National News – CATS Central

Students walk out to protest anti-immigrant policies and support their families

By Moises F. Hundreds of students across the four schools on the Diego Rivera campus walked out of class on Friday, February 7 as part of mass protests in South Los Angeles and nearby in response to President Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant policies. Here are some of the reasons students walked out: Jimena R., 11th grader Q: What inspired you to do the walkout? “Me as a student, I really think we should speak up for our parents who can’t speak for themselves but we’re the next generation to rule the state you know, we have to

New district policy bans use of phones, other electronics for all students

By Kimberly B. As of February 18, 2025, LAUSD students are required to lock their devices into Yondr pouches upon arrival and unlock them only when leaving campus at the end of the day. This new policy is to control distractions caused by smartphones. Some staff members are already seeing the benefits of the phone ban, even with its many challenges. According to Ethan Barragan, College & Career Staff at school, the policy was designed to help eliminate distractions, particularly for students who struggle to stay off their phones during class. He shared that “I think

What CATS, LAUSD are doing to protect immigrant students and ensure that schools are ‘a safe place’ amid ICE fears

By Christopher M. As some may know, Donald Trump was inaugurated as president with one of his biggest plans of mass deportation of undocumented individuals. As of January 20, 2025 Trump has allowed ICE to enter areas such as schools and hospitals, which are supposed to be safe areas. This has caused many families and students to be in fear of being arrested and deported, which has led to schools taking more measures to protect students and families. How is CATS preparing? Mr. Antonio Roque, assistant principal, addressed the fear felt by students and their families.

March 13, 2025

Students react to the wildfires

By Rosemary N. Daniel A. is an 11th grader at CATS. How did you feel when you first heard about the Los Angeles wildfire ? I felt nervous that the fires would spread further into LA. In what ways did the fires affect your daily life or routine ? The fires made it uncomfortable to breathe but it felt nice to stay home and relax. What did you learn about the causes and consequences of wildfires from this experience ?I learned that they cause massive amounts of damage and ruin the environment. How did your school

February 3, 2025

LA wildfires: Mr. Martinez reflects on the impact on after school activities like SRLA

By Kimberly B. Mr. Martinez is 9th grade English teacher, Leadership teacher, and a coach for Diego Rivera’s SRLA team. During this time of the wildfires, what were your initial thoughts when coming to school during the bad air quality? Oh man, I hated it. I was like, I don’t know why we’re coming to school. Something similar happened when I was in high school, when there was fires, and you could literally see the ash come down and I remember breathing that in and having coughs, and it sucked. I was like, I don’t know

February 3, 2025

LA wildfires: Ms. Suarez on air quality and ‘disaster capitalism’

By Christopher M. and Pascual M. By Pascual M. How do you feel about what’s going on wildfires? I feel devastated, when I think about the wildfires for many reasons, not only just the loss of home and belongings and livelihoods and just generation and general of wealth for a lot of families. But also for the animals and nature and habits and the land the is experiencing the wildfires and yeah. What have you heard about the fires? I am on an app called Watch Duty, it’s an amazing app the shows you where

February 3, 2025

LA wildfires: Mr. Nueva on the impact of toxic emissions

by Emmanuel O. Mr. Nueva is the Chemistry teacher for CATS. Where were you when you found out about the fire? I was at home. I’m pretty sure what I was doing. I was on Reddit and I saw a post about all the fires. Were you affected by the fire or any of your family members? I personally was not affected. I live kinda far away from here, I’m a little bit closer to the Altadena fire the one by Pasadena. I was a little closer to that but I was thankfully not affected by

February 3, 2025

Opinion: What do you think about the Israel-Gaza War?

Editor’s note: The subject of srael and Palestine is a highly complex issue and certainly cannot be captured or explained in a few opinion-based interviews. Readers are encouraged to conduct their own extensive research. A few resources are provided below. The latest conflict began on October 7, 2023 when members of Hamas attacked Israel and killed over 1,100 people as well as took more than 200 people as hostages. Since then, the Israeli military launched a counteroffensive in Gaza and has killed over 25,000 Palestinian people, according to recent figures reported by Al Jazeera. Journalism 2

January 31, 2024

The impact of Hurricane Hilary

By Ernesto H. What happens when a hurricane hits Southern California? A long weekend was not expected, but that’s what teachers and students got after Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) closed schools due to Hurricane Hilary, which became a category 4 hurricane before being downgraded to a tropical storm. The hurricane/tropical storm impacted students and teachers at Diego Rivera. Streets flooded, raindrops poured, trees swayed, and many students and their families took shelter at home. Senior Victor M. said that he felt shocked and disappointed that the power went out because “there was nothing we

September 19, 2023

Teachers’ union and District come to a tentative agreement on contract

By Arely V. Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) has come to an agreement with United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA), the teachers union, granting a 21% salary increase along with reduced class sizes and other important gains in their contract. The two entities had been negotiating over the contract for about a year. The tentative agreement, which will have to be voted on by all teachers, is seen as a victory for different reasons. The first reason is pay. Maintaining a stable life in Los Angeles with a teacher’s pay is difficult, especially with the economy.

April 27, 2023

Category: National News