Life & Art
Opinions
“Ancient, scary stories haunt San Gabriel High” pg. 8
“Students need more options, access to technology” pg. 4
THE
Features “Homecoming 2014: Our Love Will Go On” pg. 12
Matador
Volume 60, NUMBER 2
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2014
S a n G a b r i e l H i gh S c h o o l
801 Ramona St., San Gabriel, CA 91776
www.thematadorsghs.com
Graphic by Jennifer Thai. Photos by Alissa So, Jazzmin Perez, Noah Rodriguez, El Camino Real
School campus experiences blackouts E ri n Tru o n g A passing September heat wave in Southern California indirectly caused a string of blackouts at San Gabriel High School. According to Principal Jim Schofield, when classrooms were forced to keep their air conditioning running, campus usage of electricity exceeded the maximum and caused San Gabriel’s transformer—a machine used to distribute and regulate power—to blow a fuse, resulting in a series of electrical issues that persisted for two weeks. Because of the disruptions throughout those two weeks, administration was forced to find alternate methods to send out messages and balance San Gabriel’s schedule. “We do the best we can in these situations,” Schofield said. “We send communications out through our campus supervisors, and deliver it to every class on campus. We send phone messages home so parents know what’s going on.” Chris Takeshita, Assistant Principal of Business and Activities, hopes that “people will be empathetic and sympathetic to the situation.” “We will always be happy to relocate classrooms and find alternate places for [students] to continue learning,” Takeshita said. “People will be inconvenienced, but unfortunately, that’s just a part of what happens when the power goes out.” Takeshita adds that the power outage “was something [San Gabriel] didn’t ask for, but something that had to be dealt with as best as possible.” During the power outages, San Gabriel twice adopted the minimum day schedule so that Southern California Edison could perform maintenance on San Gabriel’s transformer. “[The dismissals] were great and gave us free time to socialize,” sophomore Michael Lam said. “But since [San Gabriel] had no power, [students]
California adopts sexual consent bill for college safety Kim Pham
Photo by The Matador Staff
Students stand in a darkened classroom, waiting to be dismissed early due to a power outage that occurred because of the blown transformer. could have just stayed at home.” Lam also added that during the outages, learning was inhibited because “teachers weren’t expecting the outage.” However, English teacher Karen Johnston believed that the blackouts were handled well. “[San Gabriel] had to deal with dark rooms, no air conditioning, and what seemed like hourly changes in the bell schedule,” Johnston said. “But throughout I did feel that the administrative team, with the help of campus supervisors, worked hard to keep [students and teachers] informed and to make decisions in [their] best interests.” Johnston said that students dealt with the blackout in a mature manner. “I think our students demonstrated their ability to handle a trying, real-world interruption of their learning with flexibility and maturity,” Johnston said. “Kudos to them!”
After receiving petitions from women’s advocacy groups and college campus sexual assault victims, Calif. Gov. Jerry Brown announced on Sep. 28 that he has signed the loosely termed “yes means yes” bill, which defines sexual consent and provides an outline for college campuses on how to better evaluate sexual assault claims. The Student Press Law Center reported that college administrators neglect to file sexual assault reports, with heavily populated universities such as Florida State only reporting five sexual assaults over the last two years. In response to the inaccuracy of crime reports, state lawmakers approved the new bill proposed by Senator Kevin de Leon last month. The legislation is the first in the nation that requires college campuses to adopt a policy concerning sexual assault in order to receive state funds. The bill strives to improve how college campuses handle sexual assault accusations and replace the use of the term “no means no” by defining consent as “an affirmative, conscious, and voluntary agreement to engage in sexual activity.” De Leon hopes the new legislation will spark crucial change in how college campuses in California prevent and examine rape and sexual assault cases. “Every student deserves a learning environment that is safe and healthy,” De Leon said. “The State of California will not allow schools to sweep rape cases under the rug. We’ve shifted the conversation regarding sexual assault to one of prevention, justice, and healing.” Investigators are now required to use the standard “yes means yes” when deciding if rape occurred, meaning victims no longer have to give a solid “no” in order to have a valid case, but instead have to provide a firm consent. The bill also requires that university faculty members need to be trained on how to investigate and interpret complaints, along with how to provide access to health care services and counseling. Junior Yu Lin Ma believes that the new legislation is a good course of action against campus sexual assault crimes... continued on page 2