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November 13, 2012 Issue 4, Volume 12
THISISSUE FEATURES
Senior Chris Vogel takes to the skies to acquire pilot license Page 3
OPINION
Junior Daniel Wetter believes that the republican party will bounce back next election Page 7
ENTERTAINMENT Sophomore Marian Abdelmalek raves about One Direction’s new album Page 8
SPORTS Varsity football defeats Woodcreek in the last home game of the season Page 10
RHS enters third year as a designated PI school by katelyn Rolen
katelyn.rolen@eyeofthetigernews.com
Roseville High School is now on its third year of Program Improvement (PI). According to Principal Brad Basham, approximately 172 freshman students have transferred out of RHS because of PI. Schools are judged on their annual yearly progress (AYP), in which certain benchmarks need to be met in order to track the school’s progress. AYP is judged by graduation rate, API scores, participation rate, CAHSEE scores, as well as other standardized tests. RHS CAHSEE scores were the only thing that did not meet the benchmark, resulting in a third year of PI. “If we get to Year Five or Year Six [of PI], it is a possibility that half of the staff and the principal may be replaced,” said Basham. Sophomore teachers such as English teacher Brad Rinn are preparing students for the CAHSEE. “We [the class] do test release questions, making inferences, strategies, and rereading,” said Rinn. According to Basham, RHS staff isn’t worried about PI, but is more focused on Common Core and the new benchmarks that will be associated with Common Core in 2014. “We are getting students prepared for post-secondary education,” said Basham. “The majority of last years’ graduates went on to [post] secondary education.” RHS isn’t expected to experience any major changes because of PI. Assistant superintendent of curriculum and instructional services John Montgomery expects RHS to have a positive outcome due to PI. “I suspect that the outcomes would continue to be improved performance using several measurements, in addition to CAHSEE, for example term grades, CST, graduation rates, etc.,” said Montgomery.
GRAPHIC COURTESY OF REALCLEARPOLITICS.COM
GRAPHIC BY DANIEL WETTER
The map on the left shows the RHS campus divided by electoral votes, based on the votes of students in each area. The electoral votes of the nation are pictured on the right.
RHS mock election mirrors results of national election by marian abdelmalek
marian.abdelmalek@eyeofthetigernews.com
President Barack Obama won the majority of student votes in the mock election that took place at Roseville High School last week. Student government counted the ballots from the start of third period until the end of first lunch on November 5, 2012, using the
Illuminate system. A special edition of TigerCast revealed the results during second period the following day. Obama had a victory in every building that had a class in-session, except the Patty Baker Theater, which belonged to Romney. Each candidate needed at least 46 electoral votes from the total of 91 electoral votes. President Obama gained 87 electoral votes and former Massachusetts governor Romney took the remaining four. The votes were counted using the
RHS campus as an electoral college system, with each building starting off with two votes and each class that was in session during second period receiving an additional vote. Teachers that had second period prep did not get a vote for their classroom. Obama defeated Romney in popular vote by 14 percent and also through electoral votes. Some students were shocked at the results. “I was [surprised],” said sophomore Maddy Pilgrim. “Placer
County is usually one to vote Republican, and since most minors don’t usually have their own opinion and instead just go with what their parents do or say, I was actually astounded that our youth voted Democrat.” However, other students expected this outcome of the mock election. “I didn’t find the results as much of a surprise because California is for the most part a Democratic state,” said sophomore Kendra Klint. “And it seems it like kids who aren’t as educated with politics
would just vote to re-elect our president.” Before the results were revealed, students enjoyed taking part in the mock election process. “It was actually something we should consider doing more often,” said sophomore Nick Garcia. “It was interesting, it was good.” Students found it fascinating to see their peers discussing the election. “I liked it,” said sophomore Caitlin Adams. “It was cool to see students taking interest in politics.”
