The Index Eutαxia Swzein Dokei
Volume LXXV, No. 4
December 2013
Haverford, Pennsylvania - haverfordindex.com
The Times They Might Be A’ Changin Brendan Burns ‘15 sits down with members of the scheduling committee to discuss proposed changes to our familiar seven-day cycle. Brendan Burns ‘15
Haverford’s trusty 7-day, 7-block rotation has been planning students’ lives during the school day for the past 12 years. A basic schedule with one double period and one drop day for each class, every rotation, the 7-day model has served Haverford since before the construction of the new Upper School. However, its long tenure of service has exposed some flaws. An increasing number of classes with only one block offered has made it difficult for students, especially seniors, to take all the classes they want without conflicts. 40- or 45-minute periods are too short for the pedagogical needs of some courses, while 85-minute double periods are too long for others. To address these and other shortcomings, a Scheduling Committee was formed and began meeting in December of 2012 to discuss potential changes to the rotation. The committee is comprised of 16 faculty members, including heads of each department, Upper School Head Matt Green, Director of College Counseling Neal Cousins, Director of Community Chris Avery, Coach Michael Murphy, and Registrar Susan Reynolds. The committee is chaired by Thomas Trocano, with whom The Index spoke about the Committee’s progress. The Scheduling Committee has met constantly since last December, including meeting for three 3-day sessions over the
many of the school’s highest-flying students “becomes very difficult.” Besides the issue of “singletons,” other problems with the current rotation cropped up. Many teachers believe that the 1-hour faculty meeting every Wednesday morning is very beneficial and would like to see more
opportunities for such programming. “It would be nice to meet with colleagues on a regular basis,” Mr. Trocano says. The current 7-block schedule is rigid and inflexible, meaning that most music and extracurricular programming takes place before and after the school day. Continued on Page 5
summer in June, July, and August. Mr. Trocano and Math Department Chair Zack Murtha emphasized that, although members of the Committee had different visions of what changes to make to best serve students and faculty alike, the process of creating a new schedule began by creating a list of shared values and goals that had to be met. One of the most important problems that had to be tackled was the issue of “singletons” - classes with only one block. Some Haverford classes cannot fill more than one block either because they are esoteric offerings that attract a limited number of students (e.g. Molecular Biology*) or because a small number of students are qualified to take the course, as is the case in many honors-level language and math classes. Mr. Trocano says that because “the number of classes that only have one section has been steadily increasing,” scheduling The members of the Haverford scheduling committee. students who qualify for Row 1 (L to R): Ms. Sara Adkins, Mr. Chris Avery, Mr. Brad Becker, Mr. Duane Case, Mr. Neal Cousins, Mr. Chris Fox. or are required to take Row 2: Mr. Kellen Graham, Ms. Katharine Hudson, Mrs. Carmen Mateos, Mr. Michael Murphy, Mr. Zack Murtha, Mr. Thomas Stambaugh. “singletons”- including Row 3: Mrs. Susan Reynolds, Mr. Kevin Tryon, Ms. Hannah Turlish, Mr. Matthew Green, and Mr. Thomas Trocano.
Brendan Burns ‘15
Teacher Profile: Mr. Zachary Murtha
Jackson Simon ‘15 profiles of Head of the Mathematics Department Mr. Zack Murtha. Jackson Simon ‘15
“Winter At The Haverford School” Sanjay Narayanan ‘14
Also inside this Issue...
Two old columns, Kolade’s Music Recs and De Libris are back! Catch De Libris on Page 5 and Mr. Kolade’s recommendations on Page 6.
By the age of five, Mr. Zack Murtha, head of Haverford’s Mathematics department, had moved six or so times from his birthplace in New York. When asked about his peripatetic lifestyle, Mr. Murtha responded with his typical lighthearted charisma: “I like to joke my parents were fugitives.” For those that have ever had a class with Mr. Murtha, it seems that his fun, upbeat character derives from his upbringing. If anyone has seen the movie Big, Mr. Murtha’s dad has a similar job as Tom Hanks, who was a toy designer at FAO Shwartz. Although Mr. Murtha’s dad might not have danced on the piano in the Big Apple’s Fao Schwarz toy store, he did have his hand in the whole entire marketing process from research and development to promotion and advertising. Mr. Murtha explained that the toy industry is centered around the Christmas holidays and how companies work for eleven months on a product that doesn’t receive market feedback until after the holidays. As eleven month long projects turn out to be flukes, companies file for bankruptcy. Mr. Murtha’s dad essentially moved from company headquarter to company headquarter. For companies such as Fundimensions, Fisher Price and Coleco, Mr. Murtha’s dad worked on notable projects such as Tickle Me Elmo, Cabbage Patch Kids, and Transformers. As a kid, Mr. Murtha ended up with an abundance of toys, which for one reason or another could not be mass produced.
Mr. Murtha explains that, “Sometimes there is a great toy. For instance, maybe a fantastic board game that can’t be made cheaply enough to make a profit. So it plays great but it will never get made. We ended up with a basement full of games like that.” Mr. Murtha was living the life as his dad would bring home Transformers just to clear them out of his office. I think we now know where Mr. Murtha gets his jocular tendency to make everybody around him laugh. Mr. Murtha spent the latter half of his childhood in Simsbury, Connecticut where he attended a public high school and rowed crew for four years. When asked about what he enjoyed to do outside of school and crew, Mr. Murtha responded: “I liked board games, especially Axis and Allies. That’s why I like diplomacy so much now. I also played golf and tennis.” Mr. Murtha continued his studies at Princeton where he majored in chemical engineering. Mr. Murtha jokes that he lasted 12 seconds on Princeton’s crew team as he quit after the first 5:30 a.m. practice. When asked why he majored in chemical engineering, Mr. Murtha responded,“I wish a teacher had told me that I could major in math and I would have. I didn’t know it was a viable option. I started off in chemical engineering because I thought that’s what I had to major in in order to be employed. Then I switched to chemistry because I didn’t Continued on Page 4
Kenny Fitzpatrick ‘16 reports on the fantasy football craze on Page 3.
Article Letter fron the President State of the Gents Club Mr. Murtha Profile Joseph Preview Artist of the Issue Fords Focus College Athletes Paid? DECA Cuts Unfair Outdex
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