Clinton, Trump race for votes
Students explore the world
Page 3: Students weigh in on the election
Pages 4-5: International adventures abound
Volume 60, Issue 1
October 14, 2016
Pirates sink Trojans in big game
Page 7: Football team loses homecoming bout
We are born to seek the truth! www.cvhsolympian.com
Teachers take tenure Triumph By Anastasia Le Copy Editor
Halley Lin-Jones / Editor-In-Chief
Saxophone players rehearse for the upcoming competition.
First year of competition for band By Lauren Eisenman Video Editor
For the first time ever, the CVHS marching band will participate in competitions against other high schools throughout the Bay Area. This year, the band will be perform at two field show competitions: the Valley Christian Field Show and the Dublin High School Field Show. In addition to competing for the first time, the ensemble has also expanded to include a new color guard group, a section without any music involved. The color guard provides visual enhancement to the marching band performance, while also complementing the music.
The theme of this year’s show is Cirque Du Soleil, featuring music from the popular acrobatic show, with pieces such as “Distorted,” “Journey of Man,”, and “Incantation.” The students involved in the ensemble are hugely dedicated and attend practices on Tuesdays and Wednesdays after schools, as well as on Saturdays. Students were also required to attend a week-long band camp over the summer to get a head start on marching. The band is under the student leadership of drum majors Lindsey Guan and André Juntilla, as well as assistant drum majors Julee Ancheta and Griffin Bere-
sini. The band is also working together with professional drum, marching, and pit instructors. Although the practices can often be tedious, the hardworking band is excited to be introduced to the competitive environment. “I’m excited that we’re competing this year,” said Guan. “When I was a freshman, we’d look at James Logan High School. They have an amazing marching band program, and this giant bus!” The band has made tremendous progress since last year, and the students are feeling the pressure of competing for the first time.
The state Supreme Court of California declined to hear the highly contested Vergara v. California case that challenged state tenure laws, thus upholding job protection laws for teachers throughout the state. These laws grant the protections of tenure to teachers once they have worked for two years. Teacher tenure laws were originally devised as a means to prevent teachers from being fired for personal or political reasons, including the firing of experienced teachers to hire less expensive new teachers. “Without teacher tenure, more experienced teachers could be let go because of arbitrary reasons,” social studies teacher Mark Mladinich commented. “Overall, I definitely support [teacher tenure].” Vergara v. California was originally filed in May 2012 and alleged that several state statutes regarding teacher tenure violated the California Constitution by disparately impacting minority students in poorer school districts. “There’s a fear that teachers who can’t teach stay in the profession and don’t help students,” Mladinich stated. “The hope is that students are getting veteran teachers that can teach well.” “There are lots of pros and
cons,” Spanish teacher Antonio Acosta shared. “In my former district, I did see really terrible teachers that took advantage of tenure that didn't teach students at all.” The attorneys of the nine student plaintiffs claimed that “the challenged statutes result in grossly ineffective teachers obtaining and retaining permanent employment, and that these teachers are disproportionately situated in schools serving predominately low-income and minority students….the challenged statutes violate their fundamental rights to equality of education.” In June 2014, Judge Rolf Treu of the California Superior Court ruled that all of the statutes challenged by the student plaintiffs were unconstitutional because the state constitution guarantees free public education for all. But in April 2016, a three-judge panel on the Court of Appeal reversed the trial court’s decision and held that the challenged statutes did not violate the state constitution. In May, the students’ lawyers asked the state Supreme Court to reconsider the reversal and reinstate the trial court’s ruling. The State Supreme Court declined to review the case in August, settling the issue for now. “At the end of the day, I get to keep my job,” Acosta remarked.
Parking passes perplex and please pupils and parents By Elizabeth Chan Copy Editor
CVHS administration has instituted a brand new parking permit rule. With this rule, students purchasing a parking permit are assigned parking spots, rather than the past year’s practice of picking your own spot. When asked why these new rules were created, Assistant Principal Jesse Hansen said it was due to “the difficulty in enforcing parking rules.” In the past, multiple announcements on the loudspeaker warned that students’ cars would be towed if they parked in the wrong area. The school finally did tow “two to three cars,” said Hansen. On average, a tow costs the car’s owner between $125- $275.
When asked if the school would really tow cars that were parked in the wrong space, Hansen said “Yes.” Last year, parking was an issue because students who did not purchase a parking permit would steal the limited amounts of permit-holding students’ spots. It became an even bigger issue when students starting parking in teachers’ spots. “We want to be fair for the students who have paid for parking and see that they are guaranteed to get a parking space,” said Assistant Principal Patrinia Redd. However, many students are angry because of these new rules. Some students at CVHS decided to take a zero period this year, or come early to guarantee that they get a good parking spot.
“I am livid as a zero period student; I have to wake up early to fulfill my education so I think I deserve to get a good parking space because the early bird gets the worm,” said senior Olivia Chan. Even some students who don’t drive are angry as well. “As a student who doesn’t drive, this makes me a little angry because I feel it is unfair to students who came to school early to get the spot they want,” said senior Caitlin Wong. On the other side of the argument, however, senior Sabrina Ho said, “I think it's fair because they do random lottery and don't pick spots based on your last name or when you purchased the parking permit.”
Elizabeth Chan / Copy editor
Students park in their assigned parking spots.