SMUHSD Reopening Plans Underway Ing the Decrease in In-Person First Semester of 2020
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Thursday | March 25, 2021 | Volume 61, Issue 4 Racial divide caused by GATE Page 6 900 Alameda de las Pulgas, San Mateo, CA 94402 Aragon High School Rise in hate crimes against Asian Americans Cameron Leung After the WHO pinpointed community led a crowdsourc- NEWS WRITER Wuhan, China as the origin ing campaign that raised near- ——— of the coronavirus, Chinese ly $33,000 to replace the trees. Since the World Health Americans have been accused On March 16, eight people, Organization declared CO- of being unsanitary foreigners including six Asian American VID-19 a pandemic on March embodying and spreading the women, were killed in a shoot- 11, 2020, the number of anti- virus. Former President Don- ing at Asian-owned spas in Asian hate crimes has surged ald Trump encouraged these Atlanta, Georgia. Asian Amer- by as much as 150% in ma- racist sentiments by referring icans are no strangers to rac- jor U.S. cities such as New to the virus as the “China Vi- ism and discrimination as this York, Los Angeles and San rus” and the “Kung Flu” begin- act of violence is just one of Francisco. Individuals and ning in March 2020. many they have experienced Asian businesses alike have This prejudiced hostility over the past year. become frequent targets of has spread to the entire Asian Junior Lauren Mok, vice assault and vandalism. Asian community. In early January, president of Asian Culture Americans Advancing Justice, two cherry blossom trees that Club, accredited the differenc- a nonprofit civil rights orga- were originally planted in 1994 es in cities’ hate incident re- nization, reported more than were found destroyed in Japan- cords to their diversity concen- 3,000 accounts of hate inci- town, San Francisco. Holding trations and community size. dents spanning physical, ver- both historical and cultural “[San Mateo is] a lot small- bal and virtual harassment in significance, this act left many er than Los Angeles and San People protest against the surge in hate crimes. KAYLA LI the past year. Japanese Americans upset. The CONTINUED ON PAGE 3 Bark for Schools: internet safety through web filtering Grace Xia and Elizabeth van tortion (sexual blackmail) Blommestein or sexual content, violence, FEATURES AND SPORTS EDITORS body image issues, danger- ——— ous organizations, profanity On March 1, the San Ma- and weapons in both Eng- teo Union High School Dis- lish and Spanish. Bark ad- trict started using a paid, ministrators are also able to premium version of Bark for contact the SMUHSD about Schools, a school safety com- severe cases. pany that searches for and “Since the pandemic, we logs phrases linked to po- have surged past our student tential hazards to supervise hospitalizations from 2019 student activity on Google and 2020,” said SMUHSD Workplace accounts. Manager of Mental Health Aragon in-person classes are set to open to freshmen on March 29. RAHUL VISHWA Bark was implemented Programs April Torres. “We to address several issues in- had a certain amount of stu- cluding concerns surround- dent [hospitalizations] in our SMUHSD reopening plans underway ing the decrease in in-person first semester of 2020. We interactions with peers and surpassed that for a whole Kamron Ramelmeier freshmen will be invited back terms of all the things we staff and the increase in cy- year in one semester, along NEWS WRITER to campus and on April 12, should include in our return- berbullying and hate speech- with [Child Protective Ser- ——— after spring break, all other to-school reopening plans,” related incidents within the vices] reports, and some Reopening plans are now grades can begin returning. said Principal Valerie Arbizu. SMUHSD. The grand jury other reporting issues. We’ve underway as the San Mateo On March 10, Phase 1 began “One struggle [we’re having] report released on Sept. 24 definitely seen an uptick in Union High School District with the district bringing in is staffing and making sure we detailed the need for reform harm to self or others … defi- moves forward with the spring students with individualized have enough people on campus following an investigation nitely a lot of anxiety, a lot of semester. San Mateo County’s education plans in person. to walk around and remind of school hate incidents. The depression, isolation, a lot of COVID-19 risk designation was District staff and the teach- students to follow protocols software has the ability to fil- family issues that have really changed from red to orange on ers’ association made a return- such as being physically dis- ter for phrases related to bul- been exacerbated because March 16, meaning the district to-campus agreement earlier tanced and having masks