Hoover Challenger » News

Deteriorating conditions

aaron.homard — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 20:21:56 +0000

When sophomore Holden Clark walks into the school bathrooms he finds them littered and in deteriorating conditions

“They (the bathrooms) are disgusting. Every time I use them, they are always a mess; paper towels are all over, water on the floor and toilets are unflushed in every bathroom,” Clark said.

Clark believes that the school is near the bottom of the chain for cleanliness across the district.

“I’ve been to Roosevelt’s before and those are clean. East’s are a little bit better. Dowling’s are just better than ours,” Clark said.

Senior Sydney Johnson also finds the bathrooms’ cleanliness different from her part time school Central Academy.

“They’re gross. At Central, I could leave my stuff outside the stall but at Hoover I would never do that,” Johnson said.

Overall Johnson thinks that the floors are nasty and the stalls are just as bad.

“They just need to fix the doors and put in general maintenance,” Johnson said.

Graffiti in the bathrooms is also an issue according to these students. Both Clark and Johnson agree that it is just the immaturity of the students.

“They feel like they’re breaking the rules by writing on the bathroom stalls,” Johnson said.

Head of operations Jason Kono has no idea why students would want to graffiti the walls.

“I really don’t know why they have no respect. I’m sure they wouldn’t act that way at home. I think they just have no respect for the school,” Kono said.

Kono does disagree with Clark and Johnson in that the school is no different from others in Des Moines.

“They’re probably about the same. I’m saying there’s graffiti everywhere in the district. It’s just not isolated here at Hoover High School. It’s at Lincoln, East, Roosevelt and middle schools as well. It’s just not Hoover students,” Kono said.

Read more at Hoover Challenger

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Band travels to Japan this spring

Michael Roby — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 20:15:01 +0000

When band director Randy Hoepker first brought up using the band’s semi-annual large trip to visit Japan, he recalls his students taking the idea as a complete joke. Over a year later, Hoepker and the band are preparing for a band trip across the world.

“I think they were in disbelief we were doing anything like this,” Hoepker said.

Two years ago Hoepker was invited to be a guest director at Hoover’s sister school in Kofu, Japan, and considered the idea of returning with his students. The idea officially became an effort on the part of the band in November 2008.

Freshman Tyler Gilbreath was among the students who saw this idea as an inside joke from the director, and is now ecstatic for this trip.

“I’m really excited to do this, to go to Japan again and play music with my band,” Gilbreath said.

In total, the trip cost $135,000, which was paid for by numerous grants the band made and by students selling anything from sushi to candy to fruit.

The commission song is an original composition written for their performances and made by one of the musical writers for the movie Spirited Away.

As the band prepares for this trip to Kofu, Hoepker hopes they get everything out of it they can.

“The kids will have a great opportunity to travel and experience another country,” Hoepker said.

Read more at Hoover Challenger

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Making up snow days with longer days

Erik.Hoffman — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 20:13:44 +0000

kira herron illustration

The district has to make up eight snow days. The school board had an online survey that asked community members what should be done to make them up. They decided to add 30 minutes to the school day starting Apr. 5.

Science teacher Eric Hall thinks that this is the best option.

“I think of the options we were given and it’s the best one,” Hall said.

Hall thinks that this will help students in the long run even if it sounds stupid now.

“I don’t know if it will see a huge benefit just because you add three or four minutes to a class. I think what it does though it gives the total class time during the day is longer and hopefully it will have an accumulative affect and you won’t notice it right away but hopefully over the last 8-10 weeks you will see a difference,” Hall said.

Hall thinks that adding days to the end of the school year is a better choice than adding time to the school day.

“I don’t think on a day to day basis the extra time is really going to increase student learning noticeably if at all, I just think the extra full days make more sense,” Hall said.

Hall does give credit to the school though for how they made the choice to add time to the end of the day.

“I think the school did a nice job asking for input, the teachers were given an opportunity and so was the community with an online survey,” Hall said.

Senior Charae Miller thinks differently. Miller thinks that adding time to the end of the day is a bad idea.

“I don’t think that it benefits students at all because our classes are already long,” Miller said.

Principal Doug Wheeler doesn’t really have an opinion on the way the school board handled the snow days.

“I think that you know they are responding to the community’s desire not to go four extra days,” Wheeler said.

Wheeler thinks that there aren’t many benefits to the way the school is making the days up.

“Really the only benefit is that they won’t have to go that third week of June to school,” Wheeler said.

Read more at Hoover Challenger

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Pass on RTTT

Jason Reichenbacher — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:02:39 +0000

The bell rings and it’s time for class. Students file into the classroom, sit down at their desks, pull out their phones and put in their ear buds. Test scores and academic achievement are struggling, causing the building to fall below federal requirements for being a successful school.

The standards for a successful school are set forth by the federal government, it is a combination of ITED scores and graduation rates. If schools fall below the mark they are awarded the title of Persistently Low Achieving School (PLAS).

Nine of Des Moines Public Schools (DMPS) are on this list. But according to Principal Doug Wheeler it isn’t an accurate assessment.

