Schools

Pianist David Kerr, a senior at Mount Madonna School, will perform his first original composition as part of the United States Open Competition, which is scheduled for Feb. 16-21 in Oakland.The Morgan Hill resident, who started playing the piano at age 4 and currently studies with teacher K.K. Koo, will compete in two of the 88 events that encompass the music competition.“I absolutely loved the process of writing my own music,” said Kerr of his first composition. “Music has, and always will be, a huge part of my life. In creating my own music, I found that I learned more about myself and now have an entirely new field in which to expand upon my studies.”On Feb. 19, he will perform his original composition, titled “Thoughts Racing.” The next day, Kerr will compete at the senior level in a Liszt duo with partner Kristin Wolfe, performing “Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2.” For the duo competition, two pianists play simultaneously and both parts are considered solos.“Initially, I was very resistant, mainly because I felt I wasn’t good enough,” said Kerr of his first upcoming competition. “Now, I feel that it’s a wonderful way to push myself to new levels in terms of my performance. It does induce a certain level of stress, although for what I feel I am getting out of it, I am totally willing to put my best effort forward.”Kerr said he was inspired by a friend to work on his own composition. Eight months later, he completed “Thoughts Racing.”“I have always enjoyed playing the piano, although the countless hours of work required to reach that enjoyment is quite daunting,” Kerr said. “Fortunately, I stayed with it and now I’m at the point where even the hard work is enjoyable.”For more information on the competition, visit usomc.org.

What inspires you?What inspires me are the words my grandfather said to me: “You can do it all.”What is your favorite subject in school and why?My favorite subject in school is Geology because I’m really interested in what the earth has to offer.If you had the power to change one thing in the world, what would it be?StarvationIf you could go anywhere, where would you go?AfricaName one big challenge in your life right now?Deciding what will come next in my life.What is your dream job?My dream job is to film animals in the wild, or to work for National Geographic.What are your three favorite things?My farm animals, fixed gear bicycles, being self-sufficient.What is your favorite book/author?Maria SabinaWhat do you want to do after high school?Go to college.Something that makes you smile:TacosMost played song on your phone/iPod:“21 questions” by 50 cent

In the spirit of the holiday season, staff from the Santa Clara County Office of Education’s Migrant Education department once again coordinated the adoption of several families in need this year, according to a press release from SCCOE.More than 15 families served by the Migrant Education program were adopted by staff from the SCCOE’s Educational Services and Business Services branches and the Alternative Education, Environmental Education and Migrant Education departments.“We really do make a difference in the lives of families,” said Veronica Ramos, SCCOE Director of Migrant Education. “Through the incredible efforts of our staff we are able to make the dreams of a few families come true and give them a holiday that they wouldn’t have had otherwise.”The families adopted by Migrant Education are receiving clothing items, donations of food, gifts and grocery gift cards, and all items have been delivered to the families throughout the week, according to SCCOE staff.SCCOE staff also contributed more than 280 toys to the SCCOE’s annual toy drive, benefiting children served by the Head Start, Foster Youth Services and Migrant Education programs.“While the holidays have traditionally provided an opportunity to highlight the needs of vulnerable individuals in our community, the reality is that throughout the entire year many of our children and families go without even the most basic of necessities,” said Jon R. Gundry, County Superintendent of Schools. “I hope that the dedication of the County Office staff to reaching out and supporting the families and children in our programs inspires others to make a small charitable contribution or extend a helping hand to those in need.”

The Morgan Hill Unified School District will begin accepting Transfer Request Forms at 8 a.m. Jan. 8, 2015 from parents/guardians who are interested in having their children attend a district school outside of their assigned home attendance area for the 2015-16 school year.

An advocacy organization that represents 40,000 part-time college instructors across California is urging Governor Jerry Brown to make a sea change in how part-timers at schools like Gavilan College—which depends heavily on part-time faculty—are compensated.

