2news Clubs remain involved after spring break • Advanced theater class will perform “And Then There Were Done,” “Black Comedy” and “After Magritte” on May 17 at 6:30 p.m. Spring semester Theater I classes will also perform that night. • The chorus and orchestra will have their spring “pops” concert in the on May 18 at 7 p.m. • Concert band will present its spring concert on May 25 at 7 p.m. The concert will feature several pieces performed by smaller ensemble groups as well as pieces played by the entire band. Members of the band will also participate in the solo and ensemble competition to be held at Cane Creek Middle School on May 13. • Campus Life will bowl at Tar Heel Lanes on May 29 at 5 p.m. Members are also planning to hike at DuPont State Forest, weather permitting, on May 22 at noon. They recently attended a Skillet and Toby Mac concert as well as a Run Kid Run concert. • Future Business Leaders of America went hiking at the Carl Sandburg home in April. • Anime Club members recently put up a bulletin board with fan art submissions in Y-hall. • Health Occupations Students of America promoted alcohol abuse awareness in late April as well as Stroke Month in May. • Distributive Education Club of America members are working with HOSA on the Memory Walk in May to raise awareness for Alzheimer’s disease. • FFA member Landon Ray, a sophomore, placed 25th at the North Carolina state hunting tournament on April 24. FFA members are currently selling plants from the greenhouse. • Future Community and Career Leaders of America had a campus clean-up on April 28. • Junior Joe Rollins placed eighth in the Land of the Sky Regional Skills USA competition with sophomore Andrew Duncan at Blue Ridge Community College. Senior Joe Bayless won in the tools competition. They competed at the state level on April 14.
Race to the Top
Obama announces education plan to update ‘No Child Left Behind’
able to judge the effectiveness of teachers and principals. The goal of this is to retain and reward competent teachFeature Writer ers and improve or replace the ones that not as capable. “I absolutely agree with that (monitoring teachers igh school students sat sweating at their desks, completely focused on their end of course tests. and principals). We do it now on the local level; we do it Months of preparation all came down to this one on the state level,” Jones said. “So that would be nothing moment— the moment that would decide if they passed new. The criteria may be different, but that’s nothing that we haven’t been doing already.” their class. Finally, states and districts must be willing to insti What the students might not know is that their test tute major reforms in order to turn around the lowest scores would also help decide their school’s ranking. In the past, most of a school’s national standing was performing schools. Changes as drastic as replacing staff based on standardized test scores under No Child Left and transforming school culture are options that schools Behind (NCLB) laws. However, President Barack Obama’s are asked to consider. Since NCLB was signed into law by former President recent emphasis on reforming education would change George W. Bush eight years ago, educators have comthe standards that schools are graded on. plained that the law brands thousands Race to the Top (RTT) is a program of schools as failing but doesn’t force designed to restore public education in them to change. the United States by awarding federal Race to the The last serious effort to rewrite grant money as an incentive for states Top is part of NCLB was in 2007, but it failed partly that agree to make education reform a due to teacher’s unions that opposed priority. The original amount of the RTT creating jobs an effort to incorporate merit pay profund was $4.35 billion, making it one of and reforming visions into the new policy. President the largest federal expenditures ever for Obama supports merit pay. the nation’s public schools. education. It’s “I’m for the attempt. I am not for Recently, Obama asked Congress to all tied in to the them completely rewriting it. I think if expand the RTT fund by another $1.35 it’s a situation where they’ve studied the billion. Under the expansion, school disfederal funding. data, and they’ve studied what’s worktricts as well as states could be eligible to Dean Jones ing and what’s not working and they can compete for increased federal support. principal make adjustments to that, then I’m for “RTT is a part of creating jobs and that part,” Jones said. “I’m not for them reforming education,” Principal Dean Jones said. “Those components are just the federal com- completely doing away with it and completely rewritponents. You have to add the state components and the ing it because then we’re looking at a 1,000 page doculocal components as well. But it’s all tied into the federal ment that’s going to get bogged down in the House (of Representatives) and may take years to have something funding.” There are four main assurances that must be met by new.” There are many issues that will be addressed in the states in order to compete for the education grants. First, states and school systems must work to reverse the wide- NCLB revision. The elimination of the deadline that manspread “dumbing down” of academic standards and as- dates all students in the United States to be at or above sessments. One of the goals of this assurance is to hold grade level by 2014 is a possibility and is referred to as a students in North Carolina to the same standard as stu- “utopian goal” by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. dents in any other state. To accompany this assurance, an He prefers a deadline that students must be “college and amount of $350 million of the RTT fund will be set aside career ready” by the time they graduate from high school for the development of rigorous common state assess- beginning in 2014. “I think it’s a lofty goal. I’m not sure that within the ments. Secondly, states and the federal government must be timeline that it is going to happen, mostly because of the able to monitor growth in student learning. In doing so, deficiencies some students have when they get to their states should be able to identify effective and ineffective formal education,” Jones said. “There are questions like, Does every child have a preschool that they can go to? learning strategies. Thirdly, states and the federal government should be Does every child have the support from home?”
