NEWS
Simplified FAFSA creates financial barriers for students. A2
LIFESTYLE
Increase in piracy creates ethical concerns. B3
SPORTS
Dance team wins nationals. C1
PALO ALTO UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT PALO ALTO HIGH SCHOOL 50 EMBARCADERO RD. PALO ALTO, CA 94301
NON-PROFIT ORG U.S. POSTAGE
PAI D PALO ALTO PERMIT #44
The Campanile Vol. CVI, No. 7
Palo Alto High School, 50 Embarcadero Road, Palo Alto, CA 94301
Tuesday, April 16, 2024
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Teachers Balance No mark
Annika Chu Staff Writer
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n efforts to narrow the achievement disparity between underrepresented minorities and the rest of the student body, PAUSD has begun promoting the use of “No Mark” to replace F grades and Pass to replace D grades. Board of Education Trustee Jennifer DiBrienza said the achievement disparity is not a result of a student’s ability but rather the lack of a second chance. “Kids not finding success in a class actually ran across all demographics, but disproportionately the ones who were not Latinx were getting that ‘No Mark’ and a chance to make it up where the Latinx kids were not,” DiBrienza said. According to Principal Brent Kline, “No Mark” is a temporary grade given when a teacher has determined that a student has not completed enough work to have an accurate assessment of their abilities.
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!"#$%&'()*)+,-&./)&01(23&)4,(&5&6(17,-& +)&(,789,&19:;,4,*,<+&7;-'1(;+;,-=&& ,<9)8(16,&-,9)<7&9:1<9,The metric for determining what counts as sufficient work, however, is subjective and placed at the individual teacher’s discretion. “It is dependent upon what the student has done or not done and determined by the teacher, whether there's going to be an appropriate time for the student to make it up possibly, or there's not enough information,” Kline said. DiBrienza said minority students are disproportionately hurt by current grading policies. “Latinx students are six times more likely than their whiter peers to get an F than a ‘No Mark,’” DiBrienza said. DiBrienza also said if the work is not made up by a certain timeframe, the student will receive the grade they would have originally received, most likely an F. A “No Mark” does not replace any other letter grade, as PAUSD considers Ds and above as passing grades for graduation purposes. While “No Marks” have always been an option for PAUSD teachers to use, students mainly had to self-advocate to receive one. “Some subgroups of our population were advocating for a ‘No Mark,’ and therefore given a chance to make up that work and get a better grade, and other students were not getting that opportunity, whether because they weren't advocating for it, or it wasn't being offered to them or they didn't know it existed,” DiBrienza said. Kline said receiving a “No Mark” has several academic advantages compared to an F. “F is a huge deficit in the GPA because F holds 50 more points than any other grade,” Kline said. While Fs and Ds drop students’ GPAs, “No Marks” and Passes do not. School Board representative and junior Karthi Gottipati raised concerns about the policy being exploited for abuse.
“If you're doing poorly in a class (and) you have a C, you drop your grade on purpose to get into that D to F range in the hope that your teacher will provide you a new mark, and you'll be able to make that up to full credit later,” Gottipati said. However, Gottipati also said systemic change is a positive. “The best possible option would be to make the system apply equitably, as opposed to just getting rid of it because it has issues,” Gottipati said. Kline said the second chance a “No Mark” gives opens up new learning opportunities for students. “It has a significant positive impact in terms of students' ability to maintain eligibility in outside events and organizations,” Kline said. “It also allows students (to) take a class that's not as difficult and would continue to fulfill the graduation requirement, because currently, if you fail a class, you need to retake that same class.” Gottipati said the flexibility of a “No Mark” option provides students with more chances of proving their academic ability. “It definitely makes sense to provide an opportunity to make up classes if you get super sick (or) something happens to you that makes you unable to do well in the class,” Gottipati said. “That shouldn't impact you, and you should be able to make that up, because I believe in second chances, and I think providing those second chances are important.”
