Mountlake Terrace High School 21801 44th Avenue West Mountlake Terrace | WA | 98043 @MTHSHawkeye | @MTHSports www.TheHawkeye.org V28.01 | 5 September 2012
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Several upgrades as school year begins New roof, changes to PASS and Senior Project among the significant changes since last spring By AnhViet Nguyen News Co-Editor
Each school year brings new changes and a chance to start anew. Over the summer, construction crews worked on the $1.3 million roof renovation project. Students and staff had limited access to the building, but many back to school events took place. While students and staff may have already noticed the building’s physical changes, some notable academic and extracurricular programs will also see changes.
PASS
This year, a third day of PASS will be added to the fourth week of each month. The extra day will be utilized for school-wide and non-academic activities. Last year, PASS was introduced as a 37-minute study period, two days a week on Wednesdays and Thursdays, for students to catch up on schoolwork. Although staff members liked PASS, many were frustrated that other things were being scheduled during PASS, which took away from its purpose of “Promoting Academic Student Success”. “I think that if they can fit the activities they need to once a month, then it’s fine,” junior Jack Pearce said. There were discussions about adding an extra day of PASS each week, but the plan was nixed since some classes would be adversely affected by losing classroom time. “I would like to see more PASS if both the teachers and students are willing to work,” Pearce said.
Activities Bus
In addition to PASS, there will be an activities bus beginning on Sept. 25 to aid academic success. The bus will leave at 3:25 p.m. on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. It will make all of the
Serafina Urrutia | Hawkeye
The new opaque glass in the HUB skylights is just one of the major upgrades to the building during the summer. New skylights were also installed above each wing’s stairwells and above the exterior main entrance.
stops on the regular bus routes. Principal Greg Schwab said the plan encourages students to stay after school and receive help from teachers if needed. “I will take advantage of (the activities bus) because it will help me become a better student and help my transcript,” sophomore Ali Shah said. “There shouldn’t be
“I am thinking about doing a career exploration project. Or I might do a project in the engineering field.” Kandin Neri senior
an excuse because now there will be an activities bus.”
ELL sees its numbers decrease, program shifts to local schools By Erick Yanzon Online and Social Media Manager
The ELL (English Language Learners) program is shrinking this school year. There are just 43 ELL students at MTHS this year, compared to nearly 100 from last year. The program has begun to slowly dissolve because most of the last year’s ninth graders are now at Edmonds-Woodway High School. The district wanted all ELL students to attend their home school, which resulted in the opening of a new ELL program at
Meadowdale High School. The reasoning is that students attending their respective home school will experience a better transition from middle school to high school. Michelle Tessier, who has been an ELL teacher in MTHS for 12 years, will be teaching beginning, intermediate and advanced ELL at Meadowdale H.S. At MTHS, she will be teaching advanced ELL for 5th period and English 9 for 6th period. Her advisory students at MTHS are going to be assigned to a different teacher. Because Meadowdale H.S. has block classes, Tessier will be teaching 1st and 3rd
Senior Project choices
A college application project option has been added with definite deadlines mirroring the college application process. Students can also choose to do a career exploration project or create a project to enter the Intel international science fair. “I am thinking about doing a
period on Mondays and Wednesdays. Her 2nd period class will be used to assist the mainstream teachers on how to work with ELL students. Meadowdale students will not have ELL support on Tuesdays and Thursdays and will not have the opportunity to see someone about non-ELL specific issues on those days. They will also have to mix beginner and intermediate students, because there are not enough students to form a single class. “It’s almost not a program anymore, it’s almost getting to be classes because we can’t offer all the things that we used to offer,” Tessier said. Betsy Zeifman, who has been teaching ELL since early 1980s, will be a part-time
career exploration project, making a CD, or directing a jazz combo,” senior Kandin Neri said. “Or I might do a project in the engineering field.” He’s also considering doing the college application project, which Schwab has deemed to be “rigorous”. Continued on page 2
teacher for ELL History, Beginning ELL and Senior COE ELL at MTHS. Zeifman is a 0.8 FTE (full time equivalent) at Terrace, making her one class shy of being a full-time teacher. She is taking sick leave for 0.2 FTE so that Tessier could still be at MTHS for 0.2 FTE. “I think when you have more people, it’s more dynamic. I’m very sad that Mrs. Tessier is not here with me because I think we make a great team and we can offer the students a lot more,” Zeifman said. “I just think team teaching is just a lot stronger than being by yourself and I think the students network better when there are more of them.” At one point, the program had students Continued on page 2