News

By Sofia Lavine

News about serious incidents at Abraham Lincoln High School can spread quickly, often so quickly that students know about them as they’re happening. However, how these incidents are addressed can be harder to see.

As Principal Marisol Arkin begins her second year as Lincoln’s permanent principal, questions remain about how Lincoln responds to incidents and communicates those responses to the community. Lincoln has continued to use restorative disciplinary practices, alongside other disciplinary consequences, including suspension when needed. This approach is not new; SFUSD has required schools to use restorative practices as alternatives to suspensions since 2009.

 SFUSD’s 2026-27 Student and Family Handbook presents the district’s approach to discipline in Chapter 6. The handbook states that SFUSD has adopted “restorative practices and a school-wide positive behavior intervention and support approach.” The handbook also explains that the approach addresses “the disproportionate suspension of African American and Latino students.” 

However, just because a disciplinary system exists does not mean students know how it works. Isadora Drace Van Houten, a junior at Lincoln, said she did not know what happens after serious incidents occur.

“I honestly thought nothing happened. Maybe detention or something, but nothing besides that. The kids would just be at school the next day,” Drace Van Houten said.

Drace Van Houten said she knew about the school’s warning, referral, and parent-contact system, but was unfamiliar with the rest of the disciplinary process. 

But students cannot be told every detail of another student’s disciplinary case. Privacy protections limit the amount of information the administration can disclose to the public, making communication about what Lincoln is doing to address its issues especially important.

Arkin said that Lincoln responds to incidents in four general steps: investigation, communication with families, determining appropriate consequences, and follow-ups. 

According to Arkin, “step one is talking to students involved in the incident, witnesses, and reviewing video footage.” Administrators enter an investigation “with an open mind,” ensuring they do not make assumptions about students or a situation. 

“Step two, we engage with the families and share what happened, what we learned, and ask for support and a partnership,” Arkin said. 

Arkin said administrators consider disciplinary or restorative consequences based on the incident's circumstances. Lincoln follows SFUSD’s Secondary Student Behavior Intervention Matrix, which uses a step-by-step guide to recommend interventions, including whether suspensions may be appropriate.

Restorative interventions can include mediation between students or between students and staff. Before a restorative meeting takes place, administrators meet separately with the people involved to understand what their needs are.

“Discipline is about learning. It’s not about punishment,” Arkin said. 

Administrators take into account what a student might learn from a consequence when deciding the appropriate consequence. Lincoln’s goal is to help students reflect on their actions and avoid repeating the same negative behavior.

 “Suspension is usually only considered after other interventions have been attempted, unless the incident involved serious safety concerns or injuries,” Arkin states. 

Afterward, the school follows up with students based on their needs. This can range from academic support to mental health support, or even behavioral coaching. The duration of these check-ins varies depending on the needs of the student.

For students who continue to feel unsafe after an incident, Lincoln can create individualized safety plans involving administrators, the Wellness Center, counselors, and families. Safety plans involve a planning meeting where Lincoln works with the student to address any feelings of unsafety. These plans address students’ concerns and help support student safety. If serious concerns continue, in rare cases, a transfer to another school may be considered.

Investigations depend on students feeling comfortable sharing what they know. Arkin said Lincoln’s deans gather video footage and talk to students to find out who was involved and what their roles were. When possible, administrators protect the identities of students who provide any information.

“It’s really important that we build trust,” Arkin said, explaining that students can often provide information without having their names shared to the public.

Once an incident has been investigated, the administration works as quickly as possible to send out information to the Lincoln community to ease concerns. However, messages must be thoroughly reviewed by multiple district officials, supervisors, and even the deputy superintendent, before they can be sent to the community.

“We do, as quickly as we can, try to get stuff out to the community, because, you know, it never feels fast enough for the community,” Arkin states.