“These federal requirements focus only on one score (ITEDS) it doesn’t take into consideration that Hoover has made steady gains over the past three years with test scores. The problem is that the public see the schools on this list and automatically assume that the teachers are doing something wrong,” Wheeler said.

According to Wheeler quantifying academic achievement is close to impossible . Despite low test scores Wheeler has the utmost confidence for his educators.

“I’ll put any one of our teachers up against anyone in the suburbs for making student gains,” Wheeler said.

The district realizes that having nine schools on the PLAS list is a problem, and are considering applying for what is called a School Improvement Grant (SIG). These federal funds would be used to change the PLAS into a proficient school. This change is called Reform. There are four different templates for reforming. (see sidebar,)

The federal money does not come without hefty requirements. With a sigh Wheeler understood about the application for the money.

“I don’t think we can turn down money in this economy,” Wheeler said.

Superintendant Nancy Sebring is in support of the application.

“It is recognition that money is important to turning around low performing schools. Funds are needed to train staff, purchase new curriculum. and provide supplemental services to students,” Sebring said.

President of the teachers union Alan Young agrees with Sebring that the application for the grant is a positive move.

“We certainly aren’t afraid of it,” Young said.

With application for the grant it is required that districts and the teachers union must now negotiate through collective bargaining meetings on how they will carry out these reform policies prior to submitting the application.

While Sebring does feel that the collective bargaining agreement is restrictive, she thinks that DMPS can make it work.

“I believe that we will see additional language coming from the DE regarding the collective bargaining requirement that may make it more palatable,” Sebring said.

According to Wheeler, out of the four different reform possibilities, the transformation model seems to be the most beneficial.

“It offers the most support and doesn’t create as much discontinuity,” Wheeler said.

Discontinuity meaning the model does not take as many drastic measures to transform the school.

The transformation model requires that the principal of the school be removed and a new evaluation system for teachers and principals be implemented. This is to measure student progress and teacher effectiveness.

According to Sebring the funding the district provides right now just isn’t cutting it.

“SIG funds will allow us to make an impact in a shorter amount of time than if we were using the limited resources of the district,” Sebring said.

Students walk to class during passing period. The RTTT fund aims to turn around the bottom 5 percent schools. DMPS decided to pass on the fund. “SIG funds will allow us to make an impact in a shorter amount of time than if we were using the limited resources of the district,” Sebring said.

Read more at Hoover Challenger

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Student scheduling

kayla.johnson — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 17:56:20 +0000

Starting near the end of the school year students will have the opportunity to complete their schedules online for the fall 2010 school year.

The counselors are still involved in making the schedules, but the students have more control in what their schedules look like.

Science teacher Eric Hall is new to the process.

“It’s good students start the process,” Hall said. “…It’s still good someone is looking over it.”

Students will be going to the library with their English class sometime next month to make their schedule for next year.

Sophomore Kailie Liggett thinks that students will benefit from creating their schedules.

“Counselors tend to screw some things up and the students know what they need and want,” Liggett said.

However Ligget realizes that due to classroom sizes and availability some students won’t be able to take the classes they need. Another issue is that certain students may not sign up in time to get a class they want.

As an advisory teacher Hall has to look back on the schedules and explains that creating a schedule could be challenging for some students.

“Be careful picking needed classes,” Hall said.

With the new responsibilities of creating a schedule, Liggett believes there’ll be students who take advantage of it by picking classes that they know their friends picked.

On the other hand Hall thinks that the new system will allow students to be accountable for their choices.

“(Students will have) more ownership for what (they) do for (their) choice,” Hall said.

Read more at Hoover Challenger

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Advisory elimination

melissa.hollister — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 17:53:23 +0000

Kirra Herron photo

As of last year block scheduling started, but also advisory was every day of the week for 15 minutes. Next year students will have advisory once a week for 30 minutes every Wednesday. This will make classes on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday 90 minutes long.

Principal Doug Wheeler noticed that advisory every day of the week may have not have been a good idea for students.

“The research said that having advisory every day of the week worked for students and helped students but I guess Hoover proved them wrong,” Wheeler said.

With having advisory every day of the week the attendance was not strong in advisory and with the length of advisory teachers can’t get much done.

“Teachers will be able to provide consistence in what is going on in advisory. Like the extended length of the class helps with more learning. So the same thing as advisory. It will make advisory more special once a week. Hopefully have better attendance too,” Wheeler said.

Learning transitions and resources teacher Marjorie Flowers sees positives and negatives in this change.

“I see it as a smaller learning community. We have to be more focused on that one time a week. With that though that means not having a community,” Flowers said.

Sophomore Miranda Murr who used homeroom time for homework and to relax will miss homeroom but she thinks it is a good idea.

“We waste more time, we can have more times for electives and class. I will miss the time to relax and do homework,” Murr said.

With the incoming freshmen it may be a little bit harder to have that relationship or connection with their homeroom teacher.

“It will be harder. It took awhile last year. I was new and I had a freshmen class. If it would be once a week we would still be working on it,” Flowers said.

