The Spectator The Stuyvesant High School Newspaper A&E
OPINIONS
Highly Stigmatized, Hardly Recognized
Crazy Rich Asian-ish?
In her article “Highly Stigmatized, Hardly Recognized,” Sophomore Kaylee Yin discusses the social and cultural norms surrounding obesity, advocating for a more accepting and holistic view of this medical condition.
Junior Jevina Wong reviews the summer blockbuster “Crazy Rich Asians” in her article “Crazy Rich Asianish?”
see page 9
Volume 109 No. 1
“The Pulse of the Student Body”
see page 18
stuyspec.com
September 7, 2018
Elena Sapelyuk / The Spectator
Eric Contreras Resigns as Principal of Stuyvesant
By MADDY ANDERSEN and ERIN LEE Principal Eric Contreras announced his resignation after two years at Stuyvesant High School on August 27. He will aid in the process of finding an interim acting (IA) principal as his replacement. Once an IA principal is found, Contreras will assume his position as Senior Executive Director of Curriculum, Construction, and Professional Learning at the New York City Department of Education. Contreras’s departure comes at
a controversial time, especially considering the amount of attention the SHSAT and Stuyvesant have been attracting recently. “Since specialized schools are coming under attack, having a principal leave who is in support of the SHSAT is definitely going to draw a lot more attention, not only from students, parents, and administration, but also from news websites or other political figures. I think this is going to become more of a political thing,” Student Union President William Wang said. With rumors circulating, many students are wondering whether or
not it was Contreras’s own choice to leave Stuyvesant. “The fact that he was offered the job at this late of a time—September is a dangerous zone for the DOE to be making changes— [...] I think it was a push more than it was a swim. They knew what he wanted, they offered it to him, he would obviously say yes,” Wang said. “I don’t think it was just coincidence that they offered him this job at this time. I feel like time is a major factor [...] which can tell you how deeply rooted this all has been planned.” Whatever the case for the change in administration, it is likely that the Stuyvesant community will need some time to adjust to the new IA principal. “Change is always difficult, especially since we’ve just changed two APs […] This period of change isn’t blessing anyone. All the parents are especially nervous about it, and I can understand how students are also nervous about it, especially seniors and juniors,” Wang said. For the seniors, the new IA principal will be the third principal they have had while at Stuyvesant. “Last year, he applied to be principal, and he got it. This would have been his first full year as principal. Unfortunately, he moved out of Stuyvesant, which I am proud of him for, but it’s also a weird time for all students,” Wang said. However, Contreras leaves behind many lasting achievements. Contreras was formerly the Executive Director of Social Studies for the New York City Department of Education, where he helped to expand the social studies curriculum. “When Contreras came in, a lot of parents, as well as students and also administration, were uneasy about having a humanities principal come into a STEM school. […] People were worried he was going to cut off STEM programs for humanities, but instead, he learned how to take his humanities expertise [...] and helped out the STEM departments a lot more than people expected. He gave the humanities the same amount of respect. He man-
aged to even it out, and he made Stuyvesant stand out even more in the last few years,” Wang said. Senior Caucus President Amit Narang said, “[Stuyvesant] has always [been] viewed as this one-dimensional STEM school, but [Contreras] brought different perspectives to that.” However, Wang feels that Contreras’s role in the Stuyvesant community extends beyond extending the curriculum. “He clearly did a lot of work on STEM and humanities, but I feel that [...] any principal can make changes to [the] curriculum. Contreras was different. He would always be walking around trying to teach students, even though he wasn’t a teacher himself,” Wang said. “His role in the community is something that cannot be ignored or denied. He was really a special man.” For many students, Contreras was a friendly face in the hallways as well as an effective and helpful administrator. “As principal, Mr. Contreras has gone above and beyond to work with all stakeholders to bring new changes. His active involvement in the school community—his handshakes in the hallways, being at dances and plays, cheering on our teams from the bleachers, and attending other events—has put a smile on many students’ faces,” Sofat said. “He’s not only been a leader or a teacher, but he has also been a friend to all students. [...] He knows [students’] names, he goes to sports events unlike some of the other past administrators,” Wang said. Narang agreed. “You could tell he loved to be a part of the Stuyvesant community, and that was really refreshing for administration,” he said. Contreras also ensured that parents were involved and up to date in the Stuyvesant community, hosting events with the assistant principals such as Breakfast with the Principal. “His Parent Breakfasts have allowed parents to have a forum to voice concerns and ask questions,” Sofat said. In addition, Contreras aided in the execution and function of many
events, projects, and organizations, and worked closely with students. “[Contreras] always takes the best interest in Stuyvesant’s community and [makes] sure that he enriches it to the fullest extent he can,” senior Raunak Chowdhury said. Chowdhury is a cofounder of Pegleg Prep, an organization that aims to improve accessibility of the SHSAT and its resources to socially and economically disadvantaged middle school students. When Contreras caught wind of the idea, he gave his unofficial endorsement and even proposed funding for the website. “It’s a testament to what he thinks what [Stuyvesant] should be: a launchpad, essentially, for any and all ideas that [Stuyvesant] students have,” Chowdhury said. Narang also received support from Contreras for the Career Fair he organized last spring. Contreras provided a conference room and spoke with alumni during the event. “Out of any of the administrators I worked with on a professional capacity or a personal level, he was definitely the most fun and the most helpful to be around,” Narang said. Additionally, Contreras worked closely with the Student Union on projects such as C30s, CitiBike X Stuy, and StuyActivities even when classes were not in session this summer. “He always laid out everything for us, so that we could easily make changes and move along with our project. [...] He has always been responsive, made time to call or meet with me, and came in especially to help us move along with things,” Sofat said. There is no doubt that Contreras is a prominent figure at Stuyvesant that will be missed by the student body. “If you can see the way that Stuyvesant reacted after his announced departure, you can see that a lot of students were disappointed by the fact that he was leaving, but not because they wanted him to stay as principal, but because they wanted him to stay as a friend and a teacher to shape them into better human beings,” Wang said.