Natalie Rice
Watch and Learn
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Crime (continued from page 1) compassion because this is a school, not a prison or a penal institution. We have to try to get students to be productive members of society,” Assistant Principal Kent Parent said. “There’s something that says, ‘Don’t ruin the spirit of a child with too much punishment.’ So I can’t just hammer them down.” According to Parent, a student that commits a crime may have numerous reasons for doing so. There are many factors and dynamics that can influence crime. “There are a thousand different variables. When we try to write up policy and stuff like that pertaining to human beings, there’s no set policy to put in black and white that would apply to every situation,” Parent said. “We’re not totally seeking to find guilty parties, but that is definitely part of it. The rule is to find the guilty party, to punish and then to help. We’re investigators, we’re judges and then we’re rehab.” Bringing drugs and alcohol to school as a minor is a crime that is considered very serious under the law. PRIDE Club member junior Emily Harris said she tries to take a stand against the illegal use of drugs and alcohol. “You can’t deny it because there are people here that do use drugs and alcohol. There’s always that pressure to try it, and it happens to every student and it will happen to students in the future. That pressure is always going to be there. You just have to learn to resist it,” Harris said. “As of right now, I don’t think the crime rate is that bad. I don’t see it, but I’m sure stuff happens.” Multiple age groups can be involved in crime, although the age group is dependent on the crime to some degree. According to www.law.jrank.org, juveniles are less likely to commit crimes such as embezzlement, fraud and gambling. Personal crimes such as aggravated assault and homicide tend to happen among median ages
in the late 20s. “Thefts I see in more of the lower grades, alcohol and stuff I see in the higher grades and more serious physical altercations I see in the upper grades,” Parent said. “It depends on the economy and the demographics that come here, and we see how that changes.” To help solve crimes, the Henderson County school system is an active participant in the CrimeStopper program. This program offers rewards to students who have information about a crime. Although this program receives no funding from the state, Parent said it has been a success in establishing it at West. “When somebody does something wrong at West, there’s a good response of people that come and acknowledge that it is the wrong thing and either tell them they did something wrong or make it right,” Geyer said. “When we had the kids that vandalized the school right before homecoming we had quite a few people come in because they were upset that somebody had messed up their school.” The community can help reduce the crime rate by taking proper precautions. Parent said simply not leaving personal belongings behind can help eradicate some cases of theft or property crimes. “A student may have no conscious thoughts of leaving their purse behind in class; whereas if they were in a mall, there would be no way they would leave it even three or four racks away. They have that sense of security that just because they’re at school doesn’t mean anybody’s going to go through their purse or their book bag and take something from there,” he said. “Many of our students will leave money in their book bags and purses and not even think about securing them or making sure the door is locked. It’s providing dishonest people with opportunity to steal things.”
Photo by Chelsea Blanton
In Flight
wingspan • may 12, 2010
Members of Resi Dolbee’s dance class listen to President Obama as he speaks about the importance of education. Obama gave the speech on Sept. 8, 2009. The federal formulas for awarding money to schools will also be reworked. Obama would like to change the formulas so that a portion of the money awarded is based on academic progress rather than formulas that give money to districts based on their number of students. While the administration is looking to rework many aspects of the education policies, it is not planning to abandon the law’s dedication to closing the achievement gap between minority and white students. “In a global economy where the most valuable skill you can sell is your knowledge, a good education is no longer just a pathway to opportunity and success—it is a pre-requisite,” Obama said in a joint session of Congress. “The countries that out-teach us today will out-compete us tomorrow.”
Superintendent (continued from page 1) kind of been nudged into,” Page said. “I didn’t want to be the associate superintendent and got encouraged to go talk. Next thing I knew, I got the job.” Over the last six years, Page has seen positive changes in Henderson County, such as a decrease in dropouts and the improved communication from schools to parents with the AlertNow system. “When I came here, I wanted to make sure I did no harm,” Page said. “I didn’t want to maintain status quo, but I also didn’t want to come in and start twisting dials and changing programs.” The new superintendent will face serious financial issues, School Board Chair Ervin Bazzle said. “The next superintendent is going to be very financially strapped for the next however many years it will take us to get out of this mess,” Bazzle said. “It is going to be challenging.” Bazzle said Henderson County needs a superintendent that has a passion for education. He also needs to be familiar with the school systems and demographic makeup of the area. “We (the members of the school board) were not necessarily looking for someone that could be an agent of change,” Bazzle said. “We have made enough changes. Now we were looking for someone who is familiar with the schools.” Jones has worked in Henderson County schools since 1978. “The ability to educate not only children, but also teachers is something that is not found in everyone,” Bazzle said. “Dr. Page does that very well. It takes a special kind of leader to continuously motivate teachers and principals and not quit themselves.”
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