2016-17 first day issue

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BACK TO SCHOOL FOOD

SPORTS PREVIEWS

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HOMECOMING DRESS UP

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cEDAR pOST VOLUME 94, ISSUE 1

NEW C-DAY

Sandpoint High School’s daily bell schedule will see some changes this year Amanda Wikoff Editor-in-Chief

Sandpoint High School Principle Tom Albertson and Tom Bokowy rally for a positive vote on Tuesday

LEVY DENIED

Lake Pend Oreille voters say no to $55 million project Amanda Wikoff Editor-in-Chief Voters from the Lake Pend Oreille School District voted strongly against a $55 million facilities levy last Tuesday. A total of 7,038 people voted Aug. 30. Thirty-fiv precent voted to pass the levy while 65 percent voted against it. “Always when you put something up in front of somebody you expect for it to pass; you absolutely expect for it to pass,” District Superintendent Shawn Woodward said. A recent physical condition assessment by Teater Consulting reported that

Sandpoint Middle School and Lake Pend Oreille Alternative High School are both unsatisfactory learning environments. Without this

levy’s funding the plans to replace both those facilities will be put on hold, as well as plans to replace elementary schools in the district. “I think that for some

people the amount was just too high, and there are a lot of people that prefer, even though the buildings are not in good shape, that there’s a smaller scale of projects,” Woodward said. “While that would prolong the time it will take to upgrade the facilities, I think it was a much easier number to digest and be ok with.” A supplemental levy that accounts for one-third of LPOSD’s operational funds goes to vote in March, but Woodward doesn’t believe the failure of the facilities levy will affect that vote. “I strongly believe that people understand the difference between those two, one being for building and

one for operations, and the last time around we had the highest percentage passing ever at almost 70 percent,” Woodward said. “I definitely do not believe it will impact that negatively at all.” While the failure of the facilities levy is discouraging to district officials, Woodward is appreciative of all the effort supporters put into bringing together a plan to put forward to the public. “It was great to see people rallying around this effort to improve our facilities and at the end of the day we know we just have to do something differently so we can get different results,” he said.

BASICALLY SPEAKING

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE LEVY RESULTS? SOPHOMORE

SENIOR

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HM AN JOEL JOHNSON “The levy not passing is a bummer. It would increase taxes for a short period of time, but the middle school is 62 years old and starting to visibly fall apart.”

JAMES LEON “I don’t know a lot about the levy but I don’t really think the middle school needs to be rebuilt.”

TYLER STEWART “I feel like it was too much at once instead of creating a plan to redo the schools in the order they need to get done.”

WHAT’S ON SHSCEDARPOST.COM? POWDERPUFF SIGN UP

“The last day to sign up for powderpuff is Wednesday, Sept. 7. There will be team practices held on Thursday, Sept. 8 and...”

GOODBYE RANDLES

“Wrestling coach and English teacher Mike Randles accepted a job as vice principal at Coeur D’Alene high school earlier this summer...”

MEET THE BULLDOGS

“Varsity cheerleaders preformed a cheer, dance, and the fight song to close Meet the Bulldogs...” View photo story at shscedarpost.com.

HOLLY NELSON “I think they approached it wrong. If they would have started with less money, maybe it would have passed.”

Sandpoint High School has added seven minutes and C day to the schedule. Once a month, before or after a PLC early release day, the schedule will change to include time for Sources of Strength mentors to touch-base with their connection groups. This schedule will be called a “C” schedule. On C days students will go to their A or B day classes, but there will be an hour and a half chiseled out between first and second period for connection groups to meet. “[The students] wanted a place and a healthy way to connect with each other, so this is how we decided to do it so it’s more structured and organized,” said Cindy Albertson, head counselor and SOS advisor. C day will allow teachers to stay on track with their A/B class schedules and not miss time with only one class on PLC early release weeks. In addition, the final bell will ring seven minutes later each day, adding one minute to each class, one between first and second period for grab-and-go lunch program, and two to lunch. “The gap time between when the busses arrive at 3 and 2:38 was a time where we felt time wasn’t being used as efficiently as we needed to, Principal Tom Albertson said. “We realized from a poll of teachers that whether it’s 22 minutes or 15 minutes students who ride a bus were not using access or said they couldn’t get in there, but they can still stop by and pick up something really quick within the 15 minutes.”

DATES TO REMEMBER

7

september senior sunrise

powderpuff Papers due

21

PLC early release

28

SHS open house

29

school photos begin


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2016-17 first day issue by Cedar Post - Issuu