Red ‘n’ Green
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2019
The
222 Memorial Drive Berlin, WI 54923 VOLUME 51, ISSUE 6
A BERLIN HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT OPEN FORUM SINCE 1924
School Grounds changes to healthier menu
Isabelle Willett
Reporter
School Grounds has recently been subject to a state food audit, causing some of the most popular menu items to change. “There was an audit throughout the entire cafeteria system. This normally takes place every few years in the district, and this year was the high school’s year,” School Grounds adviser Alecia Starks said. “Because we sell snacks it included us (School Grounds).” The audit requires all food sold in schools to follow basic criteria, which includes a certain calorie count, sodium level and fat content. Some of School Grounds' best sellers include Ramen Noodles and an assortment of iced coffees. These items will also need to be revised. “We won’t have to change the Ramen, but we are looking for a healthier alternative,” Starks said. “We will however have to change our iced coffee from a sugar base to a coffee base, which will require us to almost make it from scratch.” The process may have changed, but School Grounds worker junior Alexis Happel is unphased. “There is really no diffrence when we serve the new menu
Newsbriefs Kalynn Wilson
Reporter
FFA reschedules Jim Wand due to snow day
Jim Wand was rescheduled from his Winterfest assembly timeslot. Due to a weather cancellation, the students and staff missed the opportunity to be entertained and hypontized. “Jim has been reschelduled for Monday, March 25,” FFA advisor Kim Dehn said. “Tickets for the night performance are $10.” Students and staff will still get the chance to be hypontized, and others will watch the entertainment unfold in front of their peers twice. “He has people do different things during the performance at school than his night performance,” Dehn said.
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Physical education teacher Michelle Walker purchases a smaller portioned muffin and coffee at School Grounds from juniors Alexis Happel and Hunter Neubauer. The coffee shop has had to revise their menu in order to comply with a state food audit. Photo: I. Willett items," Happel said. The menu will look similar, but the portion sizes will most likely decrease for the unhealthy snack options. “We can still sell Hot Cheetos, but the package size will lessen because snacks cannot contain more than 200 calories,” Starks said. “This is the same for the muffins. We can still sell them, they just need to be smaller.”
One of the largest concerns with the new change stems from student reactions. “We have had a positive response to our smoothies after we’ve made them healthier, so we are just really hoping it will be the same for the new coffees,” Starks said. The most popular coffees are iced coffees, but because of the changes students have
given mixed reviews. “I don’t really like strong coffee, so I would way rather go back to the old iced coffee recipe,” junior Emily Sonnentag said. “It just tastes better.” The changes have also caused a noticeable difference in the coffee’s flavor. “You can totally taste the difference in the iced coffees. It used to taste like a sugary ce-
real and now it’s more coffee like. I think it’s way better,” junior Maddie Huber said. Starks says she hopes the main goal of School Grounds is not affected by the audit. “Our main goal is to give out scholarships, and if School Grounds does not have enough student business, we won’t have the funds to do that anymore,” Starks said.
District searches for new superintendent Ryan Breeden In addition, the candidates are Business Manager not just locals. With the school year being more than half way over, it is necessary for the district to focus on some important tasks for next year. At the top of their list is searching for a new superintendent. Current superintendent Dr. Robert Eidahl announced earlier this year that after nine years of being the district superintendent, he was retiring. After that announcement, the replacement process began. “The school board hired a search firm to help us find the best candidates,” Principal Lynn Mork said. The firm, Ray and Associates, is tasked with taking in as much information as they can to find the best person for the job. “This person must be able to be a decision maker, possess leadership skills, work with legislators on key topics and demonstrate commitment to the community,” School Board President Catherine Kujawa said.
“The firm has allowed us to reach a national audience that we would not have as just the district,” Kujawa said. Ray and Associates has taken suggestions and information in a variety of ways. “They conducted several sessions, led by two facilitators, to gather community, staff, student and board input on superintendent characteristics,” Kujawa said. ”33 statements describing desired characteristics were presented and each participant was asked to choose their top ten.” The students that were chosen to meet with the firm were picked because of certain qualifications. “We picked kids from Student Council, Key Club, class officers and students who show good leadership themselves,” vice Principal Joe Brandl said. The goal of the meeting was to give suggestions to the firm so that they can reach out to some candidates, but for now, those
people remain unknown. “We do not know any names of candidates since the firm is handling all of it,” Brandl said. After meeting with some students, the search facilitators had nothing but praise for them. “The facilitator praised our student input groups for their high level of attention, their well thought out questions and their responses to questions,” Kujawa said. The board says they are very grateful for the student involvement. “Our facilitator has been doing this a long time and had never experienced students like ours,” Kujawa said. “We, as a board and a district would like to commend our student body for their level of interest and participation in this extremely important decision.” The application deadline is March 24, with the decision to be made shortly after. “We started the search on Jan. 9 and hope to have concluded it by mid-April,” Mork said.
Desired qualities in a superintendent - ‘Student first’ philosophy in all decisions - Is a strong communicator in all aspects - Has experience recruiting and maintaining exceptional staff - Makes recommendations and decisions that are data-driven - Possesses excellent people skills and can present a positive image of the district - Is willing to listen to input, but is a decision maker - Inspires trust and has high levels of self-confidence and optimism