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UNION
op-ED 2,3
November 2017 Volume XXX Issue II
F e at u r e s 4 , 5
Li f e st yl e 6 ,7
T HE
S pr e a d 8 ,9
Ente r tai n m e nt 10, 11
Spo r ts 12 , 13
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STUDENT VOICE OF MILPITAS HIGH SCHOOL
Gun on campus prompts two lockdowns
by Katherine Hubeny Jonathan Tran
Shreeya Aranake | THE UNION
Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and Thomas Russell Principal Damon James visit a Russell classroom to observe teaching at a public school.
DeVos visits Thomas Russell School; Observes success in a public school by Shreeya Aranake Katherine Hubeny
U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos came to Thomas Russell Middle School on Thursday, Oct. 12. The event allowed DeVos to speak with MUSD members in order to learn more about the school’s commitment to personalized learning, the Department of Education website stated. The whole event was organized within a few days, Principal Francis Rojas said. There was a lot of controversy around her visit, but it was the duty of Milpitas’ leaders in education to show DeVos, who is unsupportive of public education, that MHS is able to accomplish things also done by private and charter schools, Rojas added. “The reason is she wanted to see a charter Personalized Learning Platform (PLP) system,” Rojas explained.
“How it’s being used in a public school, and see how public schools--successful public schools--are run.” A forum of teachers was held after the event, Principal Francis Rojas said. He was not invited to this event until a few hours beforehand, likely due to security measures in place, he continued. “At the end of the visit, Ms. DeVos met with at least 25 representatives of the different schools,” Rojas said. “Representatives from MHS and other schools from prekindergarten all the way to adult schools were there.” The forum discussed the importance of public education, as well as what the district needed from the government funding, such as staff development, Superintendent Cheryl Jordan said. By the end, DeVos wanted to reassure the representatives
A gun was brought onto the MHS campus by a student, which prompted two lockdowns on Oct. 26, the Milpitas Police Department Press Release stated. After the item was retrieved, MHS, Pomeroy Elementary, and Thomas Russell Middle School were placed on shelter-in-place until police officers ensured that the campus was safe, the report stated. Two MHS students reported to staff that they had seen a student in the bathroom at approximately 12:05 p.m., the report said. At approximately 2:15 p.m., a student believed there may have been an additional student with a gun, so the schools were again put into a shelter-in-place, according to the report. The initial investigation uncovered that the first student had given the weapon to the second student, prior to the events that occurred, the report included. “The school security staff responded to the bathroom and located a 14-year-old male with an unloaded handgun,” the report mentioned. “The student also had a loaded magazine nearby in his backpack.” A few minutes before noon, the administration was notified of a possible weapon on campus, Assistant Principal Jennifer Hutchison explained. By 12:10 p.m. the police had arrived, taken over the situation, and had a student in the car, she added. “Since there is a protocol in place for ensuring safety, the police then
continued their investigation,” Hutchison said. “They have to check everywhere on campus, as well as do an extra bit of investigation outside of the school in order to make sure that the campus is completely safe. That’s why the lockdown stayed longer and why it went to a shelter-in-place.” The administration and officials did an excellent job in dealing with the situation, according to MUSD Superintendent Cheryl Jordan. The administration handled the situation and turned it over to the police quickly, she said. “I don’t know what’ll happen on the police side of things,” Jordan explained. “I can tell you in education code that anytime a student brings a gun onto campus, that bringing a gun on campus is one of what’s called the Big Five for expulsion, and we must recommend expulsion.” The incident was emotional for MHS administration, according to Principal Francis Rojas. The Milpitas community responded well, but the community needs to rethink the reason for this situation and be sensitive toward others, Rojas explained. “All I can share is he had no intention of using [the gun] here on this campus,” Rojas said. “I’m going to say that it has to do with bullying, and those are all things that we as a community can work on.” “I can 100% say that none of [the rumors] are true,” Hutchison said. “There was no intent whatsoever to harm anyone on this campus; there was no intent for anyone to harm
themselves.” Communication was an issue during the lockdown, according to Jordan. They were unable to quickly and directly communicate with parents, she explained. “It wasn’t quick,” Jordan said. “For some reason, the Aeries system seems to spool our messages over a course of 45 minutes to an hour, and that created a problem for us.” The administration has already started to implement some improvements, Rojas explained. There is a plan to create an improved protocol to be shared with everyone, he added. The protocol will contain improved communication processes and the expected roles of students and parents, Rojas continued. Some of the issues in communication led to confusion among students, according to Freshman Saili Karkare. The first ten minutes of the lockdown was the scariest moment, but as they were getting updates everything was fine, she continued. “I had heard about stuff happening at Milpitas High, so I wasn’t unprepared for it,” Karkare explained. “But it was definitely a shock because I’ve only been in this school for two months and already something has happened.” [Our school] needs to let students know what is really happening because as students we have the right to know, Junior Jonathan Van expressed. “Kids in my class didn’t care or get the memo that their lives could have been at risk,” he added.
