Feature Pg. 2 Stepping up
Sports Pg. 4
Opinion Pg. 3 My body my choice
BRR
Change of management
The Booster Redux Pittsburg High School
Pittsburg, KS
1978 E. 4th Street
Vol. 103 Issue 1
Increasing student numbers Student numbers have surpassed 1,000 with arrival of freshman class Words By | Hailey Gray his school year, the freshmen class at Pittsburg High School has had a big effect on the school. PHS has now risen above 1000 students in the school daily. Athletic Director Jeff Staley is starting his sixth year at PHS. As a result of numbers increasing in the school, Staley has also seen numbers increasing in all sports. “It has meant more uniforms, more buses, more players trying out for teams, which is a great problem to have,” Staley said. “We don’t mind that at all, but that has been the biggest challenge.” Principal Kelynn Heardt has been at PHS for seven years. As a result of increasing numbers, many teachers have been added to staff which has also caused some departments to grow. “Even with [adding staff ], our average class size across the building is probably around 25 students,” Heardt said. “Where seven years ago it was closer to 15 or 20, which is a good problem to have.” According to Junior Georgia Boekhout, numbers are crazy this year and classes are significantly different from when she was a freshman. “I like having bigger classes because it just means that there are more people to be involved,” Boekhout said. “We offer
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a lot of things at Pittsburg High School and with the bigger classes I think we will be able to grow into something even more.” The freshmen class is not the only reason numbers have expanded at PHS. This year, there have been over 75 transfers into the high school alone, not including the elementary schools and middle school. “We have seen an increase in the number of students coming in from other districts,” Staley said. “I take that as a compliment to Pittsburg High School because 15 or 20 years ago people would want to move away from Pittsburg High School.” Heardt does not see this expanding as a problem. According to her, PHS does a lot of things well and that is why so many people want to come to our district. “It creates little things that we have to find solutions for but school districts are the livelihood of a community and the fact that we continue to grow is special,” Heardt said. “That does not happen in our surrounding communities.” According to freshman Charlie Hall, it is great having big classes because you get to be introduced to more people and build more relationships. “It can be a little overwhelming at times to have so many people in classes,” Hall said. “But the teachers are doing a
great job at keeping everything under control.” According to Heardt, since school has started, she and the administration have also noticed other obstacles that they have to be monitoring. “The freshmen class makes up the majority of the student body. [The freshmen] are not all driving yet, but what happens when they are and we’re already at capacity,” Heardt said. “Those are things we have to be constantly talking about and looking at.” In the next couple years, there will be a new FedEx company being built. This will result in more jobs, which will then bring more students moving into town and our district. “We do know that when we get a new industry we are always going to have an influx,” Heardt said. “We’re expecting when that facility opens within the next year to two years, there are going to be more students that enroll in USD 250.” During the pandemic, the halls were empty because people were quarantined and sick or doing online school. However, now the halls are so crowded that you can barely walk through them. “We are one of the few communities in Southeast Kansas that are growing,” Staley said. “You wear that badge with pride and with honor that we’re busting at the seams.”
Art By | Heather Mowdy
Getting rid of lunch debt: Words By | John Lee With the worry of COVID-19 slowly dissipating in our everyday lives, aspects of the school day have changed as well. Specifically the way in which lunch functions. “They did the free lunch because of COVID, and that was a two year thing,” cafeteria staff member Michelle Palmer said. “The federal government decided it wasn’t needed anymore, so that’s why we went back to the [paid] lunch.” This sudden shift back into the way things were pre-COVID also forced the cafeteria workers to undergo some changes in the way they work. “When it was free lunch, all we had to do was check mark people,” Palmer said. “We didn’t have to have the system where you put your lunch code in. But now, the federal government has stopped that.” But now, with students having to pay for their lunch, there also comes difficulty in affordability. The district has also taken this into consideration and provided an alternative lunch option with reduced payment for those who can’t afford it. “Most people, if they fill out the paperwork, would qualify for reduced, but we still feed them,” Palmer said. However, not all students and parents find out about this paperwork. Debt from the lack of exposure of this reduced form, as well as debt from before COVID, stacks up to an
Newly priced lunch has caused lunch debt among students
unbelievable amount. “I was made aware that students at Pittsburg Community Middle School had a collective lunch deficit of $915,” English teacher at PCMS Angela Lewis said. With this new information, Lewis took the steps toward getting rid of the collective debt. “I thought I could try to raise that amount so students who still owed money before COVID could once again eat a hot lunch at school,” Lewis said. According to Lewis, she was able to get rid of this deficit because of the help and aid of the community. “After administrative approval, I quickly made a Facebook posting about this issue and asked for donations to cover the $915,” Lewis said. “Once I posted on Facebook, the $915 was donated by a very kind, generous, active community member. It took eight minutes for that to happen.” She aimed even higher and tried to get rid of the entire district’s deficit of $1500. Not long after, she found that the debt was even higher than originally estimated. “Within five minutes, that total was paid off. However, I later found out the district debt was actually more than that. And unfortunately, the amount owed by students grows each day,” Lewis said. With this new information, Lewis has raised even more money with the help of the community, far exceeding the real
deficit of $3950. “As of today, people have donated $4770,” Lewis said. “Anything raised from here forward will be paid toward the ongoing deficit. I am launching the ‘Adopt a Dragon’ program. This would be a donation of $100 to cover a hot, school lunch every day until winter break.” Despite the amount of trouble this sudden change in policy may have caused, the community as a whole was able to come together in order to make things easier for anyone and everyone. “I cannot show my gratitude enough for what people have done for our students in USD 250,” Lewis said. “We are beyond blessed to have such dedicated, caring, and generous community members.” Scan this QR code to apply for school meal benefits.