Focus A Blind Brook High School Student Publication
November
Powderpuff: Bringing Spirit Back to BBHS
By Shivani Thanneer ‘20 very time you go to a football game, you see the cheerleaders on the sidelines and the football players out on the field — both teams giving their all, game after game. The pride that goes into identifying as a part of the Trojan community is represented by the work that our student-athletes put into all of the training and games they participate in. At BBHS we often neglect the importance of school spirit and the community that it fosters. Over the past few years, the Blind Brook Senate and the cheerleaders have been working to elevate school spirit and unity between the different grades. This year, Senate members began to realize that new strategies needed to be undertaken to change their constituents’ view on school spirit. While the pep rallies have been entertaining in the past, and some students still enjoy the festivities, they were not the best way to improve school spirit, as many other students ditched the event or were not happy to be forced to attend. So, Senate was faced with the pressing question of whether the school still hold the pep rallies before both fall and winter homecomings, or should new activities be looked into to replace the pep rallies? Continued on page 8
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Q&A with Dr. Jonathan Ross By Jack Wells ‘19 ppointed to the position of School Business Official in the Summer of 2001, Dr. Jonathan Ross has been with the Blind Brook School District for over seventeen years. Dr. Ross is more than familiar with the ins and outs of the district. Three years after his initial appointment, Dr. Ross received tenure and became the Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Facilities. In March, 2015, after the retirement of Superintendent Dr. William Stark, Dr. Ross was appointed to the position of Interim Superintendent of Schools, and was appointed to the position of Superintendent of Schools in January 2016. I sat down with Dr. Ross on October 30 to get a sense of his role at the district and his opinion regarding school-related issues.
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Jack Wells What are some of the day-to-day operations that you carry out?
superintendent for business. So what my role really is, regarding the finances, I look at the balances in our bank accounts. I do that because it’s a habit, and because it’s also a check. I do this so that if there are any unusual shifts, you know, god forbid somebody is able to hack into our account and wire money to themselves, we’ll know it within twelve hours. I do this with Mikaela Coni, who is the District Treasurer, as it is part of her job to manage the finances. Most people don’t know, but she has notified me that she will be leaving the district to go to another school district closer to her home on Long Island. We are now in the process of finding her replacement.
Dr.Ross I start early here. What I do is I make sure that there are no unusual situations that occurred overnight, and usually, I’ll hear about them, either by text, email, or voicemail on occasion. My basic duties are to make sure that everything is set for both campuses, and the schools are ready to go, and if there are any problems, to kind of brainstorm how we might mediate the situation. Photo/Drew Rosenberg I’m up very early, and in the wintertime, significantly early, generally even Dr. Ross at his desk on a two hour delay, I’m here by 6:00 AM because that’s my routine. Beyond that, I get a lot of emails, so I respond to emails. There’s also some banking that I do, because my role as Superintendent of Schools is Wells So what would you say is the percentage you divide probably a little bit different than your typical superintendent of between business and education? schools, as I don’t have an assistant superintendent of business. Although, I have a very good District Treasurer. Ross Twenty five percent business and 75 percent educational. So the Board of Education, a little more than a year ago, Wells Would you say preparing the annual budget is your granted permission to establish a position of assistant superinmain responsibility? tendent. We tried to fill it and struck out, and then we appointed Ross It’s not my main responsibility, although it is a major Dr. Colin Byrne as Interim Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment. concern. If you read the Board’s policy, it’s listed there as one of my major responsibilities, and in most school districts the Continued on page 28 superintendent will delegate that responsibility to the assistant
Features
Read more about the recomendation process on page 9
Health and Science
Learn the basics of Time management 101on page 17
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Sports
Should College Athletes be paid? page 12
Features
Sit Down with Mr.Greenwald on page 15
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