the LION’S
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Non-Profit Organization U.S. Postage PAID Boston, MA Permit No. 54523
Volume 31, Issue 3 140 Brandeis Road Newton Centre, MA 02459
Newton South High School’s Student Newspaper · Newton, MA · Established 1984 · October 17, 2014
NTA campaigns for competitive wages Nathaniel Bolter & Varun Mann Sr. News Editor, News Contributor
By Nathaniel Bolter and Parisa Siddiqui photo illustration by Hyunnew Choi
HSP, which takes place in a building often referred to as “the shed” (above), has garnered misconceptions within the community.
The Roar investigates the stigma associated with “the shed” and the students within its stabilization program
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hen Alexi Reibman entered the High School Stabilization Program (HSP), known colloquially as “the shed,” he — like most South students — did not know much about it. “All I knew was what people say about it, which is, ‘It’s a horrible program for kids that are bad, everyone in there is kind of like a f***-up,’” he said. Reibman, who spent three years at South and is now a senior at North, has “been through everything.” Two months after beginning high school, Reibman was put into the Springboard program, a restrictive environment for students from both North and South located in the Education Center, where he spent the rest of his freshman year. He began sophomore year in Compass, a program for students grappling with emotional vulnerability. Upon finding this program to be a poor fit, Reibman switched into HSP. Despite South’s recent efforts to encourage open conversation on student well-being, as detailed by The Roar on pages 12 and 13, HSP, or “the shed,” remains a conspicuously taboo topic, according to students and staff. Contrary to widespread belief
among students, HSP is not designed as a rehabilitation program for students struggling with drug addiction, nor as a “program for kids that are bad,” but as a supported learning environment. The perception that it is, however, has led to a stigma around the program and the students in it — a stigma that belies a disparity between administrative intention and student reality.
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A 45-day transitional program, HSP is designed for students from North and South who, due to either emotional or behavioral issues or outside circumstances, need a break from the high school environment. The program, located in the green building next to South’s senior parking lot, provides a smaller, more structured environment in which students have access to counseling and emotional support, as well as a school curriculum. HSP, however, is not a catch-all for all students struggling in a high school setting. Students typically enter HSP after going through one of Newton’s other support systems, such as Compass and Springboard. “Usually the student doesn’t
go to HSP the first time something happens, so usually it’s a process,” special education department head Kathleen Farnsworth said. “Maybe there were some concerns, there were some meetings in South to understand what’s going on with the student, phone calls to the family. ... Then it usually comes as a mutual decision that the student going to HSP is a positive step for the student in terms of helping them get back to South or North, whatever that next step is.” While students are in HSP, trained faculty members observe them as they complete work sent over by their schools. A maximum of 12 students are allowed in the program at a time, and all must have check-up meetings with faculty every 15 days they are in the program and upon re-entry to school. “It was very calm; you don’t really do anything in there. You just kind of sit around and do work, and the other kids ... are there for various reasons,” Reibman said. But despite this benign reality, the program has accrued an unsavory reputation at South, according to many students. HSP, 4
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
adventures ABROAD
The language department and the Global program plan new school trips to Cuba and Italy.
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Superstitious south
The Roar explores the impact that superstitions have on the community.
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The Newton Teachers Association (NTA) and the School Committee remain at an impasse over teacher contract negotiations as the NTA pushes for higher wages to attract and retain the best teachers. The teacher contract, which determines teachers’ wages and benefits, is negotiated every three years, and the latest negotiations between the NTA and the School Committee began last spring when the contract agreed upon in 2011 expired. The two parties, however, were unable to come to an agreement before the end of the 2013-14 school year, and the talks, which were postponed during the summer, are set to resume this month. “The negotiations are never easy, and they take time, and this set of negotiations is no different,” School Committee Chair Matt Hills said. “If it was easy, we would’ve finished it in one meeting, and we would’ve gone out to celebrate with an ice cream sundae.” The debate in these negotiations has centered on the issue of teacher compensation, as the NTA argues that if Newton Public Schools (NPS) faculty is not paid wages on par with that of the surrounding communities, Newton will lose out on the best teachers. “We have a mutual problem,” NTA President Mike Zilles said. “And that mutual problem is that the wages that Newton gives its faculty have fallen significantly relative to the wages paid in the districts that we compete with.” Although the School Committee recognizes this disparity, it is not willing to effectively deal with the issue, according to Zilles. He said that in the spirit of “shared sacrifice” during the fiscal hardship in 2011, the NTA agreed to cap teacher compensation growth in the last contract negotiations. In today’s economy, Zilles said that teacher compensation must exceed that cap for Newton to compete with other districts. CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS, 2
QUARTER-CENTURY
VICTORY
PAGE 20
photo by Maggie DiMarco
THE ROAD TO STATES
The golf team qualifies for the state tournament, hopes to strengthen teamwork.
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NEWS 2 GLOBAL UPDATE 5 EDITORIALS 6 OPINIONS 9 CENTERFOLD 12 FEATURES 15 SPORTS 20