Ultimately, Lincoln faces the challenge of protecting student privacy while ensuring that the community understands how incidents are being addressed. Despite there being procedures in place for investigations, consequences, and supporting students, Drace Van Houten’s perspective highlights how many students know very little about the process. For restorative discipline to be effective, Lincoln must respond to incidents and ensure the community understands how it works. 

By Zuleyma Sarceno Bravo

Lower ridership after COVID and the expiration of state grants have created a $307 million budget shortfall for the SFMTA, a shortfall which is estimated to continue growing in the coming years. 

The SFMTA has proposed various new taxes set to be on the 2026 November ballot to close their current deficit, but the failure of these measures could lead to widespread service cuts and changes across the city. 

Proposition H, a San Francisco ballot measure, would create a property tax whose funds would directly go to the agency. Both residential and commercial buildings could see yearly tax increases ranging from $129 to $50,000. 

Additionally, the Public Transit Revenue Measure, or Proposition RTM, is a California initiative that required over 800,000 voter signatures to be placed on the ballot. If passed, the measure would create a 1% sales tax in San Francisco and a 0.5% sales tax in surrounding counties set to fund regional transit agencies such as BART, MUNI, CalTrain, SamTrans, and more. 

If one or both measures fail, the SFMTA would be forced to massively reduce spending by laying off staff, cutting transit lines, and reducing service. 

Currently, the agency proposes cutting up to 20 bus routes, namely downtown express routes and lines passing through hilltop and neighborhood connections. 

Hunter Devine, a senior at Lincoln who commutes daily says, “Almost everyone in my community takes public transit because we live so far out, and [a] majority [of the] kids in my neighborhood do not have access to cars.” 

Devine often commutes over an hour to get to school every morning, and without a parent to drive him, public transportation is his only way across the city. 

“Getting to school will be impossible, it will affect my attendance. It will also affect my school work because I’ll have to travel all the way across the city, oftentimes not knowing how I’ll get home,” Devine said. 

Other lines, including rapid routes and all Muni Metro lines such as the L Taraval, would experience doubled wait times if the SFMTA is forced to reduce its services. 

Mel Berkman, a senior who commutes from the Outer Sunset every day says, “I’m kind of worried because [MUNI is] my only form of transportation around the city on most days.”

Students and staff who take and rely on the L Taraval, 66 Quintara, or 28 19th Avenue to get to school could all experience service cuts and delays if these measures were to fail. 

Yet, proposed taxes and ballot measures could prove just as detrimental to families as service changes to transit would. Already facing high living costs, many families in San Francisco live paycheck to paycheck, and an additional tax, whether sales or property, could become a high cost to pay for reliable transportation. 

Aaron Marestaing, an 11th and 12th grade social studies teacher at Lincoln says, “A sales tax [...] overwhelmingly harms and disadvantages the lower classes.” 

Yet, many students cannot fathom another feasible alternative to public transportation. 

“It would be really hard because my parents work really really early and they wouldn’t be able to drop me off,” said Berkman. “I would need to either walk or bike to school, which would take over an hour, which is time I don’t have.”

By Tara Hang 

For the last two years SFUSD has been under state control due to a multimillion dollar deficit over the last five years. A decrease in student enrollment with higher costs for building maintenance, supplies, and salaries had created a gap. Yet some students still feel uninformed about the state of our deficit. 

What is the budget right now? And will SFUSD recover from the  deficit anytime soon?

LCFF ( Local control funding formula) is how SFUSD gets the majority of its budget. This state plan was formed in 2013 by Governor Jerry Brown to distribute money “equally” to each school district. LCFF is based on student attendance and student need. Students who are low income, English language learners, homeless, foster youth, count for more money. Each student equals around $25,000 to the SFUSD budget. 

LCAP (local control and accountability plan) is a three year plan that school districts send to the state about “goals, actions, services, and expenditures to support positive student outcomes that address state and local priorities.” (CDE website). Every year students, teachers and parents are able to give their opinions to shape the LCAP (SFUSD). 