What inspires you?Both of my parents have been my inspirations. They’ve shown me that with hard work and dedication I can accomplish what I propose to myself; that giving up shouldn’t be an option because even though they are deaf, they didn’t give up. They found a way to get over their struggles and overcome their obstacles. I admire everything they do for me and my siblings, in order for us to achieve our goals.What is your favorite subject in school, and why?My favorite subject at school at the moment is Economics. It has led me to learn so much more about our world and economy on how everything financially functions.If you had the power to change one thing in the world, what would it be?There are a couple things I would like to change in the world. I would make sure there’s equality, no discrimination, for everyone to treat each other kindly and for immigrants to have an opportunity to stay in the U.S.If you could go anywhere, where would you go?I would say Europe. As well, I would love to travel to anywhere in the world and learn about that certain place and its culture.Name one big challenge in your life right now:Trying to balance my academic life and personal life.What do you want to do after high school?Go to college and pursue a higher education.What is your dream job?I don’t have a specific dream job. But I would love to help my community and those in need. Helping others has always been a part of me that I love doing. As well, I would love to have a job where I can travel, meet new people and continue learning from others.Something that makes you smile?Making others smile.What are your three favorite things?Spending time with my family, going on adventures, and sleeping.Favorite book:“The Hunger Games” series by Suzanne Collins.Top three most played songs on your iTunes or iPod:—“Hero” by Enrique Iglesias—“Tenerte” by Luis Coronel—“Si tal Vez” by OV7

With the Britton Middle School gymnasium filled to near capacity for its fourth annual science fair—which displayed projects from about 320 eighth-grade students—classmates Eliza Martin and Xuan Nguyen wore white T-shirts with words and drawings that helped detail their experiment titled, “Poo-Ti-Fuel.”Over the course of the first semester, the two 13-year-olds tested different organic matter to identify which produced the best biofuel. One of those substances chosen by the duo—and colorfully drawn on the front of their shirts—was cow manure.“We put the variables in bottles filled with water and strapped a balloon on the top,” explained Nguyen, minutes after she and Martin received first-place blue ribbons awarded to winners in seven different categories Tuesday night. “We recorded the data over one week and measured the energy created by the circumference of the balloon.”Their hypothesis was correct: the bananas and cow manure were tied for producing the most biofuel ahead of mixed vegetables.“It was really an honor to win,” Martin said. “We put a lot of work into our project.”Another first-place finisher, 13-year-old Gabe Milos, was equally as excited with the results from his experiment measuring the difference in distance of a ball struck by a cork-filled baseball bat and a standard one.“It’s lighter so you can swing the bat faster,” said Milos, a Morgan Hill Pony Baseball League player who was inspired for his project after watching an old Chicago Cubs game in which slugger Sammy Sosa was caught using a corked bat. “I wasn’t expecting to win. It was cool, though.”Twins Satyen and Shrayen Patel, blue ribbon winners in the Chemistry category, thought it would be cool to examine, “What’s in Your Drink?,” for their science project. They discovered that there is more sugar content in organic orange and apple juices than in Coca-Cola and Diet Coke. However, “the sugar in the juice was good sugar,” Satyen Patel explained.The top four finishers in each category, including Biology, Botany, Behavioral, Engineering/Electricity, Physics and Chemistry, received ribbons and their entry tickets to the Jan. 15 citywide science fair that puts Britton’s students up against fellow eighth-graders from Martin Murphy Middle School and Oakwood School.“What’s really nice is they have been working on their projects since September and this has really been a culmination of the entire semester,” said Britton science teacher Jim Levis. “We really tied together all of the school. This is a multi-disciplinary project. It just happens to be under science.”Levis, as well as colleague George Flores, stressed that students drew from many school subjects—using a variety of graphing and data tables used in mathematics and computer classes as well as writing abstracts to describe their work taught in English class.“Overall, I was very impressed with the projects,” said Flores, who was named MHUSD’s 2014 Educator of the Year earlier in the evening. “Our goal is to take the top students to the county.”More than 40 judges, many of them former Britton students and now AP Science students at either Live Oak or Ann Sobrato high schools, selected the best of the best. Per science fair rules, each project must have variables (independent and controlled) and measurables (dependent variable) based on changes they make to their independent variable.Students Elenah Zuniga, 13, and Julisa Artiaga, 14, tested out some classic home remedies in their project, titled “The Mystery of the Myths.”“We wanted to find out if they worked or not because they kept being used,” Artiaga said.In addition to asking family, friends and other adults which remedies they’ve used over the years and how they turned out, the partners tested to see if shaving cream removed stains (it worked on ketchup but not mustard) and if eggs and mayonnaise made hair shiny (they both do).“More than half of them worked,” Zuniga said.Schoolmate Haley Young, 13, went solo in her experiment to see which antibacterial and baby wipes were the most effective. She found out that Lysol and Pampers were the best.“Science and math are my favorite subjects,” Young said. “And a lot of math had to do with my (science) project.”Taking first place in Biology, Samuel Van Rhijn’s “Oxygen in the Tank” measured how the size of fish correlates to the oxygen level in the tank.“It was fun to see what other people did (for their projects) and how it affects the world,” said Rhijn, who was already planning to make some edits to his project before the city competition.Partners Eliana Ojeda, 13, and Samantha Joice, 14, bested the Engineering/Electricity division with their project, “Potato Battery,” where they determined that red potatoes generated more voltage than white or Russet potatoes.“I love science,” Joice said. “It’s my favorite subject.”

