VVolumeolume 7733 , IIssuessue 7 AAprilpril 330,0, 22010010 U.S. Department of Education investigates LAUSD BY CALVIN RATANA have negative responses to the in- government program “No Child Staff Writer vestigation. “Our school is doing Left Behind,” mandates every everything possible to help our student take standardized tests. Recently, the U.S. Depart- ESL kids,” Bilingual Department He he says the problem is that ment of Education initiated an ESL kids are also expected to take investigation of the Los Angeles tests, such as the CST and CAH- Unifi ed School District (LAUSD) SEE, despite the fact that they are to determine whether or not the still learning English. photo by Katherine Zhang district provides adequate servic- “ESL students should be ex- Hard at Work: Th e Cleveland yearbook staff is making up for lost time and es to English-learning students. empt from taking these tests,” still plans to produce the yearbook on time. This investigation responded to Corolla said. the continued drop in English- According to English Teacher learners’ already low test scores. Benett Berkowitz, almost every The government targeted English professional development $20,000 in theft on campus LAUSD, the second-largest dis- has been focused on how to help trict in the nation, because English the ESL students who are strug- BY JOLENA COLLAS der for the thief to have stolen so learners compose about one-third gling in the classrooms. Staff Writer much equipment, he or she had of the district’s enrollment, total- “The CST tests have a cul- to be familiar with the classroom ing more than 220,000 students. photo illustration by Amanda Silver tural bias; they’re geared towards Over spring break, Cleve- layout. “This is about helping kids Chair Tom Carrola said. “How- students who [have] already land’s yearbook staff learned that At this point, there are no receive a good education, the edu- ever, it is hard to expect an Eng- learned English,” Berkowitz said. nine of their computers and all of leads, but police are working to cation they deserve,” U.S. Educa- lish as a Second Language (ESL) “Students working on their mas- their camera equipment had been fi nd the perpetrator and return the tion Department Representative kid to compete against a native stolen. While the staff fi led a po- stolen items back to the yearbook Russlynn Ali said. speaker.” see ‘ESL invegstigation,’ lice report the same day, it took staff. Cleveland teachers and staff Corolla explained the federal page 4 three to four hours to fully assess “When I found out, I thought the damage and losses. the yearbook wasn’t going to The stolen items represented come out at all, and people Cleveland band members celebrate Ozomatli Day a loss of between $20,000 and weren’t going to get reimbursed $25,000, which translates into or there was going to be a chunk fi ve years of fundraising by the of it missing with empty pages,” BY AUDREY HAHN staff. The yearbook staff was also Senior and Co-Editor-in-Chief Staff Writer forced to reassemble parts of the John Nguyen said. yearbook that had been saved on According to Nguyen, the On Friday, April 23, Cleve- the computers. staff is doing okay and trying to land band members participated “When I found out after com- ask the administrators for reim- in the celebration of Ozomatli at ing back from spring break, I was bursement. Los Angeles City Hall. shocked,” Senior and Co-Editor- “Even though we don’t have The youth-centered event in-Chief Joanna Ngo said. “I was any cameras, the photographers was created with the help of devastated when I learned how are using their own,” Nguyen the Department of Cultural Af- much expensive equipment was said. fairs and the Mayor’s Offi ce of stolen.” “I hope the criminals know Neighborhood and Community In addition to the yearbook what they have done and how Services. The event was hosted staff, Yearbook Advisor Gabri- much they have taken away from by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, ela Salehyar’s AOAT students the rest of the students,” Ngo who offi cially declared the day as had also used the computers. As said. “After all, when they took Ozomatli Day. photo courtesy of Mahin Hossain a result of this loss, the students our equipment from us, they re- Ozomatli Day was dedicated will be forced to redo projects ally stole from the entire school.” Ozomatli Day: Cleveland band members played in a “Jam Session” with to Ozomatli, a Grammy-award they spent months working on, Despite this setback, the members of the Ozomatli band at City Hall. winning band who originated in but now in groups rather than in- yearbook staff is