EYE TIGER www.eyeofthetigernews.com
FEATURES
Stray cats found around Roseville High School. Page 3
OPINION
Sophomore Neilson Powless suggests the addition of anti-slip paint in the locker rooms. Page 5
ENTERTAINMENT Senior Jessica Wang advises against seeing Joseph GordonLevitt’s latest film Looper. Page 6
SPORTS
JV girls volleyball defeats Rocklin, comes out 11-2 in league. Page 8
Teachers and staff prepare for future Common Core curriculum by Katelyn Rolen
katelyn.rolen@eyeofthetigernews.com
Teachers at Roseville High School have been attending workshops and meetings regarding Common Core testing. This testing will eventually replace the traditional STAR testing and be aligned with the new Common Core standards that will replace the old California State Standards in 2014. Common Core testing is a form of test that focuses less on factoids and fact-based questions and more on comprehension and a higher level of thinking. Assistant principal Judi Daniels thinks that common core will be beneficial to RHS students. “I’m excited about Common Core,” said Daniels. “It’s a higher level of thinking that prepares students for post secondary education.” To help prepare for these tests, sophomores that have taken biology their freshman year and have PE 10 this term will take a pilot test that will not affect their grade in any class and will not affect RHS. Approximately 80 sophomores have been identified that are eligible to take the test. The test will be administered via computer and will be given to ensure that the technological aspect of Common Core testing works correctly. Principal Brad Basham also believes that common core will be positive for RHS. “I believe that the transition to common core is a great idea,” said Basham. Common Core testing may require a schedule change within the coming years, but when or even if the change will happen is still uncertain. Administrators are looking into the different possible schedule changes that would accommodate common core in the most beneficial way if a schedule change is necessary. “It is too early to tell, [if a schedule change is needed], but it’s
See Common Core | page 2
Roseville High School’s student-produced publication
facebook.com/eyeofthetigernews
October 8, 2012 Issue 2, Volume 12
Adelante student brings gun to RHS campus
By Jessica wang
jessica.wang@eyeofthetigernews.com
Two Adelante High School students – one carrying a gun and loaded magazine, the other a small amount of marijuana – entered t h e Roseville H i g h Jacob Rushing (pictured above), was being held at the Placer County jail before being released on bail last week.
School campus during the latter half of second lunch on September 28. The pair first attempted to enter RHS through Campo Street, but decided to go through the service entrance in the back of the cafeteria when assistant principal Jason Wilson spotted them. Assistant principal Jon Coleman and Officer Carlos Cortes then detained the AHS students. “Their behavior, especially one of the students, was not appropriate and gave Mr. Coleman reasonable suspicion that they shouldn’t be here,” said principal Brad Basham. “They were uncooperative and one
of them said he had something he shouldn’t have. That’s what we call reasonable suspicion and at that point we can ask a police officer to conduct a search.” One of the students had a small amount of marijuana on hand while the other, 18 year-old Jacob Rushing, had an unloaded handgun with a loaded clip next to it. Both students were arrested and brought to the office for further questioning. Rushing is currently out of custody and his bail was set for $26,500 on the charges of having a firearm on school campus and carrying a concealed weapon.
“Jacob overall is a friendly kid and nice,” said AHS student Logan Marquez. “I never would have expected him to do that. All of his friends are all heartbroken about the situation and we love him like a brother. But he made a mistake and he has to pay the price.” According to Basham, he is confident upon questioning and conversation with the administrators at AHS that Rushing meant no harm to RHS, himself, or others. “I’m just so thankful that our administrative team, as well as Officer Cortes, were in the right place at the right time and they
acted swiftly and they took what could have been a very dangerous situation and took a handle on it quickly,” said Basham. “No students and no staff were ever put in jeopardy or in harm’s way.” RHS did not go into an intruder lockdown when the incident occurred. “It was our decision that lockdown wasn’t needed but communication was that parents, students, and staff knew what happened,” said Basham. “That was the route we went.”
