LEARNING MAGIC TRICKS (6)
BREAKDANCING STAFF, STUDENTS (4)
‘SOLO LEVELING’ SEASON 2 REVIEW (11)
NEW ATHLETICS MEDIA TEAM (12)
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NEW EL MENTORSHIP PROGRAM (16)
THE
February 2025 VOLUME XXXIX ISSUE III
MHSTHEUNION.COM FOR THE LATEST UPDATES
STUDENT VOICE OF MILPITAS HIGH SCHOOL
District representatives discuss funds, budgeting By Ved Vyas
Reba Prabhakhar | THE UNION
One of the cards the district is distributing, giving instructions on where to report observed ICE activity.
District supports, protects undocumented students By Reba Prabahakar
Shortly after taking office, President Donald Trump removed a national policy that had established schools as “sensitive areas” safe from immigration enforcement, according to the Department of Homeland Security. On Jan. 28, the school board unanimously approved resolution 2025.31, titled “Resolution of the Milpitas Unified School District Board of Education Reaffirming Support for Save and Inclusive Learning and Working Environments for All Students, Families, and MUSD Team Members, Regardless of Immigration Status.” “Under California privacy law, our school staff does not need to give U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers any information about any of our students,” Jordan said. “We have protocols in place where an officer cannot see a student without
a guardian present, and California penal code allows us to remove any person who is creating a disturbance on campus,” she added. The district is hosting workshops aimed at educating staff, students, and parents on staying safe, Spanish liaison Norma Morales said. “We are training all of our staff members and registrars for dealing with immigration enforcement,” Morales said. “We teach them the signs to look for when identifying ICE officers as well as ways to report ICE activity.” The school district is handing out cards that connect to a Rapid Response Network, Morales said. There are red and yellow cards that allow students and families to connect with a hotline that provides support, she said. “The yellow card is for people who see any ICE activity and want to report it,” Morales said. “The red card states the rights of
the students, and tells them what to do in case they come into contact with ICE,” she added. The district does not have official immigration information on students, and will not be giving out any information to immigration enforcement, Morales said. “We don’t ask students for their Social Security when they register, and we have no record of who is here with paperwork, so there is a lot of protection,” Morales said. “We’re allowed to give zero information to ICE,” she added. ICE officials are only allowed to enter with an official warrant, signed by a judge, Morales said. These warrants are difficult to obtain and are usually only for adults with criminal history, she added. “We are denying every single request unless we are provided with an official warrant,” Morales said. “Most times, when ICE acSEE PAGE 16
Faculty, students weigh in on benefits, drawbacks of AI tools By Vasista Ramachandruni
The district is introducing multiple new artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives for students this year, MUSD Director of Technology Chin Song said. The first district-wide initiative is Khanmigo, an AI teaching assistant built by Khan Academy, Song said. Khanmigo offers students a variety of features such as a writing coach so students can improve their writing by submitting their own writing samples, he added. “If AI is adopted well, they’ll actually save both the teacher and the student a lot of time,” Song said. “And so rather than getting a not-so-great first or second draft, they might get a better third draft, and then teachers could put in more poignant comments, and then nudge systems towards better writing.” Technology amplifies both ac-
ademic honesty and dishonesty, Song said. “The one reason why we love Khanmigo is because of the fact that it’s a walled garden of sorts, and if you ask a question, it doesn’t give you all the answers,” Song said. “It’ll be very Socratic, and it’ll say ‘Hey, what did you mean?’ ‘What do you think is the next step?’” This may be annoying for some students because it doesn’t provide all of the answers as ChatGPT does, but it reassures educators that students are learning rather than copying down answers for homework, Song said. Students should face some adversity while learning, but AI removes that struggle, English teacher Sanjana Barr said. “ The AI tools won’t give you the answer from Khanmigo, but kids are not stupid,” Barr said. “They know if they just keep saying ‘I don’t get it’ over and over, it’ll
eventually give them the answer.” We have had AI for long enough that we begin to see students unwilling to use their brains, Barr said. “ In general day to day for students, I think an over-reliance on AI to solve their problems leads to a lack of ambition because they never want to try something that’s too hard because they want to be able to just get an answer,” Barr said. “If it’s too hard, they give up. So they don’t have resilience,” Barr said. If children enter the world incapable of self-expression, trapped in their own minds due to AI, that’s a very bad thing, Barr said. “I think that we process ourselves and our identity and our emotions through language,” Barr said. “Part of the way we give children language is by havSEE PAGE 16
The district is currently in deficit spending, where its expenditures exceed the revenues it receives from the state, federal, and local sources MUSD Chief Business Officer Dorothy Reconose said. Since 86% of the District’s budget is allocated towards teachers and staff and costs are rising, the budget has a huge impact on students’ opportunities and well-being, Reconose said. “So the negative is what we call deficit spending, … meaning we’re spending more than the money coming in,” Reconose said. “And you know that doesn’t happen overnight, right? So it’s a series of previous spending that when our expenditures keep growing every year, we have costs or positions.” While these issues may seem pressing, the district is actively working to fix the financial situation, Superintendent Cheryl Jordan said. Leaders are actively advocating for more stable funding at the state and federal levels, while also encouraging creative local solutions, Jordan said. “We can advocate at the very local level with our parent, teacher, and student associations,” Jordan said. “We can advocate at the city level, at the county level, and at the state level. And we can advocate with other school administrators (and) with other board members as a collective”. Beyond advocacy, MUSD also makes sure to allocate funds and resources properly, Jordan said. “So essentially, our five strategic goals are what should be guiding all of our expenditures,” Jordan said. “So if there’s something that we want to spend money on, then the first question we need to ask ourselves is, ‘Which one of our five strategic goals does that meet? Does it meet building
a Culture of We, does it improve communications?’” Following these goals also means finding replacements for ineffective or outdated programs, Jordan said. “I’ve been talking with our district leaders about (how) we (have to) find something better than that (Iready)” Jordan said. “When we do find someone that’s better than that, well then that thing is where we’re going to invest our money because they’ll do a better job of keeping our learners engaged so that by the time they’re in sixth grade, they’re not bored with it.” With these financial challenges, the district is also looking for new ways to generate revenue to alleviate the financial burden, Reconose said. “There are a lot of small grants that are happening around (high schools),” Reconose said. “A lot of private organizations are offering grants for schools and sometimes it’s specific to some program that’s running in high school.” The school district has a systematic issue of underfunding, so although small grants help in the short term, there needs to be a long-term change, Johari said. “Our current public education model is underfunded, for us to be able to do all the things to meet the needs of our current students who come in at varying levels of readiness, to both support acceleration as well as support students getting supports just in time, supporting our neurodivergent students.” The school district’s financial well-being affects students’ and teachers’ lives so Reconose encourages students to be proactive abiut seeking out grant opportunities and funding , Reconose said. “Schools that are proactive about local funding can create more opportunities ,” she said.
Eye on Campus
Courtesy of Kayden Ho
The lion dance club performed at the Lunar show on Saturday, Feb 8. The show included various club performances and dances.