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THISISSUE FEATURES
Junior Kevin Chapelle uses art skills to customize Vans. Page 6
OPINION
Sophomore Robbie Short reflects on society after Sandy Hook. Page 7
ENTERTAINMENT Sophomore Brodie May reviews Tarantino’s latest masterpiece, Django Unchained. Page 8
SPORTS
Varsity boys basketball defeats Nevada Union at Casaba. Page 10
AP Lang and U.S. History classes will adopt yearlong block schedule By MARIAN ABDELMALEK
marian.abdelmalek@eyeofthetigernews.com
A new rotating A/B class, featuring AP U.S. History and AP English Language & Composition, will be available for juniors next school year. According to social science teacher Jessica Fork, who will teach the AP U.S. History class, the idea of blocking these two courses was originally social studies teacher Guy Fine’s idea. According to English teacher Paige Powell, who will teach AP Language & Composition, Fork approached her with the idea and she agreed to work together because she thinks she is an outstanding teacher. Both teachers agree that the two classes mesh well together and benefit each other, as both teachers have comparable styles. “We have similar teaching styles,” said Powell. One of the reasons for the new rotating A/B class is because students will be able to have more time to process the information that they will be learning. “We could really sharpen skills,” said Powell. “I think they will learn a lot more.” A factor behind the idea of an A/B class is that the current block schedule works to somewhat of a disadvantage to students who have an AP class in the fall, when the exam is in the spring. The students in the fall term have a lower passing rate versus the spring term students. “It will help improve the scores,” said Fork. Some students find comfort in having an A/B class, as they can be
See Block Class | page 2
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January 28, 2013 Issue 6, Volume 12
Freshman pathways approved for next year by robbie short
robbie.short@eyeofthetigernews.com
The administrative proposal that provided for the creation of four “pathways” for freshmen, starting next year, has officially been approved. Many details of the plan have yet to be worked out, but the biggest change that the plan will bring is the addition of two new freshman classes to Roseville High School: a seminar class that has previously been called Freshman Connections and a new “pre-AP” CP English 9/Geography and World
Cultures block. The new seminar class will be part of the Traditional pathway and the English/Geography block will be included in the Pre-AP pathway. Registering eighth-graders will have the option to sign up for their preferred pathway, and will also be able to choose from the AVID pathway or the Strategic Interventions pathway, which will feature AVID 9 and an intervention class called Positive Power, respectively. However, after registering students sign up, the administration
will be checking their selections to ensure that they will be able to thrive in those courses. “Universal screenings, meaning a screening that will get to any student or all students who’re interested in going this direction, we look at certain data points and make sure, ‘okay, yeah, they look like they’re ready to be there,’ or, ‘maybe not yet,’” said assistant principal Matt Pipitone. According to counselor Jason Bradley, these course selections will be made in the best interest of the student.
“Freshmen will not be involuntarily placed into any course,” said Bradley. “We will place students into the course that best meets their needs to be successful in high school and their post-secondary education goals.” Principal Brad Basham believes that the majority of the freshman class will be in the new freshman seminar class, which is part of the Traditional pathway. It had originally been called Freshman Connections until the administration realized that there has already been a course with that same title at another
district school that had a different curriculum from the new course being introduced at RHS. The course will follow an AVIDlike curriculum with built-in support for new freshmen and it may be blocked with CP English 9 in an A/B format. “The whole idea with the freshman seminar class and English 9 – a final decision hasn’t been made, but the feeling is that we probably should A/B it with English 9,” said Basham. “The reason for that is the seminar class will have
See Pathways | page 3
Administration plans to increase security
Construction of a new gate by 900 East planned, possibly on Campo St. by brodie may
brodie.may@eyeofthetigernews.com
The Roseville High School administration is installing an automatic gate near the 900 East building. The gate will cost approximately between $8,000 and $10,000, and is scheduled to be put in sometime next school year. Assistant principal Jon Coleman developed the idea for the gate and proposed it to principal Brad Basham, who approved the proposal. The plan was then brought to the Roseville Joint Union High School District office and set in motion. Basham points out, however, that it takes more than just a new gate to maintain campus safety. “As a district we’re being reflective in terms of our campus and what we can do to keep it safe,” said Basham. “Good communication among our staff, as well as the student body, is a very important factor in keeping the students and staff safe.” The new gate is just one of several new changes the RHS campus will be undergoing in the near future.
District and city lawyers are meeting about putting gates on both ends of Campo Street in place of the chains that currently section off the street during school hours. The goal of the installating gates around campus is to force visitors not permitted on school grounds to go through the front office. “We really want to keep strangers out and keep students in,” said Coleman. Sophomore Sam Ronco is looking at the situation differently. “There’s a difference between having a safe campus and being in a prison,” said Ronco. The day after the Sandy Hook Elementary School incident that left 28 dead in Connecticut, the entire district had a meeting to confer on how safe RJUHSD campuses are and what could be done to ensure they stay safe. Despite having goals to create a safer campus, Coleman doesn’t want students to feel trapped. “There are many ways on and off campus and it would be difficult and inefficient to lock the school up that tightly,” said Coleman.
