Opinions“Double perspective: driving” pg. 4-5
THE
Matador
Volume 59, Number 5
WEDNESDaY, JANUARY 22, 2014
Miranda honored with red flowers, blue jeans
Photos courtesy of Kathy Sanchez
Left: Miranda is remembered as a kind and caring person who wore a smile wherever she went. Right: Miranda’s coworkers decorated her bus and wore red flowers for her funeral services. Kri s t y Duong Silvia Miranda, a bus driver for the Alhambra Unified School District, died on Dec. 30 in Fontana. Every morning and after school, students at the Klingerman and Muscatel stops were greeted with a smile as she drove up to the bus stop and opened the doors, often with her red hair neatly tied back into bun with a bandana or a red flower adorning it. “She liked to make people laugh and smile,” bus driver Becky Hernandez said. “She was never mad or sad. If she was a superhero, laughter would be her superpower. I personally think of her as a hero. My hero.” Miranda was described as a kind-hearted person who constantly watched over others. She was not just a bystander. “Silvia was the nicest person. She was always there if you needed someone to talk to and would go out of her way to help other people. She was always taking care of everyone,” her friend and coworker Kathy Sanchez said. Miranda was born on September 22, 1979 in Guanajuato, Mexico. She previously attended Wilson High School and later worked at a clothing factory called St. John’s with a relative until it closed. Soon after that, she found a job at Durham School Services. After working at Durham for about one and a half years, Miranda applied for a job with Alhambra Unified School District Transportation Services and worked there until her death. She was also described as an outgoing and friendly person who always wanted to be “in the mix” according to her cousin Juanna Chavez. “She was my cousin and my best friend. In the mornings, I would go to my bus and do the morning routine, and she would come up to my bus and be like ‘What’s the agenda for today?’ So now that she’s gone, I feel like I’m still waiting for her,” Chavez said. Her funeral services took place on Jan. 8 at the Resurrection Church in Los Angeles where all the attendees wore red flowers, just like the ones she would typically wear to school. Chavez set a duct tape hair bow and school bus keychain next to Miranda during her viewing. Before her funeral services began, senior Kristy Nguyen had students sign a note for her as a sign of “a symbol of our gratitude and a way we could say thank you and goodbye once more.“ “I wasn’t as close to her as others were, but I felt that she was a big part of our lives since she was the first person we saw early in the mornings. She always had a great big smile and was always kind towards everyone. I felt the need to thank her because she always kept us safe and made all of us feel like her own children too. She was just that positive and loving,” Nguyen said. On Jan. 10, students wore a red shirt, blue jeans, white bandanas, and flowered clips to show respect for Miranda. During the winter pep rally, a moment of silence was taken to remember her and a red balloon was released into the sky in her memory.
Features“Nail art is more than a hobby” pg. 12
Focus“What makes you happy?” pg. 6-7
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Debbie Stone promoted to District to develop my skills,” Stone said. Although officially the new Coordinator, Stone still As the new Coordinator of Educational Services- has not transitioned to her new District office because English Language Development (ELD), Debbie Stone, the District’s flexibility has allowed her to finish up now the ex-Assistant Principal of Student Instruction her last tasks at San Gabriel. Stone admits that she at San Gabriel, will will miss her work be supervising the in instructional serdevelopment and vices and the stuimplementation dents with whom of the ELD Proshe developed regram throughout lationships, but she the Alhambra Unialso acknowledges fied School Disthat she is content trict at the K-12 with now having dulevel. Stone was ties that are more appointed to her focused and concennew position at trated. With her new the Jan. 7 school position, Stone plans board meeting. to implement her “It’s an honor philosophy of being to have been sehands-on and visible lected for this poat the school sites. sition,” Stone said, In light of the tran“but I’m also oversition to the Comwhelmed with the mon Core Standards, work it will take to Stone looks forward oversee K-12.” to observing and imPhoto by Derek Deng Stone received proving the program her position after Stone was promoted to Coordinator of Educational Services- offered to students having accepted English Language Development after working since 1994. learning English, or the proposal by whose primary lanthe Board and having undergone an interview in guage is not English. competition with an elementary school principal. The “I want to take a look at the bigger scope, so I can interview consisted of a panel of three: District Super- build something cohesive,” Stone said. intendent of Educational Services Dr. Gary Gonzalez, Having been with the District since 1994 as a chemDirector of Elementary Education Janet Lees, and Direc- istry teacher, Beginning Teacher Support Assessment tor of Secondary Education Brad Walsh. In taking the (BTSA) provider, instructional specialist, and assistant offer, Stone implicitly accepted to undertake the new principal, Stone will be leaving San Gabriel, but not position if selected. her Alhambra Unified home. Moving every five to six “With this new job I feel like I’m going towards years is part of the process through which she spreads something that is going to build me and challenge me her skills. O scar Molina
Administrators conduct schoolwide tardy sweep Mi mi Lam School administrators enforced a surprise tardy sweep, gathering around the E building for any stragglers after the bell rang on Jan. 13 shortly after lunchtime for fifth period. No prior acknowledgements of the sweep were issued, so the late students got away with only a warning. “I want to give students the chance to make the correction before we start to have penalties,” Principal Jim Schofield said. “We noticed that we [have] been seeing more students going to class after the tardy bell has rung, and it [is] a trend that we do [not] want to see grow.” Now, consequences in the form of lunchtime detention will occur should an actual tardy sweep be enacted. If the student were to not attend during lunch, he or she will serve detention for an extended time after school. “There is going to be a phone message that goes out [to the families] that talks about the fact that we are doing these [tardy sweeps] for real,” Schofield said. “It is like the real world where [there are] consequences that meet the crime so to speak, but if you do not take care of business, then that consequence will increase.”
Photo by Mimi Lam
Principal Jim Schofield lectures students about being punctual. Due to the lack of prior notification, the tardy students got off with a warning. Only a relatively small number of students arrived to class late, so the campus security and administrators did not make the student tardies much of a major predicament. However, Schofield does believe “[punctuality] is something that students have a great control of.” Students will be warned of future tardy sweeps, so that they will have adequate time and knowledge to prepare to hurry to class.