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http://www.gkirisheyes.org/ Volume 44 Issue 3
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4301 Grace King Place, Metairie, LA 70002
Friday, December 16, 2011
School renovations improving learning environment By Eric Sheu Managing Editor
Dec. 17 King vs. Brother Martin @ Yenni 11 A.M.
Dec. 21 Hanukkah begins
Dec. 21-22 Exams
Dec. 23-Jan. 8 Winter Break No school
Dec. 25 Christmas Day
Dec. 26 Kwanzaa begins
Jan. 1 New Years Day
Jan. 6 King vs. Riverdale @ King 6:00 P.M.
Jan. 7
Grace King is undergoing a major renovation that will update many of the school’s classrooms and computer labs. In the beginning of the year, Rooms 202 and 204 went through the first phase. The old showerboards were replaced with real dry-erase boards, a new projector, updated electrical wiring, new paint, new or repaired cabinetry and a solid wall that replaced a folding wall. Discussion of renovation began with a general survey conducted over the summer. While touring the campus, acting Superintendent Dr. James Meza, Principal Meg Griffon and Plant Manager Rufus Flowers, noticed the glaring problems that had gone unaddressed. Such problems included mold in Room 204, a leaking roof in the 200 hall, old furnishings and outdated computers in Room 329 as well as cracks in the walls of the 400 building. The visit lead to many of the major renovations that are ongoing. The next step was renovations to Rooms 207, 208 and 209 which were mostly cosmetic. The average cost of the per room ranges from $300 to $600. Next will be the rest of the English and Social Studies classrooms. The project’s last section will the Patio rooms. The project will convert rooms 20-F, 20-G, 20-H, 20-J into two productivity labs for Science experiments. There is also a number of new computer labs that will be for the use of teachers and their students. The original productivity lab, Room 329, is now the Math and Electives Lab. Room 330 is the Career and Tech Ed lab and Room 238 is now the Social Studies and Science Lab. Room 203 will be the English and Science lab. According to Griffon, funding for the Math and Electives lab came from a Title 1 allotment. The Career and Tech Ed lab was funded through a Carl Perkins grant. The computers in Rooms 329 and 330 were moved to the Social Studies and
Violent crimes in U.S. schools
@ Yenni 11:00 A.M.
Jan. 13-14 Louisiana Classic @ Baton Rouge
News Editor
2005 2003
King vs. West Jefferson
Report Cards Issued
By William Weisler
2007
Jan. 9
Jan. 12
Science lab. The English and Science lab is made up of computers that have been rebuilt by the tech students as well as computers that teachers have donated from their classrooms. As part of the turnaround process, Grace King received funds from the district directed towards student achievement. Funds are being directed towards renovating the classrooms, while the work done on the front office and teachers lounge was done by custodial staff. While much of the work is being done by outside contractors, the custodial staff has played a major role. “They don’t stop,” said Griffon. “They’ve worked weekends, they’ve worked nights, they’ve worked long hours and they’ve gotten quite a bit of it done on their own.” Due to the pace of the work, there is usually
little notice when a teacher will be moved from their room and into a temporary classroom. However, teachers seem to be tolerant. “Teachers are the most resourceful people in the world,” said Griffon. “You can give them a task with very little notice because that’s the little notice we get, and miraculously they come up with fairy dust, and it all happens and it works out beautifully.” Rooms 401 and 402 are the designated temporary classrooms. “I think everyone’s handling it beautifully and those that aren’t handling it beautifully have every right to be a little disgruntled about it because it is a disruption. It is a cumbersome process,” said Griffon. “But that’s what progress is, it’s either do nothing or move forward and have some discomforts along the way.”
Campus Safety: Schools incorporate new ID technology
King vs. Dominican
2001 2000
Year
@ King 6:00 P.M.
Nicholas de la Torre
Mrs. Johnston’s Biology students work on one of King’s newly renovated productivity labs, Room 329. This lab is now dedicated to Math and Electives.
1999 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1992 0
3
6
9
12
15
rate per 1,000 students ages 12-18 Infographic by William Weisler
Source: U.S. Department of Justice
Metal detectors at entrances, security cameras in every room, ongrounds police officers, restrictions on visitors, and radio frequency ID scanners sound like things you would most likely encounter in a prison. Though you may be surprised that, with the growing national concern over school security these sights may become as common around high school campuses as desks and textbooks Many school districts across the country are employing radiofrequency identification (RFID) tags as a security measure, and requiring all students to carry them. One such district is the Spring Independent School District in Houston, Texas. RFID tags are being used in school
IDs to monitor students as they go throughout their days and to defend against counterfeit identification. The tags hold a transmitter that emits a unique radio frequency used to track the tags and to provide scanners a means to identify each student based on their individual frequency. Numerous schools are also strengthening rules on visitors on campus by using systems that checks a visitor’s identification against a national database of criminals and sex offenders. Any visitor attempting to enter the school must present their driver’s license to a secretary or official to confirm their identity in the database, with many schools holding the visitor in a containment area until they are run through the system. If the visitor is found to be a criminal by the database, police will be notified and dispatched to remove or arrest the offender.
Profiling ‘”suspect students” has become another tool used to combat potential security issues on campuses. Some schools are working with professional profilers to gather information on students that are deemed suspicious on account of dressing strangely, wearing religious paraphernalia, unusual hair coloring, tendency to use foul language, and writing about macabre or dark subjects. Though security measures at Grace King are not taken to the same extremes as some schools around the country, it has a great reputation of safety. Marie Bertaut, teacher at King for 38 years has found the security on campus adequate. “I think things are very good, I think we need safety like this to ensure safety,” said Bertaut when asked her feelings on the measures King takes to keep it’s staff and students safe.