New Online Talos System Goes Live at Stuyvesant
By ERIN LEE and JAMIE ZENG
The new Talos website, created by developer Rodda John (‘17) on behalf of the Program Office, went live for Stuyvesant students in the early spring. It was originally launched on March 20 specifically for AP course selections, but was relaunched on April 30 for elective selections. Talos was originally built to replace Datalyst, a system that used to program schedules until it was no longer maintained. Talos has since expanded to cater to other student and faculty needs, such as program changes, document uploads, and internet connection requests. Since its launch, students and staff alike have used Talos for its services. Students mainly use Talos for course selections and programming changes, and many have experienced the advantages as well as the disadvantages of the new system. Junior Alan Bunyatov appreciates the time-saving digital transcript feature that aids students in selecting
classes. “I personally find it really convenient,” Bunyatov said. “Having all your grades available for selecting your electives and APs is a really nice tool.” With the digitalization of transcripts, students, parents, and faculty can now easily monitor student academic progress. A significant function of Talos is its effect on program changes, a tedious and tiring experience as well as a common source of stress for both students and administration. Though in-person program changes are inevitable, Talos’s approval interface will now efficiently address most program changes online. “Hopefully, a lot of the headache is reduced, because I feel like a lot of students spend time running around the building getting approvals from various people,” John said. Though students benefit from the various tools of Talos, they only have access to about 10 percent of the system’s capabilities. Talos programs schedules for the student body, manages AP requests for assistant principals, and allows admin-
istrators to access data efficiently in real time. “The system is not really for the students. It’s going to be helpful for the students, [...] but it’s not saving the students that much time—it’s saving the administrators a lot more time,” John said. Assistant Principal of English Eric Grossman reflected on the increased efficiency that Talos provided during AP course selections in the spring. “[Talos] was really helpful in AP registration. It allowed me to add kids to AP courses, [...] see their selections, filter their choices, and add them without having to do it manually—without getting a printout and going to eSchoolData, looking at transcripts and grade point averages, and then writing down names and handing those names or e-mailing those names to the Program Office,” Grossman said. He believes that Talos will continue to serve Stuyvesant administration and students well in the upcoming school year. “It’s going to help streamline program changes. [... It will] be useful to have one system to serve all of
those needs and functions,” Grossman said. Assistant principals can see a student’s current and previous courses, grade point average, and eligibility for a class all in real time through the site. In addition, they can also apply the grade point limit for AP courses, a requirement that administrators were not able to put in place before. “[The grade point limit] is very unwieldy to enforce if you have no system by which to check it,” John said. Computer Associate Sydney Lindsay has taken advantage of Talos’s capacity to enforce regulations on the entire student body by integrating Argus, a new feature on Talos that guarantees access to school Wi-Fi for all students. Previously, students needed to connect to the school Wi-Fi before first period in order to have access for the rest of the day. Argus now allows each student to connect one device to the Wi-Fi. However, only devices such as laptops and tablets will be permitted. Argus, which was originally cre-
ated by Lindsay as a separate program, was incorporated under Talos in an effort to centralize all of the school’s management systems. “We keep having systems that do little things, [...] but the problem is none of these systems talk to each other, and none of them talk to the DOE,” John said. Talos allows for data to be available in one place instead of scattered among several. “It’s a general centralization of information by a lot of people that will integrate many systems,” John said. Despite the positive feedback that Talos has received, some have issues with certain aspects of the system. Argus does not allow phones to connect to the Wi-Fi, which sophomore Vincent Gao found issue with. “Over 40 percent of the school is on reduced or free lunch, [...] so a lot of people can’t afford tablets or laptops that are the only beneficiaries of the Wi-Fi program,” he said. continued on page 2