The James Logan Courier

MISCELLANEOUS

Saturday School is open this Saturday from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Take advantage of a place to get tutoring, computers, a place to work with peers, and a welcoming atmosphere, too! Enter by carpeted hallway near media center to Rooms 77 and 78.

Dance 2011: Friday, May 27th @ 7:30 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center. Reserved seating $8/$10/$12. See Mrs. Cervantez for tickets.

Craving a delicious caramel apple? Come to the Unity Fair today and purchase one from the Youth Alive Christian Club booth.

By Julia Ortiz, Courier Staff Writer

Several Logan students took on director roles in order to put together the 22nd Annual Logan One Acts on May 6 and 7. Filled with tragic death, love, laughter and glitter, all six acts were a testament to the dedication of the Logan Drama program.

The first performance was done by junior Alexandra Ortiz and was called "Arabian Love." The piece is a tragic love story about Laila and Quis, who fight to be together in life and death.

"'Arabian Love' had its challenges, but in the end it was a wonderfully painted one act," said Ortiz.

By Amanpreet Tatlah, Courier Staff Writer

Many Hayward residents say they are angry at the effect of a new energy plant's construction on their environment, despite the pending approval of a state commission.

On May 22, 2001, Calpine Corporation and Bechtel Enterprises Holdings, Inc., filed an Application for Certification from the California Energy Commission. The companies sought approval from the commission to construct a 600-megawatt natural gas-fired, combined cycle electric generating facility.

The plant is expected to be located at southwest corner of the intersection of Enterprise Avenue and Whitesell Street, south of Hayward’s water pollution control facility.

By Beatrice Esteban, Courier Editor-in-Chief

A hole in the district budget has prompted Logan students and the New Haven community to raise money for co-curricular and extracurricular activities threatened by the statewide budget deficit.

In a staff email sent last Thursday, Principal Amy McNamara said that the New Haven Boosters Association and New Have Schools Foundation has teamed up to help raise funds for the district.

The Schools Foundation is currently accepting tax-deductible donations and has agreed to give all money raised in the next two months to co-curricular programs at Logan and the rest of the district.

By Rick La Plante, New Haven Schools Director of Parent and Community Relations

A video short entitled "Freedoms in Motion," produced by three James Logan High School students, won the Judge’s Choice Award on Thursday night at the seventh annual Project YouthView Film Festival in Alameda.

The video – produced by students Ignatius “Iggy” Nguyen, Mei-Guang “MG” Chen and Ryan Quilala – was one of 10 finalists shown at the festival, selected from more than 60 submissions.

By Justyna Torres, Courier News Editor

Campaign posters, buttons on people’s backpacks, and even hand-held signs signaled that this week at Logan was ASB election week.

ASB differs from the class officers in that they represent the entire school, not just their individual class. The majority of the candidates are upcoming seniors, with a few exceptions, but all juniors to freshmen are eligible to run for ASB.

By Beatrice Esteban, Courier Editor-in-Chief

Hundreds of Logan students missed their first two classes to protest anticipated budget cuts resulting from a failed parcel tax election.

This morning, students gathered in front of the Logan parking lot on H Street expressing their frustration with the failure of Measure B.

Students were carrying signs with messages such as “Don’t Kill Choir” and “Save Our Kids.”

Senior Alonzo Rosales, who helped organize the demonstration, gave a speech about the importance of extracurricular and cocurricular activities. He said that the failure of Measure B is “cutting lives.”

By Rick LaPlante, New Haven Schools Director of Parent and Community Relations

UNION CITY (Monday, May 9, 2011) – New Haven parents are invited to attend a special meeting Tuesday night (May 10) to provide the District’s Equity Task Force with their perspectives on whether schools are adequately addressing questions of race, culture and gender.

The Equity Task Force is a group of students, teachers, administrators and community members charged with identifying and recommending ways that the District can be a more equitable place for all. The parent meeting will be at the James Logan High School Center for the Performing Arts, starting at 6 p.m.

By Rick LaPlante, New Haven Schools Director of Parent and Community Relations

UNION CITY (Friday, May 6, 2011) – The Alameda County Registrar of Voters has agreed to postpone certification of the special election to decide Measure B – an emergency funding measure for the New Haven Unified School District – while supporters continue their efforts to ensure that all ballots were counted in an election decided by just a handful of votes.

Measure B, a $180 parcel tax for four years, would raise approximately $3 million annually to minimize class size increases and reductions to the school year and to fund after-school activities. The District, which because of the ongoing state financial crisis already has trimmed its budget from $113 million to $99 million, is facing the prospect of making an additional $10 million in cuts in 2011-12.

By Rick La Plante, New Haven Schools Director of Parent and Community Relations


The Alameda County Registrar of Voters has agreed to postpone certification of the special election to decide Measure B – an emergency funding measure for the New Haven Unified School District – while supporters continue their efforts to ensure that all ballots were counted in an election decided by just a handful of votes.

