NEWSBEAT
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conomics teacher Catherine McRoy-Mendell was named a Gold Star teacher for her student’s performance on the WISE (Working in Support of Education) Financial Literacy Certification Exam. Stuyvesant High School has been named a Blue Star School.
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enior Tina Jiang was named a semi-finalist in the Siemens Competition in Math, Science, and Technology for her research project titled “Tissue-Specific CRISPR/Cas9-Mediated Editing of the Tbx1/10 Cardiopharyngeal Regulatory Element In A Simple Chordate Model.”
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unior Yiqing Hu was named a finalist in the Northeast Council of Japanese Teachers speech contest.
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he Stuyvesant Speech and Debate Team placed third at the New York City Invitational Tournament for Speech and Debate. Junior Asher Lasday was a semifinalist in Congressional Debate, junior Liam Elkind was a semifinalist in Dramatic Interpretation, junior Kate Johnston placed fourth in Humorous Interpretation, senior Danielle Hahami placed third in Prose & Poetry, and senior Rishika Jikaria placed first in Oratory.
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he Stuyvesant Model United Nations team won the Outstanding Delegation award at the Horace Mann Model United Nations Conference on Saturday, October 24.
stuyspec.com
October 30, 2015
Behind the Transition from Daedalus to eSchoolData By Sharon Chao and Kimberly Ho The data management and communication software eSchoolData (eSD) replaced Daedalus School System and Communicator, or “Student Tools,” on Thursday, October 22. This switch took place because Daedalus’s creator and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), former Assistant Principal of Technology Stephen Kramer, retired from his position as CEO and decided to discontinue the software. Kramer, who worked at Stuyvesant from 1972 to 2002, left his Stuyvesant position to found his own company, called Daedalus Scientific Software. His two-person company then created the software Daedalus School System and Communicator, once used by more than 40 New York City public high schools. Because the software would soon be discontinued, in July 2015, Kramer notified all the schools that used Daedalus that they wouldn’t be able to use the program after their annual leases expired. Because his company only consisted of one other programmer and him, it would be a challenge to find someone new to learn the programs and take over after Kramer’s retirement from his position as CEO. “The software, as written, is not amenable to others taking over,” Kramer said in an email interview. Stuyvesant’s lease officially ended on August 31, 2015, but Kramer allowed Stuyvesant to continue using Daedalus free of charge until a new software was chosen. Stuyvesant chose eSD, a system currently used by 300 school districts in New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. “Daedalus is a very unique product and it contained features that are not typically part of a student management system. The primary
reason I think schools are choosing eSD has to do with a recommendation made by [Kramer] based on our commitment to develop many of the features that Daedalus had,” eSD co-founder and Executive Vice President Ann Savino said in an e-mail interview. Kramer helped to incorporate some features of Daedalus—such as teachers’ ability to send mass e-mails to their classes—in eSD’s latest version, 4.6. Still, this version of eSD only contains basic features. “Student schedules and transcripts are available on eSD right now, and [it] allows teachers to send mass e-mails and upload assignments,” Zhang said. The creators of eSD are still working on adding other aspects of Daedalus, such as systems to scan textbooks and assign lockers, without Kramer’s assistance. One major difference between Daedalus and eSD is that eSD uses students’ official school e-mails instead of personal ones. However, some students, including 300 freshmen, have not activated their school e-mails yet. Computer science teacher Topher Brown-Mykolyk is still resolving the issue. Another change is that college admission statistics will not be available on eSD, and students will have to access them through Naviance. Teachers were given access to eSD on Monday, October 5, so they could familiarize themselves with the system beforehand. “I often used Daedalus to send emails to my classes with attached science articles, so I’ll have to learn to do that [on eSD],” Biology teacher Marianna Reep said. Math teacher Ashvin Jaishankar commented on eSD’s interface. “[eSD’s] class roster
Choose Your Own Adventure: Stuy Edition
Vahn Williams / The Spectator
Volume 106 No. 4