Murr feels that sometimes homeroom can be wasted time on the days when students don’t have anything for homeroom to do.

“We won’t waste time just sitting there when there is no information,” Murr said.

Teachers and staff will be setting up a committee to see what requirements there will be.

Although it is a once a week class students will still get credit and it will still be pass or fail. Wheeler will also go to S.P.I.R.I.T. (a student lead group) what they think too.

“We will form an advisory committee and we will look at what needs to be happening at each grade level and put together a calendar to know what is going on,” Wheeler said, “I think I will ask the S.P.I.R.I.T. group what they want to do. I ask students first then go to teachers. Students are smart; if we don’t listen to them then we are stupid.”

Read more at Hoover Challenger

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8.5 teacher jobs on the cut

Michael Roby — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 18:06:48 +0000

Governor Chet Culver announced Oct. 8, 2009 that as part of his plan to keep taxes down he would cut 10 percent of 2010’s school budget. Every school is expecting 8.5 jobs being cut to stabilize the budget.

Vice principal Mel Green has been through shares of budget crisis before, and knows it can be rough.

“A lower budget introduces problems like fewer teachers, less technology and fewer programs, it’s really too bad,” Green said.

Music teacher Anna Wolf has also felt the struggle of a lower budget. Two years ago she was almost put on half time pay, just as, if this cut goes through, another teacher will face.

“The school just can’t afford to keep up with us,” Wolf said.

Most of the money granted from the government goes to paying teacher’s salaries. The rest goes to buying new supplies, equipment and other funds.

Despite the struggle for money, things aren’t always as bad as they seem.

“They usually don’t cut all those jobs, some people leave, we get some more money, things like that, it’s just the worst case scenario,” Wolf said.

If taxes were raised some money may be able to return to the schools, but in the poor economy many adults are unwilling to fight that battle.

“Taxes are just an important thing nobody likes to deal with,” Green said.

There is also an issue of seniority in budget cuts. Older teachers are shown to stay when younger and less experienced teachers have to be let go.

“Because of seniority in teachers, we could lose some really talented, young teachers just because they’re low on the totem pole,” Wolf said.

Despite all of the struggles with money, members of the staff manage to remain confident that the faculty will keep up their work through everything.

“We’ll always find a way to get through budget cuts, there’s some strong teachers and staff to keep things going,” Wolf said.

Read more at Hoover Challenger

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Block scheduling goes district wide

Erik.Hoffman — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 18:05:07 +0000

Starting in the fall block scheduling will be instilled in every Des Moines Public School.

Roosevelt Principal Kathy Danielson is optimistic about the change.

“The Roosevelt staff is up to the challenge,” Danielson said.

Danielson says that it is a positive change and that she likes the idea of longer periods. There are some disadvantages but Danielson doesn’t seem to mind.

“I love to call disadvantages challenges,” Danielson said.

Danielson thinks that for the most part this is a good thing for schools.

“It’s a work in progress,” Danielson said.

Principal Doug Wheeler agrees that block scheduling is a good schedule to install in other schools.

“I think that it’s a wonderful system,” Wheeler said.

Wheeler said he likes block because it gives students more time to learn what is being taught, and it also shortens the amount of students in the class so you can get help easier.

“I’m excited that the other schools are going to block and will have the same schedule,” Wheeler said.

Studies have shown that shorter periods benefit students more than longer ones. Des Moines public schools have decided to make this change in order to try to improve grades, decrease discipline issues and save money.

East High junior Alyssa Denning finds some positive things about block. She said block scheduling will cause the greatest shift in her grades.

“I think it will improve them (my grades),” Denning said.

Read more at Hoover Challenger

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Passing on a race to the top

Jason Reichenbacher — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 18:03:30 +0000

It’s a competition for school funding. States across the country are applying for federal grants for public education, but the majority of them will not be awarded the federal money.

According to Superintendent Nancy Sebring Iowa is changing legislation in order to be more appealing to the Federal Department of Education, who ultimately decides whether Iowa gets awarded funding or not.

The bill aimed to lift the cap on charter schools in Iowa, making it possible to change persistently low achieving schools into charter schools. This happens to be one of the models suggested by the government to transform low achieving schools.

The change in legislation did not come without its roadblocks.

According to Sebring there was language in the bill requiring what is called collective bargaining between the teacher’s union and the school board on the matter of school transformation.

“The Collective Bargaining process is a formal negotiation between the school board and the teacher’s union typically used to establish salary and benefits. Our school board felt that the requirement to collectively bargain was unnecessarily restrictive to the conversation of improving schools,” Sebring said.

According to Sebring this would be one of the main reasons that 140 school districts in Iowa opted to not submit their memorandums of understanding (MOUs) or agreements to the application.

According to the President of the Des Moines Education Association Alan Young the DMPS board was “confused.” It was Young’s understanding that the school board opted out of the application because they were afraid of the reform models.

“In my opinion the district’s decision to not apply for the Race To The Top (RTTT) grant was stupid. The district was confused at the time of signing on the requirements. They thought that the four reform models were attached to the RTTT grant, and were against collective bargaining on the subject of school transformations,” Young said.

