8 minute read
• Superintendent Polly Bove retires
BY BENNIE CHANG
“Superintendent Polly Bove has been, in my time at Lynbrook and FUHSD, the most influential superintendent we’ve had,” Principal Maria Jackson said. “She’ll be very hard to replace, and I’ve personally found her a role model for women in leadership.”
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A native Illinoisan, Bove was adopted at 9 months old, growing up the daughter of an engineer. Because of her father, overhauling car engines, putting up roofs, building fireplaces and reading construction plans became the norm. Studying mathematics and rhetoric at the University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign, she went on to work in computer science firms.
“My dad said I had to study chemistry, physics or math, so I chose math because it was the most appealing,” Bove said. “I cannot count the number of times I've thanked him for that in my heart.”
After moving to California, she started teaching at the San Ramon Valley Unified School District in 1973, becoming one of the few women to teach mathematics and computer science. Seventeen years later, she joined FUHSD as an assistant principal at Homestead and went on to serve in districtwide positions, overseeing special education and human resources.
BENNIE CHANG — EPIC
After 16 years, Superintendent Bove retires from her position and wishes the best for her successor.
Eventually becoming deputy superintendent, Bove was then named the interim to replace her predecessor, who had a falling out with the school board. While she never sought the position, she cared deeply about the community, so she accepted the offer to guide the district through the challenging period. After eight months, the board made her appointment permanent.
Through her 32 years in FUHSD and 15 years helming the district, she has revitalized school facilities and buildings and furthered alternative education programs, including those for special education students and 18 to 22 year-olds. Amid the 2004-05 downturn, she worked with the teacher union to create a revenue sharing model, preventing union fighting. When the 2008 recession shook America, FUHSD fought the nationwide trend and kept all of its employees.
“Out of that adversity, we came together,” Bove said. “So was that the biggest challenge? Or was that the biggest opportunity to build trust?”
When the COVID-19 pandemic rolled around, Bove knew that if she was going to keep facilities running and ask anybody to work in-person, she had to model it herself. Prioritizing community input, she initiated a task force to gather parent and student feedback and help craft the district’s COVID-19 response.
Bove’s Jan. 7 retirement announcement prompted the board’s search for a replacement, who will be named at the end of the 2021-22 school year. Bove has led a staff of nearly 1,000 and a student population of more than 10,000. She leaves FUHSD as one of the best public high school districts in the nation, touching the lives of each person she served and worked with.
“Thank you, first and foremost, for being a role model,” Associate Superintendent Tom Avvakumovits said. “You taught us through example. You shared how important it is to listen, to all who inquire, regardless of how insignificant the concern may seem to be. You stressed the importance of standing in the shoes of others, to really try to gain perspective, so that we can better understand, and ultimately, better support the community.”
Letter from the Editors
The fresh smell of spring. Red and pink blossoms around every corner. Love saturates the air.
“Do you have a bank account? Because I’m saving all my love for you,” you tease your significant other.
To which College Board dreamily replies, “You had me at bank account.”
Despite the subliminal consumerism messaging rooted in Valentine’s Day, it is important to take the time to express our appreciation to those around us: friends, family, teachers, even greedy, monopolistic corporations.
Throughout our high school years, none other than the Big Acorn has been our little spitfire, one who will not let you get away with anything: PSAT practice, SAT registration, AP test last-minute cramming. As we continue to pour our hearts, souls and bank accounts out to the insatiable College Debt Foundation, be sure to check out our centerspread on high school relationships. Read about cute askings at Lynbrook (pg. 7), the stigmatization of sex (pg. 8), the intricacies of toxic relationships (pg. 9) and homophobia in the Bay Area (pg. 10).
As the season of love approaches, do you seek advice for asking someone out? Check out our Youtube channel to watch Chelsea and Lina woo students with their best pick-up lines. Read about students’ past experiences on bike theft (pg. 2), being called out on anonymous FUHSD Instagram pages (pg. 4). During the President's Week break, indulge in reading new books (pg. 11) or begin your journey to investing with cryptocurrency (pg. 12).
Whether you’re reading this alone in the middle of homeroom or laughing over it with a significant other during lunch, we hope you enjoy reading this issue as much as we enjoyed making it.
