TEARSHEETS TEARSHEETS
may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may front page, page 1, may 2018 THE
PRESS
The newspaper of Cactus Shadows High School in Cave Creek, Arizona
THE MAY 18, 2018 ISSUE
A FORCE IN MOTION, teachers staged a walk in to bring attention to low funding across the state. Shortly after, the Cave Creek Unified School District participated in the 6 day strike. 4 BLAKE DORAME
WHAT’S INSIDE
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GET LIT The Yearbook and Literary Magazine staff release their 2018 editions. Brook Bowman talks to the staff and advisers of the publications to get a closer look into the production process.
TEACHERS STRIKE BACK
OBSOLETE OBSTACLES Michael Marchica, a senior, paves his way to state, winning the 300 meter hurdles. Griffin Goldstein reports on his road to the top.
“I believe schools should’ve stayed closed until a genuine change was made.”
Following walk-ins, marches, and protests, educators launched a historic state-wide strike for higher pay and more sufficient funding.
By BROOK BOWMAN g staff writer
Dressed in red, Arizona’s educators conducted an historic 6-day strike, that lasted from April 26th to May 3rd, to protest the lack of school funding and teacher pay. Many districts, Cave Creek Unified School District (CCUSD) included, were forced to close for that period. However, CCUSD did open up doors on Monday, unlike many large districts in the state such as Scottsdale Unified School District, Mesa Public Schools, and Peoria Unified School District. The walkout caused a lot of controversy among parents, students, administration, teachers, and community members, with many voicing strong opinions on both sides. “I completely agree with the motivation behind the strikes because I believe our teachers deserve higher pay and schools need increased funding in order to provide the best possible education for students. I think the results of the strikes will positively impact our education in the future,” said Amanda Carlson, a junior and stu-
dent at Desert Mountain Many students and teachers questioned why CCUSD seemed to be the only ones back at school. As the bulk of the strike raged on, at Cactus Shadows, 24 teachers were missing from their desks on Monday morning. “Personally, I believe schools should’ve stayed closed until a genuine change was made. I respect teachers for standing up for themselves. But, I also know that there are a number of details not available to me as a student,” said Gabe Ozaki, a junior. Debbi Burdick, Superintendent, made the decision to open schools on Monday based on the number of teachers who planned to be at school. “We knew we had enough staff to safely supervise students and safety is always our first concern,” said Burdick. According to Burdick, most of the smaller districts in Arizona reopened on Monday, and some did not close at all. Those that did not stay open were large districts that did not have enough supervision.
Gabe Ozaki, a junior. See Red for Ed on page 3
news, page 3, may 2018 THE CACTUS SHADOWS PRESS NEWS
May 18, 2018 ■ 3
Facebook under fire following testimony in Congress
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By KASSIDY WHEELER g staff writer
STRIKE OUT, Karson Shipp, a history teacher, leads a group of around 50 educators from the community in a walk in. Shipp shared a speech rallying his colleagues in the fight for higher funding and teacher pay. 4BLAKE DORAME
HE introduction of social media presents a variety of online risks. With just a few clicks, people have immediate access to friends, family, and their personal interests. Leisures activities that they partake in are displayed online for others to see. Where they shop, what they buy, where they work, their likes and dislikes, and how they live their
Facebook is one of the most powerful and profitable businesses in the world, but with all that power comes responsibility. Protecting the privacy of billions of people is a difficult challenge. “Using our information to influence how we think isn’t really good, and showing us ads with our personal information to influence us is a really bad thing,” said Jered Moore, a junior. The CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, recently appeared in front of the U.S. Congress to discuss the role that Cambridge Analytica, a political data firm in the United Kingdom that worked for Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, might have had in accessing the data of nearly 90 million people. They used this information to sway voters opinions during the 2016 presidential election. Reports in The New York Times and The Observer of London suggest that the private data of tens of millions of Facebook accounts had been obtained by Cambridge Analytica, which also was found to be attempting to influence British voters and their opinions about the referendum to leave
‘Facebook connects nearly 2.1 billion people around the world. Facebook is one of the most powerful and profitable businesses in the world, but with all that power comes responsibility. Protecting the privacy of billions of people is a difficult challenge.” lives can all be accessed easily. Recently, the debate between whether or not social media companies such as Facebook have the right to gather and sell private information has gained attention. Facebook connects nearly 2.1 billion people around the world.
