Students need to watch extra-curriculars, only 10 days allowed

Starting this year, students need to be cautious of when they use their ECA days since they only have 10 for the whole year, and that limit will be enforced.
School related absences are coded in two different ways, ECA, or extra-curricular activities, which count toward the 10 days, or OC, co-curricular activities, which don’t count.
“There is a list of five questions that a sponsor or teacher has to ask to determine whether it is ECA or OC,” principal Judy McDonald said.
If the answer to all five questions is “no,” then the activity is coded as OC.
“The teacher makes the first call [on ECA or OC],” McDonald said. “They turn it into Mrs. Albin. If there is a question, [Albin] would bring it to me or Mrs. Kirby.”
Students in multiple activities and sports that are considered ECA “would have to be careful,” McDonald said.
“They would have to pick and choose [what they attend],” McDonald said.
Senior Sara Finkler feels that only allowing 10 days can harm a student’s chances at getting into college.
“Students are involved with multiple activities and that limits their involvement,” Finkler said. “That is needed on college applications.”
Students who reach the 10 ECA limit will not be allowed to attend the event with their organization even if they take an absence.
“I couldn’t support a sponsor allowing a student to go if they have 10 [ECA’s],” McDonald said. “That’s just circumventing the policy.”
ECA days that have already taken place are counted in the 10, though students were only told on Oct. 18.
This policy is not new, but the administration checked ECA related absences and took action only if the grades were suffering due to extended ECA days.
However, that changed when McDonald saw the board policy stated 10 days total regardless of grades.
“A student was going to be absent for an extended period of time. I checked to see if it was covered in the ECA policy and I noticed [this policy,]” McDonald said. “I thought teachers should be made aware, so I sent out a reminder. We need to enforce all school rules.”
The only exceptions to the policy would be if a student or team makes it to the region or state levels of competition. Post-district events can use five more days, not including the original 10, and state events can use two days. Leftover days will not rollover.
“UIL recommends 10 ECA days,” McDonald said. “It is district policy.”
The three WFISD board members contacted did not respond to a request to speak before deadline.

UIL sponsors stay proactive after budget cut in half

In past years, the UIL academic budget was $10,000.
This year, it is only $5,000.
“Funding has been a problem at the state level and now it’s trickling down,” Rider UIL coordinator and Literary Criticism sponsor Sandra Scheller said. “We’re not the only ones who have to do this.
Previously the team would go on two out of town meets a year. This year, they may only get one.
“Our best competition is out of town, and we can’t afford it,” Scheller said.
Physics sponsor Patrick Tempelmeyer thinks the change won’t help their chances at state.
“We should have an incredibly strong team,” Tempelmeyer said. “It would be better if we could go on those meets, though. Plus, it cuts some of the fun out of being on the team.”
Not only can they not afford meets, practice materials are also expensive.
“Lit Crit costs $250 just for one event,” Scheller said. “We have $500 total.”
To help with costs, different departments are pitching in for practice materials.
“They’re helping as much as they can, but their budgets were also cut,” Scheller said.
In order to offset the cuts, the sponsors are doing fundraisers such as the “Celebrity Scoop Night” at Maggie Moo’s that was held on Oct. 26.
“We’re trying to be proactive,” Scheller said,” but I don’t know how this can do anything but hurt.”

Lost books add up to high cost

As school was ending last year, it looked as if Rider would lose $10,000 due to 174 missing books.

Through the summer, that number shrunk. On the Thursday before school started, 107 books were still missing, adding up to $6,000 in books.

Students who have lost books are out of luck until they pay their fines.

“We are hoping to get at least 90 books back in,” Braveboy said.

Students with books or money will need to see Braveboy or he will go to them.

“We catch a lot of them when they come to check out books,” Braveboy said.

If the books aren’t returned, students with lost books can’t check out a new book or participate in UIL activities.

“The money we don’t get, we have to pay,” Braveboy said. “The district doesn’t let us off the hook. We have to take money from other areas to pay.”

