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Crunch Time

Tiger HI-LINE

Tuseday, March 5, 2013

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Volume 53 Edition 21

Senchina shares district plans after Wells After a number of dramatic reversals, Superintendent Mike Wells resigned at a board meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 27. The board voted 5-2 in favor of accepting his resignation. About 100 people attended the meeting, including a number that help signs supporting Wells. A number of them stood to clap well he entered the meeting. The resignation was accepted after it was clear that the board was prepared to recommend that he not be rehired for next year after falling short of the board’s expectations in recent performance reviews. These reviews was held in closed sessions, and the board has stressed that it will keep the details private. Though these details will never be known, many are still wondering what will remain of the district’s recent innovative initiatives now that Wells will no longer he leading the district next. Board President Deon Senchina explained the district’s plans in a recent interview: Now that Mike Wells is resigning, how will this affect the changes he has been pushing for? Are plans for a new high school/high school renovation still going to be carried out? (Bilingual education, academies, etc?) Mr. Wells was hired to achieve the district’s initiatives, like the high school

and K-6 foreign language goals. No one person can implement a major goal in a district our size. Administrators and teachers will continue their work until each goal is reached. The next superintendent will also work on these goals just as Mr. Wells has. When will the school board start searching for a new superintendent? How long will the process take? The board will begin the search process for a new superintendent very soon. The search will include the input and participation of many different stakeholder groups. An end date has not yet been established. What is in store for the rest of the school year with Mike Wells? Mr. Wells’ contract continues through June 30. Last Wednesday he said “I will finish the year out with a professional attitude, and continue to work hard to move the district forward.” Has the social media input from community members affected school board decisions? When the possibility of Mr. Wells leaving became public Monday, board members received messages via emails, phone calls and social media. As a board we want to hear from stakeholders and their input is carefully considered. One frequently asked question was why the board held “secret” meetings. Several people believe they have a right

to know the reasons for our action. I’d like to answer that question from three different perspectives. 1) From a personal side, would you want your boss at work to conduct your annual performance review while coworkers and customers listened? 2) Iowa code requires the board to have all meetings open to the public except in a few cases. The superintendent’s evaluation meeting is closed only if the superintendent asks that the meeting be closed. Mr. Wells asked to have the first five sessions closed and then asked the meeting last Wednesday to be open. 3) Mr. Wells contract is a personnel issue and the board has an ethical and legal responsibility to keep the reasons for the board’s final decision confidential. There’s a reaction seen from the community that the school board doesn’t want change, what changes does the school board actually want to see happen within the next few years? Changes in the district are not often seen or known because they aren’t something “visible” like new buildings. There has been a tremendous amount of change in the last six years. Many of them focus on our biggest shift: a change in focus to student learning experiences instead of teaching methods.

Board supported changes in the last six years: Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) Major renovations at Holmes & Peet Junior High Schools Leader in Me Iowa Core Curriculum (ICC) Instructional Decision Making (IDM) Authentic Intellectual Work (AIW) Major additions at Southdale & Hansen increasing to 4 section schools Physical Education Development (PEP grant) School Administration Manager (SAM) Daily reading in all subject areas K-12 STEM--Science, Tech, Engineering & Math Mr. Wells was hired to advance several planned and in process goals including the decision to build or renovate the high school, improve student use of technology, and K-6 foreign language. Future goals include 1) possibly building a seventh elementary school, 2) an International Baccalaureate Program (IP) and 3) additional collaborations with Hawkeye and UNI to add even more technical and college level courses to our high school offerings. By Staff Writer Amanda

Harwood

Multitasking, now a part of everyday life

More often than not, people are doing more than one thing at a time without knowing it Living in this day in age, our brains have been molded to try and do multiple things at once. A very common phenomenon is now taking place: multitasking. It happens all the time, even when people don’t even realize, like when they cook and watch TV at the same time, or when they eat and text, or even when they are on Facebook and listening to music at the same time. “Multitasking is my middle name,” junior Karly Izer said. “No matter what I’m doing, I’m almost always texting while I do it,” senior Krista Fretheim said. “Except driving. That’s illegal!” she added. The main reason why people consciously multitask is to save time. There is so much going on that sometimes the only way to get everything done is to combine all of the tasks in order to accomplish everything faster. “During sports seasons when I get home late, I almost always eat while doing my home-

