Category: News

 

This year, C.K.M. juniors created groups to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Student of the Year program. The three teams, the Supercure-os, Team Cureismatic Kids, and Team Secure the Cure consisted of C.K.M. juniors as well as juniors from other high schools in the area.

“LLS Student of the Year is a leadership program in which groups of students around the nation are given seven weeks to raise as much money for LLS as possible. The funds raised by the youth go directly toward funding cancer research or providing financial aid to families affected by cancer,” said Nicole Fong (‘19), a leader of the Supercure-os team.

Each group attempts to set itself apart from other groups by raising the most money or doing the most community outreach. Some teams used their creative team names to capture attention. “We decided to give our team a superhero theme. With handmade capes and a custom logo, we hoped to capture the strength and bravery of those who fought and are currently battling cancer,” said Jadelyn Wong (‘19).

In order to raise funds, teams held events to attract contribution from members of the community. Team Cureismatic Kids, led by Lauren Morris, Olivia Vinding, and Katie Wolf, held a large dinner party, sold tickets to a Sacramento Republic FC game, and a barbecue. The Supercure-os, led by Jadelyn Wong, Sam Wong, and Nicole Fong, held a classical music benefit concert and a youth debate camp, and Team Secure the Cure, led by Katharine Jacobs and Sage Dickinson held a fashion show and auction.

This seven-week fundraiser culminated in a gala event in which teams were awarded recognition for their hard work. “Our team won the Bobby Dean Mission Integration Award, which is given to the team who succeeded in giving the most community involvement and hard work. We knew that raising money was important, but our team made it one of our goals to involve the community as best we could,” said Fong.

In addition to their concert and debate camp, the group emailed monthly newsletters to their supporters in order to “update everyone on what [the team was] doing and ensure everyone was involved in [their] campaign.” These newsletters also each included a Spotlight Survivor excerpt. “Each month, we had one of our team members interview a friend or relative who has been affected by cancer. Through this, we wanted to put real faces behind our campaign and reveal that donations and LLS’s hard work truly benefit those in need,” said Jadelyn Wong,

Students intimately familiar with the struggle of cancer found inspiration to join LLS groups in support of their loved ones.

“The motivation behind our campaign was based on the impact cancer has had in our lives. I worked on this campaign in honor of my grandfather and my dad who both recently overcame their fights with the deadly disease,” said leader Olivia Vinding.

Jadelyn Wong also shared her family’s experience with cancer and said, “It distresses me to know that someone’s life could just end in a matter of months because of these illnesses. I wanted an opportunity to help those who are suffering every day.”

Additionally, juniors at C.K.M. are involved in the fundraiser nearly every year, making it somewhat of a tradition for C.K.M. students. “Seeing all the prior McClatchy kids participate in this campaign really motivated me to get involved,” said Fong.

Participating in the program also provided students a chance to get involved in the community, gain leadership experience, build up their college resumés.

“By participating in a program like this you learn important leadership skills you can take with you for the rest of your life,” said Vinding. Wolf added, “Participants gain a great advantage for college applications; admissions offices are always very impressed with LLS participation. They also gain valuable career skills like time management, communications, and workability with peers.”

Many students involved were truly touched by the experiences they had. “Our team had the opportunity to have a booth at the Crocker Riverside Fall Festival where we actually met a parent whose child was battling Leukemia. This campaign really allowed us to see the effects of cancer and gave us an opportunity to make a difference,” said Fong.

Sage Dickinson of Team Secure the Cure said, “I had the opportunity to meet and talk to Taylor, the Student of the Year 2019 Honored Hero. She was extremely young when she had to battle with Leukemia. Hearing her story and now seeing how well she is doing today, with the help of LLS, truly showed me first hand the amazing affects LLS has.”

Wong added, “I think that through a philanthropic program like LLS, C.K.M. students are able to encounter the ‘real’ world. At the end of the campaign, I was definitely left with a rewarding feeling in my heart for being able to help out the community, especially those in need of funding from LLS.”

Wolf agreed that contributing to this cause was very gratifying. “I could make a difference for the local families affected by blood cancer,” she said. “At the end of the long and challenging days of the campaign, that really made me feel good.”

Sage Dickinson of Team Secure the Cure said, “Going through this campaign and learning about people’s stories and everything LLS does is very touching. A few times throughout the campaign I’d just sit and think about the greater effect that all of our work has, and it is amazing. Being a part of something like this very humbling and really makes you grateful for what you have. The SOY campaign and LLS have certainly left a lasting impact in my life and has opened my eyes to philanthropy as something I’d love to do more of throughout my life.”

 

Sacramento Unified School District (SCUSD) Board member Letiticia Garcia stood with parents and students at Cesar Chavez Elementary School in her vote against approving the District’s late 2018 contract that addressed police presence on campuses. The contract involved 3 million dollars and called for eight police officers and one sergeant.

