News

County keeps mask mandate

As of Feb. 11, Santa Clara County will be the only county in the Bay Area to reject the statewide lifting of the mask mandate on Wednesday, Feb. 16.

“It is understandable that Santa Clara county is keeping masks manditory right now,” sophomore Richie Ogawa said. “To minimize the spread of COVID-19 and to keep students, teachers and staff as safe as possible, this decision just seems like the best path.”

by JONAS PAO

ASB finalizes Prom plans

Palo Alto High School will require students to show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test 24 hours before Prom, located at the Exploratorium this year, in order to buy a ticket following San Francisco’s COVID-19 mandates.

“What we’re [ASB] planning on doing is having smaller courses so that people can quickly eat and then put their mask back on, or just minimize the risk of COVID during Prom,” Junior Class President Ashley Hung said.

by ALLEGRA WEST

New plant-based lunch option

A student-created petition for a plant based-lunch option in Palo Alto High School’s cafeteria has gathered over 300 signatures as of early Febuary.

“A lot of students don’t agree with the inhumane practices and factory farms and want to have the resources to choose more eco-friendly [school] lunch options,” junior Morgan Greenlaw said.

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by ANNUM HASHMI

MESSAGE FOR THE MAGAZINE — Local politician Ajwang Rading addresses Verde Magazine’s staff about his background, congressional goals and ways students can take educated action. “Every time you draft something, don’t just rush through it,” Rading said. “Savor it, because when that is consumed, and when that hits the mind, it has a magical impact. I think we’re losing, especially in today’s country, … fantastic journalism.” Photo: Emily Yao

CONGRESSIONAL candidate Ajwang Rading spoke to Palo Alto High School students — and the Verde Magazine staff — on Feb. 9, as a part of his effort to engage teens in politics and his campaign.

“It’s young people who need to be addressing the issues of today,” Rading said. “ I’m just a messenger. I’m trying to run [for Congress] to really represent the voice that you [teens] have … to say ‘Hey, I’ve got an idea.’”

Rading emphasized the need for integrity, both in politics and in other activism pursuits.

“There are way too many people in public service and in the private sector going after the position, but purpose is what unlocks the spirit,” Rading said. “And that is what is really going to provide salvation for us as a people if we’re going to have any sort of meaningful impact in trying to address these big inequities.” by AKHIL JOONDEPH

PALO ALTO UNIFIED SCHOOL District’s California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress mathematics scores decreased overall, according to a Feb. 8 school board meeting.

Across all students who took the exam (3rd grade - 8th grade and 11th grade), the percentage of students who met or exceeded standard dropped by 3% compared to 2019 scores. Elementary schoolers saw the biggest decline, with fourth graders’ scores falling by 6%.

According to the data released at the meeting, which also broke down the percent change in scores by student group, Filipino students and English learners observed the largest downturn of -13% and -9% respectively. The only student group whose rates of meeting or exceeding standards improved was Black or African American students; their pass rate increased by 5%. by PAISLEY ANNES

THE ASSOCIATED Student Body has canceled this year’s Valentine’s Day Matchomatics activity in response to “Title IX possibilities” identified by school administrators.

Matchomatics has been facilitated annually by ASB in recent years. In this activity, students are asked to fill out online questionnaires about their characteristics and hobbies to receive an analysis of their designated “matches” or “friends” across genders and grade levels.

School administrators in early January decided to remove Matchomatics from ASB’s slate of “Love Week” — a week filled with events leading up to Valentines Day— activities due to general concerns regarding unwanted attention, according to Assistant Principal Jerry Berkson.

“I know no one is forced to meet their ‘match,’ but there are too many possibilities [surrounding] gender that could cause issues or uncomfortability, or teasing, or bullying,” Berkson said.

Freshman Site Council Representative Celina Lee, a committee leader in charge of “Love Week,” said that despite the absence of Matchomatics, ASB’s Valentine’s Day festivities — such as selling and distributing “Valgrams” — will continue.

“It’s definitely sad and unfortunate that Matchomatics is not being able to happen this year since we were all preparing for it,” Lee said. “But we are going to do events every single day of ‘Love Week,’ which is Feb. 7 to Feb. 11, and we hope that that will compensate for Matchomatics.”

Students like junior Kyle Park are still excited about these “Love Week” events — such as Cookies on the Quad, Karaoke on the Quad stage, and a Valentine’s Day dress up.

“ASB did a good job planning and the ‘Love Week’ lineup looks really fun,” Park said. “It stands as sort of a break for people who are stressed out and it means that we have something to genuinely look forward to throughout the week.”

by MELODY XU

Dozens of avid birdwatchers have gathered near Greer park to see an Oriental Turtle Dove — a bird only ever seen three times in California, according to eBird — where it is currently living as of Sunday, Feb. 6.

The bird is native to Europe and East Asia and can be identified by its distinctive scaly appearance and reddish-brown claws.

“I am a huge bird chaser, and seeing a Eurasian species is pretty special,” Guerneville resident Scott Carry said. “It is certainly a [once in a] lifetime bird, ... so I was really excited to come down.”

Bird enthusiasts from all around came together to observe this special creature, which is one of avid bird watcher Joshua Stacy’s favorite things about the hobby.

