ALL THE NEWS THAT’S FIT TO TATTLE April 2015 • Estd. 1892 • Vol. 123 #3 • Published Monthly • www.ihstattler.com Ithaca High School, 1401 N. Cayuga St, Ithaca, NY 14850 • FREE
Live Life Tompkins County Like Leyla: Rallies Behind Remembering Teachers’ Union Leyla Dietrich, By NICHOLAS BOGEL-BURROUGHS
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n January 21, Governor Andrew Cuomo presented his 2015–2016 Executive Budget, detailing a series of initiatives he dubbed the 2015 Opportunity Agenda. In his speech, Cuomo made it clear that education reforms would be the most drastic changes and the most difficult to accomplish. “This is the year to roll up our sleeves and take on the dramatic challenge that has eluded us for so many years, for so many reasons,” said Cuomo to applause from a room of elected officials and cabinet members at the Empire State Plaza Convention Center in Albany. The atmosphere at the plaza was in stark contrast to that of Lansing Middle School on Thursday, March 19, where New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) held a rally entitled Because We Care. While politicians in Albany applauded the governor’s proposed overhauls, at least four hundred teachers, representatives, students, and parents at the Lansing forum harshly criticized what they saw as obstacles to teachers’ job security and students’ achievement. In his January speech, Cuomo emphasized the claim that only 38 percent of 2014 high school graduates were “college-ready”, while 95 percent of teachers were rated “effective” in local Annual Professional Performance Continued on Page 6.
By MELISSA OLIVER, with special thanks to AMY CHEVALLARD
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earing the diagnosis was the worst part for close friends and family, yet Leyla was the first to turn the negative situation into a positive one, never once asking the obvious question: “Why me?” Leyla Dietrich was Leyla Dietrich, 1997-2015. diagnosed at age 15 with glioblastoma multiforme, a cancerous brain tumor known for spreading very quickly. The doctors predicted that she had just months to live. Leyla knew that it was time for her to start her journey; her diagnosis changed her life. Leyla would always assure me, “I don’t want people to feel bad for me because this is the life I have been given.” She outlived her prognosis by more than two years, and made it her mission to inspire others to find beauty in life. Leyla had the chance to travel the world, write a book, appear in a music video by The Blind Spots, and be the centerpiece of a song by the Gunpoets. During her journey, she became enlightened and savored every moment of her precious life. Leyla became a master of living, inspiring a community that is now known as Leyla’s Village. The Village is a Facebook group where people were Continued on Page 4.
IMAGE BY LEYLA DIETRICH
IMAGE BY PEARSE ANDERSONN
Brad Grainger, who serves on the ICSD Board of Education, speaks to a crowd as ICSD students, teachers, and parents stand behind him.
1997–2015