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NEWS
Study hall becomes part of schedule. A2
LIFESTYLE
Junior first to sail Atlantic solo, west to east. B1
SCI/TECH
Accutane can help fight acne. C4
Monday, Sept. 12, 2022
The Campanile
Vol. CV, No. 1
Palo Alto High School, 50 Embarcadero Road, Palo Alto, CA 94301
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
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o ease Americans’ student loan debt, President Joe Biden announced the Student Loan Forgiveness program on Aug. 24. Biden said the program will cancel $10,000 in debt for those who earn less than $125,000 a year and $20,000 for those who have received Pell grants for low-income families. In his speech announcing the program, Biden said people will “finally be able to climb out from that mountain of debt.” History teacher Justin Cronin said he thinks Biden’s plan for financial relief is beneficial for post-graduates with financial struggles.
“I think it offers a much more manageable way to pay down your student debt once you graduate,” Cronin said. Cronin also said the plan could help people have more security rather than focusing on day-to-day resources. “If you were forced to pay a large chunk of
your money to pay off debt, that could impact you on food, shelter and clothing. Now, you have a little bit more wiggle room,” Cronin said. English teacher Katie Elder said she can relate to the difficulties of having staggering student loans after college, and she said the forgiveness plan could create new opportunities for young adults. “Loan forgiveness could have the potential to really change peoples’ lives,” Elder said. “Doors (could) open for students who do not have resources otherwise.” Cronin also said the plan is one step closer to fixing the ongoing problem of skyrocketing college tuition. “It’s not (only) trying to correct a historical problem, but it’s also trying to set up a system that was flawed and make it less flawed,” Cronin said. “It’s still not perfect, but I think it’s headed in the right direction.” However, Economics teacher Grant Blackburn said Biden’s plan doesn’t fix the actual problem. “I think the plan, while good intentioned, is probably a bad idea,” Blackburn said. “It doesn’t solve the underlying problem of affordability of going to college and helping students navigate the myriad of options they have.” Blackburn also said the plan may encourage students to only consider college as a path towards success. “I think a lot of students feel like they have to (take the traditional college route), which is often the more expensive way,” Blackburn said. In fact, Blackburn said Biden’s plan may backfire by making colleges more expensive and harder to attend. “Right now, if you have a student loan, (the Student Loan Forgiveness program) increases the affordability of going to college, and that makes it more likely that colleges are going to increase their prices,” Blackburn said. “The irony is that by making college more affordable and more accessible to more Americans, it actually makes it less affordable and less adaptable.”
Olivia Atkinson & Shiki Toyama Staff Writer & Business Manager ART BY HANNAH SINGER
Board, students look to future plans following dismissal of district lawyer Tiffany He
News/Opinion Editor After dismissing its previous general counsel "without cause" during its Aug. 4 closed session meeting, the board of eduction is in the process of hiring a new person for this position. Board member Jesse Ladomirak said Komey Vishakan, hired in 2020, was the district’s first in-house attorney who provided legal assistance to the Board and Superintendent. “Prior to bringing the general counsel role in-house as an employee, the district had tons of lawyers providing advice in different areas, but there (had) never been the role of general counsel,” Ladomirak said. Ladomirak said has heard community concerns about Vishakan’s termination, and while she said she understands the pushback, for privacy reasons the Board can't why employees are dismissed. “We see (frustration) in Palo Alto Online comments — frustrated that the district is stonewalling, but there are legal protections that are in place for both victims and alleged perpetrators, ” Ladomirak said. “We can’t talk about it. I get that it feels like there’s some conspiracy, but 99% of the time, decisions are made for mundane reasons that really aren't all that exciting.” But for Paly Student Board Representative Johannah Seah, the lack of transparency about this decision and loss of Vishakan, who Seah said was a valuable asset, is devastating.
“I thought, why are they letting go of this person who’s worked really hard, at least from my perspective, to serve students?” Seah said. “It’s possible she could have done something else, but because the reason wasn’t publicized, I could jump to my conclusions.” Although Vishakan worked mostly for the district, students could meet with her as well. The 2020-2021 Vice President of Gunn’s Know Your Nine club and 2021 graduate Isabella Pistaferri said she and other students worked with Vishakan to create stronger Title IX resources within PAUSD. “She basically took it upon herself to start a Title IX review committee in order to directly address the issues that we were bringing up at the board meetings and to create a direct link between students and administrators,” Pistaferri said. Seah, who also worked with Vishakan, said Vishakan was an outlet for students’ Title IX concerns. “A lot of Title IX information is very legalistic that can be really hard to understand,” Seah said. “So, we were interested in making the Title IX system more accessible. We would talk to her about our concerns, and she would tell us a little bit more about her experience working as the general counsel.” At the Board’s Aug. 23 meeting, members discussed hiring a new general counsel, and Ladomirak said one factor they are considering is whether to hire a PAUSD employee or an attorney from an outside law firm. “In my prior life, I worked as an attorney for a public agency group, and (being) part of a larger law firm had access to labor attorneys and real estate attorneys and all the other stuff that would come up beyond just the generalist
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Football defeats Gunn in first matchup since 2012
CAYDEN GU/THE CAMPANILE
Despite student behavior that caused the game to end early, the football team defeated Gunn 41-0 Friday night. Senior wide receiver and cornerback Josh Kaplan said, “Since Gunn is our rival, that motivated us to push harder and not let them get anything against us.”
Football full story on C1
stuff,” Ladomirak said. “It’s also possible to do with an employee, and so I think we’re trying to figure out what’s going to be the most effective way to serve this role for our district.” Seah said she supports an employee-hire because she thinks it would be more effective in maintaining the student-district connection. “If they were hired into the district, I (would) have a hard time believing they’re going to be very available to student input or be very connected to students at all,” Seah said. “Even when you’re an employee, you’re still disconnected from students in some sense, but because you’re part of the PAUSD district, you understand who you’re working with a bit more.” However, Pistaferri said her biggest concern with a new counsel is their knowledge of Title IX regulations.
“Hopefully, the (new) general counsel puts Title IX issues at the forefront of what they want to deal with in school and keeps that direct link between students and the school district with the Title IX review committee,” Pistaferri said. “I really want there to be actual change and student input, but advocacy is tiring. You can’t lean on students to do everything for you.” Ladomirak said the hiring process is an ongoing conversation and the Board will keep Vishakan’s work in mind when choosing its new general counsel. “We learned lots of things,” Ladomirak said. “We’re trying to use this moment of transition to make sure that when we do it again, it’s as effective as possible.” Vishakan did not respond to an email request for an interview.