal agencies, local government, and the private sector either directly or indirectly, through the selective raising of prices.

The differences between Palo Alto and East Palo Alto are a prime example of the effects of redlining.

When the 1990s Silicon Valley tech boom made its way to Palo Alto, housing prices surged and the standard of living increased dramatically. Meanwhile, in 1992, East Palo Alto had the highest per-capita homicide rate in the country, surpassing Compton and Washington, D.C. That year, it was known as the murder capital of the world.

Twenty-five years later, the murder rate in East Palo Alto has fallen almost to zero, and violent crime rates have dropped about 60%.

So how did this happen? Did Palo Alto fork over some of its fortune to help its struggling neighbor?

No. Some people might cite the way Palo Alto students rallied in East Palo Alto as an example of how relations have changed for the better, but that’s not enough for such a liberal town to claim it’s over its disgraceful and negligent past. The reality is that Palo Alto students and community members discuss politics on a global level without realizing where they stand at a local level.

It is so easy to show your support for police reform and the protection of Black Lives through a post on your social media accounts.

But without educating yourself on the history of your community and school, you are just as ignorant as those you “call out” through your

phone. Real courage takes place in person.

East Palo Alto’s road to recovery actually came from within its own police station. The town turned to community policing after former San Francisco Assistant Police Chief Albert Pardini became the Police Chief in East Palo Alto. The town rebuilt its relationship and trust with the police officers, and their police genuinely embody the notion, “to protect and serve.”

So, why is it that hundreds of Palo Alto teens, many of whom have never experienced the full scope of over-policing, stop and frisk, and police brutality, condemn the police publicly on the streets of Palo Alto, of all places?

Chances are, as Paly students, the only negative interaction with the police we’ve had has been from a party being shut down.

So why are students so vocal on social media about reform if they haven’t experienced such oppression?

Although it is important to spread awareness, how effective is a social media post that has appeared elsewhere numerous times?

Paly is guilty of pushing a progressive, highly democratic agenda, while neglecting their students of color. Just look at Paly’s achievement gap — it speaks for itself.

How effective is your post when you are

pushing it into an echo chamber? What efforts have you made outside of social media to show your solidarity and your support for people of color or the people of East Palo Alto? How much have you listened? How much have you donated? How much have you protested? How much have you phone banked on behalf of Breonna Taylor? On behalf of George Floyd?

On behalf of Elijah McClain?

When Jacob Blake’s sister said she doesn’t want your pity and prayers, did it make you take a second to consider who really benefits from your social media post, aside from yourself?

Question your actions and consistently check your privilege.

At the end of the day, activism of any form is never inherently bad. However, it’s imperative that you make the same efforts in the real world that you do in your posts on social media.

ART BY GIANNA BROGLEY

The Campanile

Friday, September 25, 2020

A8

Editorials Editors-in-Chief Shiva Mohsenian • Kris Risano • Benjamin Stein Andrew Toteda • Adora Zheng

ART BY ADORA ZHENG

Use-of-force investigation reports should be publicized A

splash of color amid weathered asphalt, a hand-painted mural reading “Black Lives Matter” has blocked off the center lanes of Hamilton Avenue on the block in front of City Hall since July.

The mural comes alongside months of protests against police brutality, many of which filled the streets of Palo Alto — a symbol of the widespread community support for the Black Lives Matter movement.

But the issue that sparked the protests in the first place remains: police must be held accountable for their actions.

As such, The Campanile believes that along with the reforms currently being made to Palo Alto Police Department policy, there ought to be a better framework for investigating complaints and making misconduct investigations more transparent.

According to Mayor Adrian Fine, the City Council has been looking into police reform since last November. Talks were kicked into high gear when the protests began in early June, and the 8Can’tWait policies — a series of use-of-force police reforms that include the banning of chokeholds and strangleholds, duty to intervene, exhaustion of all alternatives before shooting, banning of shooting at moving vehicles and a requirement for de-escalation, warning before shooting, comprehensive reporting and a use of force continuum — were brought before the council and the Human Relations Commission in July.

The HRC presented their recommendations at the Aug. 24 City Council meeting, calling for the Palo Alto Police Department to align with other local police departments that have implemented policies similar to those of 8Can’tWait.

The PAPD’s subsequent responses to the five 8Can’tWait

policies they are not already aligned with, which can all be found on the City of Palo Alto website, are littered with subjective ambiguities. Verbiage such as “if reasonably safe and feasible” follows most responses, with little indication as to how those determinations are evaluated as well as what the ramifications are for officers who violate use-of-force policies.

Current PAPD policy states that once you submit a misconduct complaint, you will not be informed of any disciplinary action taken against the officer nor receive a copy of the investigation. However, the public has the right to such records related to any incident where a law enforcement officer fired a gun at a person under California Senate Bill 1421, approved on Sept. 30, 2018 — and The Campanile thinks the same exception ought to extend to all other alleged use-of-force policy violations.

Overly restrictive policy reforms pose a risk of putting police officers in danger, as Mayor Adrian Fine told The Campanile. At the same time, officers must be held accountable; thus, The Campanile urges the PAPD and the state to outline and restructure a clearer outline for transparently evaluating police misconduct, particularly with regard to alleged use-offorce policy violations. A first step could be releasing body camera footage from all useof-force incidents and making investigation reports public.

By making all use-of-force misconduct investigation reports and body camera footage public knowledge, officers will be held accountable while concerns around policy restricting officers from doing their job are eased.

The Palo Alto Police Officers’ Association, the police officers’ union, did not respond to interview requests for this editorial.

!"#$"%&%'(')&*"+&%",(,-#)+*(."(/0*"(1+"02"2(3#(,3)*"%3, Uncertainty is everywhere these days.

There’s a good chance that the last YouTube advertisement you watched began with “In these uncertain times … ” But for many Paly students, the only thing more frustrating than an unskippable ExxonMobil ad about pioneering climate change solutions is the uncertainty of when will campus reopen, and more importantly, how it will be done.

According to a memorandum of understanding between the Palo Alto Educators Association and district administrators, PAUSD secondary schools, including Paly, can reopen classroom doors as early as Monday, Oct. 12, as long as Santa Clara County has been in the state’s Red Tier (Tier 2) for at least 14 days in row by that date.

With the potential reopening of schools just weeks away, it’s notable that little to no information has been passed from the school or district along to students.

The Campanile understands the unpredictable nature of the novel coronavirus and its infection rate: a surge in Santa Clara County cases could place the county back in the state’s Purple Tier (Tier 1) and reset the clock for when campus could hypothetically open. But with so many students counting the days until they can be reunited with their peers, The Campanile

thinks the reopening process should be clearly explained to the student body so that no one is left in the dark on how the decision will be made.

One way to effectively communicate this information would be to devote an Advisory period to explaining the reopening procedure and answering questions students have about returning to Paly. If this would interfere with the advisory schedule, an alternative could be for school administrators to host a Q&A session during tutorial for students to attend after school. The reality is that many students (and their families) remain concerned about their safety and want to know what precautions the district will take in the event classes return in-person before the end of the semester.

Because of this, the district should be transparent not only about the decisionmaking process, but also about whether or not any confirmed cases of COVID were traced back to students or staff in the final days of spring semester last year.

The district should accurately present

the risks of in-person learning to students and parents so that families can make informed decisions. During the fourth quarter last year, rumors led to speculation that multiple PAUSD students had been in contact with people who tested positive for COVID, and it was impossible not to notice that parents had begun to keep students home despite assurance of meeting County safety guidelines.

The confusion surrounding the conclusion of last semester should not be allowed to occur again.

Students want to know who within the district or county are making the final decision to return or not, and on what criteria this decision will be based; others will want to know how they can have their voices heard during the process.

It’s likely that in-person classes may not start until January. But this should not be an excuse to postpone explaining the return-to-campus process to students in an honest and transparent manner — one that rules out uncertainty while staying pragmatic.

