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PANTHER PROWLER Friday September 19, 2014
Issue I
Newbury Park High School
One team, one goal new administration team adds new faces to the front office
456 N. Reino Rd., Newbury Park, CA 91320
SHOW ME THE MONEY Haley Berardinelli Features Editor Lindsay Filgas Staff Writer Before retiring, former Principal Athol Wong made it her goal to raise enough money to replace all the old lockers. Unfortunately, when students showed up on the first day of the new school year, they saw the same lockers as before, despite having donated money the previous year. “We currently have a portion of the money necessary to refurbish the lockers,” Principal Josh Eby said. Last year’s fundraising was not enough to replace all of the lockers throughout the school, but not much information was given on what would be happening next. This left many students wondering what would be done with the money: would just some of the lockers be redone, would the fundraising continue this year, or would the money be put towards another cause? While most of the money remains unused and has been set aside until enough is raised to complete the entire project, 150 locks have been purchased to replace those that do not work. Eby’s goal is to continue with fundraising this year and buy new lockers soon, but so far, nothing has been done to collect the funds they need. “I know it was a big push of Mrs. Wong’s and it’s not going away,” Eby said.
New faces join administration - From left to right, Cheryl Moncourtois, dean of students; Bennett Wutkee, assistant principal of instruction; Carly Adams, dean of activites; Josh Eby, principal; and Kelly Welch, assistant principal of athletics. Samantha Meyer/Prowler
Courtney Brousseau Editor-in-Chief Sam Ellison Sports Editor “When I was coaching, we had a motto - ‘one team, one goal’ - and that’s something I would like to see reflected in our athletics program … that we are all Panthers,” Kelly Welch, the assistant principal of athletics, said. Although she was speaking about student athletes and sports teams, her goals for the year echo the mission of the new administration as a whole. The only returning administrator out of five, Welch is working with a completely new team led by Principal Josh Eby. Eby is returning after leaving his position as the assistant principal of instruction to serve as principal of Sycamore Canyon School (SCS) for the past two years. As an assistant principal, Eby was always able to go to the principal for guidance or mediation. However, Eby said that learning how to be the “final say” as principal of SCS was tough, but he feels this experience will be helpful in ensuring that he and the rest of the administration have a successful year. “[As principal of SCS] it was my vision and my school that I got to run - and getting to learn to do that on a slightly smaller scale (SCS has 1,500 students) … was invaluable,” Eby said. While the other three administrators are completely new to campus, Eby has had the opportunity to work with all of them in a professional setting at some point during his career. For example, Eby coached boys’ baseball with Bennett Wutkee, new assistant principal
of instruction, at Westlake High School for two years and he later became an administrator there. Cheryl Moncourtois, the current dean of students, taught sixth grade English and social studies while Eby was principal at Sycamore. Eby worked with Carly Adams, dean of activities, at WHS where she taught AP Psychology. They have also been family friends since they were 12 years old and grew up together. Based on past work experiences with his fellow administrators, Eby is confident in the new team. “I know that we all can work together,” Eby said. “We have a common value system and understanding of how a school should work, and I also think our personalities mix really well together.” Eby is optimistic that the administration will have a successful year, but he understands the advantages and disadvantages of working with a brand new group. “Now, to say it is going to be perfect … no. I know there are going to be bumps in the road and at times we are going to have to really work through things because we haven’t done this for five or six years,” Eby said. “At the same time, this gives us the opportunity to put our mark on things and say, you know what, maybe there is a different way to do this … let’s take a step back and see if we can do this better.”
Ghost money - When students arrived on the first day of school, they were greeted with the same lockers as last year, causing many to question what happened to the money donated for new lockers. Samantha Meyer/Prowler Renewbury Park, an organization of volunteers who have worked to do many projects around the school, are very involved in the locker project. This organization began in August of 2012, when several parents decided to work together to refurbish the school. So far, the Renewbury Park has completed a number of projects including repainting the front of the gym. “The locker project was one of the initial motivations for the Renewbury Park High School Team initiative,” said Joseph Noga, a Renewbury Park volunteer. “We attempted to raise $190,000 (roughly $100 per NPHS family)[but were] sucessful in receiving about $19,000 in this effort.” $5,000 came from a contribution from the PFA coupled with parent donations collected from phone banking and back to school night. However, this was not nough to put a dent in the overall goal. “The Renewbury Park project is still alive,” Eby said. “One of my goals is to complete this and get the proper lockers and functionality that our students deserve.”