the European Union. Cambridge Analytica denies these claims, despite reports that nearly all of Facebook’s users had their private data taken from an outside source due to faulty security designs. It was discovered that a developer working with Facebook had shared the data of millions of Facebook users without their consent. This private data played a critical part in the 2016 presidential election, because Cambridge Analytica used it without the user’s knowledge to place ads to sway voters for Donald Trump. The issue with this type of political advertising is not that this strategy uses advertisements to sway voters, but that private information was used without permission to manipulate the vote. Social media sites use tracking technology to monitor how their users react to certain things they see while on their platform and the Internet. When this is applied in politics, it can deeply impact the emotions and opinions of voters. Using personal data based on demographics, political preferences, cultural perspectives, and biases, Cambridge Analytica created a “Custom Audience” on Facebook. Using the tracked past behavior of this audience from older Facebook posts and other online activities, it was able to determine which types
of advertisements would appeal to them. From there, they used another tool called a “Lookalike Audience,” which created fake Facebook groups similar to those in the custom audience. They were then able to deliver advertising messages and posts that would appeal to specific voters and reinforce their personal biases with what appeared to be many groups on Facebook that shared these same opinions. These groups were also used to share false information. “I think our privacy is important, and it’s better to have it protected. People need to be told if something has happened to their private information so they can do something about it,” said Jessica Brophy, a junior. There are no laws in the United States that regulate Facebook to alert users when a data breach has occurred. Europe recently passed the General Protection Regulation, which requires social networking companies, such as Facebook, to disclose within 72 hours if there has been a privacy breach, and it also governs how private information is stored. “I would support the government telling social media companies what they can and cannot do with people’s information in order to better control the use of personal information,” said Molly Gum, a psychology teacher. Social media has been around for about 20 years, and was
used previously during Barack Obama’s presidential run, when his campaign set up a Facebook app for supporters to donate funds, learn how to register to vote, and learn where to vote. This app asked permission to scan photos, friends lists, and news feeds. Many users agreed to these terms, and knew their information could be used to support Obama’s campaign. However, the friends of the people who installed or accessed the app did not agree to the same terms, and they were exposed to advertisements in an attempt to capture votes. The data more recently obtained by Cambridge Analytica was not in compliance or even acknowledged by user agreement, which was different from how the Obama campaign used social media in 2012. The debate about social media and personal privacy continues. The government has rarely taken action to defend privacy rights like this. Many people, until recently, were unaware of how social media compromised their privacy. With increasing government scrutiny and public understanding, what happens next remains to be seen. One thing is certain though, social media has changed the world dramatically, and will continue to change the world in the future.
Red for Ed continued from page 1
CCUSD made the decision to close Thursday and Friday because the district did not have enough staff to adequately provide safe supervision for students. Of those 24 teachers who were out on Monday, one of them was Geoff Johnson, a history teacher. Johnson gave many reasons for walking out, but his main concern is classroom size. When Johnson first started teacher at Cactus Shadows fourteen years ago, his normal class consisted of 27 students, which already exceeded the average rate. Now, in 2018, his biggest class has 39 students. “Education has been taken for granted. You look at the system and kids go through it, they graduate, move on, and start contributing to society. And, they remember a few of their teachers, their good experiences with them, and they look back nicely on them. So, everyone thinks that the education system is doing fine,” said Johnson. “We paint the buildings on the outside, we build new football stadiums, we put an A+ on the side of our campus. These are all great things, but it’s not a good indicator of what is happening inside our schools.” Governor Ducey signed the budget, which included
increased funding to schools for next year. As a result, CCUSD announced a ten percent pay raise for all teachers. As a single father, Johnson is excited for the pay raise. “In my opinion, teachers should be the number one paid profession in the United States, because everybody has to go to school,” said Steve Bebee, principal. Arizona Educators United, the group that organized the walkout, called for it to end after an all-night legislative session led to the approval of the budget. This budget is expected to bring teachers a 20 percent pay raise and millions of dollars in funding by 2020. “We will return to our schools, classrooms, and students knowing that we have achieved something truly historic. We should take pride in what we have accomplished, and in the movement that we have created together,” tweeted the Arizona Education Association, the state’s teacher organization. The teachers walkout has been called the first and largest teacher strike in Arizona, and is certainly something that many have never seen before. “I was in education in Illinois and experienced a 3 week
strike there. However, that was for an individual district, not a state. This walkout has been a unique grass roots effort that is unprecedented,” said Burdick. One of the many things to inspire the movement was the February West Virginia’s teacher strike. The teachers there staged a 9-day strike that included over 34,000 teachers, according to the Nation Magazine. As a result, educators received a pay raise, healthcare benefits, and additional school funding. Many educators, including Johnson, were motivated by West Virginia’s movement to take a stance for themselves, future teachers, and their students. “When we saw that, we were moved by it and decided that we need to start at least educating the community. I, personally, didn’t anticipate it starting in a walkout. But by looking at it, I was inspired and moved by what those teachers did,” said Johnson. Following the walkout, teachers began reporting back to classrooms by Thursday or the following Monday. “I am excited to offer a 10% raise for our teachers next year,” said Burdick.
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TEARSHEETS TEARSHEETS