By Lisa Shi This is no ordinary article. Instead, this is a game. When you have finished reading a passage, the end will give you options to choose where to go next, direct you to the next number, or tell you to “end game,” which means you can restart from the beginning. However, if you think you have finished all the different storylines, you can skim through each section and see if there is any part you didn’t get earlier. Happy Halloween! 1. Honestly, you kind of hate being a Big Sib. Sure, it looks nice on your college application, which was the main reason that you applied. And, according to Mom, it’s a display of your “leadership skills.” There’s also the added benefit of managing Little Sibs while dealing with college essays, interviews, and tests. It’s not really a benefit. “Hurry up! We need to get that book!” With a groan, you turn to your Little Sibs, Emilie and Richard. Emilie looks like she’s ready to face the world, equipped with a lumpy bookbag stuffed with who-knows-what and a lacrosse stick. Richard, on the other hand, looks nervous, adjusting his bag every few minutes. He deserves it—it’s his fault you’re here and trying to sneak into Stuyvesant at eleven at night after all. “You know, when I signed up to be a Big Sib, I thought it was just going to be a few minutes out of two days a week, and that’s all. I certainly never bothered my Big Sibs about retrieving my book for my very first English essay of the year, because unlike you two, I didn’t procrastinate.” That’s a lie and you know it, but they don’t. “That’s a lie and you know it,” Emilie responds. Scratch that. Emilie grins, pointing to the bridge entrance. “How are we getting in? Second or first floor?” You see lights illuminating the second floor entrance. That’s not a good idea… > > First floor entrance (page 2)
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Four-Digit IDs to be Discontinued Starting Next Year By Grace Cuenca and Anne George The use of Stuyvesant-assigned four-digit student identification (ID) numbers will be discontinued starting with the 2016-2017 school year. Instead, DOE-assigned nine-digit OSIS numbers will be used as students’ primary identification numbers. This is aligned with the implementation of eSchoolData (eSD), the data management and communication software that replaced Daedalus, or “Student Tools.” Concerns have arisen as to whether the use of OSIS numbers will be an efficient alternative after years of reliance on four-digit ID numbers to organize student records. Before four-digit IDs were created, computers were not yet used for data management. When former Assistant Principal of Technology Steve Kramer
created the Daedalus software, he instilled a customization that formed four-digit IDs with the program. Due to their short lengths and compatibility with Daedalus, four-digit ID numbers have provided a more convenient way of student identification and data management for Stuyvesant. Currently, four-digit IDs are used in the library to keep track of borrowed books, as well as for attendance and grading records. Despite this convenience, four-digit IDs have caused structural errors. In the past, four-digit IDs were re-assigned upon graduation. Occasionally, there would be duplicates or other mistakes in ID assignment. In order to avoid these mistakes, the class of 2019 was assigned four-digit ID numbers beginning with the number five instead of recycling last year’s seniors’ ID numbers, which began with the number one. “There was a consensus among
[the administration] that fourdigit IDs cause complications at times,” Principal Jie Zhang said. However, the decision to use OSIS numbers as the primary form of student identification was not a choice made by the administration. Kramer decided that he would discontinue Daedalus in July 2015. Hence, his decision forced Zhang to sign a new contract with eSD, a DOE system intended to work with students’ OSIS numbers. The potential inefficiency of OSIS numbers for conducting hands-on administrative tasks is a concern among the school community. “At an operational level, OSIS numbers are less efficient. However, eSchoolData does not have the function to support four-digit IDs. I like the four-digit, but moving forward, we cannot ask this vendor to modify their program specifically for us,” Zhang said.
Many student-run clubs and publications rely on four-digit IDs to keep track of their members’ activity. ARISTA, for example, uses four-digit IDs to keep track of members’ credits. “Our credit spreadsheet is public for all members of the organization, so we list credits with four-digit IDs instead of actual names to protect members’ privacy,” ARISTA President Ariel Levy said. A similar problem affects other large clubs like Red Cross, which also uses a public spreadsheet to keep track of members’ volunteer hours. “[A] possible solution would be to create our own ID number system,” Levy said. She also acknowledged that OSIS numbers could replace four-digit IDs. Despite the connection between OSIS numbers and the DOE, using them in such public spreadsheets does not pose a risk to student privacy. “OSIS numbers and four-digit IDs
are interchangeable. Knowing a student’s OSIS number does not mean you have access to their records,” Zhang said. Interaction with the DOE will be easier with the use of OSIS numbers. “We [the programming office] prefer that [eSD] uses OSIS numbers because when we work with students’ data, the Department of Education only recognizes OSIS numbers,” Programming Chairperson Joy Hsiao said. Before the predominant use of OSIS numbers, the programming office had to follow the procedure of individually merging four-digit ID numbers with OSIS numbers. The replacement of fourdigit IDs will change the organizational structure of Stuyvesant, which is something that both students and the staff will have to adjust to.