State budget cuts force school cuts

Due to the rising country deficit, the Texas state education budget has been cut down forcing the district to lower their budget as well.
At Rider, six positions were lost, though some of those faculty members were just shifted around.
There were three phases in the staff reduction process. Phase one was simply the removal of low-quality teachers.
“We didn’t have to lose any teachers [in phase one] because Rider has all high-quality teachers,” principal Judy McDonald said.
Phase two was about class sizes.
“The district says that all classes should be 10-15 people,” McDonald said. “Since we’re still scheduling, those numbers are not accurate.”
Phase three came down to saving money.
“Two positions had to be cut,” McDonald said. “They can be restored if the budget turns out to be nicer to education.”
To assist the district in reaching a solution to the budget crisis, a 26-member team was established. The Budget Action Committee met to discuss possible cuts to save money and submitted their report to the district. Among the possibilities were options from encouraging teachers to conserve electricity by turning the lights off more often to selling unused land.
Math teacher Stephanie Mullens is one of the members of the committee.
“I was happy to serve, but I knew it was going to be a tough job,” Mullens said. “It was heart-wrenching, we knew people were going to lose jobs.”
“26 people were chosen [for the committee],” Mullens said. “They tried to pick from all different areas: teachers, secretaries, maintenance, teachers.”
The committee was divided into five groups: curriculum and instruction, extracurricular, personnel, student support and support areas.
“My area was support areas,” Mullens said. “We looked at facilities, busing, utilities, etc.”
To help the committee with their recommendations, surveys were sent to faculty across the district.
“[They] could talk about their areas and what they wanted to keep or cut,” Mullens said.
While the committee was proposing the cuts, they had to divide them into priorities and whether they were long-term or short-term.
“You can’t not fix roofs, but it might be put off for a year or two,” Mullens said.
McDonald believes that the cuts at Rider are over with.
“The budget is balanced for this year, unless there is some increase,” McDonald said. “We are preparing for a worst case scenario.”
Since about 12 phase three positions have already been reinstated, Mullens believes, “it doesn’t look like a worst cast scenario.”
McDonald doesn’t think that the students of Rider will see a major difference next year.
“The biggest would be increased class sizes,” McDonald said. “[Also] not offering some electives and combining similar classes. We would still have the classes, but they wouldn’t be as specific as we previously offered.”
In Foreign Language department head and Spanish 2 teacher Ethan Shaw’s opinion, bigger class sizes can negatively affect students’ learning.
“I have a class with 36 kids and 26 desks,” Shaw said. “We can’t get desks and that’s this year. It will be interesting to see the seating arrangement.”
Though the Budget Action committee made the proposals, it is up to the Board what goes into effect.
“Everything was strictly recommendations,” Mullens said. “We had no power. All cuts come from the Board of Trustees, not Dr. Kazanas or Dr. Powers.”

Political brunch opens student’s eyes to issues

He hosts a popular TV show. He is the author of multiple best selling books, one of which I am reading now. He is a national figure.

Mike Huckabee was in town for a book signing on March 3, 2011 and I got to meet him. He was the keynote speaker at a brunch before the signing. My dad was lucky enough to know the man organizing the brunch, so he was able to get invites for the both of us. I got to miss most of school that day. It was worth it.

I’m not really much of a talker, so I just followed my dad around. I can’t remember how many hands I shook. Right before the event began, Huckabee was standing right behind me. My dad turned, shook his hand and introduced himself. He then said, “This is my daughter Jordan. She is the co-editor of her school newspaper.” We shook hands and he asked if I knew what I was going to do for college. I told him I might study journalism. Before he could say anything else though, he was ushered to the front so the program could start.

He didn’t start out speaking about politics. That waited until the end. He was attending the brunch primarily to speak about an organization he is passionately involved in called Big Life Ministries. Big Life specializes in planting churches in untouched countries. For about 30 minutes, he told us why it was important to him and why he believed we should help.

Shortly after he spoke about the ministry, he began what he called the “Question and Avoidance” time, or Q&A. During the Q&A, questions about the economy, immigration and heath-care came up. It was around that time that I began looking around. I noticed that I was, by at least 20 years, the youngest one in the room. I had heard about the controversial issues, but never cared enough to look into them. I will be able to vote for the next presidential election. I have already started researching potential candidates. I don’t want to vote just because a certain candidate is Republican or Democrat. I want to be able to vote because I feel the same way about the issues as that candidate. The right to vote is a right that needs to be taken seriously. Having knowledge about the issues facing the country increases the connection between the government and the population. If I know what is going on with the economy, then I won’t ignore the news when I hear it. I won’t be ignorant of what is happening in the world.

After the event was over, there was a short time to take photos, and in my case, have Huckabee personalize my autographed book with, “To Jordan.” As my dad and I took our pictures with him, I will forever remember the words he said, “Maybe someday you’ll be the editor of the New York Times.”

