Michael Stolle Quill & Scroll Portfoilio
Shawnee Mission East HS Online Editor — Harbinger Online Art & Design Editor — the Harbinger
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Most Likely to
STAR IN A GATORADE AD
Photo illustrations by Michael Stolle.
Photo by Max Stitt.
“I think I was chosen because I’m a fierce athlete. I think to be in a Gatorade ad means that I’m going to be the next big thing, and I definitely think I could star in a Gatorade ad. I knew my pure athleticism would take me places one day.”
Photo by Lauren Bleakley.
“When I found out, I was excited, and it made me feel good that my class thinks I’m athletic and that I excel in a sport. I think that there are a lot of other talented and super athletic girls in our grade that deserve it as much as I do.”
Ad Design
JAKE FLEMING & JANNA GRAF {3rd Place: KSPA Reg.}
Design{infographic & writing} TAKING SHAPE After minor set-backs with construction, the schools new image is
// MICHAELSTOLLE
Auxiliary Gym
The addition of the new auxiliary gym on what used to be the site of the spirit circle will not only provide another court with seating, but create space for new weight, dance and wrestling rooms, as well as additional storage. This will then free up space for expanded and renovated locker rooms and two classrooms which will extend from the current weight room to the north exit to the senior lot. According to Principal Dr. Karl Krawitz, the construction of this project has been relatively delay-free and will be completed on schedule and will be completed as anticipated in mid-July.
Turf for football field
According to Krawitz work on the turf field, which was set to be completed before spring sports so track wasn’t disrupted, has been pushed back because of overstretched resources. Work that still needs to be completed includes a sprinkler system to maintain cool temperatures and a leveling of uneven spots on the field. The work is now projected to be completed over the summer.
Addition on the science wing
The science wing addition, which is currently serving as temporary administrative and counseling offices, is structurally completed according to Krawitz. The offices were moved in order to expedite construction of the counseling offices so that counselors can be back in their offices well before the start of school. The third and fourth floor of the addition will serve as additional science classes and lab space, while the fifth floor will be used to house two business classes and utilities. Construction of the addition was completed in mid-April and all that is needed to be completed are “punch-list” items, which Krawitz describes as the loose ends of a project.
JUNIOR LOT
Auditorium
Construction on the auditorium has been relatively unaffected by the setbacks of the overall project. Krawitz mainly attributes this to the precedence that the “stage fly” took in the construction process. It, and the additional “tech space” were completed relatively fast, so that the renovations to the stage and the addition of an orchestra pit could take place inside. As a result of this project, the stage will be extended, and with the new orchestra pit, around 220 seats will be lost in the auditorium. There will also be a new entrance and lobby area created near the new auxiliary gym, which will house a ticket booth and two additional bathrooms and a concession stand. Additionally, the current music practice rooms in the second floor hallway will be replaced by dressing rooms for plays and musicals. This project is expected to be completed on time in mid-July.
PAGE 3 NEWS / ISSUE 16
SENIOR LOT
Music department
An addition just outside of the south ramp on the second floor is expected to alleviate the cramped work conditions that can arise within the music department. The addition will allow for a expanded band and vocal rooms as well as new sound-proofed practice rooms. The current band room will serve as a drama lab and offices for Repertory Theater teachers Tom Defeo and Brian Capello and the current choir room will be occupied by the orchestra. According to Dr. Krawitz, the majority of this project will be completed over the summer as the construction would have impeded daily student life. Construction is anticipated to run up until just before the beginning of school, with finishing touches still being made as school starts.
Administrative offices
The furthest behind of all projects according to Krawitz, the new administrative offices was setback because of steel changes due to a new layout and concern over the structural integrity. To compound the delays, the
OvErAll PrOgrESS according to Dr. Krawitz
// PHOTO COURTESY OF J.E. DUNN
new plans need to be approved by the board and new steel be ordered. This area will serve as the main entrance to the building and house the attendance center and administrators’ offices. Additional rooms for debate and in-school suspension will be located on the fourth floor. Krawitz explained that all structural components have been completed on this project and all that is left is superficial components such as lighting. Because of the delays in construction, the original completion date of late April has been pushed back to mid-July.
AN END iN SighT
What was the front entrance of the school is now being revamped as the student services center. The original front door is being sealed off, and there will now be a hallway running through the current counseling office. The counselors will be in new offices created where the administrative office currently are. The current attendance center will be demolished, and the nurses office will be expanded in its place, allowing for more private care. This project
AlMOST ThErE
Counseling Offices
completion date has been moved up, so that the counselors can be in their offices before school starts to finalize enrollment and prepare for the coming year.
“As of now, we expect to be completed by the original projected date of com- “i would say we’re about 50 percent com“Overall construction is progressing as best it pletion [the beginning of the school year]. There will most likely be a few loose pleted with construction. We’ll be working could be despite minor setbacks due to supply ends that we still need to tie up, which won’t affect students. Most likely stu- throughout the summer to ensure things get issues and weather inconsistencies.” dents won’t even notice the minor details that still need to be worked out.” done for the start of the school year.”
