It is saddening that our great teachers, counselors, and librarians will be laid off. With this, our resources will be depleted, and our school’s programs like ROP courses, after school sports, and our summer school will be gone. Recently I interviewed many staff members to get their take on this dilemma as well as a student to see how she felt about these drastic cuts. Our principal, Derk Garcia pleasantly agreed to my interview. How do you feel about the pink slip and budget cuts in general? “It’s depressing and it goes against every thing we say we value as a society to be provided for children.” The worse part of it as he states is that “Monterey Trail has a lot of younger staff member so we have more than most high schools in other districts, which is concerning for two  reasons 1) I know the personal stories of the teachers, and [how the cuts] affect them 2) we have great teachers here at MTHS, and I am worried how the student would be impacted without great teachers, counselors, and librarians.” In our insightful interview we went over a few scenarios that would more than likely play out. As of now there is a potential of only having two counselors, how would that work out? “Actually there is a potential of having NO counselors at all,” Principal Garcia states sullenly. Surprised, as I am sure everyone would be to hear that, again I asked, how would that work out with all of students MTHS currently has enrolled? “If we only had two, we would split into priority, where seniors and juniors would be at the top, since they are the ones closer to graduating.” Principal Garcia had these final words to say “I would like the students at MTHS to understand that we all have the same goal and that is to maintain our current staff.” I, personally, would like our peers to understand that Mr. Garcia or any principal for that matter is not the one who chooses which teacher, counselor, or after school activity stays or goes; it is our state legislators who decide what department should be priorities.

As we can see, many of our resources will be limited or gone completely. How can we be told that we are the future doctors, lawyers, or scientist of tomorrow, when we won’t be able to get there with the help we need?  “Reach for the stars”, will no longer have the same meaning it use to. It is important that not only the present, but the future students at school have the choice to take advantage of the sources our high schools provide. I got a chance to speak to Ms. Tran, an English teacher, working her seventh year at MTHS. What was your reaction when you received your pink slip? “I was not surprised; I had a sense of humor for it.” Ms. Tran was one of thirty teachers to open up the school on its first day; it doesn’t make her happy to receive one, but she’s not really sure what to do about it. In addition, I got to talk to Mr. Jacobson, one of the counselors at MTHS. How do you feel about the pink slip and budget cuts our state legislators are making? “It’s a tragedy in the making for the entire district; we are already one of the states spending less money on each student, while we have one of the biggest economies. I then asked Ms. Jacobson what he would like students to know on getting involved and spreading the word “The more awareness there is the more work that can be done. Students and parents should write letters not just too local officials, but to our state legislator as well.” As with many others planning for their future, Ms. Tran plans to take some time off and do some community service and Mr. Jacobson plans to get a special education teaching credential.

As students we need to take a stand; our MTHS Budget Funeral was a great success, but we can do so much more! We ARE the politicians of our own lives and of our futures, we can make many things happen, we influence people on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis, whichever it maybe, and we don’t even know it. The opportunity to raise our voices has come again, let’s take that chance and go all out.

What YOU can do:

• Register to Vote on this year’s 2010 census
• Vote at the polls on important issues
• Send a letter to your legislator (attached to this page is a downloadable sample letter and how to find information for your legislators)
• Get Involved with your school
• Volunteer in cut areas to reduce the impact these cuts will have on students
• Organize a fundraiser, or donate money, supplies and/or time to help save programs
• Organize a rally to bring more public attention to stop the cuts to education
• Circulate a petition to stop budget cuts, collect signatures from registered voters, and submit it to your legislators. For more information, go to www.supportcakids.org
• SPREAD THE WORD!

Remember it only takes one person to make a difference; will the next leader be you?

Mandatory Parent Meeting: Students will NOT be allowed to tryout if a parent/guardian does not attend this meeting; Thurday, April 29th 7pm-8pm, Cafeteria

Mandatory Tryout Meeting Agenda:

• Tryout Procedures
• Cheerleading 2010-11 Expenses
• Uniforms, Cheer Camp and Parent Participation

Cheer Tryouts:

Attendance at all three days of tryouts is mandatory

• Tuesday     May 4th 5:30-7:30  Sign in at 5:15
• Thursday   May 6th 5:30-7:30
• Friday          May 7th 5:30-7:30

Location: Small Gym

Attire:  Shorts, T-Shirt, Athletic Shoes

MTHS’s second blood drive was held on Wednesday, February 24^th. Ever since the few blood drives in 2008 to 2009, we have collected 433 total pints of blood! This year’s blood drives were successful as well: we collected 124 pints Term 2 and 130 pints Wednesday. 167 people had registered to donate blood, 74 being first-time donors!

