TheLittleHawk Iowa City High School Iowa City, Iowa volume LXX-issue IV February 10, 2011 www.thelittlehawk.com
District addresses overflow of students byCassie Wassink
cassiewassink@thelittlehawk.com
The school board is attempting to address overcrowding issues in the ICCSD, through the hiring of long-term substitute teachers for third trimester. “We examined our class size needs and they looked pretty good,” Bacon said. “There were no hot spots that were so dramatic that it would be better to hire a sub and pull kids out of their section to form a new class.” Rather than hiring new teachers and shifting students mid-year, Bacon opted to put the money instead toward greater compensation for long-time City High teachers James Thompson and Carrie Watson. With this money, Bacon will add one class period of paid sub time to the contracts of these two teachers. “Between directing, voice lessons and working with the adapted music class, Mr. Thompson had enough on his plate,” Bacon said. Thompson expressed the gratitude that he felt upon learning of this addition. “I can’t even begin to describe how appreciative I am,” Thompson said. “At a school like ours, with a lot of students involved in music, it’s tough to get by without two close to full time teachers.” Besides the music department, Bacon decided to add a section of State and Local Government for third trimester. Watson will teach this course. Bacon described his desire to support the work that these teachers offer. “Both teachers do an awful lot for City High and they bring a lot to the table. I have a definite interest in supporting them to the extent that I have the opportunity to make them full time.”
Keeping up with technology by Ellen Carman
ellencarman@thelittlehawk.com
Smart Boards and Elmo Projectors have transformed learning at City High. As the era of advanced and accessible technology continues, plans are being made to introduce new tools to assist learning. “I think the idea of a class going up to a computer lab is so 20th century,” Vice Principal Terry Coleman said. “It’s really not using technology to achieve the goals I think we can.” City High has already begun updating their classrooms with the newest 21st century teaching technologies. SmartBoards have been installed in the math, language, and social studies classrooms, allowing teachers to interact with the projected image of their computers. Elmo Projectors have also been put in all classrooms, which project the image of a teacher’s writing on paper to a large screen. The funding for these new technologies came from Microsoft due to a class action law suit, through which the state of Iowa received millions of dollars. Schools that had 25 percent or more students receiving free or reduced lunch got this money. However, this is only one way to update City High’s classrooms. “We have gotten together a small teacher
committee and we are working with the superintendent right now.” Coleman said. “We want to get some sort of mobile device, either a laptop or a tablet or something in that hands of every single student here at City High.” This committee is working to make learning as accessible as possible. “Interacting with materials and teachers would be instant,” Coleman said. “You can do it when you’re up at eleven o’clock or on the weekend or whenever, but in order for it to be something that really improves student achievement, you’ve got to have it all the time.” However, with all these new technologies and plans for more, the district is struggling to keep up. A recent Dell report found that the Iowa City Community School District (ICCSD) has low ratings compared to what the industry standards are (as stated in the Iowa City Press Citizen Newspaper). The district’s Director of Operational Services, David Dude, confirmed these results. According to Dude, the current school day needs include software installs and updates, printer issues, activating network ports and trouble shooting wi-fi problems. “In general, they [day to day needs] are not being met well because of the time it takes to address the issues,” Dude said. “This is at no fault of those providing the support. We sim-
ply don’t have enough people in tech support roles.” Coleman believes that City High has been less affected by this lack of tech support than other schools. While City High does not have sufficient Tech support, staff member Greg Vraspier fulfills most of these needs. However, there are some things that Vraspier is unable to do. “There are some things that we want that he can’t do, like installing more wireless hubs and increasing our server capacity,” Coleman said. “So from that standpoint it’s something that is still lacking in our building.” Another problem the district is encountering is a lack of bandwidth. “In the next several months we will be announcing some major improvements to our infrastructure and bandwidth,” Dude said. “We have a team currently working on our plan for technology.” Overall, Dude is confident that the district will be able to keep up with all aspects of this new era of technology. “I am very optimistic that our district will adapt to the ever changing technological needs of our students and staff,” Dude said. “It won’t be easy but I’m confident that this district will always put the needs of students and teachers first.”
Graphic by Della Nuno
Opening up: A struggle under the skin
Morgan Sladek ‘12 underwent a risky open heart surgery over winterbreak.
by Emma Baxter
emmabaxter@thelittlehawk.com
With an echo-cardiogram tracing her chest, the image of a muscle bundle building up under her ventricular arteries appeared. With a fifty-percent chance of having a heart attack, Morgan Sladek ‘12 underwent open heart surgery days before Christmas. “I’ve had a heart murmur since I was a baby,” Morgan said. “so I was just going back for a routine check-up
before I went to college.” This routine check-up saved her life. Most heart murmurs close up with time and don’t cause any longterm problems. “I had always been worried about my murmur,” she said. “Anything to do with your heart is a big deal, but I would never have thought this would happen.” When the doctors told her that she had a rare heart condition, thoughts
of her father flashed through her head. Three years ago her dad passed away from a brain aneurysm. Because of this, the news scared everyone in her family. They thought something could go wrong with the surgery. “I was scared, but I knew that my dad was watching over me making sure everything would be fine,” Morgan said. The situation would have been handled differently if Morgan
had not lost her dad. Her mom was “worked up”, but put on a brave face for her daughter. Morgan also stayed strong for her mom by trying not to cry and worry. “Having lost a parent, and then having a surgery where you don’t know whether you’re going to make it out or not was one of the scariest things of my life,” she said. The surgery could have waited until see opening up, page B8