But after COVID-19, the student enrollment numbers have plummeted. Pre-pandemic, there were around 61,000 students enrolled. In 2026, there will be only 50,000. The LCFF relies on student numbers to allocate a certain amount of money per district. With SFUSD’s declining enrollment, there is now less money from the LCFF that goes into the budget. Marisol Arkin, principal of Abraham Lincoln High school has been seeing this dramatic change over the last 5 years. “ Like when I first got into the district, there were more people in district office positions. So, there was more support.[...] there's been a slow chipping at school sites over the years” 

Another problem SFUSD faces is a lack of COLA (Cost of living adjustment) to the LCFF. San Francisco is known to be an expensive city with its limited space and multimillion dollar tech industry. The LCFF does not account for the higher expenses that SFUSD would need to pay compared to lower costs in another city. “The proposed 2.41% COLA for 2026 falls far short of covering rising expenses such as employee benefits, energy, transportation, and inflation—effectively resulting in a funding cut.” according to an article on the SFUSD webpage. 

But what was the state of our budget  in the last two years?

In 2021, the state appointed two fiscal experts to help SFUSD with budget concerns, likely hired after COVID-19 school openings. 

2024 SFUSD had a deficit of over 77 million, causing the CDE (California Department of Education) to change their [SFUSD] budget report from “qualified” to “negative”. The two fiscal experts were promoted to fiscal advisors and can now “directly intervene in anything related to fiscal stability” (SFUSD). SFUSD also created a plan to cut over $400 million dollars in their budget in the next 4 years. 

In the 2025-2026 fiscal year SFUSD planned to cut around “$113 million dollars from the $1.2 billion operating budget” (SFUSD). One of the ways that SFUSD tried to get to this number was layoffs and early retirement packages. “200 jobs cut could save the district $34 million.” (abc 7 news) a mix of counselors and paraprofessionals. That would include cutting classes with lower enrollment like the AP Literature and Composition class at Lincoln high school and the AP European Literature at Lowell high. Ella Zhang, a senior at Lincoln high school feels frustrated that the school needs to cut teachers. “It’s also evident in the teachers we lose every year. [..]I was really looking forward to having some of those teachers as a senior but they left before I had the chance [to have them]”

In the 2026-2027 school year the CDE confirmed that the SFUSD budget report went from “ qualified” to “positive” signaling some good news for all students and teachers. Moreover, in the third interim report from SFUSD, it states that “[...]is on track to meet its current fiscal obligations through 2028-29” meaning that SFUSD is following through with their financial plan.

By Sylvia Liu

Over the past few years, SFUSD has continued enrolling students at Lincoln High School, raising concerns among school administrators about overcrowded classrooms “Stop: the classes are overflowing.”

Although the district has numerous schools, SFUSD has continued enrolling students at Lincoln, even as other schools have more space available. While SFUSD has reported districtwide underenrollment in recent years, Lincoln appears to be experiencing the opposite problem. Lincoln currently has around 2,100 enrolled students and has a waiting list of around 650, reportedly the second-highest in the entire school district, right behind Lowell. 

Student enrollment is largely based on school capacity and family preferences. Some schools have available space but receive fewer enrollment requests. Lowell and SOTA have many family requests, but getting in requires extra steps such as an essay or an audition, making Lincoln another option for families seeking enrollment. Section 9.5 of the teachers’ union contract outlines class-size goals for different subjects.   Class-size goals vary by subject, ranging from 25 students in English to 37 in physical education (PE). However, most classes have approximately 25-30 students.

Lincoln principal Marisol Arkin said, “Teachers deserve to be around that goal.” 

Traveling teachers, who move between classrooms rather than remaining in one assigned room, can help schools accommodate more classes.

Teachers have also expressed concerns about overcrowding, citing long lunch lines and congested hallways. Many classrooms have added seats to accommodate students, and some teachers have come to expect larger class sizes.