As the president of the teacher’s union Young is in support of collective bargaining.

“It’s not about excluding anyone from the discussion about school transformation, we (the teachers union) just want to be included,” Young said.

Sebring disagrees with Young on the fact that collective bargaining does not exclude the public. Sebring feels it important that students, parents, public residents and teachers are all included in the discussion regarding school transformations, something that she believes will not be possible with the new collective bargaining agreement.

But, according to Sebring the MOU deadline for the RTTT grant has passed and DMPS had chosen not to submit. However another option under the same umbrella of Race To The Top is still on the table.DMPS is considering signing on to what is called a School Improvement Grant (SIG) which is federal money for persistently low achieving schools. This money, however, does not come without strings attached.

Those “strings” attached to the SIG would be complying to one of the four basic reform models (see sidebar).

With the possibility of his job, along with fifty percent of the school’s staffs jobs on the chopping block, Principal Doug Wheeler does not support the application for SIG. According to Wheeler, the government is treating school transformations in the same regard they would corporation bailouts.

“If you look at the reform models they are not much different than corporations; they are very business intensive. Sure, there are benefits to being a bank and being bailed out, but if you look, many of the banks are trying to pay the money back so they don’t have to live under the government rules,” Wheeler said.

According to Wheeler the government regulations on this money are unrealistic. However, Superintendent Sebring disagrees.

Aside from the requirement of collective bargaining on school transformations, Sebring thinks that it would benefit Iowa to apply for the SIG, which could mean big changes, especially in the Des Moines Public School District

Read more at Hoover Challenger

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District enters into a purchasing freeze

Jason Reichenbacher — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 20:55:31 +0000

Governor Chet Culver has mandated an across the board budget cut of 10 percent from the original budget issued for the fiscal year of 2010. For the district this means a $17.5 million cut. The majority of the money will be coming from the State Foundation Aid, which is the money used to fund public schools. Now the next fiscal year appears to be even worse, with 300 jobs on the chopping block and a $33 million cut leaving classrooms with less money than they have ever had.

What this means for the school is that anything that needs to be purchased must be approved by Principal Doug Wheeler. Wheeler has been instructed to only approve what is necessary for education at the school.

Vocal music director Anna Wolf has not been completely affected by the freeze but explains that her department is lucky.

“I have purchased what we needed up to this point; we will see as we get closer to contest,” Wolf said.

The choir department is not able to purchase new music, so Wolf is now forced to borrow music or use what is in the vocal music library.

“There might be things that we can’t do which we have normally done in the past,” Wolf said.

The department must now resort to fundraising for anything extra such as accompaniment fees and videotaping and sound technicians for concerts. Wolf does take an optimistic approach to the tough times however.

“I don’t think it has affected education quality yet, I think it just makes teachers have to be more creative,” Wolf said.

Librarian Pam Pilcher has also spent the majority of the library’s budget during the summer and fall and like the rest of the school, the money she does have left needs approval to be spent.

“Hoover’s library has an average copyright date of 1993 which is somewhat lower than other schools, especially some of the suburban schools, but for Des Moines our school has a nice library,” Pilcher said.

Pilcher plans as every year to go through the books, weed the older ones out and move in updated books, which according to her is nothing out of the ordinary.

Director of community relations Leigh Mcgivern has regrettably come to terms with the budget cuts.

“Any cuts always affect education, last year was three percent. This year was 10 percent. Over the past nine years we have had $55 million in cuts which had not affected the classroom, but now we are looking at scenarios that may affect them, it’s not something that we want to do,” Mcgivern said.

Pilcher Agrees with Mcgivern.

“We just have to bear it, we don’t have much control,” Pilcher said.

Read more at Hoover Challenger

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Academic interventionist steps in as “VP”

Entertainment Editor — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 20:54:09 +0000

Not often does one man take on the duties of being an academic interventionist, varsity baseball coach, assistant athletic director and fill in “Vice Principal”.

Starting the second semester of his third year, Mike Vukovich was chosen by Principal Doug Wheeler to fill in for Janine Schochenmaier during her leave.

“Mr. Wheeler felt that it would be the least disruptive to the environment to have me fill in for her,” Vukovich said.

Vukovich recieved his master’s in administration in late 2009 and has enjoyed his new role inside the office.

“I’ve handled it pretty well, in fact, I know this is what I want to do for a living,” Vukovich said.

Since taking Schochenmaier’s place in November, Vukovich hasn’t had to go through any tough experiences.

“I’m yet to have a bad experience as VP, there’s a good new experience every day,” Vukovich said.

Working with kids to better their futures has benefitted Vukovich and students from all over the Des Moines area.

“Although there are different challenges every day, it’s great to work with kids and help them to better themselves for the future,” Vukovich said.

After graduating college, Vukovich had a goal to become a full time VP.

“The fact I know it’s what I want to do is a verification of how seriously I take this job,” Vukovich said

While trying to get her final high school year’s into gear, Senior Iesha Quinn found herself visiting Schochenmaier’s office on a regular basis her Junior year.

