Month: September 2021

By Jackson Wedel, Staff Writer

This fall marked the Sacramento City Unified School District’s first transition to a full-time, regular school schedule since the pandemic shutdown in March 2020. More and more students have been vaccinated, making this transition possible. While some students chose to attend half-day sessions in-person in spring, going to a full-day, 6-class schedule represents a significant change in students’ daily routines.

In McClatchy’s 2020-21 school year, most days had three periods, alternating between sets of Periods 1, 3, and 5 and of Periods 2, 4, and 6. The periods were 80 minutes long, split into 40 minutes of synchronous work and 40 minutes of asynchronous work. Mondays were the exception: while students attended all of their classes, the periods were around 40 minutes each. However, the current schedule took a sharp turn, with 60-minute periods for every class every day. 

A common concern for students was that their study habits were negatively affected by distance learning. Beldon Lee (‘22) said, “It’s gonna hit me way harder since I literally didn’t do that much work for almost two years.” 

However, students and teachers alike are optimistic about gaining a deeper interpersonal connection through learning. Jaime Garcia (‘24) noted, “In distance learning, it was hard to reach out to your teachers and have a good connection.” Lee agreed, adding that in-person learning “makes discussing a whole lot more engaging ‒ it’s not just the teacher and a bunch of boxes around their faces talking to themselves”.

Teachers have similarly optimistic feelings about a return to the classroom. Physics teacher Roscoe Ahn said, “Everything took longer online,” and that “some of the kids are a little further behind than usual, but we’ll just try and do our best to catch them all up”.

Ahn believes the period of distance learning helped him improve his curriculum. “I think going over last year when we had so much less actual teaching time made me prioritize what we kept in, and I think this year I’m now building off of that,” he said.

Outside of class itself, students were excited about many of the other interactions that come with in-person learning. “I think distance learning has definitely made me appreciate my friends more and the whole social aspect,” Lee mentioned. “What COVID has taught me is that your social life is important for your mental health and physical health,” said Garcia.

One particularly exciting point was the prospect of sports and other extracurriculars returning to McClatchy. “I’m excited for events. I want to attend something, go to a football game,” mentioned Garcia. Ahn echoed the sentiment, saying, “Probably for me, the most exciting thing is that sports are back. I think that’s an important part of the high school experience.”

Overall, the prevailing attitude among students and faculty alike was of excitement. When asked to choose between in-person or distance learning, Ahn, Garcia, and Lee all resoundingly preferred in-person school.

By Tristan Olynick, Staff Writer

On Thursday, September 9, a lightning storm struck California from around 6 p.m. in the evening to 7 a.m. the following day. On September 10, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) and the National Weather Service reported over 1,100 total lightning strikes during the storm, these strikes causing multiple fires.

Even before the storm, firefighters were fighting thirteen major wildfires, including the Dixie Fire, which is currently California’s second largest wildfire in recorded history. The National Weather Service reports that around 960,000 acres have been burned and over 1,000 structures destroyed. Now, after the storm, dozens of small fires have been reported.

According to the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), lightning strikes caused around 600 fires last year during the dry seasons. Taking that into account, Californians can most likely expect even more fires than there currently are to come.

Cal Fire reports that there are three more fires, excluding the Dixie Fire, that rank in the top 20 of California’s biggest wildfires. These are the Caldor Fire, Monument Fire, and River Complex Fire — the latter two were found to be caused by lightning strikes. 

The Complex Fire has burned over 187,000 acres and continues to burn. As of September 22, the Complex Fire has reached the Sequoia National Park in Tulare County which has caused evacuations of surrounding areas. The fire is threatening sequoia trees including California’s largest sequoia tree (the General Sherman Tree). Protective precautions have been taken to protect the tree, like wrapping it in special foil to prevent fire damage.

Currently, all of these fires combined have burned nearly 1.5 million acres of land and that number is still climbing. As of September 22, the Complex and Monument fires are each 55 percent contained and the Dixie Fire is 90 percent contained. Additionally, the Caldor Fire is 75 percent contained, and as a result Highway 50 reopened Tuesday, September 21.

By William Monnot, Staff Writer

With the return to school and the new Covid restrictions, many things have changed for McClatchy in 2021. Things that we took for granted two years ago, like not wearing a mask all day, or drinking water without leaving our desk, are not possible now. Fortunately, the Associated Student Body (ASB) has been hard at work planning how to make this year as fun as any other. What can be expected from ASB this year? 

“This year we’re trying to shoot for safer outreach events, trying to raise student morale, which is hard because everything is so limited,” said ASB President Reagan Mar. 

“What’s really killing us is that the district is limiting us compared to other school districts.” 

Currently, McClatchy students are not allowed to attend football games that take place on SCUSD property, while other schools like Jesuit and Christian Brothers can. 

“Because SCUSD is a really strict district, everything is considered priority events only, and, although we can say it is a priority for our mental health, the district doesn’t see it that way,” said Mar. 

Typical events, such as homecoming, will be very limited, and others might not even happen at all.

ASB plans on communication being a large part of this year. In previous years, communication has felt like an afterthought to students, but students can expect much more detailed plans in the near future. 

There are also plans to formulate what will be called “staff and student appreciation.” Teachers will submit a student they want to recognize and vice versa, potentially to be chosen for some sort of reward. 

“Basically to encourage people to be here, to be happy here,” said Mar.

Some things will have to be completely cut this year. As of now, rallies will not be happening — at least not for the first semester. It’s also unlikely we will see a change when it comes to football games. 

Another bottleneck comes from funding. In the past two years, the classes of 2020 and 2021 received sizable funds to make up for their year spent on Zooms. The unfortunate consequence of this, however, is that there is a smaller amount of money to work with this year than there have been in previous years. McClatchy students and families should expect more fundraising efforts to come.  

Almost everything has some degree of uncertainty. 

“Honestly, we haven’t been able to do a lot because things have been changing every two to three days,” Mar explained.

Plans could change at any time ー it’s important for McClatchy students to keep an eye out for updates. But no matter what, we can hope for this year to mark the beginning of a return to normality

By Eleanor Love, News and Sports Editor

16 or 17? Pre-register to vote. 

Californians who are 16 or 17 years old can pre-register to vote by filling out the Secretary of State’s online form or by completing a paper form found at county elections offices and DMVs.

While pre-registration doesn’t change the voting age, it enables teenagers to complete the registration application early so they’re completely ready to vote. Once they turn 18 their registration will become immediately active and a postcard will be sent to their address confirming their registration status.

Pre-registration makes teenagers more engaged and likely to vote. Harvard’s Shorenstein Center reports that the probability that youth will vote increases by up to 13 percent in states with pre-registration laws. 

California first began allowing 16-and 17-year olds to register to vote early in the fall of 2016. Since then, over 500,000 teenagers have done so. In addition to California, fourteen other states and the District of Columbia allow the program.

California Education Code also designates the last two complete weeks of April and September as High School Voter Education Weeks. This fall they will take place from September 13 to 24, 2021. During those weeks local school districts, the Secretary of State, and voting rights organizations will promote pre-registration, registration, and voting activities.  

Additional information is available online at the California Secretary of State.