“I was prepared to have more students this year,” said George Yip, a Lincoln teacher.

Lincoln Dean Tammy Yan said, “When I look into the classroom, I can see that there is very little space and they are all squished together.”

Amy Wang, a senior at Lincoln, also expressed concerns about overcrowding: “Classes have a range of 30-40 students, and sometimes there aren't enough desks.”

Usually at the beginning of the school year, they estimate how many freshmen will be admitted, usually around 500, but every year they add more and more people. 

By Baoyi Li

Entering the 2026-2027 school year, SFUSD started hiring new instructors on temporary contracts to compensate for the district’s $420 million dollar budgeting crisis. SFUSD has had this issue ever since December of 2023.

 In response to this crisis, the Board of Education and superintendent Dr. Maria Su planned to implement a multi-year Fiscal Stabilization Plan to balance the budget by 2028. The Fiscal Stabilization Plan includes a $102 million budget cut for the 2026-2027 school year.

This plan also included a temporary freeze in teacher hirings. Starting on May 2, 2025, SFUSD would tackle the teacher hiring issue by switching from probationary contracts to hiring new “credentialed temporary teachers” on temporary contracts.

Probationary contracts grant educators a two year training period known as Probationary 1 and Probationary 2. During this period, teachers work towards earning a permanent tenured status. 

Meanwhile, teachers on temporary contracts are not guaranteed permanent status. Temporary contracts typically last one school year; the following year their contract will automatically expire, and they have to reapply again, competing with other candidates. 

The hiring process is standard for both temporary and permanent positions through HR. After selecting candidates, HR would also determine whether they classify as a temporary, or probationary teacher; this is a non-negotiable. HR then forwards this list to school admins to elect new teachers. 

Temporary contracts would typically be given to ‘hard-to-fill’ positions applicants, which are certain subjects that go through a qualification process within HR. 

Principle Marisol Arkins states, “I don’t love it... last year we had a handful of teachers that we really wanted to keep. HR told principals that we were not to communicate with our temporary teachers on campus, and to wait for consolidations to go through.” 

Consolidations means teachers possessing seniority status can choose to either transfer into this position, or let new teachers take over. 

Arkin further adds, “It didn’t feel very human to me ... I hated that because at the end of the day, [teachers] need their livelihood, [and] it didn’t feel good to me that all their communications had to be through HR.”

When asked how this new hiring basis affects teaching culture in school communities, Arkin answers: “it brings morals down. People form working relationships, partnerships , and the best part about being at a school [is] people support each other.”

The new temporary contracts have raised concerns within the SFUSD staff community. Many teachers under these new contracts are new college graduates who may be unfamiliar with the difference between a temporary and a probationary contract.

A new World History teacher at Lincoln High School this year states, “it does make me a little nervous, thinking that  I won’t technically be 100% guaranteed a job for the next school year.” 

Dustin Hart, Lincoln’s orchestra band teacher, was removed from ALHS at the end of the 2025 school year. 

“I learned that I would not be returning approximately one week before the end of our extended school year. No reason was provided,” said Hart.

“Teachers deserve timely, honest communication about decisions affecting their employment,” Hart adds. 

As a new teacher to Lincoln, Hart explains, “I didn't fully understand the practical implications of those differences,” referring to the difference between a temporary contract and a probationary contract, “not when I accepted the position.”

Hart adds, “The contract language and employment policies were not particularly easy to understand. I wish the differences had been explained more clearly.” 

This transition in hiring basis changes school life for students as well. 

Isadora Drace Van Houten, an eleventh grader, expresses “[rotating teachers] can be really tumultuous. Students deserve to make bonds with teachers who could even support them after high school. This new person, they might not know you as well. [And] that’s not their fault. They don’t know you, but they have to relearn everything about you. Your personality, your strengths or weaknesses.” 