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Online Editor Ajay Venkatraman

Managing Editors Jace Purcell • Andy Wang

News & Opinion Editors Siddhartha Sahasrabuddhe Sloan Wuttke

Lifestyle Editors Krista Robins • Gianna Brogley

Science & Tech Editor Austin Xiang

Sports Editors Evelyn Cheng Ziggy Tummalapalli

Multimedia Editor Gina Bae

Business Managers Will Thomas • Emma Todd

Board Correspondent Valerie Chu

Art & Photo Director Sasha Lehrer

Ben Antonow Lauren Chung Shantanu Deshpande Olivia Ericsson Jack Galetti Declan Greicius Hailey Hwang

Staff Writers

Bruno Klass Braden Leung Leo Malchin Ali Minhas Aidan Seto

Zack Silver Maya Singer Avantika Singh Parker Wang Joy Xu

Illustrators

Aaron Kim Zander Leong

Adviser Rodney Satterthwaite

Isabel Toteda Astrid Wuttke

Design Consultant Betsy Rau

Letters to the Editors: Email all letters to editors to theeds21@googlegroups.com. The Campanile prints letters on a space-available basis. We reserve the right to edit submissions. The Campanile only prints signed letters. Advertisements: Advertisements with The Campanile are printed with signed contracts. For more information regarding advertisements or sponsors in The Campanile and their size options and prices, please contact The Campanile Business Managers by email at campanile.ads@gmail.com.

Note: It is the policy of The Campanile to refrain from printing articles that misrepresent or alienate specific individuals within the Palo Alto community. The Campanile would like to thank the PTSA for supporting the mailing of our newspaper!

Our Vision Statement: The Campanile has upheld the highest standard of student journalism for the last century by engaging the community through various mediums of storytelling.

Our coverage of news, culture and athletics aims to represent the diverse perspectives of our student body.

SEPTEMBER’S TOP TEN LIST Top Ten Best Things About Virtual Classes

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There's no commute to or from school campus.

School doesn't start until late o'clock.

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You have more time to put off your work until later.

Internet/power outages are the excuse for everything.

8>

8=

No fire alarms since nobody's vaping in your bathroom.

You can ask your FBI agent for the answer.

8A

8;

Gaming during classes has never been easier.

Every test can be open-note if you want it to be.

8@

89

8?

No need to change your pants because nobody can see them.

You can read thecampanile.org during all your classes.

8:

–JACK GALETTI & AJAY VENKATRAMAN

Friday, September 25, 2020

The Campanile

Lifes yle

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Students, teachers reflect on remote learning

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rom breakout rooms to muted mics, the worldwide pandemic has transformed students’ way of learning. Having completed five weeks of online instruction, students and teachers have a lot to say.

Question: Having completed a brief period of online learning, how has this new routine affected your way of life? Any challenges or benefits?

Anything you miss?

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— economics teacher Debb ie W hitson

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n’t have many “I am lonely. I do ely don’t have nit friends, and I defi to be nice on try any new ones. I lity, it’s not like rea in t Zooms, bu on one breakout e on in t pu we are actually get to rooms so we can Sometimes we know each other. and ask each ing do speed-friend but it is not the other questions, llenging not to same. So, it’s cha ulders to lean have any new sho on.” nnah Singer — freshman Ha

“I have zero free time. I “I st rea spend six hours of my day In art t lly e sitting at home looking c sc on im nj at a screen and then four w hed sis es, oy t more hours of my day dis eek ule tenc but he l ri lik can thr ies the ate doing homework. Nothing gi od d e h be oug in good has come out loa ving ay ow t con hou the of online learning. ” A d us is o he fu t t cla lso, to st a h n M sev sing he — junior Lucus ss I m art eav on en- . I w Sung m as a per iss the y w day pepe ore ble iods the we ork , sh riod in t to a . I f lon ek. or s he cc el ge — ter o as o lon omp t lik r jun ne ppo ger lis e I ior s no sed cla h Ni w. to ss kh th e il M aje ti

“I wa well s pleasan t t entir eachers h ly surpris e e most ly online ave adjus d by how t durin tr y to min curriculu ed to an m that g class tim imize Zo and ho s w calls pending e. Howe om expo s h a than re signifi ours on ver, I did ure e fin ca being n in th ntly more d on Zoo d e clas m drain s — se room.” ing nior Juan Bran di

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Students Supporting Local Restaurants Due to the wordwide pandemic, local restaurants have taken a hit from social distancing and lockdown orders. To help preserve those restaurants, students are engaging in initiatives such as fundraising and promotion. Local restaurants Jing Jing and Kirk’s Steakburgers explain their experience throughout the pandemic.

ART BY PARKER WANG

PAGE B4

LIFESTYLE

ART BY ISABEL TOTEDA

Farmers market amid COVID

LIFESTYLE

ART BY VALERIE CHU

Students working at polls

Vendors from the California Avenue stands share their experience.

High schoolers plan to serve as vote aides in November.

PAGE B2

PAGE B3

LIFESTYLE

CC BY 2.0/ SALLY RODGERS

Brandy Melville sizing policy Students share their perspectives on the one-size-fits-all philosophy.

PAGE B3

The Campanile

Friday, September 25, 2020

Lifestyle

B2

The rise of BTS

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n a pitch black room with just the light of her computer screen illuminating a well-plastered with posters full of bright smiles and even brighter colored hair, junior Stacey Xu frantically refreshes her YouTube feed. After what feels like a lifetime of waiting, Xu clicks on a new thumbnail of seven familiar boys, greeted by an entertainment company introduction and a catchy whistled tune. As the last notes of music fade out, she hits the replay button, the first of many clicks around the world that night. “I thought it was a nice catchy song and the colors caught my eye,” Xu said. “What drew me in was the authenticity they show in their work and personalities.”

That was on Sept. 18, 2017, when the music video Xu was watching for BTS’s single “DNA” made history by reaching over 20 million views in a single day. Now, the Korean group is the most popular boy band in the world, and its latest song “Dynamite” sat on the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart for its second week after breaking the record for the most-viewed music video within 24 hours of release on YouTube, with 101.1 million views in its first day.

“As someone who follows BTS and stans them, I’m pretty sure all their stans (or overzealous fans) are really proud of them like how a parent would be really proud if their kid won a national prize,” Xu said. “For me, I’m really used to seeing BTS break so many records because I know that the boys are really popular, and they have a lot of fans backing them up, but whenever I see them get a new milestone, I still feel happy for them.”

Composed of members Kim Seokjin ( Jin), Min Yoongi (Suga), Kim Namjoon (RM), Jung Hoseok ( J-Hope), Park Jimin, Kim Taehyung (V) and Jeon Jungkook, BTS has amassed tens of millions of fans who call themselves ARMY, an abbreviation for “Adorable Representative M.C. for Youth.” While often associated with obsessive and aggressive fans, the community has recently received a lot of public attention from their contributions to the Black Lives Matter movement.

“Since ARMYs are such a big fandom, they can do a lot of

good, and the ARMY fandom is very cooperative with things like streaming, voting and setting up funds for stuff,” junior Kai Tracey said. “Like donating food and raising money for Black Lives Matter, we raised (about) $2 million … (for) a bunch of charities relating to Black Lives Matter, a lot of people found them out during that, and also on Twitter, a bunch of K-pop fans flooded (anti-black) hashtags.”

Many fans, such as sophomore Jennifer Mori, said they were introduced to the Korean boy band through their friends and have since been hooked on BTS’s catchy songs, good looks and entertaining performances.

“My first impressions of them were honestly not that great because I just saw a bunch of Korean men wearing makeup and glittery

jackets that honestly looked the same to me,” Mori said. “But I just continued browsing, and somehow I couldn’t stop watching; as I watched their videos of them dancing and singing, their visuals and stage presence sucked me in. I learned all their stage names and real names and watched all their weekly variety shows.”