Financial technician Judy Boehm retires Jan. 31
BY TIMOTHY KIM
LAUREN LIU — EPIC
As financial technician, Boehm manages
Lynbrook's finances, such as checks and cash.
Story continued from front page. at Lynbrook in 2001, Boehm worked at a publishing company. After the company moved offices from San Jose to Michigan, Boehm received a call from Lynbrook, asking if she was interested in working as the school’s financial technician. Already familiar with Lynbrook and its staff members because her own children were alumni, Boehm decided to take on the role.
“I had already been very active with the PTSA and School Site Council,” Boehm said. “It was like coming home to family because I still knew a lot of the staff and students.”
Overall, Boehm has positively impacted the lives of students through her work over the years, and she fondly recalls helping students, past and present, manage finances for school events.
“Mrs. Boehm is an absolute pleasure to be around,” ASB Treasurer Pranay Mamileti said. “She is always willing to set aside her work to help us with whatever we need, and that selflessness has been essential to ASB's work. Her financial knowhow has proved essential to ASB, clubs and academic teams on campus.”
Boehm’s help and role at Lynbrook goes far beyond managing finances for individual students, as she meticulously organizes all financial needs for clubs, classes and school-related events while also offering advice for staff who oversee student clubs and classes.
“When I was a club adviser and later a class adviser, Mrs. Boehm took care of all our financial needs,” math teacher Sarah Kraemer said. “She’s so organized and helped us so much by telling me how my club was doing in finances. She manages the money for every school or sporting event and organizes all of our cash boxes. Her dedication and hard work for her job is so admirable.”
Boehm will miss watching students graduate and the inclusive and positive attitudes of students on campus.
“The student talents are just amazing on this campus,” Boehm said. “The difference between a regular accounting role someplace else is that you don’t have the interaction with students, and that’s one of the most gratifying parts of my job.”
Though she feels sentimental about leaving Lynbrook, Boehm has high hopes for the next financial specialist and stresses the importance of prioritizing time-sensitive tasks.
“Some student needs are more pressing than others,” Boehm said. “Learning to prioritize what needs to be done first and still being responsive to what other students and staff need is important.”
Boehm will be missed by students and staff she has worked with and helped throughout her career at Lynbrook.
“I don't know how I'm gonna function without her, just because she does so much for us,” Kraemer said. “There are some people who you just don’t know how anyone would take over their role. She's such a friendly face all the time, and she makes everyone feel so happy all the time. There’s going to be a void now and I'm gonna miss her, but I wish her the best in her retirement.”
Her lasting impact on the school undoubtedly extends beyond just being known as a financial technician, as her exceptional kindness for all staff and students she has interacted with in the past 20 years has helped shape the positivity of Lynbrook as we know it today.
“Mrs. Boehm’s impact on Lynbrook goes far beyond her work as a financial technician,” Mamileti said. “Her smile, kindheartedness and demeanor makes anyone who stops by her office smile.”
Campus bike theft
On Jan. 25, 46 of the 200 bikes on campus were found unlocked. Bike theft is preventable if one locks their bike. Three students share their past experiences of bike theft.
I had left my bike in the cage next to Lynbrook Way without a lock during a Winter Rally practice my sophomore year, and when I came back, it had been stolen. When I went to Mr. Ramirez’s office to see if he saw who stole my bike, we watched them ride my bike down Lynbrook Way on the surveillance cameras.
— Pranay Mamileti, Senior
When I returned to my bike after a football game, the lock was cut, and all traces of my bicycle except for the lock disappeared. Judging from the way my bicycle lock was cut, it was unlikely that the theft was spontaneous, meaning it may have been an organized theft. The staff weren’t able to do anything about the incident as it happened after school hours in the dark.
— William Jiao, Sophomore
My bike got stolen after football practice, and the security footage didn’t really reveal the face of the perpetrator. Mr. Ramirez showed me a new way of locking my bike: taking the lock itself and putting it through the bike frame and the back wheel, and then attaching the lock to the metal itself. Thieves usually cut the rope but can’t cut the lock itself, so only the front wheel can be stolen at worst.”
