Hiring of former judge Persky stirs controversy BY SUNNY LI AND ANUSHA KOTHARI
M
ichael Aaron Persky, former judge on the Superior Court of California for Santa Clara County, was hired as the JV girls tennis coach for the 201920 school year on Sept. 2. However, due to Persky’s controversial history as a judge, this decision caused many community members to voice their opinions in support of and against his hiring. Shortly after, on Sept. 11, FUHSD released a statement indicating that Persky’s employment as the JV tennis coach had ended. Persky’s hiring was controversial due to his decision on the People v. Turner case in 2015. Brock Turner, a Stanford student, was convicted of three counts of felony sexual assault and Persky sentenced him to six month’s con�inement in the county jail, of which Turner served only three months, followed by three years of probation and registration as a lifelong sex offender. Immediately following his decision, the public widely criticized Persky and in 2018, more than 80,000 signatures were collected to put the vote for Persky’s recall on the state elections ballot and Santa Clara County voters supported his recall with a margin of 61.51 percent to 38.49 percent. Eventually, the outrage led the California State Legislature to pass two laws that broadened the de�inition of rape and created a mandatory minimum sentence for sexual assault of an intoxicated or unconsious person. Lynbrook administration stated that Persky’s historied past did not initially catch their attention during the hiring
process as Persky applied under a different name than the one he used previously. As a judge, he was referred to as ‘Aaron Persky,’ Aaron being his middle name, whereas Perksy was known as Michael Aaron Persky to staff and students. In a statement released on Sept. 10, FUHSD explained that Persky had applied to be the coach over the summer and met all necessary requirements including a �ingerprint background check, which checks for the criminal record. They further defended his position as coach by mentioning that he held a high rating from the United States Tennis Association and had attended several coaching clinics, making him a highly quali�ied candidate. After learning about his background, the school held a meeting for staff on the morning of Sept. 9 to inform them about the situation as word had begun spreading through the community. The meeting consisted of all Lynbrook staff and administration. Around the same time that administration and staff became aware of Persky’s role as the well-known judge in People v. Turner, parents and students in the Lynbrook community heard the news and began voicing their opinion. As a result, a closed meeting between the Principal Maria Jackson, Superintendent Polly Bove, athletic director Jennifer Grif�in, additional members of administration, the JV girls’ tennis team and their parents was held on Sept. 9 to clarify and discuss the situation. The administration received considerable backlash from the Lynbrook community and the general public; in fact, two petitions were started by Lynbrook alumni urging
the school to �ire Persky. They believed that Persky’s controversial decision in People v. Turner re�lected poorly on his character and revealed race, gender and class biases. There were concerns about his position as a coach to serve as a role model to teenage girls and the message that his employment may send to high school students, especially survivors of sexual assault. “[My] biggest concern is that when you have a job that’s speci�ically related to what you’re very controversial for, it’s going to be given that your moral decisions have weight on what happens in the future,” said senior and girls’ varsity tennis co-captain Maya Abiram. “Even though you can change, there are consequences that you have to deal with.” Others, however, did not believe the administration should �ire Persky as coach, believing that he deserves a second chance. Those in favor of Persky as coach cited that the People v. Turner case took place three years ago in 2016, and an individual could signi�icantly grow or change during that time. They also believed that his past would not necessarily affect his coaching abilities. Moreover, numerous athletes on the JV Girls’ tennis team who trained directly with Persky had a positive experience with him as coach. “[Persky] is a genuinely nice person who was trying to make it work,” said JV girls tennis player Amy Zhou. “Every time we gave him some advice on how to be a better coach, he took it into account and started working on it immediately. Since I know him as a person, it is just so heartbreaking to see everyone treat him like they did.” Without Persky, the JV girls’ tennis team were worried that they would be left without
Lynbrook implements new Homeroom curriculum BY ANUSHA KOTHARI
After receiving an overwhelming amount of feedback about homeroom from a survey sent out to students and staff last school year, Lynbrook administration sat down with a pair of Lynbrook students from the Youth Public Policy Institution (YPPI) to reconsider the direction of homeroom and plan effective activities for this year. In August 2018, seniors Madhavan Anbuchelvan, Patrick Phelan and Nisha Ramanathan, members of YPPI, began developing a curriculum to help relieve stress at Lynbrook. On June 4, they presented their plans to the FUHSD board as a way to improve homeroom. After their proposals were approved, Anbuchelvan and Phelan began working with Principal Maria Jackson to implement their ideas at Lynbrook. Through the survey sent out last year, Anbuchelvan and Phelan realized that only six percent of students claimed familiarity with the mental health resources available at Lynbrook; consequently, they made it a priority to help students recognize the importance of mental wellness and increase awareness about how to maintain it. According to Phelan, the purpose of
homeroom is to equip students with the skills necessary for managing stress as well as teach them how to be mindful of their decisions and how to take care of themselves. “It’s hard to really measure how effective homeroom was last year because it was so unstructured,” Phelan said. “This year we’re trying to add a little more structure while giving more freedom to the students.” Although most homeroom classes will remain study periods, certain topics will be continually discussed throughout the year through planned lessons. The �irst topic that will be covered is about mindfulness and mindset change; it will focus on providing students with strategies to overcome anxiety and stress. Another topic that will be addressed during the year is “battery maintenance,” which involves individuals being more aware of themselves, their limits and how they feel during the day. Through this lesson, students will learn not only how to �ill their emotional “battery,” but also how to grow it. “I think this new program will be successful because we have never had one like it,” Anbuchelvan said. “There will be changes made along the way but it is an
improvement from what the school has been doing for homeroom.” To help promote their new program, Anbuchelvan and Phelan hope to partner with student clubs and organizations on campus through fundraisers, posters and ASB videos. In particular, they plan to work with Aletheia, whose mental health topic will be shaped around the new homeroom curriculum. The new plan also consists of several guest speaker events throughout the year, the �irst of which took place on Sept. 17 and featured Barbara Sai, co-founder of Up Level. Up Level is a mental health gym located in downtown San Jose that teaches strategies for mental wellness. Sai’s �irst presentation went handin-hand with the topic of mindfulness and mindset change. Although a majority of the curriculum is yet to be implemented, there is a lot of hope that it will accomplish its primary goal to help Lynbrook students manage their stress. YPPI aspires for their ideas to eventually be implemented throughout the district, not just Lynbrook. They believe it will succeed as long as students wholeheartedly participate in lessons with an open mind.
a quali�ied adult to serve as coach. For the rest of the season, history teacher Nhat Nguyen is coaching the team and has been with the team for 3 weeks. Although Nguyen has never coached tennis before, he has extensive experience playing and coaching badminton. The situation and controversy surrounding Persky caused a signi�icant amount of media attention for Lynbrook. Both national and local publications continually contacted players and administration to comment and news vans could be seen in front of Lynbrook’s campus. The increased media attention caused frustration among the JV Girls’ tennis team and eventually led to Persky’s termination as coach at Lynbrook High School. A followup statement from FUHSD explained that this decision was made in the “best interests” of their students and school community in an effort to “[ensure] that the girls on the JV tennis team are able to have a successful season.” Strong feelings fueled both sides of the issue, with some opposing Persky’s position as a coach and others defending his employment status. Those who disapproved of his hiring argued that Persky was not suited for the position due to his decision in People v. Turner while those who supported keeping him as a coach believed in trusting his coaching abilities. As of now, Nguyen will coach the team for the rest of this season. To learn more about the Epic’s stance on this situation, read the staff editorial on page 6.
FOOTBALL// pg. 14 New laws for injury prevention