With so much original content from variety shows- a popular form of entertainment in Korea composed of a variety of acts ranging from comedy skits to quizzes to stuntslike Run BTS and In the Soop, a lot of fans say they feel like they know the members of the band and can relate to them.

“I feel like Yoongi and I kind of have the same outlook on life and personality,” Tracey said. “Of course, I love him because he’s cute, but he makes me feel really safe. Yoongi’s talked a lot about mental health; he brings a lot of awareness to it and I really like that he does that, as a person who suffers from mental health (issues) and depression as well.”

But many communities have their dark sides, and Tracey, Xu and senior Cody Hmelar all used the word “toxic” when referring to ARMY fan culture.

“I feel like there are some ARMYs that are great and whatnot, but at least more recently, ARMY culture turned a lot more toxic and made it a lot harder for me to appreciate BTS,” Hmelar said. “There are very obsessive fans who, if people say anything like how they don’t like BTS or prefer another group over BTS, will full-out attack them on the web, and also get very creepy… There are cases of ARMYs giving death threats to people preferring one group over BTS.”

Tracey said the loud minority and newer ARMYs are responsible for giving BTS’s fanbase a bad name.

“There (are) always going to be really toxic people, but since BTS’s fanbase is so big, and they’re the most popular group right now, there are definitely a lot of toxic voices that are louder than the nice fans,” Tracey said.

“Some of the newer ARMYs who don’t really know much about BTS and are mostly new to K-pop, they will insult other groups because they don’t really know any better.”

Additionally, Tracey said there is a stigma affiliated with K-pop in general which she said comes from a place of xenophobia, misogyny and the phenomenon of widespread hatred towards things embraced by teenage girls, which could also be seen with earlier popular boy bands such as One Direction and sensational media like Twilight.

“A lot of people think when girls like something, they think that it’s kind of dumb or too obsessive, so that’s kind of a stigma of fan culture,” Tracey said.

“Also, there’s a lot of xenophobia for Asian artists, especially now during COVID-19 –– people will say anything to get a reaction out of anybody. And since BTS are major record-breakers that are breaking everything in American and they’re making themselves known, people just love to hate other cultures.”

Hmelar said the differences in cul-

tures contributed to the initial backlash that arose with BTS’s international rise to fame. He also said telling people he was a K-pop fan often lead to people singling out that genre only and ignoring all the different international music he was also a fan of.

“People kept thinking, ‘Oh, they’re these very feminine men who aren’t actually producing good music,’ but as the Korean Wave has gone through Western countries, they’ve become more and more popular,” Hmelar said. “I think after that initial, not culture shock, but after that change from not knowing anything about Korean culture to now, people are able to be more accepting and are now more obsessing over BTS.” But no matter the stigma or the fandom toxicity, Tracey, as well as millions of other fans, said she is glad to have stumbled across BTS. “They’ve impacted my life a lot in a really positive way,” Tracey said.

“Whenever I’m frustrated, sad or just not feeling well, if I listen to their music and read the lyrics, I feel better.

I feel like it’s OK to not feel well or cry or feel sad, like it’s just OK to not be happy and do whatever it takes to look your happiest. Their music and just knowing that they’re here and they understand the fans and think the same way is really comforting.”

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Multimedia Editor

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Every Sunday for the past 13 years, the California Avenue Farmers Market has opened at 9 a.m. sharp, already bustling with vendors, customers and stands dripping with produce. Even through a worldwide pandemic, the farmers market has stayed open and busy.

In the past few months, 11 farmers markets on the peninsula have closed indefinitely and three more have gone on hiatus, with checkpoints. These checkpoints, set for every few weeks, help organizers determine if and when the markets can open again.

The farmers markets that remain are tight on stand space as a result of the strict social distancing protocols and the inability to expand into the streets. In this new game of vendor tetris, new farms are tasked with establishing themselves while sandwiched between older vendors with decades of experience.

“We haven’t been able to get into a lot of the markets that are left, even some that we have been going to since day one,” fourth-generation owner of Prevedelli Farms Sam Lathrop said. “We end up having to wait until a vendor sells all their goods, packs up and leaves, and then we have to sanitize the whole area and set up.”

The lack of space in the farmers markets isn’t the only major change vendors are dealing with; every

farmers market now has multiple COVID-safety managers who supervise the stands and vendors, making sure everyone is following health protocols dictated by their county. Junior Josh Butler, a vendor for Far West Fungi —a mushroom farm owned and operated by his great-uncle — said market managers sometimes take enforcing these protocols too far, though.

“They’re pretty strict rules, and if you don’t follow the rules, they’ll kick you out,” Butler said.

Butler said he thinks that for the most part, this enforcement is unnecessary, as most vendors follow the established protocols.

Both Prevedelli and Far West Fungi bag their produce ahead of time in different sized bags; only rarely do vendors make exceptions to this process.

“Sometimes if people tell me they won’t be able to eat even the smallest bag of mushrooms, I’ll quickly bag up the amount they want, but usually we stick to our protocols,” Butler said.

Junior Eva Salvatierra, who works at Prevedelli Farms’ stand at the California Avenue Farmers Market, said Prevedelli sometimes allows customers to pick their own apples if they follow the COVID-19 regulations. Customers are required to always wear a mask, wear new gloves provided by Prevedelli on entering, and sanitize frequently.

Although Salvatierra said these guidelines are listed clearly on the large signs plastered over the stands,

people don’t always follow them.

“A lot of customers don’t read the signs and then get frustrated when we don’t let them use their own gloves or reusable bags for their apples,” Salvatierra said. “We also had some issues with mask regulations and had one lady return every week with mesh tied around her face or a face shield with no mask underneath.”

After repeated requests to wear an actual mask and follow the set guidelines, Prevedelli had to get the farmers market’s managers who had to ask the woman to leave.

Phil Foster, the owner and founder of Pinnacle Farms, said there have been issues with customers not following health and safety rules at their stands as well.

“Because there were so many unknowns in the beginning of COVID-19, there were a lot of inconsistencies with customers, and because there weren’t official regulations about masks or hand-washing in late March and early April, a few customers wouldn’t feel the need to follow our rules,” Foster said. “It has also been really challenging to keep people socially distanced because we have such a limited amount of space because of the barriers between stands and

the overflow of farms from closed markets.”

Although many farmers markets have closed, sales of produce for the many farms in the area have not significantly decreased. Lathrop said he sells many apples with his company’s online pick-up service and at their farm stand on the weekends.

Although Far West Fungi’s sales dropped in the first few weeks of the post-COVID farmers markets, the farm experienced a spike in sales soon after, which has more than made up for their momentary loss of revenue, Butler said.

Pinnacle’s sales haven’t been terribly affected by COVID-19 either, but the decrease in open farmers markets has led to an increase of produce stored in the farms’ cold

storage. There is plenty of room in the storage containers for now, but eventually, it is going to run out, and for themselves and Prevedelli, it may be sooner than later.

Luckily for Foster, his farm has the capacity to store the high volumes of excess produce created by the outbreak.

Other farms, having not invested in cold storage equipment, may fare worse as they struggle to meet returning demand for their products.

“People have appeared to be more comfortable coming to the farmers markets than the grocery stores because it is open-air, which is great for us, but we aren’t going to be able to maintain our farms like this forever,” Foster said. “More markets need to open up again, and more people need to start returning.”

ART BY ISABEL TOTEDA

Friday, September 25, 2020

The Campanile

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Art & Photo Director

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County employs students as poll workers due to shortages

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lad from head-to-toe in PPE, senior Laura Malagrino envisions herself leading a voter through the Rinconada Library to a polling booth on Nov. 3. This may seem routine to many, but something is different this year. The familiar faces of senior poll workers who have always greeted voters and assisted in the voting process are nowhere to be found. In their place are high school students, eager to help place votes.

“I’m excited to see how it works and make sure that everyone gets the chance to vote,” Malagrino said.

This year, COVID-19 is threatening senior citizens who would usually work at the polls. In 2016, 53% of poll workers were over the age of 60.