Stay posted, as our next blood drive will be on the first week of May – stay healthy, wealthy and wise!

 However, the ASB room and Mrs. Lascola did not receive new computers because their computers did not qualify for the Refresh program: their computers were only 4 years old. Another problem is that the hard drives no longer contain storage for floppy disks. Hopefully, the kinks will work out in time.

But, I must say, I just love the sounds the keyboards make when you type. It makes me smile.

Every five years, the government grants schools with new, updated computers right out of their pockets. And we don’t even have to pay a single dime, through a process called “Refresh”. Because of constant advances in computers and technology, the “new” computer has  quickly turned into the gray-haired “last year” computer. For the purpose of keeping school computers up to date, Refresh was established. So, every five years, schools are granted with a new batch of updated computers tied with bows, well, for MTHS at least.

This year will be MTHS’s first Refresh, courtesy of federal money. All of our old, rusty, slow computers will be replaced with newer ones, with more RAM (Random Access Memory), allowing for faster responses. Our current computers have 15” monitors, 512 megabytes of RAM and an older version of Microsoft. The new computers we will be getting will consist of 17” monitors, 2 gigabytes of RAM, Microsoft 2007 and will have a different operating system, Vista or Windows 7.

Because of strict federal regulations regarding computers, the school is not allowed to sell or give away the old computers. Therefore, we will use our old computers for lab dissections and for models for the Computer Science classes. The mouses and other appliances will be kept as spares in storage. Thinking about the new computers makes you wish it was already December, doesn’t it?

Local Effects of the Cuts

So far, summer school has been completely cut from next year, and the district is still debating whether or not to close the library and eliminate ROP, all counselors, and numerous amounts of staff.  Other school districts have already cut most of their staff in order to save money, and therefore class sizes are growing. These cuts result in less attention given to the individual students, and more given to efforts in controlling rowdy teenagers. Here at MTHS, paper is scarce, since there is no money to buy it, and replacements for the projectors and other technology, for the time being, are nonexistent.  There is also a chance that some sports, such as all the freshman sports, and other extracurricular activities may be cut, as well as some janitors, vice principles, security and teachers.

What Can Be Done to Help?

Despite all this, students can still succeed as they continue their education – they can still try their hardest and challenge themselves to get as far as they can.  According to Mrs. Robinson, a teacher at Monterey Trail High School, students “can help by staying in school, graduating on time, taking advantage of employment opportunities…[and] work[ing] hard”.  For now, all schools can do is to support their students, encourage them to stay in school, and use the limited supplies that they currently have.

So what is CRC doing about their problem?

“We are always striving to conserve in any way we can without jeopardizing our students education.” says KirstieWest, CRC’s Public Information Officer. The CRC campus has already gone “green” by recycling and communicating via email.  Although they have been cutting down on hiring, they are not on a “hiring freeze” and will fill any needed positions. As it can be seen, not only are Ivy League schools are being slashed – the local colleges, many of which are popular to our high school students, are also impacted by our nation’s economic state.

       After asking the P.E. teacher, Coach Arcuri, about what was going on, he informed the class that MTHS was planning to convert its plain-Jane football field into an advanced and engineered track, provided by Mondoturf, a European company specializing in synthetically engineered fields and turfs. It was also revealed to me that the funds for the project were provided by EGUSD 5-6 years ago, but was never put into action until now.

       Several months and truckloads of asphalt later, our track has been completed – its transformation is obvious, as well as its’ benefits. Players from football, soccer, track, the entire Physical Education classes, as well as the remaining 2200 students have access to the brand-new field. Coach Arcuri also feels that the new field will give “ the school’s 2200 kids opportunities to practice for off-season sports, or just to exercise in general” whenever they have the urge to do so.

       Our new track is befitted like a little 5-year olds’ Christmas stocking: it has ALL the newest and latest gadgets and toys. The track is waterproof, made of 70% recycled material, is environmental-friendly (saves 47.6 tons of CO² emission) and is very user-friendly. It ensures optimal athletic performance (ball behavior, shock absorption) and may reduce the risk of injuries and muscle fatigue. Not only will we be saving the earth while sweating our limbs off – we will also be improving the very foundation of the sports program of Monterey Trail High School.