work or I wouldn’t have time to get everything done before I go to bed,” Fretheim said. Senior Abby Burgart said the same. “It’s hard for me to focus on one thing because I have so much going on.” While doing physical activities, multitasking can provide good results, but not as much as when it requires some brainpower. It can be dangerous (and, of course illegal for teens) like when one drives and talks on the phone at the same time. According to research, the human brain is not designed to process more than one stream of information and encode it into short-term memory at a time. This means that at times, multitasking doesn’t really solve the problem. When one can’t remember the information because one didn’t learn it properly or memorize it, one can’t access it. Burgart agreed that multitasking may not give her the best results all the time. That is not the only reason multitask-

ing can make one less efficient. People tend to think that focusing on something specifically is much harder nowadays due to all of the gadgets available, like cellphones, tablets, computer and TV, but multitasking has always existed and has always been a problem. “It is very easy to get distracted: when your favorite TV show comes on, when your boyfriend texts you, when your grandma calls,” Izer said. Today’s teens say they need to keep many tasks going to keep stimulated. “When I multitask while doing homework, it’s definitely just because I’m bored,” Fretheim said. This also happens to Izer, who has a hard time doing only one thing for a long period of time. “When I have a chore or something to do, I will study for a couple of minutes, do some of that chore and then go back to studying. It makes it so I’m not doing the same thing for a ton of time while getting things done,” she said. People who multitask the most are

actually the most likely to be bad at it. Focusing becomes a major problem and productivity decreases significantly. According to a recent study in England, those who had the best scores were not used to doing several things at once, and because they could pay much more attention to what they had to do, they did it more consciously than those who multitasked very often, so they didn’t get distracted easily. To avoid distractions, Fretheim tries to ignore them, which doesn’t work all the time, she said. “[Establishing limits and goals] is the only way I get any homework done. My reward is always letting myself go on Twitter”, she said, laughing. “Usually when I’m doing homework I have to lock myself away or I will never get anything done. I try not to watch TV while doing homework because I will get way too distracted and then feel terrible about myself,” Izer said. By Staff Writer Ana

CUNHA

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The

OPINION

Our View Recent snows highlight need for alternatives to snow removal It happens every year. We becoming toxic to aquatic may find out about it days in life. The sand, garbage, oil advance, yet no one can do and possibly animal carcassanything to stop it. Snow. es collected from the roads And some of the pearly white along with shoveled snow do snowflakes that fall so grace- not help anything either. Alfully from the heavens end up though no one can stop most on our roads. Then all chaos of these issues without elimibreaks loose. nating litter and cars, which The benign roads sud- is highly unlikely, there is a denly more enbecome “... like the little old lady vironmenicy death that swallowed a fly, tally-safe traps and method only the the cure for our ills may of melting s u p e r - be a poisonous spider snow: beet heroes juice. from Ce- that poses the greater B e e t dar Falls threat.” juice works S n o w similarly Removal can save us from our to salt for melting snow, exdoom. However, like the little cept better. It uses the same old lady that swallowed a fly, chemical reaction to lower the cure for our ills may be a the freezing point of water as poisonous spider that poses salt, but does not stop there. the greater threat. When sprayed on snow, beet The main defenses against juice turns a brownish color, icy roadway Cedar Falls uses which helps it absorb heat are salt and shovelling. Trucks and essentially melt faster. It douse the roads in sodium is also an organic method of chloride before a big storm. snow removal and not harmSalt is highly corrosive. It ful to the environment. damages roads, cars and the Many communities are environment. Salt contamina- already using beet juice for tion can damage plants and snow removal instead of salt. remove the nutrients they The only problem about beet need from the soil, a major juice is the price. One gallon concern for Iowa farmland. costs $1.80 while the average Salt often has additives gallon of salt brine only costs such as sodium ferrocyanide, 12 cents. One way to help and chromates can stop the the environment without the corrosion, however, when financial damage is to use a dissolved in water, they form mixture of salt and beet juice cyanide and chromium ions, to treat icy roads.

Contact Us The Tiger Hi-Line is a weekly publication of the journalism classes at Cedar Falls High School, 1015 Division Street, Cedar Falls, Iowa 50613. Our website is www.hiline.cfschools.org. The Hi-Line is distributed to CFHS students on Tuesdays to read during their RCTs fourth period. Columns and letters do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Hi-Line staff or Cedar Falls Schools. The Hi-Line editorial is presented weekly in the editorial labeled Our View, and it is the view of the majority of the editors listed below. Reader opinions on any topic are welcome and should be sent to The Tiger Hi-Line staff or delivered to room 208. All letters must be signed. Letters must be submitted by 3 p.m. on Thursday for publication in the following Tuesday edition. Letters may not exceed 300 words and may be edited to meet space limitations. Writers should include their contact information for verification. Editor-in-Chief: Maya Amjadi News Editor: Katherine Mayhew Opinion Editor: Maya Amjadi Sports Editor: Jared Hylton Feature Editor: Sandra Omari-Boateng Entertainment Editor: Lindsey Davis Hi-Line Online Editor: Martha Hall Staff Writers: Ana Cunha, Amanda Harwood, Alyssa Jensen, Lauren Nickerson, Kaleb Bengston

