Ligerbots, EDCO team compete at national level—See page 9
Newtonite
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Newton North High School, 360 Lowell Ave., Newtonville, Mass. 02460
◆ Friday, May 1, 2009 • Volume 88, Issue 6
Teddy Wenneker
Student Faculty Administration Board members voted 18-3 to extend the restrictions on sophomore open campus to juniors. The measure makes juniors
who earn D’s, F’s, N’s and/or I’s ineligible for open campus. This week, the board heard a proposal from Riley housemaster Mark Aronson about field trips.
Juniors will need to earn open campus
REBECCA HARRIS Only those juniors in good academic standing with satisfactory attendance will have open campus next year. Wednesday, April 15, the Student Faculty Administration Board voted 18-3 in favor of junior Camilla Jackson’s proposal to give juniors the same open campus restrictions that are in place for second-semester sophomores. “Good academic standing consists of a grade of C- or better in each class,” the proposal says. Juniors who earn D’s, F’s, N’s and/or I’s will be ineligible for open campus. “It seems counterintuitive to allow students who are struggling academically to have open campus,” the proposal says. “We have clearly identified an achievement BY
gap at North, and this proposal focuses on closing that gap.” Out of 466 sophomores, 173 did not qualify for open campus in the fourth term, according to Principal Jennifer Price. Acting housemaster for the Class of ’11, Annie Blais, will chair a committee to discuss how to make sophomore studies more productive, Price said. The committee will be open to all students and faculty, she said. Calling for “thoughtful implementation” of the policy, Price cited increased computer access as a possible improvement. “Small changes may actually be big,” she said. Price said that there hasn’t been a formal decision about which grades — final or fourth term — to use to determine a student’s eligibility.
“The consensus among housemasters was that it should be the year grades,” she said. The measure emphasizes the value this school places on academics, Price said. “These are my core values,” she said. “There are things as a leader that you really stand behind.” Riley housemaster Mark Aronson said this proposal will allow students to talk with adults about academic performance. “I think we need to create opportunities for juniors and staff to have conversations,” he said. Senior Philip Engelke and sophomores Jared Kalow and Emma Leader, all on the SFA, voted against the proposal. Leader said the measure is disciplinary rather than supportive.
“It doesn’t matter how many times you say in here that it isn’t punitive,” she said. “It is.” The board also discussed a proposal from Engelke that would have required students who are struggling academically to meet with their counselors. “Simply imposing a policy on students who have received D’s, F’s, N’s or I’s ignores the fact that these students are having trouble for different reasons and plans must be made for them on a case-by-case basis,” Engelke’s proposal says. Five sophomores who are not on the SFA were present at the April 15 meeting to show their interest in the issue, said sophomore Sachi Hashimoto, who attended. At this week’s meeting, Aronson proposed higher standards
for field trip eligibility. To be eligible for field trips that involve missing more than one day of school, students would have to receive a C- or above in all their classes and “demonstrate good citizenship,” the proposal says. However, students participating in field trips that are considered curriculum requirements would not have to meet these standards, it says. “The philosophy behind it is not to exclude kids or prevent them from participating in activities,” Aronson said. “This proposal is another way to make conversations happen.” Price said that this proposal would not affect foreign exchanges because all exchanges already have this requirement. ◆See related opinion page 2.
MATT KALISH When the School Committee passed next year’s $164.4 million budget Tuesday night, it avoided what principal Jennifer Price termed a “worst-case scenario.” Instead of losing 13.9 FTEs, both high schools will lose a combined total of seven FTEs. “I was very pleased that the School Committee understood what the impact of losing 13.9 FTEs would be and restored a significant number of them,” Price said. Also, instead of what the superintendent’s office called “extremely high class sizes,” the increases will be more moderate, Price said. “I feel that this is a critical time for the preservation of the depth of our programs,” Price said. Losing 13.9 FTEs would have caused a significant impact on the quality of this high school, she said. Even with the reduction of FTE
cuts, the school will eliminate or condense some programs, she said. The electrical program will be cut, and levels of world language classes will be combined, Price said. On campus programs might also be fewer next year, she said. The physical education requirement will still change from seven semesters to five. Also in next year’s budget, an additional $100,000 will go to textbooks and the restoration of funds to per pupil allocation. Additional money from federal funding, additional allocation from the city and a decrease in health insurance rates add more than $1.8 million in available funds to the FY 10 budget. Tuesday’s vote ended a long period of discussion among the mayor David Cohen, the School Committee and superintendent
Jeff Young, said School Committee chair Marc Laredo. “The process was very lengthy because of the high level of uncertainty with the actual money we had to work with,” he said. “When we learned how much we had to work with, we had to figure out how to spend the money and where to allocate it. “The situation we were dealing with was very similar to what other towns also had to cope with because while additional money was coming from the federal stimulus plan, budgets were being cut because of a reduction in state aid.” Because the exact amount of state aid Newton will receive is uncertain, the School Committee is holding $750,000 in reserve funds. These reserve funds would pay for a system-wide study, additional funds for musical instruments and science equipment, and one high school FTE.
Fewer cuts to personnel, programs in FY10 budget BY
courtesy Edan Laniado
In Beijing on a music tour: Junior Ryan Vona stands with primary school children after a concert. See story page 3.