Attorneys with the Freedom X law firm have held true to their promise of taking the Dariano v. Morgan Hill Unified School District case to the U.S. Supreme Court—filing a “petition for writ of certiorari” Monday asking the nation’s highest court to review the legal dispute.The firm is acting on behalf of three of four former Live Oak High School students who were sent home from class after refusing to remove their American flag-themed t-shirts on the Cinco de Mayo holiday in 2010—an incident that brought nationwide attention to the east Morgan Hill campus and a debate on First Amendment rights at school.Despite previous appeals court rulings rejecting their argument, Freedom X maintains that the students’ constitutional rights were unlawfully denied by school staff. But local education officials and advocates just want the firm to accept those rulings and let the issue rest.“It’s unbelievable that we need to remind the courts that American students at an American school have just as much right to celebrate their heritage as Mexican students have,” Freedom X President and General Counsel William J. Becker said. “If the principal had banned Mexican-American students from wearing Mexican flag t-shirts on Memorial Day, you can bet the Ninth Circuit would have struck that down.”Members of the school community, including Superintendent Steve Betando, as well as other sectors of the local community, wish the Los Angeles-based nonprofit, public interest legal organization would just leave well enough alone.“The continuing legal actions and the controversial media attention that Mr. Becker draws is a distraction to our community,” Betando said. “Many members of the Morgan Hill community on both sides of the issue have expressed to me that they are tired of it.”Julian Mancias, an activist within the Hispanic community who helped organize meetings between school, police, students and concerned residents leading up to this year’s May 5 protests in front of Live Oak High School, is one of them.“What they basically told the community was that they, the students, wanted to be left alone so that they could concentrate on their education,” Mancias recalled. “It is anyone's guess whether this fiasco will continue. We are hoping that it doesn't. But, if it does, we will once again align ourselves in support of the students.”Bob Benevento, Board of Education President, declined to comment when asked about the latest news, stating “it is not customary for board members to discuss pending litigation.”The widely debated case—pitting student safety against First Amendment rights to freedom of expression—stems from a May 5, 2010 incident on the LOHS campus. School administrators demanded that four students turn their patriotic-themed t-shirts inside-out or remove them on Cinco de Mayo because some Hispanic classmates viewed it as a sign of disrespect. The students refused and were later sent home by former LOHS principal Nick Boden and former assistant principal Miguel Rodriguez. Neither administrator is currently employed with the district.Cinco de Mayo is a celebration to commemorate the Mexican army’s unlikely victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. In the U.S., it is a day to celebrate Mexican heritage and pride.The principals’ decision—motivated by a concern for campus safety—sparked a nationwide media frenzy and a debate on First Amendment rights as the story went viral on television, newspapers and social media. Bay Area and national news stations set up camp in front of the LOHS campus for days following the 2010 flag flap.The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals twice upheld a federal judge’s initial ruling that school officials properly defused a potentially volatile situation on campus and did not violate the four former students’ constitutional rights by sending them home for not complying with school officials’ request.“The Ninth Circuit concluded that our Constitution imposes a one-day-per-year calendar restriction on the right to display our patriotism,” said Becker. “The First Amendment does not give some people free speech rights while denying it to others.”Georgine Scott-Codiga, president of the Gilroy-Morgan Hill Patriots group that protested the Ninth Court’s decision back in May, believes that the school district, as well as the courts thus far, have got it wrong.“I am thankful for organizations such as Freedom X who fight to protect the rights of all Americans to speak freely, not just a select few as in this case, by taking the case to the Supreme Court,” said Scott-Codiga, whose group stands firm that anyone wearing American flag-themed clothing should not be punished for doing so.Freedom X is a nonprofit firm “dedicated to protecting religious and conservative freedom of expression,” according to their website.Four of the nine U.S. Supreme Court Justices must vote to accept a case before it is reviewed. The Court accepts between 100-150 of the more than 7,000 cases that it is asked to review each year. Most of those selected have “national significance,” according to uscourts.gov.After the Ninth Circuit Court’s latest ruling in February, the Patriots staged a peaceful protest on May 5, 2014. At that protest, about 50 Patriots members held 10-foot high poles with large American flags attached hovering over both sides of East Main Avenue as LOHS students arrived to school. Later that day, the 2 Million Bikers to D.C. motorcycle club led a convoy of about 30 bikers from around the Bay Area through downtown Morgan Hill to the front of LOHS where they recited the Pledge of Allegiance and continued to display American flags and patriotic garb.With heavy police presence at the school, there were no arrests or violence reported. However, LOHS’s attendance on May 5 was 62 percent—with 207 unexcused and 197 excused absences out of 1,066 total students, according to data provided by the district.

