According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in three women and one in four men report experiencing severe physical violence from an intimate partner in their lifetime. While most identifiable causes stem from drastic changes in life circumstances and generational abuse, empirical evidence points to other factors that can increase the likelihood of a dangerous home environment — including sporting events.

One report of such violence took place during the 2023 Tubi Super Bowl commercial. The advertisement begins with the game commentators giving a play-by-play of the field, seemingly marking the end of the commercial break. Then suddenly, a menu bar rises up on the screen, and an option is “clicked” as the screen jumps to the streaming service Tubi. Afterwards, on Reddit, a woman shared that her boyfriend became furious at her, believing she “clicked” on Tubi and caused him to miss a portion of the game. He then punched a hole in the drywall.

After the post garnered other women’s attention, many came forward with their experiences, including dozens of bartenders and waitresses who were yelled at and hurt by drunk patrons at their establishments. In fact, alcohol — according to Advanced Placement Psychology teacher Warren Collier — is the most significant situational force to be examined when considering a spike in domestic abuse on game days.

“Usually, people are drinking lots of alcohol, either at the games or at home watching it, and alcohol is going to make people make very dumb choices,” he said. “And that can lead to things like violence.”

Besides increasing the frequency and severity of the violence inflicted, alcohol harms victims in another way by masking violent behavior. Even though alcohol is a factor, it is never the underlying cause for violent urges, according to the Alcohol Rehab Guide. Many law-enforcement officers, perpetrators and even survivors, however, don’t see it that way. They diminish the crime by painting the narrative of an alcohol-fueled single-trigger accident. This misconception effectively sidelines victims’ experiences and absolves perpetrators of responsibility, concealing the disturbing pattern of violence and allowing it to continue.

Emotional “spillovers” also contribute to these incidents. According to Collier, immense emotional
arousal from one situation can “spill over” into other intense emotions after the fact.

“So let’s say I’m really excited that our team won, and I’ll stay happy about it,” he said. “But if my team loses, now I’m upset. And I have lots of physical arousal, like my heart is beating fast and I’m really excited. So now that excited feeling turns into anger and rage, and if I watch the game at home with friends or family, then unfortunately, the target of that rage might be other people.”

Indeed, wins and losses, when different from game predictions, determine the size of fluctuation in
domestic violence. According to a study from University of California economics professors David Card and Gordon Dahl, which drew on data from NFL games and the National Incident-Based Reporting System, “upset losses” — unexpected home-team losses — led to a 10% average increase in the number of police reports of at-home male-on-female intimate partner violence.

On the other hand, there was found to be no difference in violence when the home team lost after a prediction of a close game or when the home team had an unexpected win. This evidence serves as an important indicator in crime patterning because it suggests a crucial asymmetry in the reaction of unanticipated losses and gains – an unwelcome result of the volatile mix of alcohol, hegemonic masculinity and televised sports.

This pattern of domestic abuse, however, is not exclusive to NFL games. U.S. researchers at Lancaster University in England studied family violence rates during the 2002, 2006 and 2010 World Cups, discovering that domestic-violence reports rose by 38% when the English national soccer team lost and 26% even when they won. There was also a 11% rise the day after an England match, regardless of the outcome, suggesting the spillover effect.

Even though Palo Alto hasn’t charted a trend between major sporting events and domestic violence reports, according to Palo Alto Police Department Captain Zach Perron, domestic violence itself is still prevalent.

“Domestic violence, unfortunately, is not an uncommon crime in Palo Alto,” Perron wrote in an email. “It’s important to note, though, (that documented) reports and calls reflect only incidents when police are notified. Unfortunately, it is likely that a lot of domestic violence goes unreported to police.”

Moreover, fan behavior continues to be a local concern: In August 2023, two Bay Area high school games ended due to fan violence, and on Feb. 13, Gunn’s basketball senior night ended in an altercation between adult spectators.

Given the pervasiveness of family violence, resources have been designed for victims, such as domestic-violence shelters in Sunnyvale that allow up to a 30-day stay and 15-day extension for emergency shelters. Perron also urges victims to contact the police station or visit the PAPD website.