on.” lying, depression, anxiety, they’re all home or [because] can begin enacting Phase 3 of this school year. The district The district is moving for- suicidal ideation, drug and people lose their jobs … or their plan to reopen schools, has also been working to keep ward with the agreement alcohol abuse, hate speech, are sick.” where all students who choose individual campuses informed. and is closely following state risky contact, self-harm, sex- CONTINUED ON PAGE 4 to will return to in-person “The district gave all school guidance plans. learning. Starting March 29, sites a template to follow in CONTINUED ON PAGE 4 FEATURES SPORTS Redlining Livestreaming Read about how the Learn about the use legacy of redlining in the of new livestreaming Bay Area has segregated equipment for Aragon’s PERMIT #782 PERMIT racial minorities. athletic events. SAN MATEO CA MATEO SAN PAID US POSTAGE US NON-PROFIT PAGE 7 PAGE 15 2 VOLUME 61 | ISSUE 4 NEWS THE ARAGON OUTLOOK AP exams amidst pandemic Sophia Qin and Wreetom Dutta cedure, technical difficul- NEWS EDITOR AND NEWS WRITER ties and new testing rules ——— were among the issues dis- The 2020-2021 remote cussed. school year has posed ad- On March 8, the SMUHSD ditional challenges for Ad- retracted its initial decision vanced Placement teachers and followed up with a bind- and students across the pen- ing survey, allowing stu- insula, who must prepare for dents to choose between two the rigorous AP exam in a options the district selected virtual environment. To ac- from the three College Board commodate these uncertain- testing dates. ties, the College Board has “More doors opened for us modified the traditional AP to consider,” Elenz-Martin exams for this school year. said. “We wanted to make AP Literature and Compo- a data informed decision to sition teacher Rob Thurtle accommodate and provide, adjusted his teaching style within the safety guidelines, to adapt to a new learning what we can to make sure format. that students feel successful.” “If we were in person, I Online exams are regulat- might allow for more free- ed with strict anti-cheating form discussion time,” Thur- measures. Students may not YUE YU tle said. “[For] online, I think skip questions nor return it is important to keep chang- to a previous problem. The ing the activities to keep the format for paper-pencil ex- class engaged.” ams will stay the same as in New classes at Aragon The time constraint of a regular school year, albeit Kiara Lopez change in their community. tics, but we also … do coding to only meeting for 2.5 peri- students will be distanced NEWS WRITER “I am really interested in make statistical models that are ods per week also forces AP from one another. ——— learning about the world and used for predictions.” teachers to teach material “Math is best done with As the school year comes to how, especially in our country, to Students will learn how to at a faster pace or strategize pencil and paper in person,” a close, student programming change it for the better,” said ju- properly use Google Sheets for with delivering the informa- Jacobs said. “But I think that begins for the 2021-2022 school nior Sara Killoran who plans to practical tasks such as budget- tion in a different way. the College Board has made year. Among the already famil- take the class next year. “I think ing. After taking the course, “I can’t cut out topics with their digital option just as ef- iar course roster have appeared it will help me be more informed they will be able to organize and less time,” said AP Calculus fective, so there’s ... pros and several new classes, such as in the political environment of enter data using the statistical agency and social justice, path this world and in this country.” programming language R, a to statistics, data science and Students are expected to im- skill used by data scientists and “College Board has made their AP Spanish Literature. These prove self-advocacy and critical business analysts. digital option just as effective, so new curriculums can provide thinking skills and learn to re- “We have technology that academic enrichment and so- spond to different viewpoints can crunch numbers for us,” there’s no advantage either way” cial benefits to students looking in order to develop a more com- Sipple said. “The class is not so to explore different careers and plete understanding of race re- much about cranking out [equa- AB teacher Adam Jacobs. cons to each of [the options].” academic paths. lations. Bussey and Keane are tions] by hand. It’s more about “[Instead], I have to ... get In the Aragon communi- Marie Rose Escoto will teach hopeful that students impacted having technology crunch the creative in terms of how I’m ty, responses varied. While AP Spanish Literature next year by social injustice will realize numbers for us.