The ability to dedicate a few weekdays is a privilege enjoyed mostly by retirees, meaning the majority of the workforce would likely have to take a vacation day to help facilitate the polling process.

Pitzer College junior and 2018 Paly graduate Michaela Fogarty said she is working as a Student Recruiter for Campus Compact’s Safe Elections Project, an organization partnering with Power the Polls to recruit poll workers. Like Malagrino, Fogarty also plans to work at the polls this fall in an effort to combat the voter suppression that has been seen in recent elections.

“It’s really important that we have polling booths that run efficiently, and people that are making sure those polling booths are running efficiently,” Fogarty said. “It shouldn’t be a matter of who can stand in a long

line or take time off work.”

In an effort to combat any potential incidents of voter suppression during this election, many upperclassmen are eligible to work at the polls. Student poll workers must receive parental consent if they are under 18, be 16 on or before Election Day, a U.S. citizen or documented resident and have a GPA of 2.5 or higher.

According to Stanford graduate student Peter Dykstra, students who are not yet eligible to vote can take advantage of this opportunity as a way to exercise their civic duty in the election.

“I think that not being able to vote can cause a lot of frustration,” Dykstra said. “You may want to see change, but you may not know how to make that change happen. I think one of the best ways to make that happen is by working at the polls.”

During the March primaries, Dykstra worked at a polling place as a greeter, a job that high school students will likely do.

“I really liked it because I got to see the faces of Palo Alto in a way I never had before,” Dykstra said.

Student poll workers can earn $115 or community service hours for a full day of participation.

Though working to keep elections fair is an appeal in itself for some, the added benefit of receiving compensation for working motivates more students to register, like junior Anna Nemerov. “(Getting paid) was definitely an incentive,” Nemerov said.

“I still would’ve done it if I was just volunteering; it’s a bonus.”

Poll workers must complete 3.5 hours of in-person training before working to understand and practice their responsibilities, which include registering voters, making sure ballots leave the polling place safely and passing out “I Voted!” stickers.

In order to prevent the spread of COVID-19, Santa Clara County is providing masks, aprons, gloves, face shields and disinfectant for all poll workers, as well as requiring all voters to wear a mask. Social distancing will be enforced.

“I think that it’s important that kids our age come out and see this opportunity as something they can do to keep other people safe,” Nemerov said.

Students interested in contributing as poll workers can visit www. powerthepolls.org. The deadline to sign up is Sept. 31.

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As the smell wafts from the oven, senior Grace Lindstrom’s mouth begins to water. She waits with anticipation as the timer counts down. Three. Two. One. As she opens the oven door to reveal her crisp, fresh, golden sourdough loaf of bread, a smile spreads across her face.

If you were to ask her a year ago about baking bread, she’d have looked at you like you were crazy. Now, it’s all she thinks about.

Many students have begun baking sourdough bread during the pandemic. With the extra free time and the unusual absence of summer plans, these students spent more time with their sourdough starter in the kitchen then they would have ever predicted.

Senior Dean Hall took up baking sourdough during quarantine as an opportunity to expand on his love for cooking and bond with his family. Hall said he and his dad had always been interested in baking bread but never had the time to do it together.

“Over the summer my dad and I would make maybe a loaf of bread each week, some weeks more, some weeks less,” Hall said. “Since school has started, I have been unable to get back into the game but cautiously stalking any opportunity I have to return.”

Lindstrom got into baking sourdough because of her prior experience with cooking but also gained useful starter knowledge through her AP Biology class as a junior.

“I’ve always enjoyed baking and cooking, but fermenting things was kind of a whole new category of creating food that I never really looked into before,” Lindstrom said. “I learned about fermentation in AP Bio last year, and it was very interesting to me, so I decided I wanted to try it.”

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Sourdough Bread Ingredients • 250 grams of water • 150 grams of sourdough starter • 25 grams of olive oil • 500 grams of bread flour • 10 grams of fine sea salt Hall and Lindstrom say they still have a long way to go in their sourdough journeys.

“From the get-go, I had very high standards of where I wanted my sourdough to be at the end of this experiment, and I am sad to say I have not met them yet,” Hall said. “The best bakers in the world are constantly changing their recipes trying to make a better gluten stretch or fluffier dough. Only being a couple of months into the process, I can say I make a good loaf, but I have a long way to go to reach perfection.”

Lindstrom said she is also always trying to make a better loaf of bread.

“I’m constantly tweaking the ratio of flour and water I’m using,” Lindstrom said. “Baking is a never-ending process, and there is no end goal. That’s something I always keep in mind. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to make the perfect loaf of sourdough or the perfect croissant, but I think I can perfect it to the way I like it, and the way my family likes it.”

The process is also therapeutic for her.

“I’d probably say the best part of baking sourdough is feeding my starter every night,” Lindstrom said. “I do it right before I go to bed after the house is all quiet and everyone is in their own rooms. It just forces me to just focus. It’s very peaceful and rhythmic. While I’m doing it, I don’t listen to music or watch TV. I just focus on this one thing. It’s a really nice way to end the day. You have to be very conscious about your measurements, the temperature of the kitchen. There’s a lot you have to be conscious of. I find that very therapeutic because it forces me to think about something other than the hard math test I took or the college application that I have to get done.

When I make sourdough I’m definitely at peace.”

Both Hall and Lindstrom are eager to grow in baking sourdough.

Hall said, “I have learned that you must be as patient as Master Oogway from ‘Kung Fu Panda’ to truly respect the art of breadmaking, and you must also be as wise to know when and where you faulted as to not make the same mistake in the next batch.”

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Staff Writer With Black Lives Matter and other social justice movements gaining steam, Brandy Melville has recently been under fire from advocates for social justice.

Brandy Melville, an Italian fashion brand started by Silvio Marsan in 1970, was introduced to the U.S. in 2009 and gained popularity in 2014 with a nontraditional, social media-driven advertising campaign. It has consistently been been one of the most shopped at brands among young adults However, some customers are critical of Brandy Melville’s onesize-fits-all policy and a lack of diversity in its models, who are often tall, Caucasian and size two or below.

“I don’t think that it is a brand I want to support because I don’t see representation for everyone, only a certain type of person,” junior Kirtana Romfh said.

Romfh said this exclusivity has created an environment where there is only one beauty standard.

Its policies, though, have been constant since its beginning, and junior Diana Narancic said shopping there is still worthwhile.

“I like Brandy Melville; their clothes are cute and trendy,” Narancic said. “But they do have some messages that can be considered bad, for example, the one-sizefits-all when in reality they don’t fit everybody.”

Brandy Melville also tries to appeal to young adults by posting casual photos of teenagers on Instagram, which senior and former employee Heidi Mcintosh said creates an appeal that anyone can become a “Brandy girl.”

“I don’t shop there anymore because I don’t think that their newest clothes are the cutest,” Mcintosh said.

“With regards to the sizing, it’s up to Brandy to decide whether or not they want to change it. I personally think that they should make more sizes.”

For Romfh, the lack of diversity and underrepresentation of multiple body types and ethnicities adds fuel to the controversy surrounding the company and creates potential consequences for its business.

“The way that they advertise their clothes might cause other people who don’t fit their clothes or look like their models to feel like they aren’t beautiful when they still are,” Romfh said. “It might also cause self-image issues or body dysmorphia, but I can’t really speak for others.”

But students like junior Ella Kim say Brandy Melville is just a place that sells trendy clothing. .

Kim said, “The exclusivity and lack of diversity in Brandy Melville might make some feel like there is only one beauty standard, but in reality, who has the authority to say?”

The Campanile reached out to representatives from Brandy Melville who did not return multiple emails requesting comment for this story.

ART BY AVANTIKA SINGH

The Campanile

Lifesty e

Friday, September 25, 2020

Students support local restaurants !"#$%&'$()%$&&'*%+,-,./$'01%'2133.#-,4'/.%-#*'5!6789:;

ing Jing, a Sichuan and Hunan gourmet restaurant, has been a staple of Jtaurant Chinese food in downtown Palo Alto since 1986. At a time when the resindustry is struggling, owner Betty Tsai is appreciative of the resounding support that her restaurant has received from the Palo Alto community.