District considering lifting ban on social networking sites By ROBBIE SHORT
robbie.short@eyeofthetigernews.com
The Roseville Joint Union High School District Technology Department is looking to unblock social networking sites. Websites like Facebook and Twitter are among the many sites that would be available for students to access at school. The tech department hopes to have this policy ready for the start of the spring term in January. As it stands, social media sites are blocked from the school computers and have been since 2000, when the Children’s Internet Protection Act was signed into law by Congress. The act was designed to limit children’s access to explicit content online in schools and libraries. One way that Congress tried to make the CIPA successful was by tying it to the federal “E-Rate” program, through which schools and libraries can receive discounts to help them obtain adequate communications and internet services. The CIPA requires schools and libraries that wish to use E-Rate
discounts to maintain “a technology protection measure with respect to any of [their] computers with internet access that protects against access through such computers to visual depictions that are obscene, child pornography, or harmful to minors...” RJUHSD currently receives about $150,000 a year in discounts through the E-Rate program, and though the law does not specifically prohibit social media sites, the district has said that they wanted them blocked. The district has been discussing the merits of allowing social media to be used as a classroom tool onand-off for the past several years now. According to RJUHSD director of technology, Mike Fury, the district has decided that the potential educational benefits of social networking sites being used in the classroom warrant the blocks on them being removed. “We have been working on this over the past year, and through the District Tech Team, which is made
up of site representation, district staff will be recommending to the [District] Board we remove the restrictions because effective use of social networking sites has been demonstrated successfully by some of our teachers and abroad,” said Fury. The district’s decision to unblock the sites was also aided by the introduction of Board Policy 5131.4 in March of last year. The policy allows schools in the district to intervene when they see students bullying other students over the Internet, including on social media sites. “Now, with bullying and all of the things that happen on Facebook, [with] the new laws that have come out, luckily for schools they can get involved,” said Roseville High School site technology coordinator Marie Criste. “Before, they weren’t allowed to, so if kids were doing some things inappropriately on Facebook and it didn’t happen on campus grounds, schools couldn’t get involved. Well, now with that law changing, I think that helps with
the school being able to punish kids who are behaving inappropriately.” The popular social networking site Facebook has been used by several RHS teachers in the past as a tool for their students, and many praise its ability to quickly alert students to recent developments in the class. “I have a Facebook page for the AP Calculus class, and I use it to remind them to study for tests,” said mathematics teacher Michelle Walton. “I post answers to worksheets on there [also], similar to some of the ways you use Blackboard, but this way, the students are notified when I post something new, unlike Blackboard, where they would have to go in and physically check when I post something new.” Walton said that she has found the page to be helpful for her students, the majority of whom have “liked” her page. “[The page has] been nice,” said Walton. “For instance, when they are working on homework and they have a question, they can post things
on there, and sometimes I’ll answer, or if I don’t happen to be checking at the time, other students can also help answer questions, so I’ve found it’s been beneficial in helping in discussions while they’re working on homework.” The Geometry in Construction class also uses a Facebook page to display what the current homework assignments are and also to serve as a place that students can go to for help with the assignments. According to Walton, she’s glad that the block will be lifted on the school computers because she will no longer have to take her resources home to post things, as she currently cannot do that at school, due to the block affecting teachers as well. The policy, if the District Board approves it, will remove the blocks from all sites categorized under the social media umbrella and will make them available for use on all district computers. However, changes may be made to the policy after its adoption, as the district tech team and school and district
See Social Networking | page 2
RHS kicks off annual canned food drive By MIA MOORE mia.moore@eyeofthetigernews.com
Student government has started the canned food drive again this year. The food drive will be held through the KCRA 3 Kids Canned Food Drive Program and cans received from students during the food drive will be given to the Salvation Army. Sophomore Taylor LeDang is the coordinator of the food drive. “People in need in our local
community who don’t have food and who probably won’t be eating this Thanksgiving will be given cans so they can have a great Thanksgiving, just like the rest of us,” said LeDang. According to student government teacher Lindsey Parker, Roseville High School hosts a canned food drive every year. “It is usually very successful,” said Parker. “Last year we ended up getting 7,000 cans.” The food drive began on November 5 and will continue
through November 16. Students are supposed to donate their cans in collection boxes in their second period classes. “Student government comes around and picks them up twice a week,” said LeDang. Many of RHS’s students seem to be excited about the opportunity to participate in the food drive. “I believe the canned food drive is something that every school should participate in,” said junior Cerenna Sablan. “We all deserve to have a great Thanksgiving.”
PHOTO BY MARIAN ABDELMALEK
Students participate in the annual canned food drive by donating imperishable foods.