VOLUME 51, ISSUE 7
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2008 CASTRO VALLEY, CA, 94546
New disaster plan for CVHS By Becky Chao Copy Editor
Malena Bell / Editor-in-Chief
Pie in her eye! Freshmen threw pies at Link Crew leaders like senior Michelle Ruiz at the recent Sock Hop. Senior Travis Saracco helps her wipe her face.
CVHS constitution altered By Andrew Huber Staff Writer
The United States had two tries at a constitution, and CVHS is going for a second try as well. On Wednesday, Feb. 6, the Associated Student Body presented a new constitution to the House of Representatives after the leadership class decided that the old one was inadequate. The ASB changed several items in the Constitution during its major overhaul: senate membership, house of representatives membership, powers of the House of Representatives, clubs on campus, duties of the student body vice president, and duties of the school board representative to name a few. “One of the key changes was
to make the House more involved in providing feedback and suggestions rather than just disseminating information,” said student activities teacher Carmelina Frasca. In order to make the Constitution more student friendly, a committee of Leadership students, in charge of the new creation, removed many of the sophisticated legal terms spread throughout the document and replaced them with unadorned language. Some students saw the revisions as an opening of a new era. The improvements to the powers of the House of Representatives would allow members to submit topics of interest on index cards in order to establish a two-way connection. Various House members seemed mildly thrilled and optimistic
about the new constitution. “The new powers seem pretty good because we can submit new ideas,” said freshman representative Michael Small. While some looked on with hope in their eyes, some failed to see a point to the new Constitution. Such skeptics questioned the real purpose of the Constitution, as few knew of the previous one. “I felt like it was a waste of time…we don’t really make laws anyway,” said senior representative Monica Zhang. After a month’s worth of assessment time, the House of Representatives will vote at the next meeting, March 19, on whether or not to ratify the new constitution. Hopefully, this liberal change will not cause a civil war among the students.
mosh pit. In addition, several students were found cheating during one of the breaks and talking during the last 20 minutes of the test. To prevent such difficulties from reoccurring, changes have been made to avoid the conflicts that occurred last year. In order to reduce the chances of cheating, students will be split into two groups, with one group in the old and the other in the new gym. Students will only sit on one side of the tables, as opposed to on both sides, which was the layout of the testing stations last year. Furthermore, students are not to bring their personal belongings or food into the gyms. However, books, magazines, and other reading materials are permitted to occupy the students when they are finished. Some sophomores believe that not distributing food during the exam is a big change. Sophomore Amanda Chouinard said, “I think the school should trust
us well enough to allow us to bring food.” In addition, the administration has bumped up security by having a ratio of one proctor for every 25 students. An old rule that will be enforced more strictly this year will be that all students must show their ID cards to enter the gyms. If students have misplaced or do not have their ID cards, they have until March 10 to replace them. With all these changes, some still speculate whether this will help prevent mosh pits and cheating. “Although this was a wonderful attempt to prevent cheating, some people will still find ways to break the rules,” said sophomore Liana Chin. With all of these changes made, Goldman believes that it will help prevent the mishaps that occurred last year. “We do not anticipate anything of what happened last year to occur this year,” said Goldman.
CVHS is getting a new plan for handling disasters such as earthquakes, floods, and more obscure situations. This is a welcome improvement, considering last year ’s disorganized lockdown. “It’s something combining district expectations and our old plan,” said Assistant Principal Jason Whiteman, who is in charge of the plan. He said the new plan would be based around last year’s responses to a sudden lockdown, but more information would be taken from a recent survey. The school’s reaction to a major disaster could easily affect the community, according to teacher Richard Schneck, because the school is the main evacuation point in this part of Alameda County. “[We need] a plan to help people think through an emergency. Better to think through it [first] instead of reacting and thinking ‘oops, should have done the planning earlier,’” said Schneck, who created the aforementioned survey to illustrate how well CVHS would do in a disaster. Schneck described the results of that survey as “grim.” For instance, it is recommended that a three-day water supply be kept in each classroom. “You can look around [classrooms] and see no red bags, no water,” said Schneck, referring to the emergency bags that keep supplies such as band-aids. Very few classrooms
had water at all. The school would be expected to keep several thousands kids and possibly displaced residents if a major crisis occurs. Schneck is especially concerned with earthquakes, the natural disaster California is famous for. “We live in an area prone to earthquakes and two faults are within 20 miles of the school,” Schneck explained. He is hoping the high school will eventually create a plan similar to the Oakland United School District’s, which instructs readers on what to do during airplane accidents and suspected bioterrorism attacks. “It’s a different world, a different time from [before] 9/11,” said Schneck. Some teachers aren’t so sure that another plan is needed. “Obviously we need good plans and they constantly need to be updated,” conceded teacher Teresa Marshment, who was one of the few who kept students underneath their desks for the entirety of last year’s three-hour lockdown, which occurred when rumors of a gun forced administration to announce a campuswide lockdown. “There was a plan and I was just following the rules, the printed procedures we were given,” said Marshment. “I can’t take credit for just implementing a plan already set.” This is not the first time CVHS has striven to improve disaster
DISASTER: Page 8
No more muffins By Irene Liang Staff Writer
The administration plans to take extreme measures on this year’s California High School Exit Exam, March 11 and March 12, with the hopes of avoiding last year’s conflicts at the test taken mainly by sophomores. Many of the changes include separating students into the old and new gyms and prohibiting students from bringing any food. The CAHSEE, which was developed in 1999 after state law approved the exam, must be passed by all students enrolled in California state public schools in order for them receive a high school diplomas. “The Exit Exam is and should be something that is taken with the utmost seriousness,” said Associate Principal Sue Goldman. However, that was not the case last year when a fight over muffins and other various snacks resulted in a sophomore-filled
Howard Whang / Staff Writer
Skater Dave Flores attempts an "ollie" in the courtyard during lunchtime. Despite the school's rules and concerns, CVHS is a popular skating hangout. See story on page 8.