“It’s weird to not have her here, but Vukovich has worked wonder’s filling the seat,” Quinn said.

Read more at Hoover Challenger

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As the snow comes fast, schools slow down

Aleksandra.Vujicic — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 20:52:57 +0000

kira herron photo

As the snow piles up from a record setting season, the snow days add on as well, causing a delay for finals and a longer wait to get out of school for the summer.

With the winter season starting with a series of snow storms and below zero temperatures, the district has already canceled six school days which may be added on to the end of the second semester.

Sophomore Alma Zilic believes that concentrating in class will be harder as the weather warms up, and as students are making up snow days during the summer.

“Everyone’s going to be thinking about having fun and not really thinking about school (on those extra days). In the past, we’ve done pretty much nothing, just sat around and talked,” Zilic said.

Senior Ashley Foreman, on the other hand, says to keep the snow days coming.

“It feels phenomenal because as a senior I don’t have to make them (snow days) up at the end of the year. They (underclassmen) will probably be antsy because they just want to get out of school,” Foreman said.

Business and technology teacher Jacob Welchans believes that focus is always a problem as students stay in school for an extended time into the summer.

“It’s harder to get kids engaged than earlier in the year. It can cause more unsettled classrooms. But hopefully by the time we get there, we will accept the fourteenth (of June) as the last day. We’ve got to make sure we give students enough work because more free time causes more problems,” Welchans said.

The finals schedule has been pushed back close to two weeks throughout the whole district, giving students more time to prepare and review.

“I like the new finals schedule because I’m a procrastinator so it gives me more time to study. But some people work their butts of the week before finals, and now they might forget before next week,” Foreman said.

Welchans agrees with the change because it balances the two semesters out. To accommodate the changes, he’s had to stretch his last units out and shuffle his lesson plans.

“You just have to be able to be flexible and ready to change plans last minute. Roll with the punches and just go with it,” Welchans said.

Though summertime may not be the best time for concentration, extremely low temperatures may not prove otherwise.

“It’s kind of hard to concentrate when I’m freezing my butt off. Our school is cheap, and can’t turn up the heat,” Foreman said.

Welchans agrees that with cold temperatures comes decreased productivity.

“When I’m teaching a computer class, students’ hands get cold when they’re typing. Really cold days makes kids not want to do their work, at least in my computer classes,” Welchans said.

As for the period of time following the canceled school days, some students may need more time to get into the swing of things.

“I kind of get off my sleep schedule. For the days off, I sleep until noon or one and go to bed late. Then when I’m supposed to go to bed early on school nights, I can’t sleep,” Foreman said.

Zilic agrees that extreme winter weather affects students negatively in the classroom.

“You’re lazy and you just want to lay in bed and be warm all day. You don’t want to work,” Zilic said.

Read more at Hoover Challenger

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Hundreds of homes, thousands of students, millions of allergens

Aleksandra.Vujicic — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 18:47:51 +0000

kira herron photo illustration

With 1200 students, the school is a vacuum for millions of allergens from 1200 different homes. The air quality and mold have been topics of concern after teacher complaints about an increase in allergies.

Spanish teacher Terri Dessauer has had allergy symptoms since the second week of school, including hives, nasal congestion, wheezing and her ears have closed off. After being in her classroom for the past five years, this is the first year she has had this number of symptoms.

“I swear it’s this room. I can go home and feel 100 percent better. I felt good, until I walked into here; and I have to stay in this room all day. “For each symptom, I get a new one,” Dessauer said.

Dessauer voiced her concerns to principal Doug Wheeler.

“First I had the custodians clean the dust out of the 43 year old vents (at area of concern). I called in the district when I realized it was beyond our ability,” Wheeler said.

Chief operations officer Bill Good was notified about staff reactions and concerns.

“Whenever we receive a concern about air quality within a building we take it very seriously and investigate potential causes. Providing the best air quality to our schools is a priority. All of our schools meet ventilation requirements,” Good said.

An air quality test was performed to find the root of the concerns. Different types of mold, humidity and carbon dioxide levels were tested. The tests were done twice to compare results.

“We found one area which had some mold growth that we have taken care of. The samples taken in and outside the building would indicate that the air inside the building was better than the outside,” Good said.

The results stated that the hallway outside of Dessauer’s room was at or around the minimum threshold of being detected for mold.

“So the administration is saying it’s not in my room, but it’s less than 20 feet away,” Dessauer said.

Dessauer also said that 13 colonies of mold were found in a service locker.

“I want to know all 13 of these colonies and I want to be tested for all thirteen of them because I want them to know that it’s not all in my head. I wasn’t bothered by allergies for the past 10 years. If I continue wheezing, I am seeing an allergist,” Dessauer said.

Wheeler said that the mold detected in the service locker cannot spread because it has been isolated and will be removed. The test also showed an increase in humidity levels due to a pipe leak in the girl’s restroom outside of room 101. Both areas will be treated and retested.

“The findings were safe for students and staff,” Wheeler said.

The tests were done at and around areas of concern, not the whole school.

“That’s not a reasonable test. The whole school should be done. The drop ceilings too, someone needs to get up there,” Dessauer said.