Measure B, a $180 parcel tax for four years, would raise approximately $3 million annually to minimize class size increases and reductions to the school year and to fund after-school activities. The District, which because of the ongoing state financial crisis already has trimmed its budget from $113 million to $99 million, is facing the prospect of making an additional $10 million in cuts in 2011-12.

By Alex Rodriguez, Los Angeles Times (MCT)

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan _ Al-Qaida vowed to avenge the death of Osama bin Laden with retaliation against the U.S. "soon," according to a warning that the terrorist network posted this week on militant websites.

In confirming the death of its leader in a statement dated Tuesday, al-Qaida urged Muslims to not stray from the path of armed struggle against the United States. The terror group said it would soon release an audio message made by bin Laden a week before his death in which he passes along "advice and guidance."

Bin Laden was killed early Monday in a U.S. commando raid on a compound in the Pakistan garrison city of Abbottabad that he had used as a hideout for the last five years. Experts have said his death deals a significant blow to al-Qaida but likely won't mean its demise.

By Rick La Plante, New Haven Schools Director of Parent and Community Relations

An Eastin Elementary School student is a finalist in the second annual “Doodle 4 Google” competition.

Albert Pei, a fifth-grader, is one of 40 regional finalists whose works were selected from more than 107,000 submissions in the competition, for which students throughout the country redesigned Google’s familiar homepage logo around the theme “What I’d like to do someday …” Visitors from Google honored Albert during an assembly at Eastin this week.

By Scott Powers
The Orlando Sentinel (MCT)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — In early May 1961 — 50 years ago — the Cold War was at its hottest, and the United States needed a victory, an impressive one.

Three weeks earlier, on April 12, the Soviet Union had demonstrated its space and technology muscles by sending the first human into space. A week after that, the United States had suffered a humiliating defeat in the botched CIA-led Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba.

And a week after that, President John F. Kennedy had received a memo from Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson with an audacious proposal: the only way the United States could win the space race was by beating the Soviets to the moon, by the end of the decade.

By Rick La Plante, New Haven Schools Director of Parent and Community Relations


Most voters in the New Haven Unified School District approved of Measure B -- an emergency funding measure designed to minimize class size increases and reductions to the school year and to fund after-school activities – but the measure appears to have fallen just short of the two-thirds majority necessary to pass.

According to unofficial results reported this afternoon by the Alameda County Registrar of Voters, Measure B received 66.43 percent of the vote – with 7,851 voting to approve the measure and 3,967 voting against – fewer than 100 votes short of passing.

By Rick La Plante, New Haven Director of Parent and Community Relations

Julie Panebianco, an English teacher and leader of the Puente Program at James Logan High School, has been selected as the New Haven Unified School District’s Teacher of the Year, it was announced during the Board of Education meeting Tuesday night. Joan Wolfe, secretary at Searles Elementary School, was named Classified Employee of the Year.

Under Ms. Panebianco’s leadership, Logan boasts one of the most successful programs in the Puente Project, which throughout the state offers academic preparation to improve the college-going rate of educationally disadvantaged students. She helps Puente students with college applications and essays, takes them on college tours, helps their families find ways to afford college and devotes countless hours to fundraising for the program. She also is an anchor of Logan’s literacy team.

By Rick La Plante, New Haven Schools Director of Parent and Community Relations

With an undetermined number of ballots still to be counted, an emergency funding measure for the New Haven Unified School District was too close to call tonight.

According to preliminary results from the Alameda County Registrar of Voters, 7,298 voters favored Measure B, the "Taking Care of Our Kids" parcel tax, while 3,809 voters were opposed. In percentages, the margin was 65.71 to 34.29, but the measure needs a two-thirds majority (66.7 percent) to pass.

By Rick La Plante, New Haven Director of Parent and Community Relations

UNION CITY (Monday, May 2, 2011) – The regular meeting of the Board of Education on Tuesday will begin at 6:30 p.m., one hour earlier than usual, the New Haven Unified School District has announced.

Normally, the Board meets in closed session at 6:30 and the regular meeting begins at 7:30; however, there are no closed-session items on this agenda.

Tuesday is Election Day, and the time change means that the school board meeting may be completed before the Alameda County Registrar of Voters announces – sometime after the 8 p.m. ballot deadline – preliminary results of Measure B, an emergency funding measure to help the District offset some of the cuts it is being forced to make because of the ongoing state budget crisis. The “Taking Care of Our Kids” parcel tax would raise approximately $3 million to minimize class size increases and reductions to the school year and to fund after-school activities.

By Alexys Cran, Courier Correspondent

Planned Parenthood, an organization that provides a variety of services promoting women’s health, has recently been prevented from further danger of losing financial support from the United States federal government. After months of debate, Congress passed a budget bill that enables Planned Parenthood health centers to continue offering services through federal programs.

The organization, which has been around for over 90 years, has aided and promoted the advancement of women's health by providing services such as birth control, HIV testing, cancer screenings, routine gynecological exams, sexually transmitted infection testing and treatment and education to more than three million Americans.