New Faculty
August 20, 2014
Convent of the Sacred Heart HS • San Francisco, California
Vol. 21, Iss. 1
Skirting the issue, again
Eight new faculty have joined the Convent community. New teachers were introduced along with returning faculty and staff this morning at assembly in the Syufy Theatre.
New skirts are in for this year, although not in students’ closets, yet.
Uniform
Spirit Week
► Sweaters are limited to a Convent labaeled cardigan or sweater. Students may also wear any school branded sweatshirt.
► Convent-branded jackets as well as red and white outerwear are acceptable.
► Polos can school branded or an unlabled white, pink, light blue or red. Seniors have a free color privilege.
► Acceptable shirts include Convent shirts or shirts in the school colors — red and white.
CHRIS PERSON-RENNEL Honors Math II, Math III and Calculus
HEATHER OTTE Choral Director ► The new skirt was chosen by students who were given multiple options created by Dennis Uniform. The skirt must be kept at an ‘acceptable length.’
► Cords, khakis and slacks in dark or neutral shades. Skirts must be worn at an appropiate length.
► Like free dress days, shoes are limited to closed-toed shoes, however no slippers, heels above one inch, or Uggs are permitted.
► Shoes are a personal choice of the student, although no open-toed shoes, sandals, heels above one inch, slippers, Uggs or boots are acceptable
Source: CSH Student Handbook, 2014-15 Madison Riehle | The Broadview
ASTRID JOHNSON Spanish III and Honors Spanish III
Freshmen begin integrating into community Tatiana Gutierrez Editor-in-chief
The Class of 2018 gathered in the Main Hall for orientation Monday morning for icebreakers, seminars and a variety of other activities to introduce the freshman on the Sacred Heart community. “We have a new design challenge this year with one and a half days devoted to Freshman Success,” Head of School Rachel Simpson said. “Our main goal is to to get the class connected to one another, the environment of
our school, our community of students in the other grades and faculty.” Freshman began their day by meeting their Senior Class sisters, followed by group activities that allowed the girls to introduce themselves and learn more about each other. The second day involved tours of the school and a coed aspect when the Stuart Hall freshman joined the girls in the Little Theater for a pizza lunch and again for a dinner with parents and faculty.
AMY LEAVER Math I, Math III and pre-calculus
Sarah Selzer | The Broadview
GETTING ORIENTED Senior Hailey Cusack meets her freshman little sister Julia Alvarez on the first day of Freshmen Success. After meeting their senior sisters, freshmen participated in a class icebreakers and bonding activities.
New schedule allows for increased flexibility Liana Lum News Editor
Students viewing their schedules will notice that certain block periods are no longer designated to just the morning or just the afternoon, giving more flexibility to scheduling coed classes while allowing for traveling time between the girls’ and boys’ campuses as well as increasing teacher accessibility. The increase in coed language classes — five French, four Latin and 11 Spanish — is the main reason for the revised schedule, according to Academic Programming Director Doug Grant. “The major change in the new schedule is the expansion of periods where we can schedule coed class,” Grant said. “It was too constraining to try to schedule all of those classes in the four afternoon periods, so we now have six of the eight periods where coed classes can be taught as opposed to just four periods last year.” Elective period is extended by five minutes and comes after the first period of the day, as do advisory and assemblies. Students
will move between campuses during those periods instead of during an additional passing time, which would have either lengthened the school day or shortened class time, according to Grant. “This short break gives students time to recollect themselves and get ready for their next class instead of running through the school in a distracted and hurried rush,” sophomore Bella Kearney said. Breaks also allow students to digest what they have learned, according to physics teacher Michael Ryan. “The new schedule has been set to facilitate student learning in the most effective way,” Ryan said. “It makes it easier to teach the same material as both my regular physics classes are held on the same day and for students to go back and forth between the campuses efficiently.” All morning classes were previously back-to-back and followed by either an elective, advisory meeting or assembly, and then lunch.
“Trying to get food after assembly was difficult,” junior Julia Praeger said. “Assembly would run over time into our lunch sometimes, only giving us 20 minutes to eat, so this change is good.”
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It’s a great way to instill advocacy in students.
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Wednesday lunch will still be longer than the other four days but will be reduced by 10 minutes due to the added 20 minute passing period in the morning. Time has also been set aside on Wednesdays for office hours. “Office hours will motivate me to go meet with my teachers because I know I can always find them during that time,” senior Rebecca Stapleton said. “I think I’m going to use the office hours to meet with Mrs. Munda and with my teachers for recommendation letters.”
Teachers will now hold office hours in place of 40-minute Wednesday activity period. “It’s a great way to instill advocacy in student in terms of knowing how to access teachers and get what they need,” Head of School Rachel Simpson said. “We are aware there a couple of clubs who use this time, notably Guitar Club and Joyful Noise, so we’re working with those two teachers to identify alternate times while ensuring students have access to them.” Classes will also rotate in a way that allows them to be taught at least once in the morning and in the afternoon. “That spreads out the impact of sports and other early dismissals,” Grant said. “It gives students the benefit of having all of their classes in the morning at least once each week.” Grant says the newly formatted schedule offers increased flexibility, balancing section enrollments and reducing conflicts. “We may get confused for the first few weeks,” Praeger said. “Besides that I’m excited to try it out.”
PASCAL PARRA French I, French III and Spanish II
RHIANNON SALTER AP Comparative Government teacher
YUHONG YAO Mandarin I, II, III and IV
BETSY PFEIFFER Academic Support Director