Features

Fatu Castillo

Staff Writer

On May 3rd, 2016 President Barack Obama issued a federal mandate that orders public schools to allow transgender students to use the bathroom of choice as well as their prefered attire and pronouns. The Obama Administration cited Title IX, which prohibits the harassment and discrimination in public education of the bases of one’s gender, to legally justify the mandate.

With his promise to protecting the LGBTQ Community and its members, which can be viewed here, it was assumed that President Trump would uphold the protection put in place by his predecessor.

However on February 23rd, the White House formally dismantled the mandate, effectively leaving the issue of transgender rights and protections up to individual states.

This decision apparently caused a rift in Trump’s Administration between Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. With the former, predictably, advocating for rescinding the federal guidelines and the latter opposing withdrawing the protections.

DeVos stated that ,“This is not merely a federal mandate, but a moral obligation no individual school district or state can abdicate this.”

While Pennsylvania overall may not be the best state in regards to Transgender rights, with an absence of any protections laws in place, Philadelphia has been pioneering the way for the rest of the state. Last spring, the district announced that students would be allowed to use the bathroom of their preference, wear the attire they are most comfortable with, and be addressed by the pronouns of their choice.

Philadelphia Public School District transgender policies will not change due to the action of Trump’s Administration. In [month], Superintendent William Hite started that, “This announcement will not change any School District policy or city law that protects our students.”

Hite also stated that Philadelphia’s transgender policy wouldn’t have changed regardless, since the city’s policies aren’t tied to the ones set up by the Obama Administration.   

Counselor Zoe Siswick, who supports and advocates for transgender youth, offers her take on the matter.

She agrees that the rescinding is a regression, one of many, on Transgender rights and protections under Trump’s Administration,.

“There was a long way to go but things were beginning to head in a more positive direction for Trans rights and access, now Trump has basically taken all those rights and access,” she said.

At SLA, the school seeks to support its transgender students by allowing transgender students to use the bathroom of their choice and providing access to staff bathrooms if need be. Students are also encouraged to refer to their peers by the pronouns they are most comfortable with.

English Teacher Hanako Franz, founder of the Queer-Straight Alliance at SLA, also gave her opinion on the matter.

“As someone who had worked with a lot of queer students, students questioning their sexuality or figuring out their gender,” Franz stated. “I’ve encountered a lot of students who don’t feel supported and end up not coming to school.”

Ty Ellerbe, a transgender student at SLA, has a more grim take on the withdrawal and the legislative action yet to come.

Ellerbe states, “I never felt safe anyways, it doesn’t matter where I go, I know that there will always be bigots around no matter where I go.”

“Trump speaks for the majority of a lot of people, and a lot of people feel like transgender rights aren’t important, he’s bring to light all the people in the shadows and their bigotry,” Ellerbe went on to say.

With Trump’s presidency still in it’s infant stages, it’s impossible to predict whether this withdrawal sets a new tone for the next four years.

 

Ella Petersen

Staff Writer

At SLA, the community is adamant on making sure that people are allowed to be themselves. Fashion is a way that kids express themselves, but how much do they care about high fashion on the runway?

In a recent survey done by the SLA Media team, only 11.8% of SLA students surveyed read about fashion every day, 73.5% read about it never or once or twice a month.

it seems that not many people are interested here at SLA because they don’t care about what they wear, or even if they do, they feel as though they can’t afford to wear what’s in the magazines.

“It doesn’t really matter to me. I just wear what is comfortable and not very expensive,” one surveyee responded.

Even though there may be a lot of SLA students who aren’t as interested in fashion, Seniors Pedro Castillo and Jun-Jie Zou both believe fashion is extremely important to high schoolers.

Pedro explained where he got his love for fashion.

“I love the fact that you can just express who you are through clothes. I come from a family of dressmakers. When I was growing up…my grandma used to show me her old Vogue magazines. It was always so interesting to me because I would see people wear stuff that was normally looked down upon or thought of as ‘weird.’”