“Many of our customers whom we have known for more than 20 to 30 years came in and thanked us for being open during COVID-19,” Tsai said.

Tsai’s nephew and Paly alumnus Aaron Kuo said he has also helped her gather a lot of restaurant support from the community.

The restaurant has won numerous awards, including Best Spicy Foods and Best Chinese Food from Palo Alto Weekly.

In April, Santa Clara County saw a significant rise in COVID-19 cases, resulting in the restriction of many indoor activities, including dining at restaurants. In the months following as cases continued to rise and shelter-in-place orders remained constant, many restaurants were forced to close or even file for bankruptcy due to lack of income.

More than 90 restaurants in the Bay Area have either permanently closed, temporarily closed or declared their intention to close since March.

In an effort to stay afloat, many restaurant owners like Tsai requested donations from customers. Jing Jing set up a GoFundMe page which raised $5000 from Palo Alto patrons, and also created a secondary donation option where people can pay for meal packages that Jing Jing makes and sends to healthcare professionals and senior citizens.

“We set up a special platform called Love & Support Packages, so people can purchase a minimum of 10 meal boxes, and then we deliver them,” Tsai said.

Tsai said Jing Jing has delivered these support packages to local hospitals including Stanford Hospital and San Jose Regional Hospital.

Another local restaurant, Kirk’s Steakburgers, is taking a different approach to expand their outreach to the community. Owner Rick Juncker said many people are generally less comfortable going outside and eating at restaurants.

“We’ve directed more of our attention towards delivery options, and to hopefully get the word out to all of our customers, we have ramped up some of our social media and digital marketing,” Juncker said.

According to Juncker, many of these third-party vendors for delivery, such as DoorDash and GrubHub, are expensive for restaurants to use, and it costs additional money in order to be more prominent on their platforms.

Juncker also sees a clear struggle with many restaurants at Town & Country.

“One of the main sources of revenue we all had was Paly, and it certainly was a regular source of income,” Juncker said.

Juncker said there is still a large portion of the community who is giving

back, and he has seen more generous people come by Kirk’s Steakburgers for pickup and dine-in.

“The tipping amounts are much higher than they normally would be, and a lot of people recognize the struggles that it’s not only what the businesses are facing, but also what the employees are facing and are wanting to help,” Juncker said.

HEROSwim founder and junior David Gormley is seeking another opportunity to give back to his community by supporting local restaurants during the pandemic.

HEROSwim, the non-profit organization which originated when Gormley assembled a small group of his friends at Greene Middle School, has a mission for young members of the community to become more involved in making an impact on large issues in the world.

During the last three years, HEROSwim has hosted an annual Swim-a-Thon and have more recently been covering worldwide issues, from hurricane relief support to working to help save coral reefs.

A couple of months into the shelter-in-place, Gormley and the other members of HEROSwim noticed a recurring problem.

Gormley said that local restaurants were having a hard time staying profitable with the stay-at-home order.

He decided to help restaurants by assisting them with paying their rent and their employees’ salaries through fundraising.

“We have a whole community of people who love these restaurants, and a lot of people with the capacity to financially support these restaurants,” Gormley said.

Gormley said he and his HEROSwim team created a GoFundMe for two local restaurants: Sancho’s Taqueria and Kirk’s Steakburgers.

“We reached out to the group we had amassed through our three years of running swim-a-thons, and we activated those donors through online outreach,” Gormley said. “We were able to raise about $4500 for both Kirk’s Steakburgers and Sancho’s Taqueria.”

As a result of the fundraising efforts, many restaurant owners had heartwarming responses.

“Having HEROSwim was a really touching thing that those guys approached us with, and it was a significant amount of money that my employees got to share,” Juncker said.

Juncker said that even though the fundraiser was not a make or break kind of thing, the nature of people’s actions and doing it on their own that made the gesture very special to Kirks.

Gormley said, “Seeing the reactions on the faces of the owners upon giving them that check shows how it directly affected the people in our community, which I think was really the true gift.”

Parker Wang Staff Writer

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!"#$%&'()* +,#""*-&./"0&-1* 2'"3-*%$4.&* -.554#&'06*748%7* #"-&%.#%0&“I want workers in the food industry to know that I am thankful for them, but it’s so much harder because everything is from behind a screen.”

- Teo “My main way of supporting these local restaurants is to order from different local restaurants once in a while.”

- Williams “One of the biggest downsides is that some local restaurants don’t have takeout, only pickup.”

- Tanaka “I just try my best to pay attention to other people and always stay six feet apart when picking up the food.”

- Williams “I have friends whose families are small business owners, and I’ve heard about how tough it can be at times.”

- Teo “Having food delivered to your doorstep reduces the risk of my family from getting COVID-19.”

- Tanaka “I am required to wear a mask whenever I pick up food, and there is also usually a socially distanced line outside the restaurant that I have to wait in before I can even go inside.”

- Williams “We also measure our own temperature if we are ever feeling sick or want to be extra safe, since it’s not just about our safety, but everyone else’s.”

- Teo

Friday, September 25, 2020

The Campanile

Sports

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!"#$%&"'( '#))*+"(,-.( '"+/0%' Ali Minhas Staff Writer

The NBA has never been so different from what it was just one year ago. Many players and teams affiliated with the NBA have taken a stand in response to the Black Lives Matter movement.

The Bucks decided not to take the court in Game 5 against the Orlando Magic to protest the shooting by a white police officer of an unarmed Black man, Jacob Blake, in the Bucks’ home state of Wisconsin on Aug. 23. Other NBA teams have since followed suit by protesting the first leaguewide NBA boycott.

“Bottom line is, these players are very, very passionate for change — they want to see African Americans treated with the dignity and respect that all humans deserve,” Basketball coach Pete Colombo said.“I absolutely support the other teams following suit. That is their right to do that. That is what makes the US what it is, to be able to stand up as citizens and protest and say enough is enough.” “This is more than a game. It’s beyond just basketball,” junior Angel-Armenta Lopez said. “There’s a lot of racism and basketball players just can’t play with that in mind.”

“I think it’s an important step to take, and the more people that do it, the bigger impact it has,” junior Rohan Suvarna said. “I definitely don’t think money is more important than showing solidarity for Jacob Blake and others. Justice is more important than the NBA resuming.”

15-time All-Star LeBron James has repeatedly said basketball is more than a game and has been vocal on social issues including the shooting of Blake.

In response to Blake’s shooting, James tweeted on Aug. 26 “ F**K THIS, MAN!!!!

WE DEMAND CHANGE. SICK OF IT.” Lopez said James’ anger is justified but also said he could have sent the same message with less profanity.

“It could go both ways, he could’ve (used) less profanity, but that’s the only way it could be heard, and it could make it to the headlines,” Lopez said.“A lot of people are tired about what’s going on, and they want it to end. People are tired of witnessing and going through this.”

Although the NBA boycott has ended, the few days in which play was suspended left a lasting impact, Colombo said.

“The players did this because before they are players they are human beings, and the Black and white players realize that the inequality and lack of equal rights and treatment toward the African American community in the US has been going on for way too long,” Colombo said. “This was their way of saying, ‘Enough is enough.’ We are going to come together and protest the best way we know how being in the situation we are in. I really feel the players were hurting emotionally and spiritually.”

W

ith wind ripping across his face as he soars down steep trails that traverse some of California’s most beautiful terrain, senior Alex Selwyn primes his focus on the road in front of him while his surroundings become a blur.

Avantika Singh Senior Staff Writer

For Selwyn, the thrill of speeding through and discovering different corners of the Bay Area prompted him to pick up a bike and hit the roads for what seemed like the first time in a while during the COVID-19 quarantine. Soon, Selwyn said he found biking was a part of his daily quarantine routine.

