The James Logan Courier

By James McDonald, Courier Photo Editor

Logan Math teacher Steve Fletcher walked in memory of his mother to raise money to fight Alzheimers Disease, which took her life, in San Jose Saturday.


The walk, part of the Alzheimer's Association's Walk for Memory day, was just one of many throughout the nation. More than twenty such walks were conducted in California alone.


The date of the San Jose walk, September 25, held special importance to Fletcher because it was on that day in an earlier year that his mother passed away due to Alzheimers.

By Farah Ali, Courier Staff Writer

Logan's annual Club Recruitment Fair was held last Thursday and Friday.

Club recruitment is a place where students can browse different clubs, enjoy good food and snacks and find out more information on clubs and groups that they are interested in.

Joining the new activities group is Monique Walton, Logan’s new activities director. She said that Logan will be hosting the fair in two different places this year, in Memorial Square and Colt Court. Logan has roughly forty returning clubs, and five or six new ones. When asked why students should join clubs, Walton said that students should join because they need a connection to other students and the school. She also said that the students should be engaged in some sort of extra-curricular activity other than just the regular academic curriculum.

By Ryan Lam, Courier Staff Writer

Logan has a new student teacher, 26-year-old Bellamy Liu.

Liu is currently studying at California State University East Bay (CSUEB) and joined a one-year program last summer to reach his goal: to become a high school physics teacher.

In order to earn his teaching credentials, Liu must do a variety of things. First he must gain teaching experience by working with students. He then needs to observe how another teacher runs a classroom. Finally he needs to passes two standardized tests, the CSET and CBEST. The CBEST is a general knowledge test, while the CSET is specific to the subject Liu wants to teach.

Liu has already completed some of the requirements. He has gained some teaching experience through after school tutoring, and is currently observing Julie Chuang's physics class everyday for three hours.

By Rick La Plante, New Haven Schools Public Information Officer

The New Haven Adult School, in collaboration with Centro de Servicos, has been selected to receive a $100,000 grant to promote citizenship education and immigrant integration.

The grant was announced by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), which last week awarded a total of $7.8 million to 75 organizations from 27 states and the District of Columbia. USCIS seeks to expand citizenship preparation programs for lawful permanent residents, to ensure that those committed to the goal of U.S. citizenship receive the support they need to be successful.

By Nataniel Lazaga and Jazzmine Bates, Courier Staff Writers

The New Haven Unified School District has been named in an American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) lawsuit against the state of California and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger alleging that schools statewide are illegally charging students fees for books, uniforms, classes and other basic supplies.

The ACLU filed the suit on behalf of two southern California high school students, called "Jane Doe" and "Jason Roe" to protect their identities and their families.

By Rick La Plante, New Haven Schools Public Information Officer

The Board of Education on Tuesday night received a student achievement report for the 2009-10 school year from the Division of Teaching & Learning.

Chief Academic Officer Wendy Gudalewicz told the Board that while New Haven students as a whole are meeting state proficiency goals, the District is not closing the gap between its highest -and lowest-performing subgroups. As a result, the Division is in the process of establishing specific goals for subgroups in 2010-11, in both English/language arts and math.

By Beatrice Esteban, Courier Editor-in-Chief

Organizers estimate that between 700 and 800 Logan students participated in the school's International Peace Day observance on Tuesday.

Students donned t-shirts emblazoned with peace slogans and formed the peace sign with the bodies in the school's stadium.

Teacher Stephanie Papas, the driving force behind the annual observance at Logan, said she was pleased at the turn out. She estimated that between 300 and 400 students participated during the school's first lunch period, arranging themselves on the turf to spell out the words "One Day" and forming the peace sign.

By Rick La Plante, New Haven Schools Public Information Officer

Students at James Logan High School will join people throughout the world Tuesday in celebrating International Day of Peace.

International Day of Peace, as designated by the United Nations, is an annual observance of global ceasefire and non-violence, celebrated each Sept. 21. It is promoted by the organization Peace One Day (www.peaceoneday.org).

At Logan, students have been making signs, painting a mural and decorating t-shirts to promote the effort and signing “affirmation cards” outlining what they are willing to do to further peace. As part of their activities Tuesday, students will gather on the football field and organize themselves into “peace messages” during the school’s two lunch periods, from approximately 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

By Jericho Faustino, Courier Staff Writer


Logan Science teacher Michelle Galaria is in charge of a grant for $20,000 from James Logan, for greener ways to recycle and store the school's trash.

The grant will be used to add new trash and recycling bins around the James Logan campus. Made by NexStation, the new Hex Stations are a greener alternative to average trash cans. They have 3 separate compartments for trash, recyclable bottles and cans. They keep trash out of sight and lock odors in. They are easy to identify and are more attractive to students, so it is hoped they will be more likely to dump their trash and recycle their cans and bottles, than to litter.

