Volume 4.1 Issue 2, October 22 2009

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EL ESTOQUE ONLINE

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NOT JUST ANY OLD

COLLEGE APP What it means when your classmates say they’re applying to art school ENTERTAINMENT page 19

CITY COUNCIL FORUM Explore the ins and outs of of the 2010 council elections and the future of our city in an exclusive two-page feature NEWS pages 4 and 5 OCTOBER 22, 2009

VOLUME XLISSUE 2MONTA VISTA HIGH SCHOOLCUPERTINO, CA

Competition for classes

PLAN

De Anza another option for students

Financial fate of FUHSD schools uncertain

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see DE ANZA page 6

School deals with unexpected outbreak by Tammy Su

by Christophe Haubursin tudents at MVHS are disappearing. One by one, they’re turning away from high school courses to a new alternative: De Anza Community College. A portion of students have recently made the decision to transfer out of certain classes in order to take them for college credit at institutions like De Anza. Though the classes do not count for Monta Vista credit, they do count on a college transcript, which has compelled some students to take such classes outside of MVHS. Senior Sahiba Johar began to attend De Anza at 16, after her two older brothers did the same seven years before her, enrolling in Pre-Calculus and Spanish 3 in the fall quarter of her junior year. She is currently enrolled in speech and math courses, but has previously taken anthropology and psychology classes, among others. She takes one two-hour class per day, speech every other day at lunch and math every other evening. “I’m just trying to get ahead in my transfer program,” Johar said, “because if I do decide to transfer to another college, I can do it right at the end of my senior year instead of wasting two more years, so I’d essentially be done with college faster.” Since enrollment in De Anza classes does not appear on MVHS transcripts, classes that are not required for graduation are more popular than classes that are. But even so, some persist in their attempts to drop required classes. “This year, lots of kids decided they wanted to drop U.S. History and try to take it at De Anza,” guidance counselor Shari Schussel said. “That’s, generally speaking, not allowed.” All transfer efforts require a brief interview before a drop form can be issued. Administration asks what class the student wants to drop, who they’ve talked to about dropping the class, and how they plan on making it up. “We won’t sign a drop form without having knowledge of where the kid will make up the class,” Schussel said. When history teacher Viviana MontoyaHernandez had a section of her class Number of students cut down who submitted forms for due to unconcurrent enrollment at derenrollDe Anza College. ment, one of her classes was divided across her other periods. The schedules of many students became rearranged, causing some problems with students’ scheduling. “I had two students who came in and told me that they were considering dropping U.S. History altogether since, at the time, their schedule was going to change. About a week later, they showed up in my new schedule,” Montoya-Hernandez said. “Some of the students that I’ve heard talk about it in the past said that it was a time issue, but no one that I know of from the class that was canceled actually dropped.”

Flu season arrives early

by Natalie Chan

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ampaign volunteers working through the neighborhood on the morning of Oct. 17 wanted to make sure voters understand that Fremont Union High School District may stand to lose 10 percent of its teachers in the next few years. In 2011, the current parcel tax will expire, taking with it a yearly $5 million from FUHSD schools. Measure G aims to renew the tax, keep class sizes from increasing, and provide funding for the district to keep its teachers and programs.

The measure is a permanent, annual tax of $98 per parcel, or property, adjusted yearly for inflation. It will help the district keep the roughly $500 of funding per student it would otherwise lose in 2011, as well as fund teachers’ salaries and finance advanced classes and programs. Measure G is designed to maintain funding when the state has already cut millions of dollars from FUHSD. The district currently receives less money than most high school districts in the Bay Area. see MEASURE G on page 3

Stefan Ball | El Estoque

GO TIME Principal April Scott prepares seniors Adam Song and Alecia Chan for the Measure G precinct walk on Oct. 17 at Lincoln Elementary School.

hough the flu usually has the greatest impact as the weather shifts to its annual low, this year’s flu season has come early—and with greater intensity. According to Assistant Principal Brad Metheany, student illnesses are up right now. “The attendance records do show that there’s a pattern of illness right now, and that toll is deeper than usual,” Metheany said. “We don’t know for sure how much of an impact it’s been having, but it is true that H1N1 is a concern right now.” In terms of H1N1, Metheany states that doctors have stopped reporting these cases individually, instead categorizing sicknesses simply as cases of the flu. However, some parents and students have kept the school up to date on cases. Among the cases, several of the players on the football team have been affected. “It felt like I’d been hit by a truck,” senior varsity football player Christopher O’Leary said. “All of my energy was at the bottom of my stomach.” O’Leary does state that through taking the antiviral drug Tamiflu, he’s felt much better. Students are being asked to stay at home if they have fevers higher than 100 degrees. Because of the increased risk of illness brought on by the spread of H1N1, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention has also approved certain guidelines that teachers must follow in the classroom. In particular, teachers are now being asked to actively identify, and send to the office, students in their classes that don’t look well. Students can return when their temperatures are back to below 100 degrees without the aid of fever reducers.

City prepares in memory of earthquake anniversary Drills run across Cupertino to raise disaster awareness 20 years after Loma Prieta by Joseph Beyda

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t was Oct. 17, 1989, at 5:04 pm Pacific time. Andy Huang, now a volunteer for the City of Cupertino, was in Boston, watching the third game of the World Series between the Giants and the A’s. “All of a sudden I saw these shaking waves on the TV,” he said. “The next thing you knew, it just went blank. Then it came back a few seconds later, and people started announcing, ‘San Francisco is experiencing an earthquake’.” That earthquake would cause 62 deaths, nearly 4,000 injuries, and over $6 billion in damage. Stamped into the memories of everyone who, on that fateful day, happened to be a baseball fan or Bay Area resident, is the name of a peak located five miles from the epicenter: Loma Prieta. In commemoration of the 20-year anniversary of the quake, Huang helped Cupertino organize a city-wide drill on Oct. 17 and 18, specializing in reaching out to groups interested in volunteering. Scouting organizations and other volunteers went house-to-house to every residence in the city in order to gauge how long it would take to get out information in case of an actual emergency. If an emergency were to occur, “we would have people go knock on doors asking, ‘Are you okay?’ “ Huang said. The volunteers passed out fliers which included information about the city’s six ARK locations—strategicallyplaced locations that would serve as command centers for relief and information in the case of a real emergency. The fliers also informed residents of free emergency-preparedness training classes offered by the city and provid-

Samved Sangameswara | El Estoque

BE PREPARED Volunteers at the Cupertino City Center spread awareness of disaster preparedness at the citywide earthquake drill on Oct. 17. ed them with an emergency-preparedness checklist. Clubs Octagon, Interact, Key Club, and CSF had volunteers stationed at these locations, which include Lincoln Elementary School, Hyde Middle School, and other nearby schools. Members assisted residents, many of whom had been directed to the stations by the fliers passed out by scouts. “People will be coming to us, asking us questions, and we’ll pretty much be at the help desk telling them what to do,” sophomore Jay Vadiya said in anticipation of the event. In turn, the volunteers at the ARK locations checked scouts in and assigned them the areas they would cover. see EARTHQUAKE on page 3


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