Lea Kwan Staff Writer
Paly Theatre presents Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’
Lucas Yuan
Managing Editor Paly Theatre’s spring production, “Hamlet,” premiered at the Performing Arts Center on April 13. Set in modern day Denmark, Prince Hamlet (senior Kyle Vetter) is commanded by his father’s ghost to avenge his murder by his uncle Claudius (senior Jack Champlin) in his attempt to become king. Unlike previous spring plays from Paly Theatre, which typically open in early March, the difficulty of a Shakespearean play such as “Hamlet” meant more time was needed to prepare for the play, according to junior and Assistant Director Aether Yun. “Aside from just memorization, ‘Hamlet’ is also a longer play,” Yun said. “It’s also more intensive in blocking because you can’t rely on just the text to convey the meaning of a monologue or soliloquy.” Senior Mireia Sainz Blasi said one of the biggest challenges she faced while preparing for the play was balancing her work for theatre with other schoolwork. As the Stage
Manager, Sainz Blasi has to attend every rehearsal. “It's a really big time commitment, and I'm in the (Performing Arts Center) from the end of school until 6:30 p.m. every day,” Sainz Blasi said. “But luckily, not everyone is called at all times, and so the main characters in a lot of scenes have off days.” Theatre teacher Sarah Thermond said as a result of the later premiere date, some of the cast had time conflicts with spring sports. “Scheduling logistics was complicated,” Thermond said. “But pushing our spring show back definitely helped ease the stress in a lot of students involved. Compared to last year, we felt much more calm during preparations this year.” Thermond also said high schools rarely perform “Hamlet,” but this play allows for creative freedom in their interpretation since many of Shakespeare’s lines could have double meanings. “I've been joking that I'm directing like the most anti-Hamlet Hamlet play,” Thermond said. “I do think that the way we’re interpreting it is going to make it
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Senior Jack Champlin brings the pivotal wedding scene of 'Hamlet' to life. Theatre teacher Sarah Thermond said, “I do think that the way we’re interpreting it is going to make it have a little more action than people might be expecting."
have a little more action than people might be expecting.” The show also runs at 7:30 p.m. April 20 and 2 p.m. April 21 in the Performing Arts Center.
Tickets are $10 for students or seniors and $15 for adults. and are on sale at https://www.palytheatre.com/tickets.
After weeks of campaigning, ASB officers have been elected for the 2024-25 school year. Junior Julian Hong was re-elected as President and will work alongside junior and Vice President Amani FossatieMoine. Freshman Paul Wang will take over as the Treasurer, and sophomore Gavin Lin will retain his position as Secretary. At the individual grade level, juniors Kennedy Do and Tasman Johnson became senior class president and vice president, respectively. Sophomore James Park will be junior class president and sophomore Emily Tang will be junior class vice president. Freshmen Katie Kim and Leilani Chen will serve as the sophomore class president and vice president, respectively. Kim said she noticed a lack of underclassman representation in school events, which she hopes to change in the upcoming year. “If I do a good job of representing my class, at least I can add on and advocate for my class in certain (ASB) discussions,” Kim said. “(I would like) a little bit more communication with the class in terms of what they want instead of assuming sometimes.” Park said he wants to increase transparency around ASB funding. “I will propose to amend the ASB constitution to make it so that we have to pass a budget report every semester so people can see where their money is going,” Park said. “I hope to make ASB an organization that’ll better serve the student body.” Wang said he ran for ASB Treasurer because he wanted to try something new that he was confident he could do well in. “For next year, my goals are to … make sure our funding is in check, as well as the proper utilization of the new semester budget reports,” Wang said. “One significant change I want to make next year is to subsidize all dances. So this year ASB subsidized prom a bit but we didn't subsidize the other dances — Hoco and the Welcome Back to School dance.” Because of ASB’s role in organizing student activities, Park said he plans to increase regular student engagement in ASB. “There's a very common misconception that student government is a very exclusive class to only a small population of the school,” Park said. “Including more people will mean that we get more participation with activities and will also benefit the student body in general because it makes it seem less like it’s a very exclusive society and more of a body that actually serves the students.” To counter this preconception, Chen said she wants to change how accessible information is to students. “Things like the ASB minutes and budget reports — they're all available online, but students don't really know where to find them,” Chen said. “People are constantly asking, ‘What's the schedule?’ ‘What are late start Mondays?’ and if we make that information something that's a little bit more available, like on Instagram, that's gonna be something better for students so that everybody can feel like they know what's going on.” Chen said she also plans to make Paly a better place for students mentally. “I noticed through my past seven months at Paly that, at times, there's a very toxic mentality that a lot of students have, and maybe even myself, of the need to achieve, and I want to be able to do more things that encourage students to be proud of what they've done,” Chen said. “I would really like to integrate more events based on social activism.” Chen said the breakfast social she organized this year was one of her favorite events because of the student involvement. “I want to do more socials for the sophomores and combine great events with freshmen, juniors or seniors,” Chen said. “I hope to be able to work even harder than I did this past year to create more events and changes in our school that students can notice and appreciate.”