Selwyn is one of many Paly students who turned to a new sport during quarantine. From golfing to surfing, students have found sports outside their comfort zone to help them keep busy and have continued these sports even as society begins to slowly reopen.

)234567 Prior to the start of quarantine, Selwyn said he had been on three long-distance bike rides in his life.

For him, training full time on the cross country and track time was time-consuming enough; he said he didn’t have time to even think about going on bike rides.

However, things changed when school cancelations gave him more free time. Biking, Selwyn said, offered a way to escape his house during quarantine. Now, he uses biking as a way to immerse himself in nature.

Selwyn went from biking only a handful of times to biking to all the beaches between San Francisco and Santa Cruz along Highway 1, to the Santa Cruz mountains, Big Basin and everywhere in between.

“When the quarantine started, and my track season was canceled, I started to ride a lot more often, like at first two to three

SCIENCE & TECH

Psychology of Manifestation

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Students and experts explain their thougths and beliefs on how manifestation works.

Students describe their practices using manifestation and the effects it has had in their day to day lives.

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times per week, sometimes more, sometimes less,” Selwyn said. “Obviously the amount I rode varied from week to week — there were some weeks where I was doing over 300 miles a week and others where I would only hit around 50 miles or less.”

He said another benefit of biking during quarantine is the knowledge he gained about his community.

Selwyn said he learned more about the environment and was introduced to a new age demographic of friends by going on daily bike rides.

“The age demographic for biking is a lot older, and so I’ve been able to meet an entirely new community of people through biking who I would have otherwise rarely interacted with,” Selwyn said. “I started doing these rides every Thursday at noon, and I met a lot of fast, older guys in their 30s and 40s. And it was really cool to talk with them and learn about their life experiences and just connect through a shared love of biking.”

Selwyn said running and biking are similar in many aspects, though.

Both demand immense mental and physical discipline.

“Even though the experiences are different, I think they’re complimentary — you get certain things from running that you can’t get from biking and vice versa,” Selwyn said. “And I think that’s the real beauty of it.”

-89:;<=9>?567& Senior Andie Tetzlaff said she had always been drawn to skateboarding, but being a two-sport varsity athlete consumed most of her free time.

In March, when her first lacrosse game was canceled due to the novel coronavirus, Tetzlaff said she decided she had time to try something she always wanted to do.

“Before quarantine, I

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actually never skateboarded,” Tetzlaff said. “I knew how to ride my longboard, but I mainly took up skateboarding to try and learn the cool tricks, like ollies and shuvits. Since quarantine started in March, I’ve been trying to practice skateboarding at least a couple times a week.”

Tetzlaff said her friends decided this was something they could do together.

“I like to go out with my friend, Sarah, and we used to go a lot during March and April,” Tetzlaff said. “I’ve definitely improved my overall riding ability. I’m more comfortable with my balance and speed, and I’ve learned some of the basic tricks, like the ollie and pop shuvit.”

Tetzlaff said she misses her team sports but has chosen to stay optimistic and use skateboarding as a way to exercise physically and mentally.

Even a bit of exercise helps her stay positive, she said.

“Lacrosse was a great outlet for me, and I’ve started seeing how skateboarding overlaps with that as well,” Tetzlaff said.

*;665@& Senior Sophia Krugler heard her calling toward tennis all quarantine long.

Krugler used to play volleyball daily, barely touching a tennis racket before COVID-19 struck. However, her volleyball practices stopped with the start of quarantine as it became increasingly difficult to practice the sport while staying socially distant from her teammates.

Krugler said the necessity for physical activity motivated her to turn to tennis during the quarantine, which was one of the only sports people could play during the school shut down since it inherently follows social distancing guidelines.

“And then once quarantine started, and I didn’t have

Science & Tech

any physical activity, and I sort of realized that I needed that,” Krugler said. “So I started going to play tennis every once in a while with some people, like my friends and also my sisters, and we just stayed socially distant the whole time. And it’s a lot easier to do that with tennis than with volleyball.”

Krugler decided to stick with tennis and said she found herself trying to play it more because of its benefits for her mental health “I feel like it’s not only exercise. I think I didn’t realize how important it is just to my mood,” Krugler said.

“Not even just like how in shape I am but just how happy I am really requires me to be exercising.”

With quarantine prohibiting her from seeing her friends, Krugler said she quickly learned tennis was a good way for her to exercise both physically and mentally while being able to see her friends and others while maintaining a distance.

Krugler said she recalled moments when she would often arrive at the Rinconada tennis courts only to discover all the tennis courts were taken, noting the increase in the number of people playing as we got deeper into quarantine.

“A few times when I go to the Rinconada courts, there’s like two sets of courts open, but they do generally fill up because it makes sense that people are playing more tennis now because it’s one of those sports where you can socially distance,” Krugler said.

The way Krugler sees it, quarantine should be looked at as a silver lining when it comes to certain aspects.

“I think people are just really branching out from their normal interests,” Krugler said. “And then on top of that, the need for social interaction and exercise with sports canceled and school canceled is just so high right now that I think that is what is drawing a lot of people towards sports they can do with their friends while social distancing.”

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Backpacking in the summer

Interactive Zoom classes

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How backpacking gives students a greater appreciation for the world.

Teachers increase time teaching through synchronous work.

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Effects of online learning

How online school negatively affects students at Paly.

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Friday, September 25, 2020

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Out in the wilderness !"#$%&"'($%")*+(,%&")+-( ./0'*1)+(2%&%3"' 45(2)16.)16*&7

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s the sun rises over Fontanillis lake, seniors Alex Washburn and Lexi Gwyn begin to trek the remaining nine miles of their backpacking trip in the Sierras near Lake Tahoe. During the July 4 holiday, Washburn and Gwyn spent four days backpacking from Eagle Falls to Echo Lake, hiking 30 miles through The Desolation Wilderness area.

The prospect of sleeping in the wilderness and carrying only the materials necessary for survival may not seem appealing, but for Washburn and Gwyn, backpacking has a deeper meaning.

“Down to its roots, backpacking and camping allows one to explore the unmapped world, always leaving one satisfied,” Washburn said.

“Backpacking inflicts a deep feeling of wanting to see more, which I think is a positive cycle with respect to life in general.”

For Gwyn, backpacking is also about having an escape from everyday life and an opportunity to forget the stress that comes with it. “(There are) no other humans in sight, so no roads, no cars honking, no garbage trucks, no leaf blowers,” Gwyn said. “I feel like I can finally breathe.”

Gwyn said the idea of only carrying what is needed for survival is one of the most enjoyable aspects of backpacking.

“Carrying everything you need on your back is crazy to think about, and so humbling,” Gwyn said. “There is so little in life we truly need to be content and show gratitude, and you spend days with no other worries but survival and your goal.”

Gwyn said backpacking trips also create a sense of perseverance and persistence.

“Your legs become stronger, and the pack starts to hurt less and less,” Gwyn said. “You feel empowered and determined to make it to that next spot on your map.”

Fellow backpacker and senior Charles Mitz

said his love for backpacking has widened his perspective about the outdoors in general.

“Backpacking has made me gain even more appreciation for the outdoors, and it makes me want to advocate more for climate change issues, because seeing something in person makes you cherish it more,” Mitz said.

Mitz said backpackers must be aware of litter around the campsite and their own impact on the environment.

“A general rule everyone should follow is to leave your area cleaner than it was when you arrived,” Mitz said. “That means that not only you should pack away all your trash, but if you see materials that do not belong on the trail — even if you did not put them there — it is your duty to pick them up.”

Washburn also believes that it is important to maintain a selfless attitude when backpacking, and to remember that you are not the sole person in the world.

“Many people, specifically people our age, seem to forget that they aren’t the only people living on this planet and will destroy precious habitat and beautiful areas with their irresponsible camping practices,” Washburn says.

