New year, new classes, new food United States Department of Agriculture releases new requirements for school lunches Elena Parcell, ‘14
March 6, but they have until July 1 to make the modifications. The program is estimated to cost $3.2 billion over the course of he 32 million students across the country who eat school five years, with schools receiving one billion to implement the breakfasts and lunches will see their meal options be- revisions. The USDA intends to introduce the changes over an come healthier over the course of extended time period the next few years. In January, to give schools, stunew school lunch and breakfast dents and personnel standards created by the United time to adjust, since States Department of Agriculture the standards have (USDA) were released. Though not been changed for the changes have already been fi15 years. nalized and announced, the new Students may not standards will not take effect until find the changes to March 6. The changes are based the plan to be as saton the new food pyramid and the isfying. Sophomore new standards provided by the InElizabeth Neureiter stitute of Medicine (IOM). says that the quality The new standards do not only of the food will deaffect the meals themselves; the termine whether or plan contains several other main not the new standards BY ELENA PARCELL provisions according to the USDA make the meals more website. Meal pricing will be re- A school lunch consisting of a fish sandwich, orange, tater tots, cookies or less enjoyable. vised to reflect the changes to the with whole grain and low fat milk. Though Arlington meals already com- She thinks healthier standards, and vending machines ply with the new standards, other regions will soon see drastic changes. school lunches are in schools now must contain healthy snacks and drinks. To en- a good idea “because a lot of children are overweight.” Gracia sure that the program is as successful as possible, training will be Luoma-Overstreet said that the changes to the meals will hopeprovided to schools about the revisions. fully improve them. Some of the major changes pertain to fruits and vegetables. According to Principal Gregg Robertson, the changes to meals Fruits and vegetables are now considered separate parts of a meal at Arlington County schools will not be significant. Many of the and students must choose at least one as part of a school lunch. new standards have been in place in the county for seven to eight Schools will be required to offer a wider variety of vegetables, in- years “to provide students with healthier and better choices,” said cluding leafy greens and legumes, and to provide fruits at break- Mr. Robertson. fast. According to the USDA, the new “nutrient-dense” meals Mr. Robertson does think, however, that the new standards will provide good nutrition without adding too many calories to will help students across the country make better decisions when students’ diets. it comes to school meals, particularly in areas that still serve The modifications to the school menu are apparent. A school foods such as pizza and french fries regularly. meal prepared before the standards were revised might contain The new USDA standards are a sample of the balancing act one or two fruit or vegetable options, and hardly ever offer both that occurs with all meals today; the struggle to provide the propa fruit and a vegetable. A school meal after the revisions would er amount of calories while maintaining good nutrition. Arlingcontain three to four vegetable and fruit options and more whole ton students might not see many of their meals change, but the grain. Schools are supposed to adopt the changes beginning on revisions will be more pronounced in other parts of the country. Staff Reporter
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New IB exam structure Isabel Amend, ‘12
Staff Reporter
International Baccalaureate (IB) language exams are permanently changing for next year’s students. The English and foreign language tests will now be significantly different, but teachers do not yet know whether that will for better or for worse. The structural change comes every three or four years and is accompanied by exam syllabi being completely rearranged. Students taking IB French will have five minutes to look at a picture and then around ten minutes to talk about it for their exam. This strikes a heavy blow to language students who treasured the article assignment, in which test takers
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Feature, pages 6-7
were given a month to read an article, dissect it and, with prepared notes, talk about it for seven minutes to an examiner. A poll conducted in January by two IB French students showed that an overwhelming majority of seniors preferred the old way of testing--approximately 80 percent circled the “article” option as opposed to the “photo” one. An interesting contrast is that 60 percent of juniors, who have had little to no experience with the “article” option, actually chose the picture option. On the English side of affairs, the oral exams that seniors stress about each December will be replaced with a more predictable test. Beforehand, seniors will open an envelope and have 20 minutes to read and annotate a poem from a predetermined
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Students go to Washington, D.C. often, but may not be taking advantage of all the district has to offer. Check out new places to visit and things to do.
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author--most likely Emily Dickinson for next year’s examinees. The first five minutes will be spent talking about this author’s passage, and then the next five minutes will be spent discussing any of the three novels that the student read earlier in the year. Examiners will tie in themes from Dickinson to the randomly chosen book discussion. Mrs. Sarah Congable, an IB English 12 teacher, said, “in a nutshell, this new exam format will be a lot more stress-free and narrowly focused, yet challenging at the same time.” Senior Manon Loustaunau, a veteran of the stress inducing oral, notes that “having a mere 20 minutes to write a comprehensive literary argument was difficult--what made it torturous was the fact that my passage was Shakespeare, my least favorite author.”
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Specials, page 10
First annual Crossed Sabres scavenger hunt features tricky clues that lead you to different rooms around the school.
Education vs. tourism Repeal of “Kings Dominion law” allows counties to set their own schedules Nataly Farag, ‘13
Staff Reporter
Every year parents, teachers and employers in Virginia debate whether school systems should follow the 25-year old “Kings Dominion law” that requires schools in Virginia to start the school year after Labor Day. Although the law allows local school boards to set their own calendar as far as holidays, it does not give them the option of choosing when to start school. The law was originally created to protect the tourism industry within the state because many tourist attractions, including theme parks such as Kings Dominion, rely on high school students as summer employees. Opponents of the law, however, argue that it sets Virginia students behind in preparing for standardized tests, and the Arlington School board has supported the legislation to repeal the law for a decade. Two-thirds of the school districts in Virginia already qualify for waivers to start before Labor Day, mostly because they have a high average number of snow days each year. Republican Delegate Robert Tata recently proposed a bill to repeal the law, which is similar to six others previously introduced in the General Assembly. Delegates voted 76-23 last week to approve the House bill. Virginia school districts may finally be able to start classes before Labor Day without getting special state permission if the bill is approved by the Senate as well. Still, it remains uncertain whether the bill will survive; the Senate committee killed a similar bill on a 9-6 vote last month. Abby Raphael, chairman of the Arlington School Board, believes that local school districts might be close to getting the law repealed, as some Senate members are reconsidering their votes this time. “We certainly wouldn’t reschedule it this year, though, because we’re already far down the road for setting our calendar for next year,’’ Mrs. Raphael said. She also indicated that if schools were allowed to start before Labor Day, the matter would be discussed with the community before making any final decisions. Raphael continued to say that “One of the big advantages would be to give AP or IB students more time to go through the curriculum and be more competitive with students nationwide.’’ According to Assistant Principal Ms. Margarita Cruz, starting school later puts students at a disadvantage as they have to work harder in order to cover all the material before exam time. “It would be better for school districts to decide what’s best for their students. Starting a week earlier will definitely make a difference for students and teachers here,’’ she said. Senior Mona Fahmy also agrees that starting sooner would encourage more effective use of classroom time. “Not only would there be more instructional time before...exams, but the school year would end sooner. Families would, therefore, have the same amount of vacation. I don’t see where the problem lies.”