The District has had a long-standing partnership with the Sacramento Police Department for more than nine years, furthered by each parties’ cooperation in dealing with community violence, drug and gang related activity, and other threats surrounding Sacramento campuses.

The Sacramento Police Department provides law enforcement support for Rosemont, Burbank, McClatchy, J.F. Kennedy, and Hiram Johnson and American Legion High Schools. The department also provides two SROs capable of responding to all remaining 71 school sites. An SRO is a school resource officer that is responsible for crime prevention and safety on school campuses.

According to the Deputy Superintendent in the approval statement published in October 2018, the rationale for establishing the contract is that the SROs establish and maintain constant contact with school administrators and respond to any school safety issue, work closely with staff and administration in keeping the students safe, and “maintain a highly visible and open presence on each campus to encourage positive student interaction.”

The financial considerations for the contract would account for salaries, training, overtime, and vehicles for added law enforcement. The funding source for the program is the General Fund. The budget means the program would come at the expense of funding other academic figures, such as guidance counselors.

According to the approval statement, the presence of an SRO on campus “improves school climate and provides an immediate conduit to law enforcement to report crimes previously unreported.” The goal of the SRO program provided in the contract is to ensure a safe learning environment so students can focus on educational goals.

Brown Issues had a lot to say regarding the new contract. In their eyes, the contract was unnecessary for calling and paying for more school security when many schools lack proper counseling. They started a #CounselorsNotCops  campaign on Instagram which garnered a lot of attention on Cesar Chavez Day, demanding that schools prioritize having more school counselors and social workers before campus police.

Approximately 400,000 K-12 students attend schools that has a police officer but no counselor, according to data from the U.S Department of Education. Many people who were a part of #CounselorsNotCops felt that instead of ushering more police on to campus, into a setting where gun violence has become the norm, lawmakers and school districts should be enforcing the attendance of more therapists, social workers, and guidance counselors to schools everywhere.

In Illinois, there is active support for a bill that would replace armed security officers with social workers and behavior therapists. Brown Issues says all school districts should do the same, and has not ceased in their shouts for change to be made to provide a better learning environment for students across the nation.

 

 

With prom around the corner, there comes a checklist of things to do before the big day. Girls have to find their perfect dress, guys have to get their tuxedo, decide on corsages and boutonnieres.

Even though most checklists end up being very similar, some prefer to take a date, adding a promposal. A promposal happens when someone asks another person to prom, usually with the question written on a poster, and at C.K.M. you can send your promposals in for a chance to win free tickets.

The competition is posted on @ckmproposals on Instagram. The winner is decided based on the amount of likes and announced usually a day before the dance. Couples still have to buy their own tickets, but if they end up winning, the school will reimburse them following the dance.

 

On March 2, 2019, the District Attorney’s Office released a report saying that the officer-involved shooting of Stephon Clark on March 8, 2018 was justified and that the officers involved would not be held accountable.

On the evening of March 18, 2018, two officers responded to a 911 call of an alleged individual who was causing a disturbance in the Meadowview area that involved breaking car windows. Officer Terrance Mercadal and Officer Jared Robinet confronted the individual, later identified as 22-year-old Stephon Clark, in the backyard of one of the houses where Clark had fled. The officers stated that they had fired 20 rounds, believing Clark was armed.

In a 61-page report issued on March 2nd, Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert declared that “based on the circumstances of this incident,” officers Merdadal and Robinet had “honest and reasonable belief that they were in imminent danger of death or great bodily injury” and therefore, “acted lawfully in shooting Clark to defend themselves.”

On that following Sunday, March 3, Arden Fair mall was closed to the public because of concerns of a possible protest that might occur there in reaction to the DA’s report. Mall officials were alerted of the potential demonstration by city officers. A small amount of people gathered vigilantly outside of the mall Saturday night, and were allowed to remain until Sunday morning.

84 people were arrested Monday night, March 4, after nearly 100 demonstrators took to the streets of East Sacramento and the wealthy “fabulous ‘40s” neighborhood to protest the district attorney’s decision to not press charges against the officers who involved in the shooting.

Arrests were made after five cars were keyed during the duration of the protest. The volume of arrests were so large that protestors were bussed to Cal Expo to await processing. Three Sacramento reporters were also detained and released following the end of the activity.

On March 7, 2019, hundreds of high school and college students marched from Sac City College to downtown Sacramento, demanding reforms and voicing anger at the DA’s ruling at the steps of the state capitol. The march also reached Sacramento High School’s campus, the school where Clark attended.

The majorly student-led march on Thursday was organized and led by campus chapters of Black Student Unions and members of Sacramento’s Black Lives Matter. Faroz Migadde (‘20), president of Black Student Union at C.K.M., discussed Stephon Clark, the DA’s decision, and the several events that followed.