“I greatly miss Mr. Hart, and I feel really sad for him that he had to leave. I miss Jazz.” Drace Van Houten added.

New Orchestra teacher, Thomas Patrick, does not have experience in Jazz music theory to confidently lead the afterschool Jazz club. 

Junior Milagro Rocha shared, “I feel it affects students because we’re unaware of where our teacher went. It’s so unfair.”

By Qunicy Fulton

The clock ticks. Teachers walk by, wondering what the line of kids melting into the floor is for. “Next!” calls the lone photographer into the crowd, as the setting sun shines through the auditorium entrance windows, painting the scene a pretty orange, disrupting the stark white of the company’s LEDs. “Right on time,” the kid walking through the double doors says, three hours late to his job. 

Who is CADY, and why did she disrupt the lives of the senior class—and make them pay for it?

CADY Studios, a school-centered photography company, handled SFUSD’s senior portraits and picture days for the first time. 

Students and families found their website at the very least confusing, with extra costs being added automatically, while the cheapest options were hidden behind the ‘Show More’ buttons and intense reading of the fine print. At Lincoln, on September 23rd, the studio started senior portraits three hours late and brought only three photographers. Twelfth graders missed sports, responsibilities, and jobs.

CADY specializes in “extraordinary, personalized experiences” and offers a quality service guarantee, according to their website. The company acquired Lifetouch’s high school accounts last year; Lifetouch previously handled picture-days, until many schools quit their contracts due to Lifetouch’s parent company, Shutterfly, being bought by a company with a CEO that was revealed to be heavily tied to Jeffery Epstein.

Besides the controversy surrounding their acquisition of SFUSD photos, seniors found the whole experience of CADY befuddling. 

Student Sylvia Liu says, “I was informed [about the company] by like, a handful, no, not even a handful, like a bunch of emails they sent out during the summer.”

Twelfth graders were bombarded with emails, before Principal Marisol Arkin could clarify that the sender was the new photography company.

On why she wanted to take a senior portrait, Liu says, “[My mom] thought that I needed a portrait and that it was good for me to take on the tradition of sharing your portrait with people from your school after you graduate.”

But the warm simplicity of this tradition seemed to stop as soon as seniors clicked on CADY’s emailed link and hit the website. 

Senior Ivy Perkins says, “The company hid all of the cheap packages, and they didn’t advertise that we had to take cap and gown pictures, which no one really liked to do. I got the $30 cheap package, because I wanted this to go in the yearbook, but I know someone who accidentally bought the more expensive package because they didn’t know others even existed.”

The most expensive picture package offered on their website is $300. None of the packages include digital pictures nor physical printouts, which both cost an extra unknown amount, advertised nowhere on the website, to be displayed after the portraits are taken and processed.

Perkins continues, “The website was really hard to navigate and you had to scroll really far for all of the costs to show up.”

One such cost is the example portfolio of pictures taken—seemingly the reason that cap and gown poses were added to the seniors’ picture roster—which is to be mailed to each family. Only mentioned in the fine print of the checkout screen, this portfolio must be mailed back to the CADY warehouses within 60 days, or the family account will automatically be charged $200, plus tax and shipping. 

If families decide to purchase and keep this portfolio of photographs, they are to be charged $150.

Perkins said of the portfolio, “I heard about that, but not even from the company. I only heard about the basics from other people.”

Along with the website, the directions to the makeshift studio, or rather the lack of them, were also hard to navigate. Although the assigned senior portrait day was a Wednesday, the schedule and setting of the portraits was neither mentioned in the routine advisory announcements, nor any emails from admin, nor any reminder emails from CADY. Students were left to wander the halls. 

When the big day finally rolled around, and seniors left sixth period primped, preened, and ready with strapless shirts, ready for drapes, or white button-downs, to lay under communal tuxes, they were met with the relayed announcement from peers that their portraits would be delayed indefinitely. Swarms of students crowded the hall by the counselor’s office.

