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THE
APRIL 2022 VOLUME XXXIIII ISSUE V
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STUDENT VOICE OF MILPITAS HIGH SCHOOL
Admin uses restorative justice for discipline issues By David Rendon
Restorative justice is an approach to school discipline that seeks non-punitive methods to discipline students, Principal Francis Rojas said in an interview. Rather than looking at traditional punishments, like suspensions or expulsions, restorative justice aims to have parties understand the wrong they did and reconcile, Rojas said. “We don’t like to use the word ‘punishment,’” Rojas said. “Usually, we call it addressing behaviors or school discipline, so it’s handled pretty much on a caseby-case basis, depending on what the incident is … Consequences could be as simple as a conversation, like an administrator conference, all the way to the most serious one is what we call an expulsion, meaning we are looking at an alternative placement outside of the school district.” The ultimate goal of restorative justice is to address the root cause of a behavior and see how the school can support a student, Director of Secondary Education Maurissa Koide said in an interview. “We are making contact and starting that process of [finding out] what’s caused this behavior and how can we support the student [and] the family so that they can come back and re-enter,” Koide said. “To me, that’s the restorative justice approach. So if you have to dish out consequences, and especially if it’s a punitive one, we have to make sure those
other pieces are in place, so we’re not setting up students to fall on that school to prison pipeline.” Rojas said that California passed an education code bill, specifically 48900(K)(1), that barred expulsions due to willful defiance because of its harmful history of targeting minority students. This change led to MHS looking at alternative methods of discipline that focused on mending relationships rather than just suspension, Rojas said. “We’re [not] just looking at a student and saying, ‘You’re bad, right? We give up on you. We’re suspending you,’” Koide said. “Instead, it’s the behavior … trying to communicate something. And so from that, we really try and get at the root cause, which would then lead to, hopefully, interventions and support that would … ensure that the student is getting the services that ... they need … And then the other thing is the ability to come back … right your wrong, and then be able to still move forward and be successful.” Koide elaborated on this idea, saying that when deciding on the disciplinary action that will be taken three factors are considered. Students’ academics, social-emotional learning, and behavior are looked at and the school tries to respond based on where the student is struggling, Koide said. “I would say, 20% [of students] need additional support that they may not get just generally in their classroom and with the programs that are offered, and then you would have some tiered respons-
es based on whatever their behaviors are or their academic needs or their social and emotional needs,” Koide said. Rojas addressed the way restorative justice would work in practice and what steps would be taken to address discipline issues at MHS. “Instead of giving students the full suspension, could we do a restorative practice in lieu of suspension?” Rojas said. “So say, there was a fight that happened. It was a big fight, five days suspension, right? That’s the max we can give by state law, five days at a time. If the family and the parties agree to mediation, follow up counseling… doing a harm circle to understand how each group hurt each other, and how they can fix this, we could reduce that suspension from five down to maybe one or two so they can go back to school.” Social studies teacher Liza Gable-Ferguson said that while she supports restorative justice, it needs to be done properly, and MHS is not doing it right. “I don’t believe that there is a community component to it,” Gable-Ferguson said. “Right now, what I understand is there are admin involved and parents involved, which is the larger community, but there also needs to be a student panel. I think we don’t know enough about it in terms of how it actually works and to be trained in it. Because I believe teachers need to be involved. There are multiple layers of this. SEE PAGE 16
DECA club restarts after officers removed By Vania Castro
Most of the officers of the DECA (Distributive Education Clubs of America) club were removed from both the MHS club and the national DECA organization, DECA club advisor Victoria Lin said in an email sent to all DECA club members on Feb. 1, 2022. Due to the lack of officers, all DECA activities are suspended until a new cabinet is approved by the advisors, Lin added. The former officers were dropped from the club “due to gross misconduct,” according to Lin’s email. Currently, the club has new officers and is no longer under probationary status, Activities Director Jerell Maneja said in an interview. The club is back to conducting club business normally, he added. Regarding the incident, Principal Francis Rojas said in an interview, “I know sometimes with technology, either on chat or whatever, things are said. But when they’re said in groups, and it makes someone uncomfortable, that someone decides to be an upstander because some of the things that were said … those things could be considered sexual harassment … without going into more detail.”
