The Bettendorf High School
Growl Vol. 50 Issue 1
Friday, Sept. 27, 2013
3333 18th St. Bettendorf, IA 52722
Opening up to new lockers By Brianna Klabunde Staff Reporter
It all started about four years ago with students pushing for different colored lockers: clean, new black replacing the tan. This simple idea, however, would open the doors for a more indepth process. “We wanted to paint all the lockers black,” Jimmy Casas, principal, said, “but the paint was so expensive we began looking into getting new lockers. One issue has always been the size so it would be nice to have a little bit bigger locker.” The idea of getting new lockers did not resurface until a few years later when talk of renovations for the school became prominent. This is why the lower D locker bay was second on the list to be renovated. “We had already decided we were going to be doing some renovations down in the lower D locker bay with another classroom so it made sense that we would then, at that point, tear out that locker bay and put in brand new lockers,” Casas said. With a total of 1,400 new and bigger lockers to be added into a limited amount of space, there are bound to be problems. “Now the reason we’ve always been able to get away with the smaller lockers was because in smaller schools people share
their lockers. Well, here we always had this year’s freshman class. enough lockers so that everyone had their “Freshmen are split up in every locker own individual locker,” Casas said. bay, any place we can find for them this “When you make the lockers bigger that year,” Casas said. means it takes up more room and you run Music students have also been moved to into problems because it takes up more E-bay for their convenience. space,” he said. This problem has been solved by taking advantage of free hallways, including adding lockers down the music hallway and moving lower D into the art hallway. “The dilemma (in upper D) is going to be that there is really no place to go in upper D other than upper D. Which means once we replace those lockers we are going to lose another number of Ian Campbell opens his locker in E bay. He said, “I lockers,” Casas said. use my car as my locker; I hardly even use a locker. “We are not going to be able to fit an entire class up there.” This proves itself to be quite an issue “The best thing (about E bay) is it’s right since the school has already had problems by music which is the main thing I do,” with available lockers due to the size of said Colton Harksen, a freshman in band
New teachers welcomed to building By Brett Gaydos Staff Reporter Just like a new student, being a new teacher has its struggles. Learning a new curriculum for the first time is like a student in the class. Being comfortable in the building could be a struggle too. With each new teacher coming into the building each one brings their own set of special skills, hobbies, and studies. Ray Knight is one of the new teachers in the English department. He currently is teaching sophomore English, introduction to literature and composition. Before coming to Bettendorf, he went to the University of Illinois where he received his degree. He has also worked with various schools in Chicago and QCA. Outside of the classroom, student council takes up some of his time. During the summer, Knight
was involved in a deck hockey league and played soccer a lot. One fun fact is he bikes to school most days. Amanda Manning is new to the math department. She grew up in Burlington and went to Burlington High School. After graduating from high school she continued her studies at St. Ambrose University where she majored in elementary education. While in college she was a long term sub for Brenda Walker then applying and receiving the full time job afterwards. Outside of school, teaching dance is one of the things she enjoys. In the school she is volunteering with the Goldusters. Matt Nagovan replaces Brenda Walker. Matt has prior experience here at BHS where he student taught the previous semester. After graduating from St. Ambrose University with a bachelor’s degree in
math, a math department job opened up. Outside of the classroom traveling is one of his favorite things to do. He lived in Ireland for four months and during that time traveled through western Europe. Cooking is another hobby. In extra curricular activities, he is a co sponsor for NHS. Other new teachers include English teacher Elizabeth Woolley, math teachers Evan Hartman, Amanda Manning, Matt Nagovan, Marty Resner, and Rebecca Carton; world language teachers Gabi Auerbach, Kim Roas, and Lu Lang; paraeducator Nicole Champion; special education teacher Rachel Cuppy;and vocal music teacher Jeff Knutson.
and chorus. Planning has already started on where to put the lockers that will be lost when Upper D is renovated. “We have to find another location to put another locker bay. I don’t want to put lockers in the hallways because it disrupts classrooms with all the banging, clattering, and hammering,” Casas said. “We’re looking at upperclassmen that don’t use their lockers and factoring them into the equation.” An idea is to ask upperclassmen if they will be using their locker at all, or if they prefer to share with a friend. This could free up a lot more space for other students. It will never be a requirement, though. “We will work with RSVP to find the best way to do that,” Casas said. Though the decision is not final yet, upper D is projected to be renovated before B bay because of long term renovation plans for the business hallway. “If we are going to go in and do some renovations, we’d like to do them all at the same time,” Casas said. There have been no complaints about the new locker bays, and they are definitely a subject of envy to students that are not assigned them. “E bay is the nicest locker bay because its very clean, cool, and not very congested,” Harksen said.
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