So came the three hour wait, which scholar Maia Cullen describes emphatically as “...grueling, and everyone was slumped against the lockers, some doing work, some not, some Doordashing food—everyone was hungry and miserable.”

Cullen continues, “People kept asking, ‘When’s your time slot?’ and some people’s time slots were like, 5:30! They were going to be there until 8’o’clock at least, maybe nine, according to the delay I had!” 

Perkins says, “It was really boring sitting and waiting. Everyone was a little annoyed.”

Liu nods, “We were like homeless people sitting against the lockers. I didn’t expect to have to bring my backpack with me.”

Senior Alvin Cheu described the photographer’s reason for the wait: “The company was fine—they said it was the school that didn’t tell them where to go, not until two hours after they arrived. They also said that two of the photographers couldn't come, so it was only three out of the five. I don’t think this happens often.”

While the lack of direction from the school’s administrators may play a part, some students still had opinions on CADY. 

Liu gripes, “I had my mom wait for me for quite a while, because it took forever for them to take a portrait, and I feel like they had a really bad work ethic. While I was waiting, I saw them take a lunch break, and during the lunch break they just kept going in and out, which I think made it longer. Also, some people had a bigger package, and I think they should’ve accounted for that.”

Student barber Ben Collins says, “Sometimes, they would just call ‘Next,’ and whoever was closest to the door would go in. Other times, they would come out with a list, but everyone they would call had already gone in and come out. Everything got really out of order.”

Some students also got up and left entirely at the notion that their scheduled 4 p.m. session might end at 7:30, despite the small-fonted warning in the same-day reminder email that within-24-hour cancellation, rescheduling or no-showing would run a $25 fee. Others chose to hopefully stay, despite missing important meetings or events. 

Cullen says, “I was supposed to tutor a child before her calculus exam, and I couldn’t tutor her because I told her that my portrait had gotten pushed back by three hours… she might’ve failed her calc exam just because of that mishap.”

Perkins agrees that while she chose to take the portrait during her sixth period AP Japanese class, she didn’t expect to also miss her entire cross country practice: “I don’t normally miss important stuff. Cross country is important; AP Japanese is important.”

Collins corroborates, “I missed plans and a haircut.”

Some weren’t totally blindsided: Liu and Chew both had prior engagements, JROTC and the swim team, respectively, yet neither had planned to go. 

Once in, on the actual portrait experience, Perkins says, “I had a pretty good experience. My photographer was nice and helpful in demonstrating poses; it was just a little slow.” 

However, Cullen feels like her experience was impersonal, and says “[Before], I was nervous to take the portraits and my expectations were low. I did think that we were going to be able to see our senior portraits before they were like quote-unquote submitted or whatever, but that did not happen…The actual experience was really rushed, and the photographers didn’t let me see my photos. They just seemed like they wanted to leave.”

Liu concurs, “I feel like they’re not really that good at taking pictures, and they attempt to help you move your hair, but it just falls back down…The poses were weird. They were very respectful, but since 4 p.m. the sun was already going down… the lighting kept changing…the wait was the least complicated thing. They were really nice, and you get to take enough pictures so that you are happy, but my photographer had quite the trouble with getting them. He said, ‘Everything is going wrong for us today.’”

Cheu succinctly says, “I rushed it because I just wanted to leave.”

Perkins, recently receiving her proofs says, “The poses look so awkward. I don’t extremely dislike them, though.”

Both CADY representatives and the school admin team declined to comment on the matter or the partnership.

By Martina Mongillo

On September 23, 2024, Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 3216—the Phone-Free School Act—requiring California school districts to limit student smartphone use by July 1 of this year. State officials cited rising concerns over digital distractions, academic dishonesty, cyberbullying, and teen mental health as catalysts for the law.

Ahead of the current school year, Principal Marisol Arkin announced that Abraham Lincoln High School would enforce SFUSD’s Board Policy 5131.8. Under the policy, students are required to keep devices turned off and stowed away during class, though the administration explicitly opted not to monitor phone usage during passing periods. 

