September 2015 Eagle's Eye

Page 1

September 2015 Volume 86 Issue 1

East Leyden High School

3400 Rose Street

Franklin Park, IL 60131

A culture that won’t be dominated T Karina Kosmala and Zitlali Montiel-Martinez

aking charge last month, school administrators along with other students counteracted a series of harassing Twitter accounts with some #Leyden-

Love. On the first Saturday of the school year, harmful tweets began being published anonymously. The tweets included details–possibly lies–about students’ sexual behavior, negative comments about Leyden sports, and hateful criticism of many others. But these mean tweets were soon met with concerned Leyden students, staff, and parents, who reported the account. The deans and principal all received multiple emails from students, staff members, parents, and community members. Mr. Jason Markey answered these emails letting people know that the first step should be reporting the account directly to Twitter. Although it took a while, eventually the account was shut down ending this controversial situation. And while there were reports of other accounts with similar actions, they have not gained nearly the follower count of the original. The school has also discovered the identities of some contributors, and this issue did not go unpunished. Consequences can vary. In fact, there was a conversation with law enforcement regarding the legal status of these tweets. According to Markey, “There were some extremely inappropriate, abusive remarks that were made that impacted other students, impacted our school, so certainly the range could lead from conversation with those student

all the way up to a suspension from school.” But the real story here may be the good behavior that came from these bad decisions. This issue sparked students to do more than simply avoid bullying. Some fought back through the creation of #LeydenLove via the following account: @stop_the_smack. Mariel Lavatos, Gleanne Rosales, and Gabriella Gryc designed the #LeydenLove page on Twitter to take a whole different ‘spin’ on the issue. According to Lavatos, the account was created when one of the creators (Gryc) saw what was going on and said, “You know what we should do, we should make an account that does the exact opposite of what the smack account does.” So it seems that #LeydenLove has had a positive impact on the students, and the administrators appreciate students standing up for one another. Dean of Students Mr. Dennis Byrne explained that

an event like this can’t be prevented, but the way students react can make a difference: “The students were really going after this page, and they came up with their own page to draw attention away from it.” Although Byrne and Markey have seen this type of Twitter account for other schools, they were both really pleased how certain Leyden students handled this situation. Byrne attributes this positive reaction to the culture that administrators, such as Markey, and students have contributed to Leyden: “We couldn’t have been more proud of how the students were handling it.” To those who responded positively, Byrne would “like to thank the students who reached out to us and helped us get to the bottom of this. Again, we are all really proud how the majority of students reacted to this…the majority of feedback that we heard [is that] our kids are sick of this and don’t want this.”

New teachers share first impressions Leslie Palacios

Too New for a

Photo!

Brandon Pemberton Dawn Erickson Music Student Services Dana Thomas FACS

Megan Doherty Business Ed.

Rebecca Burger Special Ed.

“Something that caught my eye was the overall morale at East Leyden. Between the teachers, staff, students, and administration there is such a high level of enthusiasm and enjoyment.”

“When I walked through the door, I noticed right away how proud the students are to go to East Leyden; even though there are a lot of different types of people here, you all come together to root for your school.”

There are many things that have caught my eye at East Leyden. The one thing that sticks out to me is the student body. The students at East Leyden are positive, polite and they display excellent character.

AP law changes Piotr Morawiec The Illinois legislature has passed a law that requires all public Illinois colleges to accept an AP score of three or higher, effective next fall. Senior Rene Leyva is considering going to the University of Illinois at Chicago, yet before this change, the school only accepted a score of four out of five and above for a Psych AP class. He received a score of three. By next year they are required to accept a score of three. This credit may be used to bypass taking some classes. “I feel like this law helps anyone who got a three. It would save me a lot of money because now I wouldn’t

“One thing that caught my eye at East Leyden is how supportive the students are of one another! It’s really exciting to see so many great friendships, and know that students genuinely care for one another.”

“One characteristic that is quickly noticeable here at East is the friendliness of the Leyden community! Since arriving, I have felt welcomed and accepted by staff and students alike.”

Alicia Funes Student Services “When I was first introduced to #LeydenPride I thought it was an incredible platform to share the amazing things going on here at Leyden. I am proud to say that I can be a part of this movement!”

have to pay for classes anymore. It helps a lot,” Leyva said. Last year, out of 637 AP exams taken at Leyden, 198 exams scored a three. Before the law, the students who got these scores would stress out thinking about colleges accepting them. Some colleges accept fours, and some accept threes. Now they have less to worry about. The bill, otherwise known as HB 3428, has a financial note attached to it which states that the bill can “decrease the amount of tuition revenue received by the public institutions [by letting students] bypass costs associated with earning those credits.” The bill, however, does not specify what type of credit and how many credits the students would receive. Kristin Smigielski, a University of Illinois Admissions Officer, said “details [...] will be worked out over the

Anthony Martinez Jessica Greenberg Social Studies Special Ed. “One thing which has caught my eye at Leyden has been the level of support and positive attitude from both other staff members and the student body. This positive attitude and support has allowed me to return to Leyden and feel as if I had never left.”

“What has caught my eye is how much East Leyden students love their school. I have seen it throughout #leydenpride and even in the halls. It makes me so happy that the students of East Leyden feel a sense of community and see the school as theirs.”

Matt Rusek Math “I think the most significant eye catcher was student pride in their school community! Students find many ways to show their #LeydenPride, whether through academic and athletic endeavors or involvement in school organizations.”

course of the next several months. It is up to each public institution to determine what type of credit will be awarded. Credit can include elective credit, general education credit or credit for major requirements.” Colleges are struggling to find the balance of the right amount of credit per score. They have a multitude of elements that they must consider, such as whether a student who has taken an AP class in his or her major should be able to bypass a class and whether different rules should apply to students who do not have the intention of continuing studying it. A lot of the details have not been settled, Yet this law will help students by letting them bypass paying for classes and receive the credit that they worked very hard to get.


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