1News by Leland Charger Account

Meet the new admins

Costly fire burns down SJUSD school PAGE 2

The effects of budget cuts

PAGES 6 & 7

PAGES 8 & 9

NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION U.S. POSTAGE PAID PERMIT NO. 5124 SAN JOSE, CA

6677 Camden Avenue San Jose, CA 95120

The Charger Account

Leland High School

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Vol. XLVI No. 1

Budget cuts lead to major changes

KYONO AND RODRIGUEZ PHOTOS

Spirit week brings excitement to campus

Students get colorful and creative to show off their school spirit By Rachel Hong Staff Writer Hoping to raise school spirit and support for the first football game of the season, the Associated Student Body (ASB) planned the first spirit week of the new school year for the week of Aug. 30. Spirit Week started on Aug. 30 with Pajama Day, a day that allowed students to skip over the possibly time-consuming outfit selection process. Though the weather was not ideal for flannel plaid pants and fleece sweats shirts, students still showed off their pajama wear. Some came to school in what they wore to bed the night before, but others pulled out all the stops and arrived to class wearing footed pajamas with colorful animal designs and rubber soles. Sports Day was on Aug. 31, with most of the school’s athletes donning their team uniforms. Other students just wore normal sporting gear for a variety of sports, such as softball, baseball and synchronized swimming. Most chose to use this spirit day as a chance to wear jerseys and shirts from their

favorite professional sports teams, which is normally a violation of the district dress code. Apparel advertising the San Jose Sharks and the Los Angeles Lakers was a common sight, as were Warriors jerseys. Sept. 1 was Kindergarten Day, the only spirit day that was not used last year. Students of all grade levels dressed up like kindergartners, wearing blue overalls and plaid skirts. Quite a few managed to squeeze into their old kindergarten T-shirts, and others even dug out their complete elementary school uniforms. Though rarely seen at school on a normal day, rolling-backpacks emblazoned with Elmos or Ninja Turtles became popular once again. The day before was Tie-Dye Day, when many students wore handmade shirts, which contrasted the store-bought ones worn by others. Some students wore tie-dye head to toe, but most demonstrated their spirit with a simple shirt or scarf. The Spirit Week culminated with Class Colors Day on Sept. 2. Seniors wore navy

blue, Juniors wore Columbia blue, Sophomores wore white and Freshmen wore yellow. Many students dressed up to show their class pride and to earn more spirit points to catapult their class to the top. “Spirit week is such a fun way to dress up with your friends. This [first week] was so much fun. It was such a great way to start the year,” Senior Alexandra Bowers said. The week concluded with two in-class rallies, one for the underclassmen and one for the upperclassmen. During the rallies, members of ASB led games and chants to raise spirit. The leaders of Entourage, the school’s spirit club, encouraged students to support the school’s football team student against Soquel High School’s team that night. ASB worked hard to plan the Spirit Week and in-class rallies. The amount of student participation was impressive, and plenty of spirit points were given out. “I’m really glad that there was loads of spirit. It turned out great,” Sophomore Class Secretary Rushil Patel said.

By Lauren Chang and Frank Wang Staff Writers Faced with a district-wide budget deficit, members of the San Jose Teachers’ Association have voted unanimously in favor of furloughs to absorb cuts in order to avoid employee layoffs. This school year, the San Jose Unified School District (SJUSD) has scheduled that Furlough Week between Oct. 4 and Oct. 8. For many students, the thought of Furlough Week brings to mind a new, weeklong break, and they begin to plan how they will spend the week, be it to go on vacation, catch up on sleep or just hang out with friends. “To me, Furlough Week is a much needed break from the stress of school and is a time to just take things easy. However, it occurs at the expense of our teachers, so I’m torn on whether Furlough Week [is] a positive or negative impact to our schools,” Freshman Aaron Wang said. The reason that SJUSD has an extra week off this year is not to provide a break for students but to reduce employee payroll. The Christian Science Monitor reported that Calif. still possesses a 19 billion dollar deficit, despite the fact that the state has made 17 billion dollars in cuts to education alone over the last two years. SJUSD has posted four main reasons on their website for selecting the week of Oct. 4 through Oct. 8 as Furlough Week, instead of the others dates that were considered (Aug. 16-17, Nov. 22-24 and Jan. 4-7). First, it spreads out the breaks during the school year, which are typically placed evenly throughout the year. Second, the five consecutive days ensures that schools do not have isolated days off scattered through the year. Third, it maintains a relative balance between schools’ days in the first and second semester. Last, the two other days considered were both dismissed by the school board because they were too close to other vacation days. The August dates conflicted with the first week of school, the November dates were deemed too close to winter break and the January dates, which would lengthen winter break, were dismissed on the concern that it would make winter break too long. See Furlough Week, page 3

Controversial book removed from senior reading list

By Anya Vindla Staff Writer This spring, the novel Always Running: La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A., by Luis Rodriguez, was banned from the reading list in the San Jose Unified School District (SJUSD). The book depicts the story of the Los Angeles gangs, and includes rape, violence and drug use. The novel was intended to paint the picture of real-world gang life. Controversy has followed Always Running for quite some time now. Initially, the book was taught successfully to sophomores in high school until the school year of 1997-1998. That year, a teacher from the English department taught the book without explaining it or laying down a foundation for the students, which resulted in incorrect interpretations. A parent later complained that the book was “pornographic and stereotypical” in its portrayal of Latino Americans. The parent turned to the press, but was ignored by the school board.

The battle raged on. The school board fought for the right to keep Always Running on the reading list, while the press demanded that the book be taken off the shelves. A compromise was eventually reached. Always Running would remain on reading lists, but parental restrictions and permission slips would be instituted in order to give parents a fair warning about the controversial topics addressed in the book. “Yes, it was gritty, but there was an academic reason for the book,” Elizabeth Taylor, English Dept., said. However, the board has recently come to a new decision, permanently banning Always Running from this decision means that every high school in SJUSD can no longer issue the book to students. The main concern is that the book is perpetuating many negative stereotypes of the Latino community. Growing up in the streets of Los Angeles, Rodriguez wrote Always Running based on personal experiences in the city. He was a part

of multiple gangs and witnessed first-hand the brutality that came with gang life. Every school addresses issues dealing with violence and drugs, at least to some extent. If taught correctly, Always Running would act as a warning from Rodriguez to avoid these dangers. “It’s a small group of people targeting it. There are 100,000 copies out there and nobody has really complained about it,” Rodriguez said about the debate surrounding his novel. There are many arguments on why Rodriguez’s novel should not be banned. There is some questioning as to why only Always Running was banned when there are multiple books on reading lists that discuss sensitive topics similar to certain themes in Always Running, including racism and violence, such as To Kill a Mockingbird, The House on Mango Street and The Freedom Writers Diary. “We read books with all of these components in them. Why should only this one be banned?” Sophomore Jennifer Tom said.

COURTESY OF AMOEBA.COM

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