// ALL PHOTOS BY GRANTHEINLEIN
For artist renditions and animations of the changes made by construction, visit The Harbinger Web site at www.smeharbinger.net
Design{infographic & headline}
Design {5th best of show (nat’l)}
Harbinger the
PILING
ISSUE 11 / SHAWNEE MISSION EAST / PRAIRIE VILLAGE, KS
FEB. 17, 2009
A need to trim the school budget is called because the fear of district-wide debt is
// MICHAELSTOLLE
East could face the beginning of the 2009-2010 school year with seven or eight less staff members, if the district board approves budget cuts proposed by Superintendent Gene Johnson at the last board meeting on Feb. 8. Additionally, under the suggested budget reductions, the overall funding for East will be cut by 10-15 percent. The recommendations for cuts from the board would result in result in East losing three or four teachers, one librarian, one district provided campus police officer and the paraprofessional in the gifted classes.
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These reductions are in response to proposed cuts at the state level that aim to ease the impact of the current $140 million budget deficit. According to State Senator David Wysong, the deficit can be attributed to overspending at the state level and a worldwide recession that Cuts to education, which currently makes up 51 percent of the state’s budget, are unavoidable when making these revisions, Wysong said. The house and senate are currently debating cuts that would district funding by an estimated $3.5 billion.
// TYLERROSTE
UP Continued on page 2
FEATURES: Nickels’ trip cancelled >PAGE 10 SPREAD: Parents with Facebooks >PAGE 12-13 A&E: Analysis of the Oscars >PAGE 18-19
Writing{coverage of budget
PAGE 2 NEWS / FEB. 17, 2009
District trims budget in reaction to proposed state cuts for education // CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE
The district, which expected to receive an increase in the funding given to a district per pupil of $59 for next year, will not receive this and in addition, will take an anticipated $66 reduction in per pupil funding. This total projected loss of $125 per student equates to the $3.5 billion reduction in funding for the district. Nearly 150 teachers, parents and concerned students filled the Shawnee Mission West cafeteria last Monday for the board meeting and budget workshop to hear discussion of the recommended budget cuts. During the open forum following the presentation of the proposed cuts, the board heard emotional testimonies from school counselors, gifted instructors, parents and district police officers who would be affected by the board’s recommendations. According to Johnson, the workshop was intended to explain the current financial situation of the district and introduce recommendations for revisions to the budget. In order to deal with the proposed reduction in state funding, the district has recommended eliminating 130 positions district wide, implementing a hiring freeze and cutting $10.6 million from next year’s budget. During the workshop Johnson and Tim Rooney, Manager of Business and Finance for the district, presented their recommendations for cuts and showed the effect that taking no action would do. According to Rooney’s calculations, if no revisions are made to the budget, the district would face a negative budget value by the 2010-2011 school year. “We need to be proactive,” Rooney said. “With the anticipated cuts at the state level, we must work now to find a solution so that we won’t face larger problems in the future.” Principal Dr. Karl Krawitz explained that relief from the national level is unlikely because even though funding for education has been earmarked in the stimulus package, this funding is directed towards deteriorating buildings in need of renovation. Rooney estimated budget reductions to East’s total budget to average out at around $5 per student. These funds are used to purchase classroom materials such as lab provisions in science classes and new classroom copies of novels. According to Rooney, since teaching represents 87 percent of the district’s $240 million annual operating budget, cuts to teaching are unavoidable. Sheryl Siegele, President of the Shawnee Mission School District chapter of the National Education Association stresses the negative impact these cuts will have. “Anytime services to our students are cut the decision is not a good one,” she told the board. “There are no right cuts.” According to Johnson, the reduction in teaching staff would have a minimal effect on instruction; only slightly increasing current class sizes. “The goal is to keep reductions away from the classrooms as much as possible,” Johnson stated in an online address of budgetary issues. Krawitz understands the need for the cut,
but said it is unfortunate when cuts have to be made. “[The district] made the best revisions, trying to affect the class room as little as possible,” Krawitz said. “I look at budget cuts like a disease that comes in and affects the entire organization.” Between 2002 and 2004 East faced comparable, though not as severe budget restraints, and was able to come out of it with a similar plan. “Our profession is not always immune during these recessions,” Krawitz said. “But this time it has been more encompassing.” According to Krawitz, with the aid provided by cuts made during this period, the budget eventually rebounded with the economy. “The state budgets follows as a close parallel to the national economy,” Krawitz said. “Things are most likely going to be something that gets worse before it gets better.” In addition to teaching positions being cut, one district campus police officer and one librarian will be eliminated, reducing the number of librarians to one and the number of officers in the school to two. Dr. Krawitz worries that with the elimination of one campus police officer, that the security of our school might be impacted. “The decrease in officers could make supervision tougher,” Krawitz said. “The parking lots have been hit hard [with break-ins]. If this was able to happen with three officers, a reduction would for sure not make things better.” Nancy Fritz, who has been a librarian at East for 16 years, was notified that because of her lower seniority, that her positions would be eliminated. The district informed her, along with other positions to be cut, that they would be put on “excess.” According to Fritz, this means she will ei-