That distinction in hallway rules and teacher by teacher enforcement has drawn mixed reactions across campus. Because purchasing uniform phone caddies for every classroom was deemed too expensive, enforcement varies wildly across classrooms. Different teachers take completely different approaches. Some utilize plastic storage boxes, others individually purchase hanging phone pouches, while others simply rely on student compliance. 

“I think the policy is good, students do better without their phones,” said Travon Bailey, a Lincoln Spanish teacher.  “This year, I’ve been even stricter about the phone policy, just because it's a state policy now. Students are less distracted.”

Bailey argued that exempting cellphone use between classes creates hallway disruptions, and slows school traffic.

 “The principal said in her expectations that we’re not going to monitor phone usage in the hallways, which leads to students walking very slow during passing periods,” he noted. “So many kids walk into my classroom going into the wrong class because they’re on their phone.”  

Bailey advocates for a school-wide system over individual classroom setups that might take away from class time, suggesting students should lock their phones away at the start of the day in their advisory class. 

For many students, however, strict phone bans conflict with basic daily tasks and personal needs– especially when required web sources are blocked on SFUSD Chromebooks, leaving students to rely on their phones to access study tools. 

“I just think that if they want to enforce a phone ban, they have to give us more lax restrictions on the Chromebooks, because I have to research crap sometimes and I can’t do that on a computer,” said Lincoln junior Isa Drace,.“Like if I can’t get into quizlet on them, what the hell do you want me to do?”

Drace added that the policy could still bring positive changes if properly enforced, such as helping those struggling with cellphone addiction, and limiting campus conflicts.

 “In theory, the phone policy could be really beneficial at stopping the filming of fights, which I believe is a really big issue at this school,” Drace said.

While state legislation aims for complete phone elimination on school grounds, many students appreciate that Lincoln’s approach is more flexible. Malin Jasmine, a senior, is relieved Lincoln is handling the mandate realistically, as she believes a full ban would interfere with students’ needed personal communication with family and friends. 

“I understand the policy, but I don’t think we should have our phones taken during the day. I use my phone for productive things, like in class sometimes and in the hallway. During lunch, we need to communicate with our family when needed, and friends to get lunch together and hangout. I use my phone to pay for everything.” 

Ultimately, administrative staff emphasize that a policy alone cannot solve phone dependency among teenagers, noting that student engagement requires personal commitment and family enforcement. 

Dean Tumua explained how phone overuse has become an addiction that is difficult for school admin to minimize in a chaotic climate like Lincoln. She emphasized the importance of student’s personal commitment to understanding that their focus in school sustains their education. 

 "If students don't want to be present in their education and be on their phones, then maybe they should just stay home,” Tumua said. 

By Elise Dunn 

On September 4th, an altercation between a group of students and an Asian-American student broke out on the upper level of the New Building breezeway. This altercation led to a larger and broader question to be asked: What other issues about race are lying beneath the surface? 

The conflict allegedly occurred due to the use of racial slurs by an Asian-American student against another student, which further escalated into a physical dispute. The altercation began outside English literature and journalism teacher Sara Falls’s classroom, before pivoting into the classroom as it escalated. 

However, the altercation was only the starting force. Videos of the fight from online social media and news platforms began to surface. KTSF Channel 26, one of the largest Asian-American and Chinese-language broadcast stations in the United States, covered the incident.  Channel 26 at KTSF reported that the fight occurred against a Chinese-American special education student and also interviewed the victim's father.   

 "No matter how the school blames his behavior, there is never a justification for other students to physically assault him," stated the victim's father. "If he said something inappropriate or violated school rules, it should be handled through proper procedures, not through personal attacks."

