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Calaveras Hills student fatally stabbed near MHS campus By Uyen Vu
Marie De Vré | THE UNION
The new theater in the Performing Arts Center. It will be used for the upcoming production “Clue: On Stage”.
Performing Arts Center officially opens, becomes space for band, theater classes By Marie De Vré
The Performing Arts Center (PAC) opened its doors to the public for the first time on March 19 as part of the district’s ribbon cutting ceremony. At the ceremony, students, teachers, and other community members were able to step inside the finished PAC and tour the theater and adjoining classrooms. Students will begin moving into the new building starting April 1, Theater Director Kaila Schwartz said. Music teacher Emily Moore is looking forward to having more space and better facilities for performances, as well as having separate classrooms for her choir and orchestra classes with new equipment and integrated audio-visual equipment, she said.
“The new performing arts center is a very, very, huge step up from the theater,” Moore said. “It has all new lighting and sound. The stage is bigger; there’s an orchestra pit, which we haven’t had before. We have a lobby in the theater and more storage.” Schwartz is excited to teach her classes in the new space and explore the capabilities of the equipment, she said. All the technical theater elements are professional level equipment, she added. “Our space rivals college theaters,” she said. “It’s top notch equipment, and it can’t be played around with because it is high quality professional level.” There are also lots of additional benefits such as a lobby and ticket booth, better lighting equipment such as spotlights and catwalks, and better acoustics in
classes and for performances in the PAC, Schwartz said. “I’m hoping that anybody who is interested in working as a theater technician in any aspect like lighting or sound or spot operating or even sound design — sound mixing even — I’m hoping that they can get the experience on this equipment to carry into a professional career,” Schwartz said. Director of Bands Kylie Ward will be teaching all of her classes in the new PAC, she said. In the current band rooms, students are playing with really old instruments and equipment, Ward added. “It (old band rooms) has served its purpose, and it’s been amazing for a program this whole time, but it’s time for something SEE PAGE 16
District faces cost-cutting challenges By Uyen Vu
The district’s ongoing budget challenges include reductions in state funding, a decrease in the Cost of Living Allowance (COLA), Average Daily Attendance, and increases in other costs: “salary step and column, statutory benefits, health benefits, negotiations,” according to the budget presentation presented by the Business Services team at a board meeting on March 10. For the Second Interim of 2025-26, the district’s expenditures amount to $186,424,493, while its General Fund Revenue is $175,906,337, according to the same presentation. However, based on the district’s financial self-certification, the district will “meet its financial obligations for fiscal years 2025-26, 2026-27, or 2027-28,” according to the presentation. When the amount of money
that the district receives is less than the amount it is spending, the district is in a deficit, Chief Business Officer Dorothy Reconose said in an interview. Many districts in the area are also experiencing deficits, she added. “When we get less money from the state and federal government, but our expenditures keep growing — because of inflation, price increases, and the cost of living — it becomes unbalanced,” Reconose said. “A deficit structure means you don’t have a balanced budget.” Based on how the economy is doing, the state provides a COLA to the money that the state currently gives to school districts, Reconose said. The current COLA 2.3 percent increase is not enough to cover the increase that the district naturally has on a year-toyear basis; for example, classified staff have a natural increase in their salary each year, she said. “That step increase is easily
5%, and if we get a 2.3% COLA increase from the state, we’re already in deficit just by the natural increase of 5%,” Roconose said. “We’re short there already, and then on top of that, our health benefits also increase, like our medical coverage for employees.” The school board instructed the district’s executive cabinet to start finding ways to eliminate the deficit, which was $2 million at the time, Reconose said. The superintendent decided to create a committee of staff volunteers to discuss how to address the deficit, she added. “You (could) nominate somebody to attend, or you (could) nominate yourself,” Reconose said. The Cost Management Collaboration Team, composed of district employees, presented recommendations to the school board SEE PAGE 16
A 17-year-old male was stabbed by a 17-year-old male suspect on March 31 and passed away from his injuries at a local hospital, the Milpitas Police Department (MPD) said in a press release. The victim’s family later identified him as Jarred Cavan, a senior at Calaveras Hills High School, according to NBC Bay Area. The suspect remained at the scene and was taken into custody without incident and booked into Santa Clara County Juvenile Hall on charges of homicide and assault with a deadly weapon, according to the MPD press release. At approximately 3:50 p.m., police reported to the 240-Block of Vienna drive less than three minutes after multiple reports of a fight involving several juveniles, according to the press release. A
second victim, a 16-year-old female had non-life-threatening injuries, and was treated at a local hospital and later released, according to the release. The 16-year-old female who tried to intervene identified herself as Jarred’s girlfriend, according to Fox KTVU 2 News. She was stabbed in her hand while trying to fend multiple teenagers off as they were outnumbered, since she and Jarred were “in it alone,” she said in the story. During the investigation, detectives identified a second suspect, according to a second press release on April 3. A homicide warrant was obtained for a 16-year-old male, and the suspect was taken into custody in Ontario, a city in Southern California, on April 2, according to the release. The Milpitas police SEE PAGE 16
Ryan Truong | THE UNION
Juniors raise the Trojan Olympics trophy after being announced as winners.
Juniors win Trojan Olympics by fifteen points, upset seniors By Ryan Truong
The Juniors (Class of 2027) won Trojan Olympics in the gym on Friday, March 27. The juniors finished with a total of 875 points, the seniors with 860 points, the sophomores with 760 points, and the freshmen with 605 points, according to an official score breakdown provided by Activities Director Deana Querubin. Class of 2027 President Kavish Shah knew his team was slightly nervous heading into the event, but he believed that his team had a very good shot and could see the momentum building up as Trojan Olympics approached, he said. The tension was especially strong given the tight point margins, he added. “It was very close,” Shah said. “I was calculating the score the entire time. I knew that it was always going to come down to events such as the pyramid.” Although the pyramid performance appeared polished to the audience, some of it had to be improvised on the spot due to some last-minute confusion, Shah said. Despite the chaotic setback, the
pyramid still came together perfectly in the end, he added. “It was actually really just on the spot,” Shah said. “Everyone just thought of their place, and we really improvised it right there. It was good.” Spirit Week also helped to propel the juniors to victory, Shah said. Excelling in the Spirit Week category alone gave the Juniors a 10-point lead in points for Trojan Olympics. “We were down by 30 people in Spirit Week, so we started coming up with ideas,” Shah said. “What we did is everyone in our class printed out these tiny packets of pictures of Wreck-It-Ralph to pass around our class, and each person got 10 people to check in. That’s 40 times 10, which is 400 people.” Junior Jelani North participated in Trojan Olympics for multiple games such as egg flinging, tug of war, and skateboard derby, North said. He believed that the team won because of a strong drive and determination that had been building up since the previous year, he added. SEE PAGE 16