See Gun | page 2
Freshman class experiences decline in size Decline in enrollment, increase in transfers, linked to RHS status as program improvement school and lack of IB program availabilBy nick espino
nick.espino@eyeofthetigernews.com
Roseville High School has seen a decrease of incoming freshman this year. Primarily, this is due to the fact that 121 students within the RHS attendance boundaries transferred out before even attending one day at the school. Of those, 87 transferred based on the Program Improvement or the sibling exemptions. The sibling rule states that any student with a sibling at another school has the option to attend the same school. The other 34 students left because of the International Baccalaureate Program at either Oakmont High School or Granite Bay High School. The number of incoming freshman that transferred this year was significantly more than any previous years. “This is the largest number that I’ve seen transfer since I’ve been here,” said principal Brad Basham. “We need to work hard
on improving our reputation.” According to Basham in order to cut down on the amount of transfers out of RHS, the high school plans to change their reputation, work on Program Improvement, and improve their A-G requirements. Last year, RHS increased the number of students that reached their A-G requirements from 30 percent to 70 percent, which is around the same amount of students that GBHS and OHS also Above, the 2011-2012 freshman classes is shown at a rally. This year, 121 freshman transferred out of RHS as a result of its program improvement status, sibling rule and IB. reached. According to Basham, having less freshman students November and the winner, cutting Junior Graham Stauffer believes Graham Stauffer. means shorter lunch lines in the out freshman sports may become that the incoming freshman should Other students feel that education cafeteria, less fights and smaller a possibility. Budget cuts also play have given Roseville a chance is the same at any other high school classes. Having fewer freshman, a factor in cutting freshman sports, before leaving. in the area however, could also give the school but this is certainly not what the “Maybe people should investigate “I don’t see why the academics bad image to outsiders and less school wants. more before they just make a are any better than Woodcreek High “We want to have full freshman decision, like actually come here School, or any other high school,” students will try out for freshman programs,” said Basham. “We don’t and meet the teachers, instead of just said sophomore Ryan Andrada. sports. Depending on the election this want to limit athlete’s playing time.” making assumptions,” said junior
Portable temperatures now regulated to save money By ian souza
ian.souza@eyeofthetigernews.com
Roseville Joint Union High School District’s faculties department established new protocols to ensure that the temperature in the portable classroom does not run below 74 degrees, a policy that matches the system that the rest of the school is on.
According to Scott Davis from RJUHSD facilities, the move was made because some teachers were abusing the air conditioning and costing the district money. These abuses also included leaving the air conditioning on when the room is empty or maintaining a very low classroom temperature. “People would inadvertently set [the air conditioners] to low
temperatures,” said Scott Davis in facilities. According to Davis, properly regulating classroom temperatures can save the district an estimated $16,000 a year. Some teachers complain about the lack of communication they received, however, and were shocked when there air conditioning systems no longer worked as they
had in the past. According to guitar teacher Brian Hack, teachers supposedly received no warning to the change. Hack has to keep two fans in his portable room in order to keep it cool. “The problem is the assumption that they can magically pick a number that works for everybody,” said Hack. The number of students in a
portable in addition to the amount of movement in that confined space creates a lot of heat. Students feel the effect of the increase in temperature as well. “I don’t like the fact that we don’t have control over the temperatures in our classrooms anymore,” said junior Sam Funk. “It doesn’t give us the right to our own preferable room temperature.”
Roseville’s 2011-2012 CST scores show significant drop in three categories, biggest decrease in district By leandra weinberg
leandra.weinberg@eyeofthetigernews.com
Roseville High School’s CST scores for the 2011-2012 school year saw the biggest drop in scores compared to the 2010-2011 school year among all schools in the district. There was no substantial increase in any RHS scores. There was a 13 point drop in percentage of students reaching proficient or higher in Algebra 2, an 18 point drop in Physics and a 15 point increase in students reaching basic or far below basic in general math. According to Principal Brad Basham, the two main factors that could contribute to these drops are that classes can’t be compared because they have different personalities and that there’s no consequence for students if they don’t take the test seriously. “There’s nothing in [the CST’s] for the students,” said Basham. “It’s
not really the level of knowledge, but where the students put their time and energy.” The grade bump for students scoring proficient or advanced was offered as incentive last school year and according to Basham, some grades were raised, though he does not know how many. RHS will offer the grade bump again this school year. According to Basham, teachers also did not emphasize the CST’s last year as much as previous years as they are trying to transition into teaching to common core standards. “CST’s are all very knowledge based questions, they’re factoids, where common core is much more than that,” said Basham. “It’s about applied learning, there’s much more critical thinking involved. So part of [the score drop] is that over the last two years we’ve been trying to make this transition and [teachers] haven’t emphasized the CST’s as much.”
Students think there could be a few reasons for their scores going down. “My math score went down,” said senior Brandon Crisostimo. “I think it was because I had math first term so I didn’t remember everything when it was time to take the CST’s.” Other students think it could have to do with the difference in teaching styles of math teachers from previous years. “My math teacher got hurt and left halfway through the year,” said senior Michael Cruz. “The teaching styles changed and that was difficult.” According to Addington, he did nothing different than in previous years and isn’t worried about the 18 point drop. “Well during the year before, we had a 100% pass rate on the physics CST, so you can only really go down from there,” said physics teacher CJ Addington. “It was
almost expected.” According to Basham, the staff is going to continue to teach in transition to the Common core standards and with developing those skills, the CST’s should get easier for students naturally.
Percent of students proficient or above in 2011
Scores
THISISSUE
OF THE
Connect with us online
Percent of students proficient or above in 2012
General Math
Physics
Algebra II
Subjects
The graph above illustrates three subjects in which Roseville saw the most significant declines in test scores.