Ultimately, though, domestic abuse is not fundamentally inspired by external factors such as alcohol or the vehemently passionate environment of sporting events, but rather a need for a perpetrator to regain a sense of control over their partner. To give these situations the attention they deserve, there must be a continual willingness to support victims of this circumstance in order to end the normalization of family violence.

Source: Self-selected survey sent out to Gunn students by The Oracle from Feb. 25 to March 4 with 116 responses

District Communications Coordinator George Pinckney told NBC Bay Area that the spaghetti had contained moldy, burnt bell peppers. According to Pinckney, a new oven in the central kitchen — where all elementary school meals are prepared — alongside temperature increases from malfunctioning refrigerator fans caused the problem.

Since then, PAUSD has worked to prevent further meal spoilage. According to Pinckney, the district has been measuring the temperatures of all foods and closely monitoring expiration dates to mitigate future incidents.

“We will definitely continue to improve our protocols and make sure that our kitchens are safe and the food we serve is also safe,” Pinckney said.

The district’s spoiled-food situation, alongside its adjustments to post-pandemic regulations and mandated nutritional guidelines, raises questions about whether its current food programs fully serve its students.

Free Meals

To ease families’ burdens after the COVID-19 lockdown, on July 9, 2021, California Gov. Gavin Newsom included the Universal Meals Program as part of Assembly Bill 130. The program requires all public schools to provide students with two free meals each school day, without consideration of their financial background or eligibility for federally funded free or reduced-price meals. According to PAUSD Student Nutrition Director Alva Spence, the district currently offers free breakfast and lunch to students.

The bill also authorizes the California Department of Education to reimburse schools for the cost of the meals. PAUSD logs expenses for monthly reimbursements from the federal government, and the state government covers remaining costs.

Currently, the contract between PAUSD and Sodexo USA, a consulting and food-services company, has PAUSD paying $1.37 and $1.89 for breakfast and lunch supplies per meal, respectively. PAUSD has contracted with Sodexo for over a decade to help maintain adherence to local and federal food laws and ensure that students receive the correct portion sizes and nutritional components, per the California Department of Education’s guidelines.

Sodexo provides training for PAUSD’s 39 Student Nutrition Services employees, who learn knife-handling skills, from-scratch cooking and procedures for providing new vegetarian options. All meals are reheated or cooked in PAUSD facilities, according to Gunn Kitchen Lead Melanie Gomez.

Dietary Concerns

The PAUSD food program has followed the Biden Administration’s guidelines on added sodium and sugar levels in meals. Still, many parents and students remain displeased with the current quality, quantity and portion sizes of school-provided meals.

Sophomore Jules Nagayama noticed a decline in quality since the switch from paid brunch and lunch at the middle schools to free meals at Gunn.

“I liked lunch a lot better when it was before COVID, and we still had to pay,” Nagayama said. “The quality and portions were way better — you could even get two lunches if you wanted to. Now, I don’t feel like the food is enough for me.”

However, according to Assistant Principal of Wellness Courtney Carlomagno, PAUSD is restricted by the state program’s guidelines for caloric values per meal: School breakfast must remain within 450 to 600 calories and lunches between 750 and 800 calories.

The number of meal choices has also dropped post-COVID. According to Carlomagno, there are currently only three lunch options per day, down from four or five before the pandemic.

“We were able to charge for lunches (pre-pandemic), which meant we had a surplus of money, and that meant we were able to put that back into the food we were serving,” she said. “We were able to offer more options.”

Despite the decrease in overall entree options, Spence stated that the number of vegetarian options has remained constant since pre-pandemic times. Under the current program, students with dietary restrictions can struggle to find suitable lunch options. Sophomore Hannah Baum, an athlete and vegan, has always chosen to not eat school lunch, both pre- and post-pandemic times, and instead chooses to bring her own lunch every day.

“I don’t think they give enough food, and the food they do give isn’t necessarily healthy and also vegan,” Baum said. “(I’ve seen) vegetarian options, but they’re all like cheese and crackers, so I don’t think that’ll give me enough food.”