Good feels that sample testing is necessary for financial reasons.

“Testing every part of every school would not be a good use of our dollars. Testing can be very costly and to do tests where we don’t have issues would not make sense,” Good said.

Wheeler concentrated on the areas that the complaints were coming from.

“I also asked them to test other areas including the auditorium and second floor. We just want to make sure everything is safe,” Wheeler said.

And since it has been a wet year, there is mold growing on leaves outside of the building, which can also cause symptoms of mold allergies.

“A mold allergy can do permanent damage to the lungs. Luckily, we don’t have an unsafe level of mold. We’re safer inside than outside,” Wheeler said, “The environment is so important with what we do.”

Good feels that any type of airborne contaminant can impact individuals differently.

“As humans we are all different. We react differently to many things from temperatures, what may be in the air, food allergies, or other environmental conditions we encounter every day. We need to recognize that and do what we can to improve our quality of life,” Good said.

Read more at Hoover Challenger

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Be Strong, Army Strong

Payton Quinn — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 18:06:20 +0000

Being army strong means having immense emotional, physical and mental health. Being a high school student means having class 8 hours a day, tests and finals. Certain students among the halls balance the two in their own way.

Junior Josh Strait is involved in JROTC at central academy.

“I want to full active in the military after I go to mechanic school,” Strait said.

Strait used to skateboard on a regular basis but when he decided to start JROTC and training for the military he couldn’t risk getting hurt.

“The military expects you to be in good physical health, giving up skateboarding was hard but I really want to join when I’m done with school,” Strait said.

Strait spends a lot of time balancing school and military stuff.

“School takes up time as it is, so balancing the work and training for ROTC it can get difficult,” Strait said.

Senior Seth Jamison became involved with ROTC and the military for many reasons.

“I want to be in the military because I understand how it works and I have the experience from ROTC,” Jamison said. “Plus it will help me with college and its one of the most respected programs.”

Physical fitness is a huge part of the military. People joining are expected to be in shape and meet physical expectations. If someone cannot live up to expectations they may be denied entrance.

“I do a lot of running, pushups, and sit-up’s because that’s the military basic physical, I also do raiders for ROTC which takes place before and after school,” Jamison said.

Jamison doesn’t find that his programs interfere with school.

” ROTC is a class so its not a problem, Raiders is an extracurricular activity so it doesn’t interfere,” Jamison said.

Many other things can interfere with joining the army. Such as dating someone in the army and already being involved.

Senior Ellie Riordan is not joining the army because her boyfriend is involved.

” I’m already involved with the military through ROTC and my boyfriend is in the army so I’m involved,” Riordan said.

The Military’s quota saying is “Army Strong”. Merchandise has this saying on it and so does much other stuff they sell.

Jamison and Strait have their own definition of what army strong is.

” I pretty much agree with the army’s definition of army strong so I don’t really have my own words,” Strait said.

Jamison has his own personal definition of being army strong.

” Being army strong is probably not only to be strong physically but mentally and emotionally as well,” Jamison said. “To push yourself to the absolute limit and never give up, to be the best we can be.”

Read more at Hoover Challenger

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Same sex marriage ban in California faces charges

Michael Roby — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 18:03:21 +0000

Ted Olson and David Bois, both veterans of the Bush vs. Gore case in 2000, are now working together to sue California federal government and Proposition 8 for being a breach in the constitution.

Biology teacher Miriam Heurmann has spent fifteen years of her life fighting for gay rights, and is hoping that this trial will reflect a change our modern society, specifically an opening to awareness.

“I think we need to allow people to have equal rights no matter what, to have the same benefits and acceptance no matter who you are. We don’t choose who we love,” said Heurmann.

Heurmann has already seen a lot of change in this respect around the school, seeing more tolerance and acceptance of the LGBTAQ community.

“I mean we still have a bullying issue, but a lot of that is based on ignorance,” Heurrmann said.

Sophomore Thayne Henderson is also a supporter of the actions being taken in California. Henderson considers himself a homosexual, is Christian and hopes the world can stop seeing everything in black and white.

“If God was truly against it, wouldn’t he make it so no one was gay?” Henderson said.

Henderson has been a member of this cause since middle school and is rooting for Bois and Olson to finish what needs to be done and set the law straight.

“It’s up to what you believe. If you believe it’s fine to marry the same sex then saying no is a violation of the constitution,” Henderson said.

California’s Proposition 8, also known as the, “California Marriage Protection Act,” voted into action in California last year, is the law under the attack. The ban on same sex marriage states, “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.”

According to protectmarriage.com, main online supporter of Proposition 8, the actions were taken by California families in order to protect the family unit, and prevent the social definition of marriage from changing in the state.

Iowa court went through the process of legalizing same sex marriage earlier this year, and, as far as Heurmann is concerned, that decision didn’t do any catastrophic damage.