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“[The district] made the best revisions, trying to affect the class room as little as possible. I look at budget cuts like a disease that comes in and affects the entire organization.” -Principal Karl Krawitz
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ther be relocated to a different library within the district or be reassigned as an elementary school teacher, which she has not taught for 23 years. The district selected this method of “attrition” in order to not directly lay off or fire the employees. “The transition back to [elementary education] would definitely be difficult,” Fritz said. “A lot has changed in the 23 years since I have taught… I would be a nervous wreck under the heavier workload.” The remaining librarian, Chris Larson, is also worried about the extra workload and the impact it will have on the students’ education. “I won’t be able to teach as much or be available for students as I have been,” Larson said. “It’s hard to just go non-stop for one person… stuff like maintaining the laptops and supervising classes will become
extremely difficult to balance with my other duties.” Larson also fears limitations to the operation hours of the library. Before, the library was opened during lunch because one librarian could supervise while the other ate and Larson had a plan period during the day. In addition, the district has recommended that the purchases of library books and media be reduced by 50 percent. “The materials available and my availability will greatly change affect education,” Larson said. “Providing reader guidance and other forms of assistance is going to be a hard task with only one of us.” These cuts also include the elimination of a paraprofessional in gifted classes, a 10 percent reduction in special educational paraprofessionals and the reduction of the number of random positions. Marianne Harra, who has been a paraprofessional in the gifted classes at East for the last eight years, is one of the persons affected by this cut. As a paraprofessional, Harra is responsible for scheduling the 200 IEPs the program has and working with students in various capacities such as managing their progress as they compact computer and health. The district budget cuts also limit six counselors for each high school and reductions of both secondary administration and secondary Associate Principals, though East is not affected in the latter two. East, which currently employs seven counselors, will lose one counseling position. According to Krawitz, these cuts would have a large impact on the capabilities of the counselors and the guidance that they will be able to offer. “Seniors need the one-on-one attention now than during any other time,” Krawitz said. “The counselors realize the circumstances and will need to step up with the increased work load.” East parent Beth Cole addressed the board during the open forum regarding cuts to the counseling program; emphasizing that the counselors were not there just to manage enrollment and college planning, but their involvement in the students’ lives. “Who is going to advocate for them?” Cole asked the board. Cole suggested to the board that stronger cuts be made in other parts of the budget, so that the counselors, who are already understaffed and overworked, would not affected. In the budget cuts, Johnson has additionally recommended that coaching and co-curricular positions be reduced for the following year. According to Johnson, since coaching salaries are decided through the teaching unions, the district cannot arbitrarily make pay cuts; just as the teachers’ salaries cannot be cut in this way. The reductions in coaching salaries would most likely not affect head coaches, rather assistant coaches and their teaching positions, though these cuts only represent $216,000 district wide. The athletic department has already been
BY THE
NUMB3RS Recommend Cuts CUTS AT DISTRICT
• $10.6 million • 130 employees • Elimination of gifted paraprofessionals • 50 percent cut in new media purchases • Elimination of late bus
CUTS AT HIGH SCHOOLS
• 20 teaches • 5 librarians • 6 counselor limit • 10-15 percent of overall funding • Reduction of coaches and co-curricular jobs
CUTS AT EAST
• 3-4 teaches • 1 librarian • 1 counselor • 10-15 percent of overall funding • Freshman baseball team //Budget Workshop
hit with the ramifications of the budgetary pressures. Varsity baseball coach Tim Jarrell announced on the baseball team Web site that due to district financial conditions, there will no longer be a freshman baseball team. Jarrell is disappointed that they could not maintain the baseball team, stating that he began at East with the intention of enabling as many kids to play as possible. Previously, the team had been staffed and funded by using the coaches and money allotted for the three standard teams, but now this is impossible because of budget fall backs. The team will maintain the C, JV and Varsity teams and Jarrell encourages players, especially freshman, to try out. An area not affected by these budgetary issues is the current construction at East. According to Rooney, the proposed cuts are in the operating budget and cannot be taken from funding for the capital or bond projects. Since the construction projects throughout the district are not a part of the annual operating budget, the projects are unaffected by the proposed cuts and should go on as planned. Dr. Johnson said that the board looked into a second tier of cuts to get an idea of what they might face if the deficit were to continue, but does not see any need in the near future. According to board president Donna Bysfield, the proposed reductions and revisions through the 2010-2011 school year will not be finalized until August, though future cuts may be needed.
cuts by School District in 2009}
Design{website & banner}
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{2nd best of show (nat’l)}