PHOTOS BY BRODIE MAY
Above, a gate existing on campus near the administration building. Below, the site where the new gate will be, near 900 East.
2013-14 freshman class size expected to increase by ROBBIE SHORT
robbie.short@eyeofthetigernews.com
Based on a preliminary report by a district data manager, the next incoming freshman class at Roseville High School will include 581 students, a significant increase over the recent average of around 480. That number is representative of the number of graduating eighthgrade students who live in the RHS attendance areas and will be slotted to go to RHS, unless they choose to transfer elsewhere. However, because some students may choose to transfer out, school administration believes the figure is overinflated. “We won’t see 580,” said principal Brad Basham. “We may see 500. We may see a few more
than that. First of all, we’re going to lose students because of Program Improvement and the school of choice program, and so they’ll be some who choose to not attend because of that, and then we’ll lose students to the IB program at both Granite Bay and Oakmont.” Assistant principal Jason Wilson echoed Basham’s thoughts that the incoming class would actually be much smaller than the initial number. “My guess is that we’ll probably be about an average freshman class size, somewhere around 500 or so,” said Wilson. “I don’t think we’ll end up at 580.” Though the final number of enrolling students will likely not be known until very close to the beginning of next school year, as
the registration and transferring processes are completed, the possibility that RHS might see an increase in population has some members of its faculty thinking about what that would mean for the school. According to Wilson, a larger freshman class would improve RHS in many different ways. “[A larger freshman class] helps support a lot of things that we do on campus,” said Wilson. “It helps support our staffing, it helps support our athletic programs, it tells us kids are coming to Roseville and wanting to be part of our school.” RHS athletics director Jamie Bunch said that he believes that a larger class would bring with it, the possibility of a more successful sports program. “A larger freshman class
would give RHS more of a talent pool to pull from,” said Bunch. “Likewise, if we had a smaller class, there would be fewer athletes to participate in sports. I am not saying that a smaller class would be less successful by any means. It is just a chance with a larger class there could be more athletes.” According to Bunch, the only potential problem would be ensuring that the program had enough equipment and uniforms for all students to be able to participate, but he does not think that would be an issue. RHS band director Mark Toffelmier also thinks that having a larger incoming class could be beneficial to his program. “Well, hopefully, if there’s a larger
freshman class that means then there’d be more freshman bands kids, which would make the band bigger, which makes a difference, especially in the fall,” said Toffelmier. Because RHS adheres to a district-wide staffing ratio, there is also a possibility that having a larger freshman class would require it to hire more teachers. “If we add another hundred kids to the number of students in our school population, that would require more teachers to teach those classes,” said assistant principal Judy Daniels. According to Daniels, the ratio would give RHS the proper funding to pay all of those teachers and would prevent individual class sizes from increasing.
See Freshmen | page 3
Common Core proposal seeks to remove STAR tests
By meghan julin
meghan.julin@eyeofthetigernews.com
Roseville High School may be seeing some changes in Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) in the near future, and Common Core State Standards (CCSS) may also be playing a larger role in state testing and classroom curriculum. According to a press release from California State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tom Torlakson, has proposed a change for schools in California. His proposal includes an elimination of a majority of the STAR testing. However, juniors
would still take the eleventh grade English Language Arts California State Test (CST/STAR), Algebra 2 or Summative Math CST, as well as the Early Assessment Program tests in Math and English. Sophomores, on the other hand, would still take the CAHSEE. This possible change is being caused by a transition to the CCSS and assessments aligned with them. Assistant principal Judy Daniels has advocated for Common Core and fully supports it. “Common Core is a national set of standards that was developed
in response to the realization that America has fallen behind other countries,” said Daniels. “It targets college-and-career readiness.” Daniels also elaborates that Common Core standards cause students to think more than normal STAR standards do. “Even in math, students will have to justify their answers,” said Daniels. “It’s more critical thinking. They’re data -based questions, [similar to a Free Response Question]. STAR tests factoids, not collegeand-career readiness. It doesn’t target the essential learnings, [it’s]
memory based rather than critical thinking skills. Across the board, I feel kids need strategies more than anything to help them understand concepts, which is what Common Core would help with.” Principal Brad Basham explains that Torlakson’s proposal to cut STAR tests has not yet been approved. “It will be reviewed by the State Board of Education at the next meeting,” said Basham. “It will be discussed whether or not his proposal will still fit with the federal government’s ‘No Child Left
Behind’ guidelines.” Basham also explains that RHS may be one of the first schools to try out Common Core Standards. “There will be some pilot schools [to try out] the Common Core standards in 2014-2015,” said Basham. “Our district has submitted an application in order to be a pilot district. This year’s freshmen would take Common Core [assessments] their junior year if so.” Basham also supports the use of Common Core standards.
See STAR/CST | page 2