“We haven’t had anything here in Iowa; marriages weren’t compromised because of same sex marriage. It isn’t the end of the world; it isn’t the end of marriage. It’s these time that we have to continue to do what is right,” Heurmann said

Read more at Hoover Challenger

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Facebook becomes teachers’ business

Entertainment Editor — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 14:06:28 +0000

A new program called SchoolVue allows teachers in the school full control over all the computers in their classrooms. Teachers can view each student’s monitor screen and even work on each computer from one central location.

Business and computers teacher Kathleen McNeal has been teaching around the Midwest for over 20 years.

“SchoolVue is a great asset to class,” McNeal said.

While teaching in class, McNeal has easier options to help students.

“I’m able to help with lecture classes. We can all view the same thing on our computers at once,” McNeal said.

SchoolVue has been known to be an easy route into one’s MySpace or Facebook account, but McNeal believes there’s a line that can be crossed

“I haven’t heard of any teachers doing it, if I knew how to work MySpace I could do a lot,” McNeal said in laughter.

In order for any teacher to view a students personal business, a student must be signed on to that website.

“They’d have to be signed on, and I’d have to be aware of it, but that would never happen,” McNeal said.

Senior Alen Ademovic has been taking computer classes for his entire high school career. Ademovic has a lot of respect for SchoolVue.

“They use it to help you, and if you’re stuck on something they can help from their computer,” Ademovic said.

In business classrooms, privacy on social networking sites has never been an issue. “SchoolVue is mostly used for help. If a teacher sees you on MySpace they’re just going to tell you to get off,” Ademovic said

Principal Doug Wheeler is a strong supporter of the SchoolVue program.

“Teacher’s like it, it’s a very strong tool in special education classrooms. It keeps students off of inappropriate sites, and is great for one on one classes,” Wheeler said.

Teachers being able to access one’s private information is the main concern with students, but Wheeler doesn’t think it’s an issue.

“It’s not used for that purpose, it just keeps everyone on the same page and out of trouble,” Wheeler said.

Wheeler compared employees to students, making a point that these computer programs are used in the work place.

“Most jobs involve computer usage, and if your boss catches you on an inappropriate site you’re at risk of losing your job,” Wheeler said.

Read more at Hoover Challenger

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Welcome to the safe zone

Payton Quinn — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 14:05:16 +0000

new safe center for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students opened downtown June 1. The center is considered a safe zone because anyone can come, not just the LGBT community.

Administrator at the center Sandy Vopalka quit her job to run the center.

“I felt like I had this nagging sensation to start something and figure out who’s voices aren’t being heard in the community and what I can do about it,” Vopalka said.

Vopalka has been an “out” lesbian for 30 years and is proud of it. She doesn’t expect people that come to the center to be on the same level as her.

“The goal of the center is to help people find stuff they can do and feel comfortable in the environment, we have many programs available including youth group which meets Thursday nights, various holiday events and many more groups for all ages,” Vopalka said.

The center recently lost the funding due to the superior form of income ran into legal issues.

“We are in fundraising mode and are asking for any donation anyone is willing to give, I plan on keeping this center open no matter how much it takes,” Vopalka said.

“We have helped too many people in the community including talking between seven and ten people out of suicide.”

The center hours are Monday through Saturday 12-6 and anyone is welcome to go. The center has wi-fi and many activities to do such as watch movies read and visit with people of the community.

” I just want people to come and see what we have to offer, if there is something we don’t have that they need we will do what it takes to provide that for them,” Vopalka said. “All they have to do is ask.”

Read more at Hoover Challenger

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State-wide cuts cause schools to do more with less

Aleksandra.Vujicic — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 14:01:19 +0000

kira herron illustration

The state is faced with a 10 percent across-the-board budget cut, which translates to $17.5 million being cut from Des Moines Public Schools.

The district has already cut out-of-district travel, department budgets will be cut and unnecessary spending will be avoided. All certified staff under contract cannot be laid off mid-year, but next year job cuts will be determined according to how hard the budget cut hits.

English teacher Jon Rubino feels he can’t get too comfortable with his job.

“I have no control over it. I can’t dwell on it, or worry. It’s a scary time right now for students and teachers,” Rubino said.

Principal Doug Wheeler feels that teachers can’t be replaced by technology, and is worried to think about possible cuts next year.

“I’m left to make decisions about teachers. Making cuts are one of the hardest things I’ve had to do in my life, we’re talking about insurance and feeding their families. There are no easy cuts,” Wheeler said.

Both Wheeler and Rubino agree that students will be affected most by the shortage of money, with larger class sizes, less technology and less money for new materials.

“Larger class sizes means less individualized attention for students,” Rubino said.

Superintendent Nancy Sebring believes that a cut this size is devastating to any school district. Since 2005, this is the fifth across-the-board cut, totaling to $55 million in total cuts.

“My biggest concern is we have to ask more of people. Hard working teachers to take on more work. Next year’s classes will get larger and we may not offer as many electives,” Sebring said.

All state departments get the same percentage cut from their budget. Math teacher Josh Griffith feels that each department has certain needs and that there shouldn’t be one set percentage of cuts.

“I don’t think you should cut everything the same amount. Some departments are padded more than others,” Griffith said.

