September 28, 2010 | Volume 23, Issue 1 Districts Realigned, p. 5
Aquatic Aftermath pp. 6-7
Budget cuts revive familiar Marching Band tunes, p. 4
big brother’s watching:
PE4Life program breaks gymclassroom barrie r Nearly 14% of adolescents, children ages six to 19, within the United States are overweight. This statistic has almost tripled over the past 20 years. In an effort to reverse this trend, Pella schools have implemented PE4Life, a teaching and lifestyle method aimed at encouraging student activity within the school day and throughout lifetimes via exercise and proper nutrition. The PE4Life program has implemented many new ideas to the school district. One such idea is keeping students active by introducing engaging activities to refresh the mind called Brain Breaks. “I have my students walk around and talk. I’ve also had them move their right and left hand at different times to make them think a little bit. I got a worksheet of suggestions for different Brain Break activities, but I’m also brainstorming for new activities. The break really helps the students by allowing them to re-energize,” said math teacher Doug Cutler. •See: PE4Life, page 2
Security cameras: notice them or not, they will definitely be noticing you. The administration is hoping for students to see the new cameras in a positive light. The cameras were set up in their specific locations mid August. At this point, the school is in the final process of hardwiring the server before the cameras will be up and running. “Number one, [we want students to] see the cameras as proactive versus reactive. Number two is to take care of problems. There are 5-15 auto incidents in the parking lots each year, and [the cameras] will take care of them,” said Principal Eric Nelson. Eight years ago, Nelson attended a safe school conference, where the idea of installing security cameras was first presented. Other schools that had representatives attending the conference had seen good results from their own security cameras. The idea for the security cameras was recommended to the school board, and was approved for installation beginning in the 2010-2011 school year. Eight years after the initial proposal, the ideal has became reality. “[The cameras] are a great tool to ensure safety for all Pella students and staff,” said assistant principal Jon Muller. The twelve security cameras cost some $16,500 for equipment and installation. The money to pay for the cameras came from the PPEL (Physical Plant and Equipment Levy) fund. “This money can only be used for building and infrastructure costs. This was the
School installs new cameras to combat student crime
•Photo by Marielle Gaiser UPDATE. Cameras were used for the first time Sept. 21 to resolve an incident of vehicular vandalism in the parking lot. However, no Pella High students were found to be involved in the situation.
same fund we used to pave the parking lot, so it was not a general fund expenditure,” said Muller. Security cameras fell under the budget heading of equipment, within which there was enough money specifically designated to fund the installation of the cameras. “There was a surplus in an area of the budget that could only be used for equipment. It was non-budgeted money that was used,” said Nelson. The cameras have been set up around the school, administration building, bus area and the parking lot. Professionals came into the school and suggested the administration where the optimal locations for the cameras would be.
“I have worked in other schools that had cameras and they worked great at cutting down on issues, such as vandalism, theft, fighting, etc. I don’t believe our high school has had major problems with these issues recently, but my hope is that it will allow to continue to have a safe and secure school,” said Muller. Students agree. “In the parking lots and in the school, I think [security cameras] will do a good job of catching and eliminating potentially dangerous behavior,” said senior Ben Palmer. The cameras are digitized up to a month, and the images caught on camera are accessible through a computer with the use of an administrator’s
password. This way, if there is a problem with stealing or vandalism, a quick check of the images transmitted by the cameras will uncover how the issue came about, and end the problem. School administrators are hoping the cameras will deter students from creating such problems as stealing or vandalism, due to the fact that catching the student(s) responsible is a quick and easy process, as simple as checking the video recording. “[The students] will not even do it in the first place. They will have that thought in the back of their mind [of getting caught]. Tape doesn’t lie,” said Nelson. •Taylor Rennich (tr.pelladium@gmail.com)
Enrollment increase forces enlarged class sizes Twenty-nine heads look up, as math teacher Doug Cutler begins to write the latest lesson over descriptive statistics on the board. In the past, most math, history and English classes contained a cap of 25 students; college statistics is just one of many courses that has had to adapt to the largest enrollment in district history. An increase in enrollment isn’t necessarily a surprise to the administration, but the nature and amount of the increase for the 2010-2011 school year was beyond any expectation. In the 2009-2010 academic
year, 681 students were enrolled at the high school; about 25 percent of this whole came from each class. In the 2010-2011 school year, the enrollment has increased by 21 students, three percent higher than the year before. While this statistic may not be alarming, the effects of a larger enrollment can be felt by every student and staff member. Schedules, class size and course opportunity are all factors altered by the higher number of students. “A large enrollment means class sizes will be enhanced. With larger numbers, it
becomes harder to balance each course. I don’t want to overwhelm the teacher with too many students for which they can’t teach the kind of quality class they have been able to in the past. While more students are always welcome, their presence does make creating schedules a difficult task. I’ve spent the entire two weeks before and after school started on just changing schedules alone,” said guidance counselor Teresa Thompson. •See: Enrollment, page 2