Roughly a week and a half after the incident, Principal Marisol Arkin sent out a statement to the larger school community and families addressing the fallout of the fight. The message called the issue  an "isolated incident involving a small number of students” and said that “it is not reflective of a broader school-wide climate or pattern of anti-Asian or anti-Black hate." 

Approximately one week later, Arkin sent another message to be read during advisory urging students to consider the impact of their speech.

The San Francisco Unified School District also commented on the matter of hate speech at Lincoln, writing that SFUSD is committed to cultivating a safe and welcoming environment for all students and that hate, harassment, and violence have no place in their schools. 

"We are aware of an incident at Lincoln High School and have been meeting with the involved families and students, as well as community stakeholders including the NAACP and other civil rights organizations, to address the issue," said SFUSD. " We are implementing restorative practices to ensure that students directly impacted by the incident receive the support they need.  We are also focused on providing support for the broader school community to ensure every student has access to any resources they need and that it is made clear that we do not accept behavior of this kind anywhere."

As a result of circulating rumors regarding racial issues and hate speech within the Lincoln community, the Lincoln administration has been working and creating lesson plans regarding hate speech. The lessons will be taught on a weekly basis during the 30 minute advisory period on Wednesdays, and go into depth on students issues and opinions regarding race. 

"We [have] presented a very, very rough draft to staff of  some ideas, and the departments have looked at it. They're also feeling like we need a lot more training around it and support," said Arkin,. She continued, "...this is some heavy stuff, and we really want to make sure that it's in a space where kids are going to be comfortable talking about it and are going to be present." 

The main goal for the curriculum, according to Arkin, is ensuring everyone feels supported in these conversations about racism and hate speech even if it means pushing back the timing for the lessons. Arkin also hopes to include clubs such as ASB and BSU as well as the school newspaper. 

"Its not getting pushed back because people are not willing to do it; it's because people want to make it great and meaningful for students." said Arkin, "We want to be in a position where people don't feel like they have to fight to stand up for themselves in those situations."

By Ella Zhang

On September 12th, 2026, the San Francisco JROTC Brigade brought back its annual Orienteering Competition hosted at John McLaren Park. Among the six participating schools were Abraham Lincoln High School’s JROTC unit, whose cadets put their navigation skills to the test in a race to locate 14 hidden signs staked to the ground.

Orienteering is an outdoor navigation competition where participants use a physical map to locate designated points scattered throughout an area. Each school can send up to four teams to compete against other schools. While the competition resembles a treasure hunt, it also challenges cadets to interpret maps and work together under time constraints. Teams aim to find as many points as possible within the allotted time, with those exceeding the limit being automatically disqualified. 

For Lincoln’s cadets, this year’s competition marked a return to an event that has been absent from the San Francisco JROTC calendar for two years.  It was discontinued in 2024 following a decision made by Brigade Staff and the Director of Army Instruction, Lieutenant Colonel Douglas Bullard. 

Jonathan Gay, the current Cadet Brigade Commander, explained, “People wanted it to be more like Land Navigation rather than a scavenger hunt”.

Unlike Orienteering, Land Navigation requires cadets to use specific coordinates to locate points which makes it more challenging. Since cadets preferred this approach and already practiced it during another annual JROTC training event, the Orienteering Competition's format was considered repetitive.

The decision to bring the event back came during this school year’s calendar meeting with San Francisco JROTC instructors. Recognizing the cadets had enjoyed the activity in previous years, Gay and the new Director of Army Instruction, Lieutenant Colonel Leonel Nascimento, felt it was worth reviving. 

“I thought it would be better to bring something back because people liked it, and next year we can build on it,” Gay said. 

For cadets who had previously experienced the competition, it served as an opportunity to revisit the event while also introducing the experience to new participants. For Isabella Mack, a senior at Abraham Lincoln High School, the competition’s return brought back memories. 

“I was participating freshman year, and I was looking forward to it since it was fun. I was sad that it wasn’t an event sophomore and junior year,” Mack said.