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“There is no remedy for love but to love more.” -Henry David Thoreau
May 27, 2020 March 13, 2020
Volume 72 Volume Edition 0608
Are VHS diplomas at risk? Charlotte D’Orsi Sam Hicks During the week of Mar. 23, Ventura High School will be undergoing an evaluation by the Accrediting Commission for Schools Western Association for Schools and Colleges, also known as the ACS WASC, or WASC. If VHS does not meet their criteria during this evaluation, student diplomas could lose their prestige and the school’s reputation could be at stake. According to their website, WASC is in charge elementary, secondary, adult and postsecondary institutions.” WASC encourages school improvement years and grants accreditation to schools that meet an “acceptable level of quality in accordance with the established criteria.” Accreditation is a type of quality assurance that ensures a school’s quality of education and continuous self-improvement. Without accreditation, diplomas are still given, but lose their merit and schools receive less government funding. Not all schools are granted the title of accreditation, so it is favorable for a student to attend an accredited school as potential employers and universities will take that into consideration. The process under WASC consists of multiple steps
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of in-depth assessment in order to assure that only commendable schools are accredited. VHS has completed the lengthy process of self-assessment, which, as English “basically, a book,” which is over 200 pages long and “has chapters on all different parts of the school … Teachers are assigned to different groups to work on those different chapters, and then we trade them around.” Not much is left for the school to do other than “sprucing up its campus actual visit,” stated VHS language teacher, Sebastian Declerck. That’s not to say that Ventura is completely in the clear. component of the assessment that could make or break VHS’s application. In fact, in June of 2019, WASC threatened Camarillo High school’s accreditation due to dated instructional strategies and lack of communication between teachers and administration. This caused the on-site visit to prove their self-evaluation as, according to an article by the Camarillo Acorn, 5 largely incomplete and inaccurate. The upcoming on-site visit is VHS’s chance to prove all of the written statements in its self-evaluation to be true. The WASC evaluators will be talking to ‘stakeholders,’ meaning teachers, parents, admin and students mainly regarding VHS’s
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administration, instruction, curriculum, assessment, school culture and ability to meet the goals document, you write a summary but you’re also supposed 1to so the visiting committee will evidence in action. So if we say something like ‘we do labs’ or ‘we do Socratic seminars’ they would want to go in the classrooms and see that sort of stuff happening.” Students are also involved in the process and many teachers have been asked to have their students complete6 a brief survey answering questions relevant to the parameters of the assessment. Student opinions prove to be important as one of Camarillo High’s weak points was that “the consensus of the students was that up to a third of teachers didn’t try in their lessons.”
The Cougar Press administered a poll on our Instagram account asking VHS students a similar question. The results showed that, out of a survey of 105 students, 50.5 percent said they feel that most teachers do not try during their lessons. While this statistic does not represent the sentiments of the entire VHS student body as a whole, it does give a glimpse of how the school might do in WASC’s student interviews. When asked how he felt the school would perform during the evaluation in March, Locher stated that he did not want to comment. DeClerck elaborated that “how we do this spring depends entirely on the nature of the visiting team that we have. Some teams are strict . . .”
Catch up and get ahead Caroline Marsden Greta Pankratz With schedule planning for the 2020-2021 school year approaching, many students are looking for options of acceleration or redemption in the summer semester. Some students may recall how in previous years, Ventura High School did not allow summer school for getting ahead, but instead only catching up. Within the last year, this has changed. Now, VUSD will be pairing up with Learn4Life to administer the on-campus courses. Learn4Life is a network that works to give students the for success. The summer program will be locally run and tuition free. Classes will be offered July 6 through July 31 and the Ventura High School campus for the uses of high school credit recovery, initial credit, and career technical education offerings, also known as CTE courses. CTE courses enable students to combine both college preparation and real-world workforce skills. VUSD claims
Dating opinions pg. 3 4
Coming Out stories pg. 4
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Unsolicited Nudes pg.5
that the summer school process offers “more opportunities for [the] students and employees.” For students who are eager to enrich their transcripts, or those who need to retake classes, the 2020 summer session at Ventura College is also an option. This process takes many 8
a counselor, making an account However, if it is completed, VC’s many fully online and hybrid classes, meaning both on and off campus may be convenient. The window to sign up for these courses is mid April to early June. Summer school seems to have a bad reputation among students and as portrayed on TV, 10because oftentimes the intensity of the classes is dialed back and the educational opportunities are quick to complete. Senior Alanm Magana noticed the stigma, stating, “It isn’t bad like many think. It’s way better. There’s not that many people on campus which makes it easier to hang out with friends. Plus, classes are way easier and teachers can make it way more fun with less people.”
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Spring musical pg.7 As of 2016, according to the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics, 43 percent of high school students ages 11 16-19 attend summer school. So, Magana isn’t incorrect to state that many seem to have a negative take on the overall program and Washington Post, as of 2017, Americans had an all time low
my freshman year of high school. It was the two easiest A’s I’ve ever gotten. I took Career and Health, talked about her life, but it was a great class. I guess the system is effective because I got two A’s.” Summer school is an effective tool that some students seem to disregard due to its negative reputation. However,
Another student shared done summer school, going into 12
time to talk to your counselor about what is available to you and what would be wise to consider.
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