Pritt follows footsteps of older sisters

When senior Cortny Pritt found out she won Miss Raider, she couldn’t believe it.
“It made me feel so awesome that the student body voted for me,” Pritt said.
Laura Pritt, Cortny’s mother, was at the Round Up dance to support her.
“When her name was announced, she was surprised and overwhelmed with excitement,” Mrs. Pritt said. “I think it took a minute for it to sink in.”
Cortny’s mom believes that part of the reason Cortny won is her loving heart.
“She wants everyone to feel loved and be happy,” Mrs. Pritt said. “She accepts people for who they are. She’s a leader and loves Rider High School.”
18 people were nominated. Two won. One girl, and one boy.
“I had no clue that I’d win,” Cortny said. “The nominees this year were amazing, I had no idea if I’d get it.”
At Rider, Pritt is deeply involved in both volleyball and powerlifting.
“I set high standards for myself and expect to reach all of them,” Cortny said.
Outside of school, she spends her time going to church, Younglife, and hanging out with friends and family.
“I love the Lord more than anything,” Cortny said. “I love spending time with my family and being close to them.”
During her summers, she does free volleyball clinics and lessons with her sister Alysha.
“She helps with Bible schools and mission trips,” Mrs. Pritt said. “She helps with Younglife doing skits and for the past three years has worked with Rider volleyball to raise money for Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Awareness.”
Originally, Cortny comes from a military family.
“The Air Force brought us to Texas, but she lived in England from age 1 go 5,” Mrs. Pritt said. “She had an awesome British accent until the Texas teachers got ahold of her.”
Cortny also comes from a family of Miss Raider nominees and winners.
“My sister Alysha was Miss Raider in 2004,” Cortny said. “My other sister Jentry was nominated in 2002.”
Mrs. Pritt believes that since Cortny is the youngest in her family, it meant even more for her to be nominated.
“She loves and respects her sisters,” Mrs. Pritt said. “It meant a lot to her that she was voted Miss Raider like her sisters had when they were at Rider.”
Now a senior, when Cortny reflects on her freshman year, she said she never thought of being Miss Raider.
“It never even crossed through my mind,”Cortny said.

Expert says internet creates safe haven for bullying circles and causes changed behaviors

Recent surveys show that over 40 percent of students have been bullied while online and over 20 percent  have sent or received a “sext.”
According to Dr. Rolla Bradley, a licensed counselor near San Antonio, Texas, the origin for both is technology, more specifically, Facebook.
Both terms were penned 5-7 years ago, right when Facebook started.
“When I was a kid, you had to find who you wanted to bully and find a time when you wouldn’t get caught,” Bradley said. “Now it takes 30 seconds.”
While cell phones are great for emergencies and staying in contact with family, Bradley dislikes how instant they are.
“You don’t have to stop and think,” Bradley said.
A main cause of cyberbullying is when people tell those outside of the “circle of context,” or people who are not directly involved with the event.
“The circle of context is not your best friend who wasn’t there that you want to tell,” Bradley said about how cyberbullying moves from one person to more taking part in the bullying.
The problem extends beyond bullying, Bradley said. No matter how long ago a person cyberbullies or sends a sext, it never completely leaves.
“Two seventh graders sent pictures to boys that ended up online,” Bradley said. “When those girls applied to college, their names were Googled and those pictures were found. They didn’t get accepted.”
Due to the increase of phones in middle schools, sexting has been rising rapidly.
“Middle school is the peak of sexual interest,” Bradley said. “They don’t understand what they’re doing.”
Bradley believes one way to stop both cyberbullying and sexting is disciplining and educating children.
“Your children are your children,” Bradley said. “They have no privacy. I could pick up my childrens’ phones at any time and if a computer screen changed when I walked in, I assumed the worst.”
While Bradley says that adolescents don’t always know what they’re doing, he believes at the same time, they somewhat understand right from wrong.
“A lot of it is educating,” Bradley said. “If the frontal lobe is educated, they know if it’s wrong.”
The difference between cyberbullying and regular bullying is that generally, bullying doesn’t result in murder.
“A bully wants his target scared, not dead,” Bradley said. “With cyberbullying, sometimes you don’t even know who is bullying you.”
Bradley thinks that the future of technology “manners” lies with todays’ youth.
“Say ‘that’s not okay,”’ Bradley said. “Curiosity may be killing us, we may want to see it, but as we begin to make better decisions, we begin to change society.”

