VOLUME 51, ISSUE 2
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2007
CASTRO VALLEY, CA, 94546
Homecoming threatened by fights, vandalism By Michelle Matsui City Editor
ments, and in some cases, lack of new sheet music. But now, with the money from the grant, teachers and students will not only be seeing these problems fixed, but also improved on. Sutton expressed great enthusiasm for the $97,000 grant, beaming at the prospect of being able to purchase new equipment and supplies for school use. “The government decided it was finally time to start rebuilding Arts Education in California,” she said. First and foremost, the Visual Arts Department has decided to purchase the necessities to start an animation class: a classroom full of computers. The Theatre/ Drama Department will buy a $3,000 keyboard that will open up many possibilities for both drama classes and plays in the Center for the Arts. Finally, alongside repairing old equipment, the Music Department will be purchasing a variety of instruments. Some examples are cellos, a sousaphone, a xylophone, the
long-awaited sheet music, and a set of expensive tympanis that cost over a thousand dollars a piece. Furthermore, in addition to the one-time $97,000 grant, a second grant will present the art department with $44,000 each year. With the money from the government, there will be no doubt that the CVHS art department will be seeing lots of growth in various areas. When asked what she was looking forward to the most about using the grant money, Sutton expressed her wish to see the marching band perform on the new stadium field supported by a drum line – a group of percussion instruments usually played as part of a marching ensemble. “I can’t wait until I hear the marching band with their brand new drum line!” said Sutton. Look forward to new equipment and further improvements in the art department as the year moves on.
Sauerkraut in car air vents, keyed cars, fistfights and even a near-death experience were just a few of the incidents in a series of conflicts that tarnished this year’s Homecoming competition. In an intense conflict between the junior and senior classes, silly pranks turned into illegal vandalism and personal fights. “This is, by far, the worst year we’ve ever had,” commented senior ASB President Travis Northup about this year’s Homecoming problems compared to his other three years. The rivalry’s beginning is shrouded in skepticism with each class pointing fingers at the other, saying that the other class started the dispute. The fights began on the Sunday night before Homecoming when each class had separate work parties in Palomares Hills, Northup said. Since the two parties were on the same street, one group decided to have a bit of fun by throwing water balloons at the other. Then came students throwing eggs and yogurt at each other, witnesses said. Tensions escalated when a junior girl tried to run over one of the senior girls, according to Northup. The senior then pulled the junior out of her car and began “whaling on her,” said Northup. When administrators found out about this fiasco on Monday morning, they took immediate action. They dealt with the allegedly involved girls harshly and warned the police to keep a lookout in Palomares in order to prevent any other violent incidents, Northup said. “I didn’t know Homecoming was going to go as far as it did. I thought it was just going to be all fun and games,” said freshman Jackie Ko. Later at lunch during the junior march, the conflict expanded when a group of senior girls marched in front of the ju-
their teaching,” explained Cindy Puppione. “It helps us know how to best service students.” Cruncher was introduced at a staff presentation last year along with workshops on instruction. The computer program shows teachers their students’ results on annual STAR tests and on the English Language Development Test. Attendance records, past grade point averages, and current grades are available on Cruncher. Teachers can sort class scores by demographics, by progress, and by subject. Schoolwide scores
are summarized and test scores are broken down into specific sections so teachers know which areas need further help. “[Teachers] ideally see what they need to teach according to the standards,” Puppione noted. District officials want to make sure the school is on track with the state Academic Performance Index and federal Adequate Yearly Progress standards. The history department was especially interested and underwent a pilot program of Cruncher last year.
“[Cruncher is used to] find right off the bat what kind of students they are…with the information to help me help [my] students and address their needs,” said Jeff Goldstein, who called the program “empowering.” Students are divided on the issue of teachers knowing their scores. “They shouldn’t be allowed to do that. It’s private information,” said senior Emily Marciel. “You took the test, got the grade, and may not like [the score] but it exists,” commented
Stephanie Lombardo / Photo Editor
Erika Woods and senior friends march in the Homecoming parade on Friday, Oct. 19. See more about Homecoming on pages 4, 5 and 6.
Big bucks coming for CVHS arts programs
By Joseph Wan Staff Writer
For the first time in a decade, the art department will be able to fund their plans for the 2007-2008 school year due to a one-time grant of $97,000 presented by the state government. For years schools have been unable to fund their art classes, and CVHS was no exception. After years of neglect. however, the government has finally decided to give schools the funds needed to repair and even expand their art programs. “This is my tenth year teaching and it is the first time ever,” said Jo Sutton, Visual and Performing Arts Department Chair. CVHS has never been granted government money for the art department before. In past years, growth in art departments had been stunted due to a lack of monetary support. For example, the music students suffered from the disrepair of several school-owned instru-
niors, flipping them off and trying to scream over their chants. From this sprang the beginning of the “SS Express,” the senior and sophomore alliance and the beginning of the car vandalism. More than a dozen cars were trashed, although most of the vandalism wasn’t permanent. On Wednesday night, the fights peaked when senior song girls went into practice and the junior song girls used that time to trash the senior cars with washable car paint. They used the paint to defile the cars with things like “slut,” and “’09.” Some girls even went as far as to draw obscene images on a car. Since the senior cars were parked in the senior lot, the security cameras caught everything on tape, helping the administration single out the junior girls who caused the trouble. “We would’ve had to cancel Homecoming if it wasn’t for the security cameras,” said Northup who was relieved to not have to announce any cancellations. Senior girls retaliated by coming together and waking up earlier than usual to retaliate against the juniors for Thursday morning. They conspired to park their cars in the junior lot, leaving no spaces left for the juniors and forcing them to either park illegally in a senior spot, which would’ve resulted in a ticket or a towing, or to park off campus. Seniors then taunted juniors by writing “Seniors,” “2008,” or “Welcome to Seniorland” in chalk throughout the junior and senior lots. “It would’ve been more fun if a junior car actually got towed,” said senior Rachel Nartia. Because these pranks got so out of hand this year, the administration is trying to show underclassmen that this escalated level of tension and competition is not traditional. “It was an example of what class competition shouldn’t be,” said Principal Pete Alvarez. “Class competition should be fun and respectful and based on school spirit.”
junior Julianne Burnette. “If you screw up, then you screw up. Accept reality.” Castro Valley High’s 2007 standardized testing scores met federal goals but were short of its API growth target for state standards, dropping three points from the previous year. The high school’s STAR scores, however, are among the top half of schools in Alameda County. The effects of Cruncher on student performance remains to be seen but school officials are placing their high hopes on this new idea.
Cruncher lets teachers read student records By Eva Poon Staff Writer
The Castro Valley Unified School District is encouraging teachers to use Cruncher, a schoolwide web-based data system that provides teachers access to all of their students’ standardized testing scores. Administrators believe that Cruncher will allow teachers to personalize their focus on each student. “Cruncher helps [teachers] analyze students’ strengths and weaknesses so they can tailor