theOctagon
Non-Profit Organization U.S. POSTAGE PAID Sacramento, CA Permit No. 1668
Sacramento Country Day School
VOL. XXXIX, NO. 7
2636 Latham Drive, Sacramento
April 26, 2016
New Head’s Priority: Parking is top concern
Students complain walk from American River Drive often makes them late By Katia Dahmani Page Editor In a Nov. 2 Octagon poll, high schoolers were asked to rank the priorities for Lee Thomsen, new head of school. In this issue, the Octagon will explore the last of the top three choices in that poll. Increasing the school’s parking was the most popular choice, and is the final story in our three-part series.
I
t’s a Tuesday morning, and senior Sydney Michel is stuck in terrible traffic on I-50. Michel planned to leave her house early in order to arrive early for her first-period AP biology test. And she could’ve made it to school by 8:20 a.m. if it weren’t for the lack of student parking; Michel now has to spend extra time looking for a parking space on American River Drive. Because of wasting this precious time finding a space and then walking to school, Michel arrives to her test 15 minutes late and is barely able to finish. Michel isn’t the only high-school student who doesn’t like the parking situation. Fifty-one of 129 high schoolers polled said that they want Thomsen to focus on increasing school parking. Currently, there is an insufficient number of parking spaces for students, visitors and faculty members. In the school’s parking lot there are 16 visitor spaces and 59 Kindergartner Sean and second-grader Jackson Whited enter the school for Open House with their grandparents. faculty/staff spaces for the 95 faculty and staff members. Open House is one of the special events when SCDS families can park on Latham Drive. (Photo by Adam Ketchum) In addition, there are 30 registered student drivers in the However he said it was fun busting the students because he a year, and faculty members who are drawn have their own high school, all of whom are required to park off campus, acwas able to see the cars the students drove. parking space in the faculty lot for about six weeks. cording to chief financial officer William Petchauer. Becoming familiar with students’ cars also made it easy to French teacher Richard Day is lucky enough to have won According to the SCDS High School Handbook, “students the gold spot several times both this year and last. are not permitted to park on Latham Drive or surrounding see if cars were improperly parked, Neukom said. Senior Serajh Esmail, who has been driving since the mid“(April 15) I received an email in which I learned that I had streets”; however, students are allowed to park in a neighbor’s dle of his junior year, said the walk from American won a gold spot, which made me jump for joy,” Day said. driveway if they are given permission. River Drive often makes him late to early morning Day said that he or his buddy, English teacher Ron Bell, Parking on campus or on Latham Drive can result in chamber-music rehearsal. has gotten the gold spot for about half the school year so far. students getting lunch detentions if it’s their first offense, Esmail said the walk is exhausting (especially if a “I make do (with the current parking situation),” Day said. suspension if it’s their second offense and expulsion if student has lots of things to carry). And he worries “Bell gives me the parking space if I really need it on any given it’s their third offense. about his car. day.” Michel, who has been driving to school since she was “When parking on American River, we (student At Thomsen’s school (Rowland Hall in Salt Lake City, Utah) a sophomore, was one of 21 seniors polled saying drivers) increase the risk of getting they also don’t have enough spaces. they want Thomsen to prioritize parking. our car broken into,” Esmail said. He said they have a designated parking lot for seniors that She said that she hates the daily 10-minute “If we were allowed to park on SCDS faculty also are impacted by is right across from the school, but underclassmen, like SCDS walk from her car to school, and that the lack of campus, there would be less limited parking. students, have to find parking on neighboring streets. parking results in unnecessary detentions. They currently alternate their And, just like at Country Day, the Rowland Hall faculty “If we were allowed to park on campus, there lunch detentions given out to would be less lunch detentions given out to peo- people who wanted to park parking spaces throughout the week parking is filled to the brim, Thomsen said. with what Petchauer refers to as “Since my current school is in a neighborhood, we face ple who wanted to park closer to school,” Mi- closer to school.” their “parking buddies.” many of the same problems,” Thomsen said. chel said. -Sydney Michel, senior But faculty members can catch a “Our biggest (parking) problem is the lack of space for visThere have been about seven lunch detenbreak from sharing parking spaces itor parking.” tions given out to students this year for illegally if they win gold spots in the lottery Likewise, visitor parking is a big problem at SCDS. Often parking, according to Patricia Jacobsen, dean of student life. the visitor spaces are filled on school days. Former dean of students Daniel Neukom was responsible system that Petchauer is currently in charge of. The system has been in place since before Petchauer startDuring events like the school’s annual Fall Family Festival for catching students parking in prohibited areas for many ed working at SCDS (nine years ago), and Petchauer says it’s or Grandparents’ Day, neighborhood parking is permitted. of years. Nevertheless, visitors often hike many blocks to school after Students would get in trouble for parking fairly often (every an old manual system. Petchauer draws around 22 names out of a hat six times they park their cars. few weeks), according to Neukom.
Seniors rush to complete graduation requirements By Chardonnay Needler Reporter
Senior Emma Brown traces her self portrait onto a blank campus during studio art. (Photo by Adam Dean)
Senioritis: that pseudo-medical condition that saps second-semester seniors of the will to accomplish, well, just about anything. Their hard work is done, and they can just relax and wait for the end of the year. Wrong. For many seniors, being in their second semester means that they have less than five months to tie up all those loose ends that stand in their way of graduating. Of 24 seniors polled on March 22, 10 said they hadn’t fulfilled their requirements as of that date. Half of those, including senior Max Schmitz, haven’t fulfilled the six-trimester athletics/P.E. requirement. Schmitz said he was planning on getting his last two trimesters at once by joining both the golf team and the baseball team this spring. “But,” Schmitz said, “I figured out that my baseball won’t count.” Schmitz was asked to leave the team after missing a practice
without permission. A transfer in the middle of his sophomore year, Schmitz played football at Davis High School the fall semester before he arrived and is confident that that his participation will fulfill the one trimester he lacks. “I don’t feel stressed at all,” Schmitz said. “I know that everything will work out. “And even if it doesn’t, I still know I’ll graduate.” Senior Jenny Kerbs also will finish her requirements just in time for graduation. “(To complete my athletics requirement), I’m taking soccer,” Kerbs said, “which was actually something that I was going to do this year anyway. “In the past, I haven’t been able to play it due to my academic and extracurricular commitments. But since I’m a senior now, I have more time.” However, athletics isn’t Kerbs’s only remaining requirement. She also lacks the year of visual or performing arts that all students are required to complete. “I’m taking AP art history,” Kerbs said, “something I probably wouldn’t have taken if it wasn’t required.” Although she said she’s enjoying all her classes, Kerbs said she wouldn’t do it this way a second time. “I wish I’d fulfilled my requirements sooner,” Kerbs said. “Cramming them all at once isn’t the smartest idea.” See Senior, page 10