Administration members dealt with the incident through thorough investigation and student interviews, Rojas said. In addition to student interviews, administration also contacted parents, he said. The assistant principals also interviewed the club advisor and other witnesses, Rojas added. “From [the interviews], we could then figure out what actions need to be taken, … and I think there were actions taken at all levels, from the teacher level, the club level, the individual member level, ASB level,” Rojas said. “I can’t go into the details [as to] what actions were taken, because they are personnel issues, … but they were addressed at all of those levels.” To deal with this situation, administration referred to California Education Code, Rojas said. Consequences for members involved range from having student conferences to suspensions and expulsions, Rojas added. “But another layer to this, because [DECA is] an ASB organization, … [is that] we as the ASB advisors, whether it be the principal, or Mr. Maneja or the club advisor, actually [are] responsible for the actions of that club,” Rojas said. In addition to education code, a group called Fiscal Crisis and
Management Assistance Team (FCMAT) provides information on how to manage and organize clubs, Rojas said. “So [the outcome is] all within the rules and guidelines of [education] code and FCMAT, and then, what we as a school or the advisors responsible for ASB also deem would be the appropriate action,” Rojas added. Furthermore, the MHS DECA club was put on probationary status because the club did not have a stable officer team due to the officer roles being evaluated, Maneja said. However, when DECA established an officer team based on their constitution, their probationary status was removed, Maneja added. “It was a joint agreement with the club advisor for the probation status to be removed once they have re-established their executive officer cabinet,” Maneja clarified in an email. In terms of MHS DECA’s officer removal policy, their constitution states, “Officers may be removed for displaying irresponsible behavior or infringing school rules. Reasons for removal must be stated clearly and presented to all club members. A vote will be held; a ⅔ vote by all active members in SEE PAGE 16
Arsh Ali| THE UNION
The seniors use their confetti cannons after their finishing their dance.
TO returns: Seniors win By Sharon Talaia
The Class of 2022 won Trojan Olympics at the MHS football field on April 1, 2022. The juniors, sophomores, and freshmen earned second, third, and fourth places, respectively. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the class competition, also known as TO, has not been held for the last two years, making the senior class the only class at MHS that experienced the school tradition before, master of ceremonies Deana Querubin said during the event. “We definitely put in a lot of effort into preparing for Trojan Olympics,” senior team member Jacky Thai said in an email interview. “We had roughly five weeks
to paint posters, create decorations, and learn choreography before the event. Since we started having workdays and practices later than usual compared to our past TOs, each week was packed with hours of work to try and get everything done. During the last week, we had evening practices every single day, some up until 11 p.m., and we even had to learn new choreography within two days before TO.” The hardest part of competing was learning and choreographing the dance, Thai said. During the event, she was both nervous and ecstatic, especially since the seniors only won by fifteen points, but she never regretted her deciSEE PAGE 16
WASC gives school positive review By Riya Vyas
The Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) Visiting Committee finished their visit to MHS and validation of MHS’s Full Self-Study Report on March 23, Principal Francis Rojas said in an email sent on March 30, 2022. The California Department of Education works with WASC to determine the quality of schools, so every six years, each high school has to do a self-study to submit to the committee, Rojas said in an interview. “[The WASC committee] will come in and they’ll validate [the self-study] to see if those programs do what they say they’re going to do because funding goes into those programs,” Assistant Principal Jonathan Mach said in an interview. The first area WASC observes is the administration and organization of schools, such as relationships between the school, parents, and the district, Rojas said. The other areas are curriculum, teaching and learning, assessments and accountability, and school culture and student
support systems. “The part that was given to me was part E, which is about the culture of the school,” member of the visiting committee and Half Moon Bay English teacher Jim Toner said. “What is the culture among the teachers? What is the relationship of the teachers to the board and the superintendent?” Toner was struck by the diversity in the student and teacher bodies, as well as in the curriculum, he said. Project Inclusion, in which the English department adopts more books with different ethnic viewpoints, inspired Toner to give the chairman of his English department a list of the books taught at MHS to incorporate more diverse voices into their English curriculum, Toner said. “Your [MHS’s] test scores are off the chart,” Toner said. “[A third of your classes] are being taught at an elite level. The teachers are artists … besides knowing their material, they know how to engage students … There’s a lot of discussions, a lot of group work, a lot of pleasurable interaction goSEE PAGE 16