volume 54, Issue 1 October 1, 2015
Walt whitman High school
7100 whittier boulevard
Bethesda, maryland 20817
theblackandwhite.net
BOE decision to end final exams produces mixed reactions
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by rachel friedman
photo by TOMAS CASTRO
he MCPS Board of Education voted to end high school final exams starting Sept. 9 next school year, prompting both praise and protest.
The Poms team performs during halftime at the football game against the Landon Bears Sept. 11. Under the new leadership of former Pom captain Alexa Ciesinski (‘11), the squad has gained a new spark. For the full story, turn to page 14.
Alumni band signs deal with D.C. label by Gabe Kahan
Growing up in the D.C. area, University of Michigan sophomore Aaron Ginns hopped from venue to venue playing with various bands during high school at the Field School. In the middle of his freshman year of college, he finally decided to form his own band. Six months later, he stumbled upon three talented Vikings. This summer, a representative from the up-and-coming D.C. record label Split Tape Records dropped by Ginns’ house to watch a rehearsal with his new bandmates Colin Mitchell, Fidel Cano and Jake Parsky—all 2015 graduates. With Mitchell rocking out on drums, Cano thumping the bassline, Parsky shredding on the guitar and Ginns singing his heart out, their performance was well-received and now the newly formed band is going to sign a record deal with the label. “Aaron’s just a great performer already,” Split Tape Records founder Sam Philips said. “Especially in front of a crowd he knows how to play to an audience and get them actively involved the show. I’ve only seen [the full band] once, but they were all solid musically.” On a search for the best of the best in the area, Ginns first contacted Mitchell a little less than two years ago, after seeing videos of him drumming and hearing impressive reviews from all over. Mitchell seized the opportunity and suggested Cano and Parsky as possible band members. “Through people in the area and
other musician friends—every time I’d ask them ‘who do you know who’s a good drummer, a good guitarist,’ consistently these guys’ names came up,” Ginns said. The trio had played together countless times, performing in Whitman bands like the Cream Faced Loons and at events like Talent Show and Coffeehouse. The three Vikings met Ginns at his house in March 2014 to see if they worked well together. Before long, the group developed chemistry and the Aaron Ginns Band was born. That spring break, they toured local venues and rehearsed regularly.
“We all work well together and our blend is really nice because we know how one another plays, so it’s easy for us to connect musically.” -Colin Mitchell (‘15) This summer the group reunited and Ginns decided to pop the question: was signing with a label of interest to the three of them? “Of course we were very excited about that,” Cano said. “It was a great contract. They’re a very young record label, so they’re open to letting the artists do what they want and giving us a good share of the
profits.” Split Tape Records will be booking gigs for the band, promoting their music on iTunes, Spotify, Apple Music and other music sharing networks as well as finding the band time in the studio, all in exchange for billing under the band’s name. “It’s really exciting to have someone who is promoting your music,” Cano said. “We’ve all done a lot of performing before and we had to do all the promoting ourselves, and to be honest we don’t do a great job.” They’ve started off playing the kind of ‘90s feel-good music people our age grew up on, Ginns said. Their sound is closest to pop-rock and parallels artists like blink-182 and Simple Plan. Although the artistic process is a collective effort, Ginns does the majority of the songwriting and vocals. “I’ll come with an almost-completed song, but it doesn’t sound like the band until everyone gets their hands on it,” he said. “It’s definitely not a one man’s job.” Putting together everything from typical, angsty teenager tunes to simple love songs, the group tries to produce music that audiences can sing along to and connect with. “We’re all the same age, so the connection that we have as friends translates to the connection that we have as musicians,” Mitchell said. “We all work well together and our blend is really nice because we know how one another plays, so it’s easy for us to connect musically.” continued on page
The county decided to phase out final exams in order to maximize instruction time, limit excessive testing, monitor student progress and provide ways other than a formal test for students to demonstrate knowledge, the MCPS website says. Instead, at the end of each quarter students will have a final assignment in the form of a test or project. “I think the Board is trying to address an issue of overtesting,” said social studies resource teacher Bob Mathis. “I do believe that is a problem.” In place of exams, MCPS will create a new system of grading, using either averaged quarter grades, trend quarter grades, final in-class assignments or averaged quality points, where each grade holds a different point value. Under the current system teachers average grades from two quarters and an exam that accounts for 25 percent of a student’s final grade. MCPS has already taken steps to reduce standardized tests this year. Students who are required to take PARCC and HSA tests this spring won’t have final exams in June in those subjects. They will also only take PARCC once at the end of a course, not twice like last year. “That’s what pushed a lot of high school principals over the brink, is to have to have all those months and days go to testing,” principal Alan Goodwin said. “Dropping the ones associated with PARCC makes sense. I don’t know if dropping all of them makes sense.” continued on page 3
Overcrowding escalates in MCPS
by tessa klein
More and more students are being crammed into classes this year: NSL teacher Colin O’Brien’s eighth period has 38 students, despite a 36-person limit for the class. Chemistry teacher Jasen Gohn’s third period has 35. Whitman isn’t alone. Overcrowding is an issue in the entire county now that MCPS has to accommodate its largest enrollment ever, with more than 2,500 new students this year. Enrollment increases of more than 17,000 over the past ten years have made it impossible to build schools and additions fast enough to keep up with the county’s constant growth. “I can hardly name a part of the county that isn’t facing growth,” said Bruce Crispell, who directs long-range planning for MCPS. But enrollment increases aren’t the only challenge. A $53 million shortfall in its 2015-2016 budget has caused MCPS to make hundreds of staff cuts. At Whitman, the limit for class sizes has risen from 28 to 30 for English classes this year, yet many classes are still over capacity. The higher student-to-teacher ratio makes one-on-one interaction difficult when a student has a problem, staff development teacher Suzanne Johnson said. “I think everything is less organized and it takes longer for the teacher to get control of the students, so it slows the class down a little bit,” said sophomore Cameron Newcombe, a student in O’Brien’s 38-person class. The larger class sizes present different challenges for different subjects. Spanish teacher Rebecca Leef faces problems teaching classes with as many as 37 students.
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Inside Look Bell Times Analysis Page 2
Opinion: End Early Decision Page 5
A school day around the world Pages 8 and 9
Students work on political campaigns Page 11
Whitman loses two top athletes Page 15