“It’s special to see any living thing that you normally wouldn’t see,” Stacy said. “It’s also nice to see all these birders gather around here, it’s a nice way to see a lot of our friends.”

by YASH SHETTY

FOLLOWING PROMISING results from a recent dyslexia screening, the Palo Alto Board of Education Committee will continue to work to identify additional programs to provide intervention for students with dyslexia in grades K-12.

Palo Alto Unified School District administered the Universal Protocol for Accommodations in Reading (uPAR) in August and September 2021 in secondary schools to assess students’ grade-level reading comprehension and to screen for dyslexia.

At the high school level, 95% of the student body completed the screener in 2021. Of those students, 92.6% of students tested proficient or exceeding proficiency on the silent reading portion. This is a noticeable increase from the middle school uPAR results from 2021 which show that only 88.2% of students tested proficient or higher.

“The silent reading results at the high schools demonstrates that the work being done at the middle schools over the past several years is having a positive impact on reading for high school students,” PAUSD Director of Secondary Education Kathie Laurence said.

Still, the district is working towards implementing a second tier screener — a subsequent screener to the uPAR for students who may be at risk for dyslexia and are unresponsive to tier one and tier two interventions such as classroom support and targeted interventions.

“Tier two screeners are hard to find right now,” Laurence said. “There are not many of them, if any, for the secondary students, but we are in the process of working to find those secondary screeners.”

A secondary screener ultimately will help identify student needs so staff can create a personalized intervention plan.

by CARLOTA BLANCO and JONAS PAO

LOCAL TONGAN communities across the Bay Area are supporting their families through donations, food drives and prayers following the eruption of an undersea volcano of the Tongan archipelago on Jan. 14.

Capuchino High School’s Poly Club, located in San Bruno, has been collecting food, water and medical supplies from families around the Bay Area over the past week to be shipped to Tonga.

“This [supply drive] is very important to us because we have everything here, and we’ve heard people living on one gallon of water per household out there,” Capuchino High School Poly Club president and senior Afa Kaufusi said. “We found out that a company [S.F. Enterprises] was receiving donations, and I said, ‘Let’s put the club to work.’ So we started gathering things. We started putting it in our daily bulletin. We started telling the community through Instagram posts online, and we were able to get the word out.”

However, local Tongan community members such as Palo Alto High School junior Vainga Mahe Jr. are still waiting for contact from their family members on the island.

“For me, it’s just been a long and nervous wait,” Mahe said. “Just waiting for

IN RESPONSE TO SURGING coronavirus cases, the Palo Alto City Library has temporarily closed the Children’s, College Terrace and Downtown libraries and reduced hours of operation at Rinconada Library.

As a result of budget cuts at the beginning of the pandemic, the city libraries are facing staffing shortages and subsequently, closures. They initially reopened in May 2021 with limited staff and moved toward a gradual reopening in the fall.

“This is part of a plan we developed in collaboration with the City of Palo Alto,” Library Services Manager Alex Perez said. “All departments have been really suffering from staffing shortages due to the Omicron situation; the reason we took the step to close the branches was to allow us to stagger our employees … to keep them safe. In order to do that, we had to bring staff from the smaller locations to the larger locations.”

Effective Tuesday, Jan. 18 — in addition to the three temporary branch closures — Rinconada Library’s reduced hours of operation are Wednesday-Saturday from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Mitchell Park Library hours will remain the same, though a range of measures have been introduced into all open locations. Seating has been arranged to enforce social distancing, study rooms will remain closed and the Library recommends patrons to limit their visits to 45 minutes, emphasizing its digital services for students.

LENDING A HAND — Capuchino High School’s Poly Club starts the long process of moving donated water and food out of storage and to Oakland, where the supplies will be shipped to Tonga. “People went to Costco specifically just to buy stuff to donate,” Capuchino High School Poly Club president and senior Afa Kaufusi said. “That’s it. Imagine that.” Photo: Jonas Pao

that answer of confirmation that they [Mahe’s family] are alright.”

Paly freshman James Tautua’a can recall the exact moment he lost contact with his family.

“As soon as my family and I received news [of the volcano], we immediately contacted our uncles to see if they were hit,” Tautua’a said. “In the middle of the conversation, the connection broke off, leaving all of us to worry.”

Since then, families such as Mahe’s, Tautua’a’s and Tuifua’s have only heard bits and pieces about the status of the islands of Tonga.

“It’s been really difficult trying to get a hold of our relatives,” Tuifua said. “With them being out of the country, communication is already hard. All we know is that Ha’apai is experiencing a lot of tsunami waves and towns are being completely flooded and destroyed. We can only hope that our family is safe and trust that they will contact us when they can.” by JONAS PAO and SEBASTIAN BONNARD

— NADIA SOBERG, sophomore — MAIA JOHNSSON, senior

by DOMINIQUE LASHLEY and SADIE IBBOTSON-BROWN

IN RESPONSE TO A SURGE in COVID-19 cases, Palo Alto Unified School District Superintendent Don Austin encouraged parents to volunteer at schools in an effort to keep them open in an email sent on Sunday, Jan. 8. Since then, the program has received unprecedented support from the local community and garnered significant attention from the press.

SPIKEBALL SPIRIT — Juniors Jackson Martin and Calvin Wong play Ishaan Batra and Jacob Kasanin in an intense Spikeball tournament on Feb. 4 during lunch. “It brings everyone together to see people playing Spikeball on the Quad,” junior class president Ashley Hung said. “People meet new friends just through Spikeball.” Photo: Merwa Marof Graphics by ESTHER XU