Creating Solutions

In response to these concerns, PAUSD has enabled students with dietary needs to submit requests on the Gunn website for special meals, according to Carlomagno.

“Not all of them are approved, but it’s definitely a way to put it in and have the district review it,” she said.

PAUSD is also working with Sodexo to add more food options in the 2024 spring semester, including chana masala over rice, vegetarian chili with cornbread, smoothies, parfaits with granola, General Tso’s chicken and tofu, teriyaki burgers, and quinoa salads.

In addition to expanded options, Spence anticipates fresher meals in the coming months: The district has bought three more trucks to minimize delivery times, and construction on the new kitchen facilities in the A- and B-buildings is expected to be completed in fall 2024, resulting in warmer, fresher meals.

To provide more locally grown food, PAUSD is partnering with Ag Link, an organization that helps PAUSD access organic produce from farms in Merced, Fresno, Salinas, Stanislaus, Butte, Yuma and Kern.

Students have also taken initiative to address the inconveniences of the government-implemented program. According to Principal Wendy Stratton, a student helped facilitate the addition of vending machines to campus. Located near the K-building, Main Office and Bow Gym, these vending machines provide additional options to students seeking food on campus, such as chips and beverages. Their items have undergone a review process — certain items, such as soda and candy, cannot be served.

Community members can provide feedback on the Gunn food program at the monthly menu advisory meetings, usually held on Thursdays from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. via Google Meet.

Parent Kanda Ishihara noted the connection between subpar lunches and the overall culture of food waste on campus.

“They should do a better job of making (lunch) healthier and tastier, because otherwise the kids don’t even eat it — they throw it away and it’s a big waste of money,” Ishihara said. “It’s convenient, it’s a great resource, but it’s just such a waste.”

During Open Forum, in which student and parent speakers were each allocated one minute to make a statement, 19 students in a “speaker chain” and two others shared their opinions regarding multivariable calculus and lane acceleration. Comments centered on the district’s handling of multivariable calculus offerings at the high school level. The conversation expanded, however, into scrutiny of the district’s inclusion of student voices in curriculum debates.

Students advocated greater data transparency within the district, more lenient and less opaque lane-acceleration policies, increased student voice and visibility, and greater administrator willingness to work with students on future math-related issues.

During the meeting, Assistant Superintendent of Secondary Education Dr. Guillermo Lopez reaffirmed that Advanced Placement Calculus BC is, and will remain, the highest-level math class taught by PAUSD teachers on high school campuses.

According to senior Ezra Furtado-Tiwari, the student advocates’ goal was to improve student-district relations to lay the groundwork for more concrete changes to the course next year. “Students are genuinely interested in having a multivariable calculus class and having opportunities to accelerate, (which) the Board hasn’t been addressing effectively,” he said. “(We’re looking for) at least a concerted attempt (from the district) to see if multivariable calculus could be offered as a class through Gunn or Paly (next year).”

Students continued to discuss multivariable calculus and acceleration policies during the public-comment portion of the Reimagining Middle School Mathematics update. This resumption prompted Board President Jennifer DiBrienza to redirect the comments toward middle school math. “That series of comments was not about middle school math, and I should have cut it off,” she said during the school-board meeting.

The discussion item itself referred to the 2019 district decision to “delane” middle school math, making Algebra I the standard course for eighth-grade students and Geometry the standard for ninth-grade students. Board members discussed data from the first Reimagining Math cohort, which has just entered ninth grade. Rather than determining whether Reimagining Math would continue to be the math standard, board members aimed to analyze the cohort’s performance for the first time, according to Fletcher Middle School Math Instructional Lead Becky Rea. “I think it’s too early to declare it an actual success or failure, but it’s good to look back on what we’re doing,” she said. “I do think we’re going to have to make the decision to look at it repeatedly as kids move through high school.”

During the comment portion of this discussion item, a parent brought up concerns about the lane reductions in the middle schools as a result of the Reimagining Mathematics program. “My eighth-grader now could use a slower math and is really struggling,” she said. “And there isn’t enough support for him. Also, (he) hears so many comments in class of kids going, ‘Oh, this is so easy’ … (This) really affects him, and there’s really just no other options at this school.”