working hard to Los Angeles. April 23 marked the dividually. make up for their lost work, and Students had the opportunity repertoire. fi fteenth year of celebrating this “After something like this the yearbook will still be pro- to meet with the band members of “I think it was great that the special day. happens, you feel violated and duced on time. Ozomatli during the “Meet and Mayor did this because Latin mu- “We’re really excited for this hurt,” Salehyar said. “We are hoping to get at least Greet” session. Students also par- sic has a huge infl uence in Los event, and we get to meet Ozo- According to the investiga- one new camera,” Nguyen said. ticipated in a “Jam Session” with Angeles,” Senior Charity Lom- matli,” Senior Mahin Hossain tion, the criminal gained entry by “As of now, I don’t know if the Ozomatli members. This perfor- bard said. “It is an honor to play exclaimed a few days before the cutting into the emergency exit yearbook will be produced next mance included special Ozomatli with Ozomatli.” event. with wire cutters or pliers. In or- year.” Is Shakespeare’s Student Swimmer Take Part In Fame To Train at H.E.A.R.T. Olympic Center Deserved? Features Opinions Sports Page 2 INSIDE Page 8 Page 11 2 Opinions Le Sabre April 30, 2010 To love or not to love BY JEILA SAIDI Staff Writer When posed with the ques- mor and cynicism in Vonnegut’s confl ict, and war, he was not the tion of who was the most talented Player Piano, or the personal and fi rst to use make statements with writer in history, a vast majority internal evils haunting Marlow’s these. of people in the modern world Faustus. Some may argue that he had will most likely answer with, Perhaps Shakespeare is the the courage to make bold and os- “William Shakespeare”. master of balance in the types of tentatious political statements but Thousands of schools across works he does (sonnets, tragedies, as previously stated, Shakespeare photo illustration by Amanda Silver the country include, and are de- histories, comedies, and more) was not the only one to do this pendent on, the works of William but is the quality of each genre successfully. The courage of writ- Shakespeare in their curriculum. ers like John Milton is excep- Those who are bold enough to tionally commendable in com- A ‘cens-ible’ survey ask why there is so much critical parison to Shakespeare seeing acclaim and educational empha- as Milton wrote against the sis on Shakespeare will be faced most powerful and dominant BY CHANDLER HUDSON with a variety of answers. institution of the Church. Staff Writer Author Terry W. Glaspey Granted, Shakespeare’s once said, “His grasp of the hu- writing style may appeal to There are few concepts in how many guns do you own? What man condition is perhaps un- some readers over the writing America today that are more syn- kind of car do you drive? Are you matched in literature.” style of alternative writers but onymous with “big brother” than or have you ever known someone Glaspey is saying that this does not mean the overall the Census, and this association affi liated with the communist par- Shakespeare’s psychological un- quality of his work reigns su- is legitimate. The U.S. Govern- ty? May we plant a microchip in derstanding of people and char- preme. ment is mandated by the consti- your head? are conspicuously ab- acters are far superior to those Shakespeare has an im- tution to conduct the census “ev- sent from the ten question sheet. of all other literary writers. This photo illustration by Amanda Silver mense following because he ery subsequent term of ten years, Once again “Big Brother” just is would include brilliant writers has been proselytized by peo- in such manner as they shall by not asking the right questions for like Christopher Marlowe, Vol- high enough to make Shakespeare ple who do not know who else is law direct.” –Article I Section II a 1984 society. taire, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, John as popular as he is now? Does he out there. From the mainstream of US Constitution. So why all In all seriousness, the Census Milton, Jane Austen, Kurt Von- deserve the immense amount of perspective, he is the most infl u- the commotion and drama around is designed to allow the govern- negut, and Franz Kafka. praise that he receives today? ential poet because he is the most The insight on human behav- I do not mean to undermine well-known. “ ior displayed in the works of even his talents but I am merely say- I was thoroughly surprised The Census actually gives a larger a few other writers can defi nitely ing, as a student and lover of when I looked at this recording.