By Arthel Cargill, Courier Staff Writer

Logan implemented a new email system that is similar - although not the same - as the one form previous years. The system, called SoGo, was founded by New Haven's technology expert Chris Hobbs and seems to be a sufficient way of contacting teachers and staff members.

Rhonda Neagle, the Logan vice president of operations, said, "The previous email system cost us a maintenance fee, which runs twenty to fifty thousand dollars. The SoGo system is free and open source people make it work. Mr. Hobbs looked at many, but picked SoGo because it had an easy learning system. I can use it: it's fairly simple to learn. For me, it's a bit different in terms of how it is operated. I understand they'll be setting up SoGo on Thunderbird and the Mail program on Macs, but I think we're waiting for technicians to set it up. You know how it is, every little dollar counts these days."

By Rick La Plante, New Haven Schools Public Information Officer

For the second time in three years, students at Hillview Crest Elementary School recorded eye-opening gains, according to standardized-test results released today for the New Haven Unified School District, while Eastin Elementary continued its climb toward the top of the list of the state’s highest-scoring schools.

Emanuele Elementary and Alvarado Middle also made double-digit gains on the state’s Academic Performance Index (API), and the District as a whole continued its steady ascent.

But in an example of the disconnect between the state’s API standards and the federal Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) standards – and “a pretty good demonstration of one of the problems with the No Child Left Behind Act,” in the words of Superintendent Kari McVeigh – New Haven has been labeled a Program Improvement district by the feds. New Haven is one of 45 districts across the state designated Program Improvement for the first time this year.

By Farah Ali, Courier Staff Writer

On Saturday, a church located in Gainesville, Florida planned to host an “International Burn a Quran Day” to commemorate the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Pastor Terry Jones said he planned to cancel the burning, but then reconsidered that decision.

Jones said that Imam Muhammad Musri tricked him prior to his creation of “International Burn a Quran Day”. Jones also said he made a deal with Musri: Jones would put his Koran burning to a stop if the New York City mosque's establishment was halted. However, since the mosque is still being built, Jones is reevaluating his judgment.

In New York, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf and his ally, a real estate developer Sharif el-Gamal, stated that they never made any deal to break off their plans for the mosque and also said that they never spoke to Musri or Jones.

By Amanpreet Tatlah, Courier Staff Writer

According to Alameda County Sheriff J.D Nelson, a decomposed body of Francisco Lopez was found about a mile down Niles Canyon Road in Fremont on August 26.

Police believe there are two suspects connected to the case, 47-year-old Mohammed Kahn and 62-year-old Manuel Trujillo.

It is believed that Lopez was killed six months ago.

Police say they believe Lopez was killed because the suspects believed Lopez was stealing their cannabis plants.

So far nothing has been proven completely and it is still a cold case. Police hope to find more answers soon.

By Beatrice Esteban, Courier Editor-in-Chief

The beginning of the 2010-2011 school year at James Logan High School arrived with much success, according to students.

Many students are approaching the school year with a positive attitude, citing new opportunities for friendship.

“It’s interesting to meet new people and discover the different aspects of the school,” said junior Angela Thomas.

By Beatrice Esteban, Courier Editor-in-Chief

The house system at James Logan High School has been modified, starting the 2010-2011 school year.

Students are assigned to one of three “houses” with two principals each. House one, located next to the Counseling Center and otherwise known as the “purple house”, is overseen by Grace Kim and Francis Rojas. The “green” house, house two, is overseen by Yvonne Hull and Abhi Brar and is next to the Career Center. Meanwhile, the administrators in charge of house three (whose color is orange) are Ramón Camacho and Jessica Lange; the office can be found in Memorial Square, by the Little Theater and the 200’s wing.

By Nancy A. Youssef and Sahar Issa
McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)

BAGHDAD - The U.S. military Wednesday marked the end of its combat mission in Iraq amid a series of conflicting messages that underscored the mixed feelings many here, both American and Iraqi, have toward a seven-and-a-half-year effort that cost tens of thousands of lives but left the political outcome undecided.

"The problem with this war for, I think, many Americans is that the premise on which we justified going to war proved not to be valid, that is Saddam (Hussein) having weapons of mass destruction," Defense Secretary Robert Gates told reporters as he hopped from one stripped-down U.S. military base to another greeting American troops.

"So when you start from that standpoint, then figuring out in retrospect how you deal with the war - even if the outcome is a good one from the standpoint of the United States - it will always be clouded by how it began."

By Amina Khan
Los Angeles Times (MCT)

LOS ANGELES — Multiple sclerosis, a disease in which a person's own immune system attacks the brain and spinal cord, is a lifelong problem — but its effects can be highly seasonal, researchers say.

Between March and August, patients suffering from multiple sclerosis were two to three times more likely to develop brain lesions than during the rest of the year, according to the paper published in the Aug. 31 issue of the journal Neurology.