The Newtonite ◆ Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016 • Volume 95
Newton North High School, 457 Walnut St., Newtonville, Mass. 02460
Turner promotes respectful dialogue Jacob Sims Speyer Principal Henry Turner is taking the helm of North this fall with bold hopes to bring the community together and learn from troubling incidents during the last school year. This administrative change occurs in the midst of a school-wide discussion on race, diversity, and hate begun last year between student organizations and interim principal Mark Aronson. Aronson stepped down as principal after serving in the one year interim position. He and students began the dialogue following haterelated incidents that took place during the previous school year. As part of his vision for the school, Turner said that he hopes to “reaffirm that we are a school that supports all of our students and all of our differences.” While he added he does not plan to implement any specific policy changes this year, Turner said he aims to maintain a safe environment for discussion and hopes that students will be able to respectfully disagree with each other. “We have to be allies to each other so that all of us feel safe in this school. At the same time, if there are areas where we disagree, it’s important that we learn to develop the skills to disagree and listen to each other,” Turner said. In order to accomplish this task, Turner said he believes that North by
“must have a culture which embraces open communication and gives the benefit of the doubt. “If there is something that I don’t know, and if I disagree with it, I just sort of lead with a question on it, and express my opinion,” he said. “If there’s something that offends me, I let that person know that it offends me.” Ultimately, Turner said he recognizes his responsibility as principal to ensure the safety of all students. He added that he does not see the school solving its problems regarding hate and prejudice within the next year. “These are issues that we’re going to have to talk about over and over and over again to improve in those areas.” Turner also said he intends to draw on experience gained during his time at Bedford High School which also dealt with hate-related incidents. “The solution was to empower the students,” he added. Vice principal Amy Winston called Turner’s past experience “a huge asset to the building.” One way he will work with students is to continue Aronson’s effort to empower groups such as Voices of Inter-Cultural Engagement (VOICE), a student run group which was created following the hate-related incidents of last year in order to provide students with a way to fight prejudice. Junior Sam Kesselman, a co-
Maya Metser
“He listens very carefully and closely,” said superintendent David Fleishman. “He understands that one person doesn’t make change. He knows it’s together, working with students, working with faculty, working with administrators.”
Wendy Li
Preseason: Cheer team warms up with a prep at practice in the SOA Friday, August 26. founder of VOICE, said, “I think Turner’s vision is very similar to Aronson’s. “The biggest problem that I see is that in the months leading up to November, we have a very heated election and a lot of students will get heated at each other either in person or online. I think that might affect our learning environment,” he added. “I hope that [Turner’s] vision actually comes out and I think it will.” Along with preparing students, Turner also recognizes the value of having a faculty that is well equipped to deal with hate incidents. “A school that is addressing bullying and racism and sexism and homophobia and other types of hate is a school where students have at least one adult in the building that they can go to,” he said. According to Winston, Turner “understands that interpersonal relationships are an important foundation for our work in the school.” Turner’s willingness to engage in conversation with both students and faculty stood out to superintendent David Fleishman. “He listens very carefully and closely,” Fleishman said. “He understands that one person
doesn’t make change. He knows it’s together, working with students, working with faculty, working with administrators,” he added. Winston echoed a similar sentiment, describing Turner as a leader who is inclined to work with the community to make changes, rather than someone who arrives in a school and decides on changes by himself. She also noted Turner’s eagerness to get to know the community, explaining how over the summer Turner spent a few minutes talking with every student he met in the hall, asking their name and grade. He “values individual interaction,” said Winston. Turner said his interest in teaching began as a high school student in Melrose, Massachusetts, where a history teacher inspired him to major in history. “I had a real interest for social justice, a real commitment to making a difference, so I thought teaching would be a good way to do that,” Turner said. Turner’s first job after graduating from UMass Amherst was as a teacher in a rural school district in western Massachusetts. “That school is where I got to experience
working with kids who grew up in a very different place than I did,” Turner said. “There was a lot of poverty.” Turner then taught history at Lexington High School, where he worked with “different kids on different paths.” “Lexington is where I started to develop an interest in recognizing the diversity of learners.” During his seven-year employment in Lexington, Turner said he realized that working as an administrator would enable him to interact with a larger number of students. He then became certified to be a principal and in 2008, became Goldrick housemaster (now dean) at South, where he remained until 2012. Following his time at South, Turner accepted the position of principal at Bedford High School. “Bedford seemed like a place that matched what I was looking for in a school,” he said, citing the diversity of the student body. At North, Turner said he is impressed by how diversity is embraced. “I think that [North] has a passion for its diversity and a sense of pride. It really has an unbelievable commitment to supporting all kinds of kids.”
According to Winston, the school suggested various media that relate to the question to guide students in exploring the topic. Resources include podcasts, videos, books, and articles, and all North community members were encouraged to read, listen to, or watch the provided materials. “What I love about the initiative, whatever form it takes, is that it allows the school to have a shared experience and think together as a group,” said English teacher Michele Leong, who is co-advising the project. “The difference between the two initiatives is really that people will have more resources to look at,
all pertaining to a similar topic. Personally, I like the difference because people can find a resource that suits them.” English teacher Charlene Beh, who is also co-advising the project, said, “With only one summer reading book, you had to like reading, first of all, and then you also had to like the text that was chosen.” Beh said there are more choices for students to explore the question, and having everybody think about a single question is a good way to encourage people to focus on the main idea. “I’m curious to see what it will look like in the fall, and how we bring together all of the elements
and things that people looked at. It’s a lot of work on the people who are organizing it,” she added. One of the most difficult things about choosing any resource is finding one that is accessible to all students, said Winston. By providing a range of resources, she hopes that the school is providing better access to this school-wide activity for all students. Leong encourages students to try the maximum number of resources they can. “Hopefully this is an issue that students will think about, talk about, and even do something about.”
One School, One Question encourages compassion
Maya Waldman This summer, the administration initiated One School, One Question in a continued attempt to discuss and explore anti-bias and cultural competency. Students explored the question “Why do people put themselves in other people’s shoes, and what can we learn from that?” North has previously conducted One School, One Book, for which students read one common book and discussed it in the fall. In collaboration with teachers and students, social justice group Voices of Inter-Cultural Engagement (VOICE) redesigned the program to interest 80% more students. by
Previously, departments have chosen a book and connected it to an overall issue or question. The new format allows students to explore the theme more openly. Junior Maya Gomberg, one of the founders of VOICE, said, “We all agreed that the question should be centered around respect for our differences.” According to Gomberg, it will most likely result in more interesting and diverse conversations this fall. The question was initially inspired by former interim principal Mark Aronson and vice principal Amy Winston, and members of VOICE later elaborated on it.
See inside for a feature on cheating at North, stories about the upcoming presidential election, and a feature about AP courses. 64%
58%
60%
40%
20%
page 5 0%
U.S. Students that admitted to one or more instances of test-cheating
Statistics courtesy of the School Library Journal
U.S. Students that admitted to one or more instances of plagiarism
pages 6-7
page 10