“The consensus is that it is a huge shame,” she said. “And it is unfortunate that that event happened and has become humanized and normalized to the point where we just internalized it.”

Addressing Schubert’s statement, Migadde expressed that she and the students in BSU were ashamed of the justice system to have come to the conclusion that the officers’ actions were lawful. “Overall we believe there could have been more action done,” she affirms.

When asked about the protests that occured at Arden Fair, she said, “Protesting at a mall does leave some impact, but [students in BSU] believe they [should have] had done it in a different location.” Regarding the arrests on Monday night, Migadde believed those who were arrested were done so unlawfully and should not have to face consequences because the act of protesting is protected under the First Amendment.

Stephon Clark was born and raised in Sacramento, in a neighborhood characterized by its strained relations with the Sacramento Police Department. Clark had been released from county jail one month prior to the night the shooting took place. Court records showed a history of convictions dating back to 2014, including robbery, domestic abuse, and a number of other offenses.

On March 16, two nights before the shooting, the report released by the DA described an event in which officers responded to a 911 call that Clark had allegedly physically abused his girlfriend and mother of his two kids, Salena Manni. Manni told police Clark slapped and punched her multiple times in the face and across her body before shoving her head into the wall. At that time, Clark was on probation for two cases of domestic violence against his girlfriend, one for robbery, and the fourth for loitering for prostitution. He was not at the scene when the police arrived.

According to texts that were extracted from the cellphone in Clark’s possession the night he was killed, which belonged to his girlfriend, Clark had tried to call her 76 times the night after she called 911. Texts reveal he begged her to not help the police send him to jail after she told him she’d reported him.

Investigators found that in the 24 hours preceding Clark’s death, he was using his phone in an attempt to reach his probation officer, contact old girlfriends, and locate Xanax and other drugs. The review also revealed Clark had used the phone’s Internet to conduct searches such as “What is the quickest and easiest way to kill yourself” and “What pills can you die from.”

The officers who shot and killed Clark were unaware of Clark’s criminal record when they encountered him in the Meadowview yard. His record was not considered in the initial investigation of his death.

According to Schubert’s statement issued with Saturday’s report, there will be no further action taken in the case of Stephon Clark.

 

 

The Sacramento City Teachers Association (SCTA) has voted to authorize a strike by more than 92% across Sacramento City Unified School District (SCUSD). The vote approves the possibility of strike if, “Aguilar, Ryan, and [the] District persist in their unlawful behavior and avoid taking measure to correct their unlawful behavior,” said SCTA in a statement sent out to teachers across the District.

Last Thursday at a staff meeting, McClatchy took their part in this vote of more than 2,000 teachers across the District. They voted to strike 70-4.

“It doesn’t mean we’re gonna go on strike, it means that by a 70-4 vote, the teacher’s authorized the union to strike,” said Lori Jablonski, one of C.K.M.’s Union Representatives.

The District announced that they have sent an invitation to meet with District officials on March 26 and March 28 to begin negotiations and, according to SCTA: “give the District an opportunity to cure their unlawful behavior.”

The strike would focus on the District’s refusal to implement one of the agreements made by the union and the District to avoid a strike last year. The contract provided that savings found in teachers’ health care would be put directly into student needs, including smaller class sizes, more nurses, and more counselors.

“We have a contract that was negotiated in the mayor’s living room, ultimately; hand written by the mayor, signed by everyone in the room: signed by the superintendent, and all of the union representatives. The school board voted to approve that contract unanimously,” said Jablonski. “Now, a year later they are refusing to implement the health care portion of the contract.”

The District had taken steps to sue SCTA over this portion of the contract, an “unprecedented” move according to Jablonski. The judge sent the case to arbitration, which finished March 13. The arbitrators decision will be released in the coming months.

“Even if the arbitrator decides that SCTA’s interpretation was indeed correct, the district could still not implement the contract, and that’s where we might think about going on strike,” said Tim Douglas, another Union Representative at C.K.M.

“The Union has a right to do everything in its legal power to ensure that this contract is indeed honored, and a strike is within its legal right,” said Jablonski.

Douglas compared the District’s practices to that of Donald Trump, saying, “The old ways of doing things, the old paradigms of doing things have been thrown up in the air by the District in the same way that Donald Trump is changing the ways the established practice has been for a long time.”

“It’s truly unfortunate that teachers may be forced to strike to get Superintendent Jorge Aguilar, Board President Jessie Ryan and other District leaders to obey the law, including things as simple as agreeing to meet with us and honoring agreements they signed fifteen months ago,” said David Fisher, the President of the SCTA in a statement to teachers.