Trustee Darcie Green was unanimously voted as new board president for the Santa Clara County Board of Education for the coming year during the Dec. 10 meeting, while Trustee Anna Song was given full support from her fellow board members to be named vice president.Green was appointed to the board in 2012 to fill a vacancy in Area 6. She currently serves as the community and government relations manager for Kaiser Permanente South Bay, according to SCCBOE staff. Green was named recipient of the 2014 Barbara Jordan Leadership Award, which honors young elected officials who demonstrate a distinguished record of public service to their community.Song was elected to the board in 200 as the first Korean-born female to be elected in California’s history, according to the SCCOE announcement. She also serves on the County School Boards Association Executive Board.

What inspires you?Freedom: the ability to be whoever I choose to be; and, after I graduate, the chance to go to college and pursue whatever degree I am interested in.What is your favorite subject in school, and why?My favorite school subject is English, because I can write and create anything my imagination comes up with.If you had the power to change one thing in the world, what would it be?I would like to reduce poverty so that everyone can have a chance to make their own futures brighter.If you could go anywhere, where would you go?I would travel to Germany to see all of the awesome German cars (I love cars)!  I would also want to taste all the unique foods.Name one big challenge in your life right now.Balancing my harder high school homework with all of my extracurricular activities, such as Boy Scouts, and a leadership camp called White Stag.What is your dream job?My dream job is working as a writer for a car magazine.What are your three favorite things?My three favorite things are cars, food and video games.What is your favorite book?“Phoenix” by Jeff Stone.What do you want to do after high school?I want to work for a German car magazine.Something that makes you smile:Something that makes me smile is seeing a tastefully customized car. I love those.Top three most played songs on your iTunes or iPod:1. “Kickstart My Heart” by Motley Crüe2. “Walk this Way” by Aerosmith3. “Enter Sandman” by Metallica