see Education on page 15
Lack of admin limits rule enforcement by Shreeya Aranake
Overpopulation of students, as well as an inconsistency in the administration and the security guards at MHS, is resulting in a difficulty to properly enforce minor transgressions, according to Assistant Principal Skylar Draeger. Unless teachers or students notify any members of the admin, they cannot enforce a rule, she added. Policies pertaining to personal sound systems, dress code, and tardy policies have been under a lot of change in the past couple of years. According to Draeger, the dress code is still written in the student handbook and should be followed. However, the administration doesn’t have the manpower to go out there and police it. “Is admin hunting things down? Not always, but it’s also not that we’re not acting,” Draeger said. “If someone brings something to our attention and says ‘Hey, I have a problem with this,’ we always respond to it.” Draeger also said that the change in admin over the past couple of years, combined with the increase in student population, means that the admin still need to calibrate; they still need to decide where to draw the lines when it comes to creating policies and what can they effectively enforce when there are so many things
to pay attention to. The admin needs to prioritize in order for the functioning of the school, she added. The discipline priorities tend to be the fights on and off campus, and whatever is causing a disruption, Draeger said. The student/parent handbook specifically says “the use of Bluetooth speakers, boomboxes, and other portable sound systems are prohibited before, during, and after school.” However, Draeger said that unless the music being played on portable sound systems is loud, inappropriate, or disrespectful, the rule prohibiting the use of them need not be enforced. “What is happening right now is that if somebody is playing music that is inappropriate or loud or kind of being blasted in a way that is not just a private thing, then we are removing that device,” Draeger said. “If I walk by and somebody has a speaker out but I can’t hear the music playing from it and maybe they and a friend are quietly listening to it, I personally haven’t been taking that device.” The admin is consistent in doling out rules, but the problem is that they don’t get a lot of time to meet with students in a timely manner, Principal Francis Rojas said. This is due to the amount of students who need to be dealt with, versus the amount of admin available to deal with those students.
Roshni Sheth | THE UNION
Sophomore Swetha Nair and Junior Julianne Dang sort school supplies that were donated by the MHS community to send out to those affected by Hurricane Harvey. They are in the process of packaging the supplies to send to Texas.
Hurricane Harvey drive collects supplies for victims by Andrew Ha
To help a Texas school district struck by Hurricane Harvey, ASB created a fundraising drive to garner supplies and money, Student Event Leader Anvi Brahmbhatt said. The event lasted from Friday, September 11th to Tuesday, Sept. 22. The Hamshire Fannett Independent District (HFID) received numerous supplies, including backpacks, glue sticks, pencils, crayons, paper, highlighters, tissue boxes, and permanent markers, ASB Director Joanna Butcher said. In addition, ASB collected approximately $750 in monetary donations.
ASB turned to English Teacher Ginger Roy to find a school to aid, because Roy was “from the Hamshire Fannett School District. Like she went to high school there,” Brahmbhatt said. Roy was also an English teacher in the HFID for 14 years. Seeing Hurricane Harvey destroy houses and schools, ASB decided to host the fundraiser, an email for the event said. ASB wanted to help thousands people who lost their homes and belongings to the hurricane. Upon returning to Texas to help her family, Roy had a firsthand look at the destruction.“It looks like every single house that you drove by had thrown up out the front door. It was incredible; it was a lot of loss,” Roy said.
In order to correspond with the HFID, Butcher contacted the assistant superintendent, among a few other school officials. The supplies will be disseminated to the students, not to the school itself, Butcher said. Items will be provided to the students who need it the most, those who lost everything. The event was publicized to the student body through emails and daily announcements; furthermore, it extended to the wider Bay Area community. The fundraiser caught the attention of DJ Strawberry, a host on local radio station 99.7 NOW!, Butcher said. The DJ made multiple “shout-outs” on live radio, and donated to the event himself.