Jablonski and Douglas, both social science teachers, echoed similar sentiments about the mood amongst teachers at McClatchy. “I have been doing this for 15 years and I have never seen teachers so united in their belief that this is what is needed. Nobody wants to do this, but I have no doubt that teachers will do it. Just speaking at this school, I think there is a really strong sense that enough is enough,” said Jablonski.

“Nobody wants to strike because, A. the classroom’s gonna go to hell, and B. you’re not gonna get paid and everybody has a mortgage payment. But I do think that we are to the point that we are more than willing to do this after years of mismanagement at this District.”

 

 

The supposed new Apple emoji has sparked controversy. The unofficial emoji appears to show the LGBTQ+ flag with the “no” symbol on top of it. Many Apple users saw this appear all over their social media, believing that it was an official anti-LGBTQ+ symbol produced by Apple but in reality it was just a glitch.

The emoji first appeared in a tweet made by a Twitter user. This lead to backlash and many Twitter users questioned Apple’s choice of producing this controversial emoji. While it may appear on a iPhone screen as an emoji produced by Apple, it was actually a glitch.

The emoji is just a mere glitch in the “no” symbols unicode. A unicode is an international encoding standard for use with different languages and scripts, by which each letter, digit, or symbol is assigned a unique numeric value that applies across different platforms and programs.

If you simply copy and paste the symbols unicode on top of an already existing emoji, it will produce a “no” symbol over any random emoji you choose to use. This glitch also does not work with any other devices such as laptops or other non Apple products.

Many students at C.K.M. noticed the emoji floating around their social medias. However, the glitch did not appear on everyone’s devices.

“I was first confused and I thought the tweets by the LGBTQ+ community on Twitter were hilarious because I thought it was being used among us for humor purposes. However, then actual homophobic people started to use it and I was worried that the glitch would be used as a way for homophobic people to say their hateful opinions” said Natalie Tembly (‘19).

A spokesperson for Twitter released a statement regarding the issue, “The way the emoji appears is due to Unicode presentation on iOS, and on its own is not a violation of our rules. However, if a user is targeted with this kind of emoji, and we have context that the intention is to shame, degrade, or harass based on membership (or perceived membership) in a protected category, we will action under our Hateful Conduct policies.”

 

McClatchy students joined in a passing protest against the District Attorney’s decision to not charge the police officers responsible for the shooting of Stephon Clark last year. The Thursday afternoon protest was largely made up of Sacramento City College (S.C.C.) students after they walked out of classes earlier that afternoon.

The protest induced a large police presence that included six unmarked vehicles, two officers on motorcycle, and at least 15 officers on bicycles.

The demonstration that made its way past McClatchy stopped briefly at the front doors of the school, where protestors chanted, “Why are we here? Stephon Clark.” and “Join us!” Some protestors were seen knocking and banging on the doors. The student and staff parking lots were locked. Some reported that more than 50 students walked out of the school to join the protests.

McClatchy’s Principal, Peter Lambert, said on the protest, “Students have a passion. I think students should always be concerned about issues going on within our city and our society, so they definitely should be involved and concerned.” He added, “They have a right.”

Said a spokesperson for Sacramento City School District (S.C.U.S.D.) in a statement to the Sacramento Bee, “We want to encourage students if they want to exercise First Amendment rights that they do so on campus. We have a responsibility to keep them safe when they’re on school grounds. We take that responsibility very seriously.”

Students expressed frustration over the events of the past week. One McClatchy sophomore who walked out to join the protest said, “I think it’s really important to protest these injustices.”

Chrysanthe Vidal, a McClatchy alum, who now attends S.C.C. said, “I’ve been hurting all weekend. I finally started listening to the news on Monday and I was disappointed and mad and this is a good outlet, I think that this will help.”

The peaceful demonstration was in response not only to the DA’s decision but to the arrest of 84 protestors on Monday night, including two journalists.

The protest made its way to Sacramento Charter High School, where they chanted “Come on out!” The protest also marched through Oak Park where chants of “Gentrifiers come through” were heard. The protest then headed to the state Capitol building.

One protestor, speaking to the crowd with a megaphone, who identified herself as a Rosemont High School student said, “I was very sick this last week when I found out the news about what happened, about Stephon Clark, about the whole case…it brought tears to my eyes so it also really makes me happy to see everybody come out here today, so please make sure that you’re tapping in to one another.”

As the march reached the Capitol, it had swollen to, by some estimates, over 300 people, most of which were students in the S.C.U.S.D. and Los Rios districts.

After nearly four hours of marching, the group reached the Capitol, and leaders took turn with the megaphone, speaking about their cause. Assemblymember Kevin McCarty also spoke to the group, telling the students and demonstrators that “this is your Capitol.” McCarty is a co-author of AB 392, a bill that would change the standard for deadly force used by an officer from “reasonable” to “necessary.”