“People seem to forget that we coexist on this planet with thousands of other species and systems, and humans are obviously disrupting this balance more than anything else on the planet.”

Washburn also said anyone can backpack if they have the right mindset for the unpredictable problems that are inevitable along the way.

“To camp and backpack, you have to think

logically while having the mindset that uncomfortable things will happen, and you have to be ready to improvise and take whatever comes at you in stride with the right attitude,” Washburn said.

He said another benefit is mental well being.

“I think camping and backpacking allows you to effectively float between two worlds, escaping one when necessary,” Washburn said. “When you are out away from conventional life, you feel a deep mine of beauty and wonder.”

Gwyn agrees, saying the time spent being able to think about herself away from all of the distractions of society can be therapeutic.

“There is a large aspect of self-reflection that is weaved into backpacking,” Gwyn said. “Being away from all the noise provides you with time to really think about your truth.”

Backpacking comes down to getting as much as you can out of yourself and appreciating what the world has to offer, Gwyn said.

“We are constantly trying to build new phones, new modern skyscrapers and new shopping malls, but we have so much raw beauty right under our noses,” Gwyn said. “It’s out there, waiting to be appreciated. That feeling inside, when everything is truly still, and you can almost hear the sun as it falls behind the mountains, that’s why I backpack.”

Ziggy Tummalapalli Sports Editor

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Business Manager Whether it is in the weight room, the batting cages, or on the mat, senior wrestler and baseball player Dean Hall has been taking advantage of the extra long offseason — getting ready for his final year of high school sports. But for the first time ever, winter-spring athletes like Hall are going to have seasons that completely overlap, a result of the updated California Interscholastic Federation sports calendar for the

ART BY SASHA LEHRER

2020-21 school year.

The plan includes two sports seasons this school year.

The first season will consist of traditional fall sports and the second season will combine traditional winter and spring sports. Girls golf and girls tennis, which used to be fall sports, will move into season two, and boys volleyball, formerly a spring sport, will move to season one.

Hall said he’s undecided about his plan for this spring when his two sports will have their seasons at the

same time.

“I have not made a decision because I don’t know what the time commitments will be for each team,” Hall said. “I would like to do both, but with my commitment to baseball I don’t know if I can spend as much time on wrestling. That team deserves a lot more than a guy who only goes to practice one or two times a week.”

Although he technically has a choice, Hall said he will be disappointed if he can’t wrestle this year.

“I am very disappointed because after my season last year, I was hoping to go a little further in CCS,” Hall said.

CCS Commissioner David Grissom said there were multiple factors that led to the implementation of the new calendar.

“With our calendar this year, we tried to align ourselves to the state model so that our schools could compete at that level,” Grissom said.

“We also went into this school year with the thought that we specifically wanted to make sure that the Spring sports had an opportunity to play this year since they lost the majority of their seasons last year. We wanted

to have as close to full seasons as possible and to include all sports.”

Although there is no CIF or CCS rule that says a student cannot participate in multiple sports during the same season, the time restraints of participating on two teams will be a significant challenge for anyone, Athletic Director and football coach Nelson Gifford said.

“Unfortunately, this is going to put students in a situation where they will likely have to choose a sport,” Gifford said. “While it is technically possible to participate in two sports during the same season, balancing practice and competition schedules along with the demands of school is going to be a lot. The students and the athletic department are going to have to work together to ensure the best possible outcome for everyone involved.”

Depending on how many Paly athletes have to decide between sports, Gifford said there is uncertainty about how these choices could impact a team’s roster and its success.

“On one hand, teams may lose athletes to other sports because of overlapping seasons,” Gifford said.

“On the other, this might create more roster spots for athletes that may not have otherwise played.

None of us can predict the future.”

CCS Assistant Commissioner Steve Filos agrees.

“It could have an impact on team roster size or, perhaps for some small schools, the ability to field a team,” Filos said.

Filos said the CIF has temporarily suspended Rule 600, as a result of the changes to sports seasons.

The rule prevented student-athletes from playing on outside teams while competing for their school.

“As far as CIF and CCS are concerned, a student-athlete can play contests on an outside team during their high school season this year,” Filos said. “I will add, however, that schools can be more restrictive if they choose to be.”

However, Gifford said he is concerned about burnout among Paly athletes who play a club sport during a Paly season.

“For those students who will play both for their club and high school team at the same time, my advice is caution,” Gifford said. “Rest and recovery is a huge part of athletic performance. Physical and mental burnout is real. Everyone’s situation is different, but I encourage all students to seek balance and find joy in what they do.”

Friday, September 25, 2020

C3

The Campanile

Science & Tech

Online education presents challenges

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n a normal school day, junior Cate Dyer wakes up about 30 minutes before class, has breakfast and then walks over to her desk and logs into Zoom. PAUSD has made the

switch from asynchronous to synchronous learning, with a full schedule for students like Dyer consisting of either three or four Zoom classes a day and a 30-minute lunch break.

When COVID-19 caused the district to shut down in March, PAUSD officials made the decision to keep classes and online Zooms asynchronous, without a specific schedule.

Students could complete their class work when they wanted to and weren’t required to be part of class Zoom calls. The district also decided to switch grading to a credit/no credit system.

This year’s schedule forces students to be on their computer more than they would if they went to school in person.

According to the EyeQue article, “Does Staring at Screens Hurt Your Eyes?” Computer Vision Syndrome can result from spending prolonged periods of time staring at a computer screen.

CVS can cause a range of symptoms including as eye strain, headaches, blurred vision, dry eyes and neck and shoulder pain.

“Studies indicate 50-90% of

computer users experience symptoms indicative of computer vision syndrome,” the Eye Que team said.

“Moreover, the level of discomfort appears to get worse the longer one stares at a screen.”

Because of negative health effects such as this, Dyer said she has mixed feelings about having Zoom classes every day.

“I like how Zoom classes are structured, unlike last year when I didn’t feel like I was learning anything,” Dyer said. “However, some days I am on the computer for hours on end, which gets very tiring. I think we would all benefit from having Zoom classes some days, and the other days we work on Schoology or other assignments.”

As for sleep and time management, Dyer said this year’s schedule has been better for her than when school shut down for in-person learning last spring.

“My sleep had definitely im-

proved with online classes,” Dyer said. “As teenagers, we don’t get tired early — therefore I can now go to bed later and wake up later, and get enough sleep. Falling asleep when I am actually tired improves my sleep.”

Superintendent Don Austin said the decision to make online classes look different this year as compared to second semester last year came from overwhelming feedback from parents and guardians that they wanted synchronous learning for their children.

However, Austin said he has also received negative feedback about this year from families saying there are too many Zoom meetings in a

week.

“I think it is one of those things where we are really never going to make everyone happy, but the interactions with one another and teacher to student are definitely much better,” Austin said.

But AP Psychology teacher Chris Farina said it would be difficult to teach students in any other way given the current state and county health guidelines.

And while students and teachers are likely stuck with some form of remote learning for the long term, Farina said there are things students and teachers can do to help with the fatigue ofstaring at a computer screen all day.

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“Every 15 minutes, you should take a break and you should stare at something that is 15 feet away for 15 seconds,” Farina said. “This gives your eyes a chance to adjust to something that is at a different distance. In our everyday lives, we are not staring at something that is always 15 feet in distance away from us.”

Farina also said students and teachers should pay more attention to the ergonomics of their working environment.

“Making sure that you have your chair at the right height, having your back supported, making sure your wrists are at the right angle, your computer being elevated to the right height so you are not looking down and cramping your neck, and things like that,” Farina said.“That is important and isn’t given enough recognition.”

Emma Todd

Business Manager

ART BY AJAY VENKATRAMAN

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The first quarter of the school year has seen PAUSD schools move classrooms online. Even with the change to remote learning, many courses at Paly are finding ways to use online platforms creatively by exploring innovative ways to use virtual classrooms.

But junior Flynn Kelley said online learning has limited abilities to maintain the same level of engagement compared to in-person schooling.