Overall trends for the Class of 2027 from school board records show increased enrollment in Geometry or higher-level courses for Hispanic/Latino students, Black students and students with disabilities in ninth grade. Board Vice President Jesse Ladomirak, however, cautioned against using enrollment rates as the sole barometer for success. “No one in this room, and certainly not in this Board, thinks that just getting kids into Geometry is sufficient,” she said. “We obviously have to make sure that they succeed when they’re there, … (but) we don’t have enough data to know that right now. We can’t solve that problem tonight — we can’t even identify if we have a problem to solve right now.”

Moving forward, the future of Reimagining Math will depend on conclusions drawn from review of student data. Aiming to be proactive on this front, board member Shounak Dharap proposed forming an ad hoc committee in January after the release of first-semester data for the ninth-graders, a proposal supported by board member Todd Collins. “(We would plan) to talk about the data, to dig into it, to really see, ‘Is this working? Is it not working? What are the tweaks?’” Dharap said. “And have check-ins, … making sure we are always being true to the purpose, which was keeping high expectations for all of our students.”

Morrison has overcome the challenges of a tumultuous childhood and home life to pursue music, and has showcased her singing everywhere, from football games to international cruises. Her musical journey began at the age of 5, when she joined a local Russian choir group. In elementary and middle school, she supplemented her vocal skills by learning the violin and cello. She joined the school choir in seventh grade, dropping out briefly before joining Gunn’s choir during her freshman year.

Even before joining choir or picking up an instrument, creativity had always been a crucial part of Morrison’s life. “I have had a troubled childhood with domestic violence and lots of abuse in my household, so I’ve always expressed my creativity as a sort of coping mechanism,” she said. “I remember when I was younger, when me and my mom would get into arguments, I would make up little songs about it and sing it out to help myself (calm down).”

Growing up, challenges such as abuse, foster care and homelessness hindered Morrison’s musical involvement. “I was homeless for 4.5 years, so we couldn’t afford music lessons — we could barely afford gas to get me and my sister to school,” she said. “I felt like I could not express (myself) or let everyone hear my voice because it felt like something was always in the way. I also missed school a lot, so I had to really focus on my education before focusing on my music.”

In freshman year, due to home difficulties and peer pressure, Morrison would skip classes — even choir, the only class she felt she could express herself in. It wasn’t until choir teacher Bill Liberatore sat down with her toward the start of the year, threatening to remove her from class, that she received a wake-up call. “Mr. Lib scheduled a meeting with me and my foster mother and basically said, ‘Why skip? You can get credit if you just participate,’” Morrison said. “He was encouraging me to not just waste my high school career skipping class. After that, I realized, ‘Okay, I need to stop skipping choir. I need to get my stuff together.’”

Morrison began focusing on music more seriously and has made many public singing appearances since, performing in downtown Mountain View, a Palo Alto church, a New York subway and many other locations. She has had solos in performances inside and outside of school and performed the “Star-Spangled Banner” at football games, including the first home game on Aug. 24 and another on Sept. 8.

In June, Morrison and her foster family vacationed on a European cruise called Taulk, in which they toured France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and the Netherlands. One night, after the boat docked in Germany, she sang the song “I’m Here” by Cynthia Erivo at an open-mic night for a restaurant. Afterward, she was formally asked to perform for the guests for the next three nights. Morrison felt that this opportunity elevated her skill as a singer. “Doing the cruise, getting input from so many different people from different countries definitely inspired me,” she said. “Because when I get on stage, I have this power: I command 100% of the attention of the room, and I’m the only one who’s able to control the power coming out of my mouth. I can set the tone for the whole room.”

Morrison also recently auditioned for American Idol, an American singing competition television series. Over her Zoom audition on Aug. 14, Morrison sang the same song she did in Germany: “I’m Here” by Cynthia Erivo.

This audition had long been on her bucket list. “I auditioned right when I turned 15, since that was the minimum (age requirement),” Morrison said. “Honestly, it was my dream to be on a big show like this. And I just thought, ‘Why not?’ If you make it, you make it, and if you don’t, you don’t.”