Early Release Leads to Fewer Seniors Attending Pep Rallies

When students walk into the gym for a pep rally, every section is full. Every section, that is, except the senior section.
Senior Jordan Aldaco gets out of school after her 6th period JV Tennis class and usually doesn’t come back unless her friends “really want her to.”
“I went to the very first one we had and skipped the second one,” Aldaco said. “I don’t feel like I’m missing out on too much. There’s school spirit still, but it doesn’t seem to take over the crowd like it used to.”
Instead of going to the pep rallies, Aldaco just stays home.
“I watch TV, let my dog outside when he needs to, and just chill basically,” Aldaco said.
Senior Bianca Rodriguez gets out of school after 6th period but always makes it a priority to return for pep rallies.
“I think its important because it’s senior year,” Rodriguez said. “The last year I will be able to attend pep rallies and show some school spirit.”
Rodriguez’s favorite parts about the pep rallies are the Ooh-ah’s and the class yells
“They’re just something small that is actually a big part of the pep rallies themselves,” Rodriguez said.
Even though she’s not planning on attending many other pep rallies, Aldaco said she will definitely go to the last one.
“It’ll be the last rally of my high school career,”Aldaco said.
Some students don’t have the option of staying around for the pep rallies.
“I get out after 5th period,” senior Ayesha Waseem said. “But I go to work right after I get out.”
If Rodriguez could tell the seniors one thing, she would tell them that “they should really come back [to the pep rallies.]”
“It’s our last year,” Rodriguez said. “We’ve waited four years to get here, show some pride and school spirit that we’ve made it this far!”

Leaders of the Class: Teachers Chosen as West Teachers of Excellence

One’s known as the mom of the English hall. The other, relative-new-comer to the teaching profession, spends tons of hours working with her students and team. Now both have been honored by the West Foundation for their teaching.
English teacher Sandra Scheller and A&P, Biology and softball coach Alisha Crouch were honored with West Teaching Excellence awards last month.
Scheller was “very excited” when she found out she had won.
“It’s a tremendous honor,” Scheller said. “I would have done a dance of joy, but I thought it would have been inappropriate.”
In the WFISD, there are 1,100 teachers. Out of those 1,100 teachers, 20 were chosen as recipients of the award.
Scheller didn’t believe the first two congratulatory e-mails she received.
“It wasn’t until Mrs. McDonald congratulated me that I believed it,” Scheller said.
Science teacher Alisha Crouch knew for a few days before she received the e-mail.
“Braveboy accidentally told me,” Crouch said. “I was really surprised.”
Crouch believes that putting in a lot of extra hours is partly the reason she won the award.
“I also try to have a relationship with the students,” Crouch said. “When you have a good relationship, the kids want to learn.”
Scheller is known as the mom of the English hall.
“For younger teachers, we know we can go to her for advice, student problems, and lesson plan ideas,” English teacher Polly Birkhead said.
English teacher and long-time friend of Scheller, Yvonne Baker-Kistler believes Scheller won partly due to her listening nature and creativity.
“She’s extremely creative,” Baker-Kistler said. “Sometimes she comes up with some really wacky lesson plans that really work.”
Scheller said she feels honored to be chosen.
“I don’t know why I won,” Scheller said. “It’s exciting to work with so many dedicated, overworked faculty. I don’t know why they chose me.”
Birkhead credits her award to her patience.
“She’s willing to give kids a chance,” Birkhead said. “She’s able to bring things down to their levels.”
Baker-Kistler thinks the award is late getting to Scheller.
“She’s deserved this for years,” Baker-Kistler said. “She’s been an excellent teacher for many years and she’s just now getting noticed.”
Scheller has been teaching for 25 years and in her words, is only 27 years old.
“I love teaching,” Scheller said. “I learn something everyday. It’s encouraging that people care enough to offer some help.”

Finals Exemptions Change

At the last school board meeting, board members approved a new finals exemption policy.

“The new policy gives some options to 8th graders,” Stephanie Mullens, an Algebra 2 teacher who was on the committee that led the changes in the exemptions policy, said.

The policy states: “If the student…passes the grade 8 reading portion of the state-mandated assessment, TAKS, then the student is exempt from the [fall] English final…”

The policy changes a bit for sophomores as well.

“Whatever exemptions they [sophomores] had in the spring of 9th grade are the same exemptions for the fall of 10th,” Mullens said.

Junior exemptions remain mostly the same; they can only miss two days of unexcused absences and must have an 80 or above in the class.

Seniors follow the same requirements as seniors except there is a slight difference.

“The principal of the secondary school that the student attends may waive up to three days of attendance of his or her discretion for students in grade 12,” the policy states.

Mullens thinks the new policy, took effect immediately, will be a positive change.

“It will give 8th grade teachers more of an incentive to teach TAKS materials and it will also motivate 8th graders to pass the TAKS,” Mullens said. “It will also give 9th and 10th graders incentive to pass if they can get out of the next year’s fall finals.”

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