“It’s not a direct replacement for school,” Kelley said. “There’s a lot you can’t do, that you need to be in person for. For example, there are classes like PE and a lot of electives.”

In courses that rely on demonstrations and activities, teachers have had to find creative ways to engage students.

Paly’s band classes, for instance, have utilized a unique method of engaging students. While music classes at Paly traditionally function with students playing instruments

together, junior Mihir Gupta said the lack of interaction with her classmates in the second semester of the 201920 school year detracted from his experience in Symphonic Band.

“At the end of last year, Mr. Willner was having us do assignments and recordings on SmartMusic,” Gupta said.

“During class time, we didn’t play a lot. Concerts were a big thing we missed out on.”

This year, however, band directors Jeffrey Willner and Gregory Miller have created an interactive online environment by allowing students to play along to a recording or practice with a peer

during instructional time.

In addition, Gupta said this format helps maintain a part of the normal interaction that takes place in in-person band rehearsals.

“When I can hear one of the teachers or a click track playing, that can be helpful because I can adjust to what they’re playing, especially since I usually play a part that’s similar to theirs,” Gupta said. “It’s also because it gives you a decent idea of how you fit in with the rest of the music.”

In addition, Paly music courses plan to replicate their traditional concerts by having students record parts to songs and publish a combi-

nation of recordings to YouTube at regular intervals.

Paly’s auto shop courses are also taking a unique approach to distance learning. Under normal circumstances, students would learn by working on cars in the school’s workshop.

“It’s interesting because we can’t use the cars in the shop,” Kelley said. “(Mr. Knight) asks us to have access to a car at home so he can have us look under the hood. We use Zoom on our phones, and he’s able to show us things that way.”

This style of learning may allow students to have an improved experience compared to standard classes. In his Introduction to Auto Shop class, Kelley said the ability to use his family’s car in the course helps him learn the material more practically and personally, despite being .

“It’s definitely more useful to use our own cars ...

because they’re different.” Kelley said. “For example, a couple of kids had these BMWs that had hoods that worked differently than other cars. I was looking online for what the actual like too.”

Band, auto shop and many other elective courses have overcome the challenges posed by quarantine to bring students the energy of their standard classes.

Students and teachers say the methods they have developed over the course of this year show that distance learning can provide at least a part of the experience of a real classroom, and may help add to classrooms in the future.

ART BY AARON KIM

The Campanile

Friday, September 25, 2020

C4

Science & Tech

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The Law of Attraction — the idea that things will come true if you believe they will — is behind a practice originally derived from a traditional Hindu ritual: manifestation.

The concept of manifestation has spread across social media platforms, becoming a popular way for teenagers to take charge of their lives. Many students attempt to manifest their wishes into reality by reciting them aloud, writing them in a journal or thinking about them constantly with a positive mindset.

“Think of yourself as a magnet,” Hamid said. “If you keep affirming yourself of a certain thing, it’s more likely that you will attract it into your life.”

Junior Sabrina Simoni said she has learned a lot about the do’s and don’ts of manifesting and using the Law of Attraction since her mother taught her as a child.

“You have to be strictly positive and talk in present tense as if it has happened already,” Simoni said.

!"#$%"$&'()*+,One of Simoni’s favorite ways to manifest is by using the 3-6-9 method, a technique that utilizes journaling.

“In the morning, you write down a sentence three times of something you want; then at the middle of the day, you write it down six times, making it a little more specific,” Simoni said. “At nighttime, you finish by writing an even more specific sentence of the same desire down nine times.”

She said if someone puts all of their trust in the process, it is nearly foolproof.

“I would say 90% of my manifestations have come true so far, and the other 10% are things that would happen much farther in my future,” Simoni said.

Simoni and Hamid both said people can manifest just about anything, such as getting money, meeting celebrities or hanging out with friends.

“The other day, I really wanted this dress, but it was $115, so I said to myself in my head, ‘I got $115. That’s great! I have the dress,’” Simoni said. “The same day, I went over to my dad’s house, and he asked me if I wanted a gift card for $120. I wasn’t expecting this because my parents usually never give me money.”

Hamid said she also thinks her selfconfidence has improved since she started using the Law of Attraction to her advantage.

“I know that I’ve gotten more confident and comfortable with my appearance over the past few months, which I think is due to manifestation,” Hamid said. “I wanted to become my best self and I’ve definitely gotten closer to that point.”

!"#$."+,$)-$/"012 Dr. Joe Vitale, author of bestselling book, “The Attractor Factor,” and featured in the famous documentary, “The Secret,” has been studying manifestation and the Law of Attraction his entire career. While it may appear like wizardry to some, Vitale said that the idea can actually be explained by simple brain science.

“Basic psychology says you will get more of whatever you focus on in life –– your brain will look for things to make that focus come true,” Vitale said.

He said that the part of the brain responsible for this explanation is your subconscious; more specifically, a network of neurons in the brainstem called the reticular activating system.

“The RAS is programmed for survival; it’s constantly looking around you for possible threats,” Vitale said. “What people don’t know is that you can program the RAS in your brain to attract something you want to have.”

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He said by repeatedly visualizing a desire in your mind, you can train your brain to seek out that wish and manifest it into reality.

“To use the Law of Attraction, you first consciously decide what you want, and then you use the tools of imagery, emotion and repetition to tell the subconscious mind to go look for it,” Vitale said.

He said once the RAS is commanded to respond to someone’s desire, it will lead the brain to find what they are looking for and help them take the steps to get there.

“When your subconscious finds anything that can help you attract (your desire), it will make you consciously aware of it, and that’s when you take action: make a phone call, buy a book, or do anything that your mind cues you to act on.” Vitale said. “The subconscious mind alerts you to what you need to do, and then you have to consciously do that action to fulfill your wish.”

Vitale adds that many people who are new to the Law of Attraction have the misconception that their desire will manifest itself without any work on their end.

“I think that’s one of the biggest mistakes with people and understanding it; they think it just happens like magic.”

Vitale said. “You can’t just sit and wait for something to arrive at your door –– more often than not, you have to do something in terms of action to complete the process.”

Psychology teacher Melinda Mattes said she had not heard of manifestation, but said it sounded similar to S-M-A-R-T goals, a method that encourages achievement by making specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time limited goals.

“When we talk about S-M-A-R-T goals, we’re talking about visualizing your process to achieving your goals rather than the end point,” Mattes said. “For example, visualizing yourself studying helps you actually do it instead of just visualizing a good grade on a test.”

Mattes said she thinks there is nothing wrong with positive thinking and manifesting, but it could be dangerous to let it take control and depend on it.

“It’s obviously not a horrible thing to think positive thoughts and be optimistic because it can broaden your perspective and help you take more risks,” Mattes said. “But, for instance, if you are sick, positive thinking will only get you so far. If you don’t take the treatment or medicine, you could die.”

Nonetheless, Mattes said even if she has doubts about there being science to support the practice of manifestation, she doesn’t disregard its value. Still, she said she advises that people using the technique should proceed carefully.

“The bottom line is,

although I personally don’t know that there is psychological research to back this up, that doesn’t mean there isn’t any value to it,” Mattes said. “However, I would caution people to not put all of their eggs in one basket.”

Despite the fact that researchers are still studying whether or not manifestation is scientifically proven, Hamid and Simoni said they would recommend others try it for themselves before doubting the process.

“If you are a beginner, I would start by getting in a good mood and having a positive attitude, listening to a mediation video and then writing down your intention in a journal,” Hamid said.

“Any form of relaxation is going to help you assess your subconscious mind to be able to tap into it easier,” Vitale said. “Stress, criticism, worrying and negativity are all going to push it away and stop the process.”

Simoni said she hopes those who are newer to manifestation don’t get discouraged if it doesn’t work in their favor initially.

“Take your time with it, and don’t be bummed if it doesn’t work out right away.

It takes practice and won’t happen overnight,” Simoni said. “Everyone should give it a chance.”

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