Wheeler thinks the budget cut goes back to the economic downturn and people not putting money back into the economy. Along with low taxes, the state is in a tight money situation.

“Everyone expects superior service if taxes are low. We need to be realistic, costs will be higher,” Wheeler said.

Athletically, needs will be prioritized. Only the most crucial needs are tapped for new purchases.

Rubino feels that the future of Iowa is at stake, but that education won’t be sacrificed.

“The uncertainty is kind of scary for everyone but we’ve got a strong staff, and we’ll continue to do the best for our students,” Rubino said.

“No fat on the bones anymore, we’re now removing vital organs. We have to do more with less,” Sebring said.

Read more at Hoover Challenger

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Administrators deal with student theft

Aleksandra.Vujicic — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:40:27 +0000

kira herron photo illustration

The school year has brought three student searches, including one classroom search for stolen valuable items.

Sophomore Ashly George fell victim when her $300 iPod Touch suddenly disappeared in biology class.

“First I asked two of my friends if they had taken it. When they said no, I told my biology teacher. He shut the door and told the whole class if whoever had it didn’t give it up he would call the cops,” George said.

When nobody fessed up, vice principals Jeff Panek and Mel Green and Student Resource Officer (SRO) Ned Chiodo were called up to perform a bag search.

Sophomore Erna Mahmutovic was in the classroom and was asked to empty her bag and place all the contents onto a desk. One of the vice principals came around to check for the stolen iTouch and to make sure all bags were completely empty.

“I felt mad because I knew I didn’t take it and it wasn’t my fault somebody took that person’s iTouch. I had nothing to do with it and they still searched me. Whoever stole it was pretty immature,” Mahmutovic said.

Administrators have the right to perform searches if they have reasonable suspicion. George feels the search was necessary.

“If somebody has it, they’re not going to give it up unwillingly, unless you find it,” George said.

The thief (name withheld pending legal action) was found. But the thief was not present when the search was conducted, although he is on the class roster.

Principal Doug Wheeler feels that if a student skips class, it gives enough reasonable suspicion.

“We are cracking down. If you don’t want to get searched or accused, don’t put yourself out there,” Wheeler said.

Wheeler believes that theft being an issue goes back to kids carrying around more technology, and having something that someone else wants.

“Don’t bring anything to school, or in public, that you don’t want stolen. Also don’t let people borrow iPods because they may not be responsible,” Wheeler said.

George is willing to forgive but not forget.

“I’m not really angry with him (the thief), it was just more of a surprise. I would ask him why he did it,” George said.

Items stolen from locker rooms have also become an ongoing issue.

Sophomore Olivia Boston is on the girls swim team and keeps many personal items in the locker room. She recently had food stolen and she noticed her combination lock had been unlocked. Other teammates also complained about stolen money, makeup, and they noticed their stuff had been disheveled.

“I told another girl on the swim team and she said that people in ISS were using our locker room as their bathroom,” Boston said.

Boston and a few other swimmers told Wheeler about the disappearances and they made sure to lock up all valuable items.

“I feel like the locker room isn’t a safe place for my things because we’ve gotten a whole bunch of stuff stolen. I thought it was safe at first, I guess not. I’m angry because people shouldn’t be taking stuff that doesn’t belong to them. It’s disrespectful,” Boston said.

Wheeler responded to the complaint by having the locks changed on the locker rooms. But he claims there were no students in ISS on the day of the complaint, and the door of the locker room had been propped open.

“Students think we don’t care; it’s not true. But there’s only so much we can do. We need to balance problem solving between the students and the school,” Wheeler said.

The school is over 40 years old, and there haven’t been many updates to the facility. But Wheeler thinks technology can only go so far.

“There are random searches, metal detectors and cameras in prisons, and crimes still happen,” Wheeler said.

Wheeler believes that theft is not a new problem- that thieves count on lapses in responsibility.

“It angers me when students get things stolen. They don‘t feel safe. They feel violated,” Wheeler said.

Read more at Hoover Challenger

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Raffle for carnival cruise

Michael Roby — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:38:15 +0000

A raffle is being held at home team sporting events and other school sponsored events throughout the year. With this raffle, a $5 ticket can win a student a four day trip on Carnival Cruises with everything from departure to gratuity already paid off anytime within 18 months of post prom.

Ross Peeler, in charge of the committee, has been cruising for years and has grown to love the experience and wanted an opportunity to share it with high school students.

“I’ve grown to become a huge fan of cruises over the years, and I’ve grown to love the experience and I wanted to share it with students,” Peeler said.

While Peeler is hoping the students will be estatic for the trip by the end of the process, he and his committee haven’t seen their expected response from students, but is confident it will pick up in time.

“I think they’re open to it, but to them it’s still a ways out,” Peeler said.

Peeler’s second in command Judy Neal has enjoyed the experience, and may even continue it in years to come.

“It could be something to do for the next year as well; it’s a great fundraiser,” Neal said.

Peeler, Neal and the rest of the parents have all had fun with it so far, and are looking forward to anything else that may be ahead.

”We have had great results so far with it, six months out,” Peeler said.

Read more at Hoover Challenger

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