Tiger

HI-LINE Is Web increasing social ME-dia? Tuesday, March 5, 2013

We document every moment of our lives on Facebook, post pictures of our food on Instagram and tweet every waking thought. Shout-out tweets are given when someone reaches a landmark number of tweets. Humans like to feel important and needed, and social media gives us the outlet to ask for it. But where is the line drawn between social media communication and narcissism? Social media narcissism increases as a post’s content is specifically created to garner attention. Remember MySpace? If a user’s profile didn’t have any top friends (or less than 100 friends), he or she would be considered a “nobody.” When someone bases his or her self worth on the amount of likes a Facebook profile picture gets, retweets, number of followers or reblogs, self esteem can seem like a far away goal. A study from the University of Michigan concluded that college students are 40 percent less empathic than in past decades, possibly because of a reduction of face to face interaction. “Empathy is best activated when you can see another person signal for help,” the study said, but in the midst of self-promoting posts on social

media tion-seeking. sites, it Living in can be the moment is h a r d possible nowato tell days, but every w h e n Instagrammed somepicture of the one is sunset can seem truly in a bit redundant need of at times. help. That said, By Online Editor Martha HALL social F a c e media book’s inhas had endless terface allows users to create benefits. It’s an artificial web an image for themselves on connecting billions across the the web. Users can choose globe. Everyone can become a what posts to promote, what photojournalist with each picpictures can be tagged in and ture upload, documenting the who can write on their wall. present day and sharing ideas With all those choices, users for the future. The Internet has would most likely create an opened boundaries between unrealistic identity on the Inter- corporations and consumers, net. All those double-chinned promoting global business photos can be deleted, along and world trading. Families with embarrassing statuses and can keep in touch with soldiers wall posts from Mom, but take thousands of miles away, keepthe Facebook wall away—and ing them close. you’re still the same person, Keeping pronouns like double chins and all. “me,” “I” and “my” to a low A recent survey from Jean number in social media upTwenge, associate professor of dates can help reduce social psychology at San Diego State narcissism, along with positive University, showed 57 percent group communication, a posiof 1,068 college students ad- tive attitude and the desire to mitting that social networking help others, but until the day makes them more narcissistic comes when users feel truly and that their peers used social comfortable with their real imnetworking sites for self-pro- age, they’ll keep posting ... motion, narcissism and atten- narcissistic tweets and all.

Editor’s Note: Student in American Literature: 1940s to Today write letters on current social issues using some Martin Luther King, Jr.’s techniques and quotes. This is one of those letters.

of justice, now a child has lost a dad, a wife her husband, the parents their own child. Not all states carry the death penalty, and states that do, do not have less crime or fewer murder rates than those who don’t. The person who killed Coach Thomas in Parkersburg was very young when he did it. He is now in prison for life. Should he have been given the death penalty? Let’s think about that. I could understand if Coach Thomas’s family would have asked for the death penalty if it were legal in Iowa, but it still would not have changed their very sad and horrible loss. So would a life for a life be the right thing? Is the death penalty an unjust law? Dr. King stated, “An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law.” Then there are repeat offenders. While I do not believe we should ever allow rapists, murderers, drug dealers or anyone who commits a serious crime to be set free again, I don’t think it is right to kill

Iowans should reject return to death penalty

Dear Editor, I am writing as a member of Mr. Winkel’s sixth hour American Literature 1940’s to Today. I have recently read Martin Luther King Jr’s. “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” and it has started me thinking more about taking a stand on the death penalty. Handing down a death sentence is a huge responsibility for a judge to make. For centuries, the death penalty has been legal in a lot of states. It is a very controversial issue that I believe deserves serious consideration immediately. A lot of innocent lives are being taken because innocent people have been put on trial and found guilty of crimes they didn’t commit, but the truth came too late. When an innocent person pays the price for someone else, then instead

them. We cannot reason with these people and something has to be done about it but statistics show that the death penalty does not deter these crimes. Some people grow up in violent home environments or in areas with high crime rates. They are very likely to commit crimes themselves. With some kind of intervention maybe they could get the help they need to keep them out of prison and possibly facing the death penalty. As Martin Luther King Jr. said, “The teachings of Christ come to earth.” He also quoted, “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to those that hate you and pray for them which despitefully use you’. I am not a defender of these criminals in any way or the people who commit them, but I am not in any favor of killing anyone either. Respectfully, Brittney Hendrix CFHS Student