Pedro and Jun-Jie wear designer fashion, but they also make sure to wear anything that inspires them and expresses who they are. Pedro described his fashion sense: “I tend to buy all of my basics from designers like Ralph Lauren, J.W.Anderson, and OFF-WHITE. But when it comes to actually dressing up, I like to wear Maison Margiela, Yohji Yamamoto, and Comme Des Garcons.”

They are planning to take their interest in fashion and design to the next level by making a clothing brand for their Capstone, although it is much bigger than that. Jun Jie said that they have had this idea for years and it wasn’t made to only be a senior project.

Jun Jie discussed the reasoning behind the line. “If you’re doing what you love, it’s not even called a job anymore, that’s just your life. And that’s what I really want to promote through this brand. I was thinking about putting that into action, what I like to call ‘The Era of Enlightenment,’” he explained.

“I called my brother Pedro and I barely explained it to him and he got it right off the bat because he has always had the same vision of mine. We came up with ‘Yùmèn Official’ and we’re very near launch. I don’t even want to say that this is my capstone, this is my lifestyle.”

Pedro and Jun Jie both agree that high/designer fashion has an impact on high schoolers, whether they believe it or not.

They have a firm understanding that fashion is a way to show who you are in a way that is always susceptible to change.

Caroline Pitone

Staff Writer

Popular notion is that siblings have a better chance to get in, is that true? It ends up being a tie breaker.

I took it upon myself to interview Mr. Lehmann. After a successful and informative interview, this is the information I was able to collect:

Q: People believe the popular notion that someone can get in if they have a sibling who goes here already, is that true?

It ends up being like a tie breaker

Q: Do you look to accept those kids more?

I think the thing that people have to remember is that we literally get 100s and 100s of kids who qualify to go here, that we can’t accept, we need to look at their extra curricular activities. We look at this school as a family so it makes sense. Every kid who comes here is qualified to come here usually.

Q: What if a sibling that goes here isn’t necessarily the greatest student, does that affect the chances of a sibling getting in?

No

Q: Is it frequent that siblings tend to apply here?

Yea! We had several dozens siblings apply this year. Hopefully that lets you know how much our current students like the school

Q: Have you ever received complaints about this topic?

This year we did over 1,300 interviews across both campuses. We get families that reach out to us that are wondering if we can get in etc. We always hear from families from kids with siblings and kids who aren’t.

 

The admissions decisions are made primarily by Principal Lehmann. Mr. Lehmann has been working at SLA since the beginning. He is well respected in our society and the school’s community. He helps choose and accept students to attend SLA main and SLA beeber. This indicates his amount of power.

With the high rate of children applying for a spot to attend both SLA’s, many students believe that he and other staff are more likely to have a preference for children who have a sibling or any family member that goes here.

“I think that it is almost guaranteed that you could get in if you have a sibling that goes here,” explains, Destiny Patton, Junior of SLA.

But after interviewing Mr. Lehmann myself, that is seemed to be all the wrong idea. He explained that he loves keeping SLA together as a family.

Lehmann also emphasized that It does not matter if students who apply have a relative here, they will be just as recognized as others, as long as they qualify appropriately for this school.

Lehmann also noted that even if an eighth grader does qualify academically, they do not automatically get in.

“I think the thing that people have to remember is that we literally get 100s and 100s of kids who qualify to go here, that we can’t accept,” he explained.

The exact rate of sibling acceptance has not been calculated by the school.  Now what about what the students believe? Some current SLA students believe that the rate in which kids are able to get in is unfair. Believe it or not, most kids are outraged because of it and believe that the school contradicts itself.

However, these students don’t have a complete understanding of how SLA admissions work. They select kids who could add their own addition to this school, whether or not it be for their academics, extra curricular activities, or their presence that kids bring to the school.

There are also stories of siblings not both being accepted. A current sophomore at Beeber has a younger sibling who applied to Center City — wanting a little distance from their family — but was not accepted.

“I have heard about people saying siblings have a better chance of getting in so I was disappointed, but I guess I can’t always believe what everyone says, I don’t know if I was too qualified.”

“My goal was to always get into SLA, so it is a bummer that I didn’t.”