After a weeklong waiting period, Morrison finally heard back: Although she met the minimum age requirement and they were extremely impressed with her performance, American Idol was looking for a contestant with an “adult mindset,” meaning someone who was willing to take on this responsibility and fully adapt to a brand-new lifestyle — something Milcah had indicated she wasn’t ready to do.

Despite her disappointment, Morrison took the rejection in stride. “Once you’re in the industry, you’re kind of stuck there,” she said. “So for me, if I do make it, I’m risking my whole childhood. And I really didn’t really have a childhood to begin with, so I’m not going to take the risk and have to throw away the rest of it.”

Although Morrison plans on giving American Idol another chance when she’s a bit older, she also wants school to be a priority. If she had been accepted, she would have been afraid of falling behind in school again, since the travel involved in the competition would interfere with her attendance. “You’re expected to provide your own education,” Morrison said. “I would have to depend on the school and my teachers to send me work from class and future lessons. (American Idol) would be very time-consuming.”

In the meantime, Morrison will continue to pursue her passions and urge other students who have experienced similar obstacles in their personal and school lives to do the same. “I want people to read this and be like, ‘Okay, this is a person that has been through a lot and is able to overcome their trauma, work through everything and do something that they love,’” she said. “I would definitely say that if you are interested in something, explore it, and take every opportunity you can find.”

Morrison is grateful for not only the solo-performance opportunities that have taught her the logistics of an audition process and given her stage experience, but also the Gunn choir, which has provided techniques for her to harness the power in her voice. “I would honestly say that singing has saved me,” she said. “Being in the Gunn choir has saved me, and music has saved my life.”

Two years ago, the district replaced Round Up, a synthetic pesticide, with Weed Zap. To treat an area with a synthetic pesticide, the California Department of Pesticide Regulation requires notices to be posted for residents 72 hours before and after treatment. Weed Zap, however, is made of natural ingredients, meaning that regulations are less stringent, according to Maintenance Director Peter Auth. “We do not have to inform people that we’re treating areas because this organic herbicide is not harmful to animals or people,” he said. Concerns about Round Up’s potential to harm campus health caused the switch to Weed Zap. Round Up contains glyphosate— an ingredient that can cause eye and skin irritation, nausea, diarrhea and headaches, among other symptoms.

Gunn landscaper Miguel Ramirez said that clove and cinnamon oils, which disrupt the harmful plants’ cell membranes and comprise 90% of the Weed Zap’s volume, cause the scent on campus.

According to Auth, unchecked weed growth can affect the levelness of athletic playing fields — such as those of softball and baseball — creating the potential for injuries. Pesticides are also vital for the health of other greenery on campus. “In the natural biome, everything is competing for survival,” Auth said. “So if you’re planting a nice landscape, and weed seeds have somehow gotten into the landscape area, they’re gonna compete for water as much as your trees and your flowers will. It really comes down to a matter of keeping the plants we introduced to a landscape there.”

Weed Zap costs between $150 to $200 for a 2.5-gallon container, but is made more affordable during application by dilution water. “We mix 12 ounces of Weed Zap per gallon of water,” Ramirez said. “Sometimes we can spray 4 gallons of the solution in one day depending on the area that needs treatment. There is no schedule for the pesticide. We just spray it when the weeds are out of control.”

According to Ramirez, herbicides are typically used during the spring and summer,  since the increased amount of precipitation in spring causes an influx of weed growth. The treatment is most effective for relatively young or sprouting weeds, since larger plants have to be manually pulled out the ground. Although Weed Zap usually yields noticeable results after two to five days, many weeds become resistant to the organic pesticide as the summer progresses, making them harder to kill. To combat this issue, the conditions for pesticide application — such as changing the treatment schedule, adjusting solution concentration or varying the temperature — have to be altered throughout the season.

Although the pervasive cinnamon smell serves as a reminder of pesticide use on campus, it has received no complaints from community members. “It’s actually a very welcome smell because it indicates that Palo Alto is being proactive about our student, public and administrative populations,” Auth said.