5100 Jog Road Boca Raton, FL 33496 @The_Galleon galleonnewsonline.com Volume 31 Issue 2 of Spanish River Community High School’s award-winning student-run newspaper • October 2014 •
Sweat alert:
Homecoming week at a glance
Air conditioning problems cause students to suffer Noah Zylberberg Staff Reporter Every Monday, students and teachers alike brace themselves for the unbearable heat of River’s classrooms due to the lack of air conditioning. Dress code violations, frustration, and anger fill the hallways of River at the start of each new week. The lack of air conditioning has not only affected students’ learning abilities, but also the teachers’ curriculums. Some teachers have been forced to move tests because of the heat of the surrounding environment. The problems with the air conditioning vary from day to day, as do the causes of these problems. Teachers and administrators work tirelessly to solve this imperative issue, but it appears to be a nearly impossible feat. “Our A/C tech guy is very good, but the problem is that he runs 11 different schools, so all he can do is put a BandAid on the problem and run to a different school and hope it holds,” Assistant Principal Douglas Markwardt said. A key reason why there is only one person who runs the air conditioning for eleven different schools is budget cuts. The Palm Beach County School District has had many budget cuts in the past few years, which forces them to allocate resources in order to save money. These cuts come with a heavy cost. “It disrupts the classroom as students cannot concentrate and start acting out of control, which makes it a challenge to teach,” AP Environmental Science teacher Francine Cangelosi said. Despite teachers’ best efforts, students are challenged at the start of each week to learn in an environment that many deem unsuitable for learning. As the budget cuts
increase, the amount of available money to fix the air conditioning decreases. “The air is turned off throughout the weekend, which causes the floors, ceilings, and walls to get hot,” Markwardt said. “When I come in on Monday at 4:30 AM to turn the A/C on, there is not enough time to cool the whole school down by 7.” The reason for turning off the A/C over the weekend is to save the school district money. Many students have expressed anger and dissatisfaction with the lack of funds needed to support a healthy and constructive learning environment. “I’m spending more time sweating than learning at this point,” junior Michael Spiro said. “To top it all off this is an every week thing and I’ve had just about enough of it.” Unfortunately, this response is not uncommon among students. This problem has become widespread and students and teachers have also been forced to violate dress code in order to sit or teach throughout the day. “Every Monday I have to plan my outfits around the lack of A/C since I know it will be extremely hot in all of my classes,” senior Eleanor Murray said. Students and parents can help remediate the situation that has so many students and teachers angry and frustrated. There is a hotline, (561)-434-8000, where parents can call and let the school district know how the lack of air conditioning affects their children’s learning abilities. As fall begins to set in, the air conditioning at Spanish River may improve, but the underlying issue of the “BandAid” for the A/C units may not. Families of the Spanish River community can make a difference through the hotline, as well as social media.
Photos by carly mackler Photo courtesy jill rockewll
AICE classes reach out to community Rachel Horn News Editor Spanish River’s AICE Travel & Tourism classes will be participating in two community service projects in early November that will teach students how to plan events and give back to the community. The students in the 3rd period Travel and Tourism class will be selling light blue bracelets for $5 with the logo “Sharks with Hearts” in order to raise money to throw a party for children at the Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital. The money raised will be used to purchase food, entertainment, and toys for the children. The 4th period class will take River’s 40 Special Olympics athletes and 60 volunteers for an afternoon of bowling, food, and prizes. They are planning to have around 20 teams of people with 2 buddies per team. The funding for this event will come from a business sponsor as well as the entry fees collected from each team. In
order to recruit volunteers, the class will promote this project in every DECA class, via the morning announcements, and through Facebook and Twitter. The students in each class came up with eight ideas that range from community service to hospitality events. Both classes decided that a community service component was more important to them. In an effort to teach students how to write a feasibility statement, which is a financial and marketing statement that determines whether the event is possible to accomplish, students must put on an event and understand all the aspects that go into making the event successful. Their “write up” will then be scored as part of the AICE exam in May. Thirty percent of the student’s’ exam grade will be determined from this “write up” for these two events and their ability to display a business plan, customer service, marketing, and budgeting. To ensure that each student
plays a vital role in the planning of the events, they each have been assigned to one of six different committees that include customer service, marketing, logistics, feasibility, purchasing, and financing. For example, the Customer Service Committee will be putting together the actual party or event and the marketing committee will be in charge of promoting the event by creating the PSAs for the morning announcements as well as creating flyers and posters to hang around River. “I hope that River kids are aware of this great project,” senior Justin Weidenfeld, the spearhead of the Bowling with Buddies project said. “I also hope to promote the Travel and Tourism class and River’s DECA contributions to the community.” Through these two projects, these AICE students will learn how to write a business plan, take the necessary steps to ensure that they pull off the event, and gain the tools needed to pass their AICE exams, all while giving back to their community.