Volume 39 - Issue 2
A National Blue Ribbon School
Thursday, October 23, 2014
Assessment schedule abandoned to decrease stress reinstating the assessment schedule. “We will be conducting a February survey to follow-up on the change in the assessment schedule,” Taylor said. “We would reconsider bringing back the assessment schedule based upon the climate results.” According to Taylor, CHS administrators are planning to meet with students to evaluate the current assessment schedule and the overall student body’s stress level.
By Danny Gordon Staff Writer Noah Salzberg Online Features Editor For the 2014-15 school year, CHS administrators opted out of implementing the assessment schedule that was initially formed two years ago. The assessment schedule allowed certain subjects to test on certain days of the week, with the intention of spreading out tests to reduce student stress. “I think when [the assessment schedule] was implemented well, the schedule was effective,” assistant principal John Taylor said. “Ever since we implemented the policy, we did mid-year surveys to make sure it was effective, and the results consistently showed no majority. However, the later surveys revealed an overwhelming majority saying that the assessment schedule created more stress.” In addition to the schedule failing to comply with its original intention, the policy was not consistently followed by teachers, whose lesson plans were disrupted by the assessment schedule. “We had to plan our weeks around the assessment schedule rather than what was best for the students,” English teacher Christin Nixon said. According to Taylor, snow days made the assessment schedule difficult to follow and “impossible to implement.” Students also found problems with the assessment schedule. It
would oftentimes not be clear as to what constituted a n assessment. Despite the problems found with the schedule, s t u d e n t s have mixed reactions to the elimination of the policy. “I think it is a harmful decision to the student body that we will have more overlapping assessments,” senior Billy Wang said. “It will give us a lot more unnecessary stress.” Other students, like junior Zach Ruvo, are pleased with the change. “I have
not been overloaded with tests on the same day, so [the assessment schedule’s removal] hasn’t made a difference to me,” Ruvo said. “The assessment schedule stressed me out because it made school not so much about doing well on tests but rather about getting through the schedule.” Stress-reduction is a focal point for CHS administrators. Despite the survey’s overwhelmingly negative results the year prior, CHS is still open to the idea of
ADMINISTRATION IMPLEMENTS MAKE-UP ASSESSMENT SCHEDULE According to the CHS administration, to reduce confusion and anxiety, assessment make-ups are now prioritized chronologically by: 1. Date of Absence 2. Period of the Day For example, if a student is absent on Tuesday and Wednesday, and he misses three tests, he will make them up in the followning order: 1. Tuesday 4th Period Science 2. Wednesday 2nd Period Math 3. Wednesday 6th Period History Students with long term absences must meet with their teachers and counselor to create a makeup schedule.
Homecoming floats to be built in familiar places
BOE pays law firm $140K to advise them in misuse of funds.
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Features What Would You Do?
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college visits,” senior executive board member Maher Kanwal said. “When you are only given one weekend, it is hard for students to be able to help.” According to the Class of 2016 co-president Eli Promisel, finding a certain time to build the floats can be challenging. However, students have been very flexible with their schedules to find time to work on the floats. “The idea of opening up your property to dozens of teenagers for an entire week is no small favor,” social studies teacher and Class of 2017 sponsor Kevin Doherty said. “I hope it works and builds more competition and unity among classes.”
Arts Body Image
Many of today’s songs regarding body image tell woman of all shapes and sizes to embrace it.
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PHOTO BY DANIELLE KIEFER.
News Credit Card Misuse
“Building at someone’s house helps make it more fun,” Menkart said. “Even though we are building for something school related, doing it outside of school makes it seem more like you and a bunch of friends are just getting together to hang out and work on a cool project.” Even though working outside of school has its benefits, it can be challenging to find specific times to build floats over the weekend because of students’ busy schedules. “It is harder to establish meetings, especially senior year, because so many kids use the weekends to do
IMAGE BY SAMMI SILBER.
As homecoming approaches, executive board members of each grade are preparing to build homecoming floats; however this year, students will not spend long hours after school working, but instead will spend time working over several weekends. This is not the first time floats have needed to be built at students’ houses. When CHS was being rebuilt in the early 2000s, floats were constructed
at students’ houses as the finishing touches were made. Floats are once again being built at students’ houses due to a lack of space at CHS. “Unfortunately, we do not have the space to provide four grades the appropriate work space to create floats at school,” assistant principal John Taylor said. “Without the space or time, a return to floats being built at homes allows us to continue the tradition.” According to junior Nicole Menkart, building floats at students’ houses can increase class unity. Compared to building floats at school, the atmosphere at students’ houses is more comfortable.
PH OTO BY GIL JA CO BSON .
By Isabel Dibble Online Observations Editor