The

Tiger

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On to State:

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

SPORTS Athlete of the

Men’s basketball faces Sioux City North after resounding victory over Epworth

The men’s basketball team trounced previously undefeated Western Dubuque Epworth 57-40 Wednesday night to punch their ticket to State. The Tigers play Sioux City North (21-2) this Wednesday at 1 p.m. in the Wells Fargo Arena as they look to continue their journey by moving into the Final Four. “We all have that mutual mindset that we want to win State, and that’s what we intend to do,” senior Jackson Nichols said. This is the first time that the senior trio of Kalehl Brown, Kalund Brown and Ike Boettger have advanced to State in their threeyear tenure at the varsity level. “It’s amazing because not everybody gets the opportunity to get down there. After the opportunity we had last year, we weren’t going to let that happen again,” Kalund said. Despite pulling out a convincing 17-point victory, Cedar Falls didn’t hold the lead entire game. The Tigers found themselves trailing by 5 points early in the game. Senior Kalehl hit two big triples down the stretch of the first half, sending CF into the locker room with a 4-point lead. The two three-pointers Kalehl hit doubled his regular season total of one. The recent recipient Kalund Brown drives past a pair of Cedar Rapids Prairie defenders in a regular season game. of the Mississippi Valley Conference Player of the The second half was all the twins and Ike that provide game, and shooting 43 percent Year Award, Kalehl, also led Cedar Falls. The Tigers took a lot of scoring, but it really from downtown. the team in points, tallying a advantage of every mistake, comes down to putting in the “We’re just going to be real career-high 28 points en-route and it showed on the scorehard work,” Nichols said. active and make everything to victory. Of the eight teams board. The defensive effort is Cedar Falls looks to carry hard for [Tillo]. If we can make left, Kalehl is second among all what anchored the Tiger game the momentum into Wedneshim put the ball on the ground players in points, only behind Wednesday night, though. At day’s game against Sioux City as much as possible, then that’s Sioux City North’s Daniel Tillo. one point, CF held Epworth North. what we’ll do,” Kalund said. Boettger is also second among eight minutes without a point. Sioux City is led by sophoSports Editor Jared remaining players in rebounds “We don’t have a lot of supermore Tillo who is currently avHylton with 192, only behind Tillo. stars on this team. We’ve got eraging just over 22 points per

3 Week

Katie Friedel

Women’s Track and Field Senior Katie Friedel helped place 8th in the 4x800 at State last season. She enters this season hoping to improve on that. How has the team been preparing for the start of the season? We’re just doing our best to make sure legs are fresh and doing some new workouts. We’re really trying to amp up the team bonding. Do you feel like the team is prepared for the indoor season? Yeah, we’re super excited to get started and excited to try out some new relay teams. What do you eat before a meet? I usually eat grilled chicken and honey wheat pretzels. I always have, it’s a tradition.

Tigers in

Action

Men’s Basketball (19-4)

Next up: Sioux City North (STATE) on March 6 at 1 p.m. at Wells Fargo Arena

Women’s Track & Field

Next up: Wartburg Varsity Invitational on March 5 at Wartburg at 3 p.m.

Men’s Track & Field

Next up: Wartburg Varsity Invitational on March 5 at Wartburg at 3 p.m.

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CAPTURED

The

Tiger

Tuesday, Mar. 5, 2013

All Shook Up

HI-LINE

The spring musical will be on Friday, March 8 and Saturday, March 9 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets will be $6 for students and $8 for adults. Activity passes will not be accepted.

Anna Love Photos

From top left going clockwise, juniors Jacob Kline and Maddie Andreassen pose in a renaissance photo. Senior Alex Demartino, junior Anagha Inamdar and senior Alex Dana walk like Egyptians. Seniors Evan Cayton and Makaela Burke share a special moment. Performers end their “Jailhouse Rock” routine. Senior Alex Dana shows off her moves. Gazing into each others eyes are seniors Mckenzie Sesterhenn and Josh Carlo. Junior Ellen Wallingford and seniors Josh Ochoa and Izzie Hayes give us their best mean mug in the song “That’s All Right.” The dance routine for “Burning Love” involves much of the cast.