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Reactions to the Senate’s Nomination of Betsy DeVos

February 21, 2017 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Betsy DeVos at a Senate hearing. (Courtesy of Fox News)

Column

Aaron Watson-Sharer

Editor

On February 7th, I sat in class like any day, surfing the web. But this time was different. I sat expecting the worst on Twitter live, waiting for a decision from the Senate hearing of Betsy DeVos. It took only a few minutes to accept our reality. A reality that party lines are far more important than making the right choice, as only two Republican senators crossed the line to vote against Betsy DeVos. The vote was at 50-50 which was broken by Vice President Mike Pence.

Our principal, Chris Lehmann, is an avid public school advocate certainly isn’t enthused by the decision. He felt disappointed that Devos was nominated as Devos “represents a lack of respect for the work of schools given her lack of experience.” “She’s dangerous to K-12 education, public education and higher education.”

So who exactly is Betsy DeVos? Pretty much who SLA wouldn’t vote for. DeVos is a billionaire whose husband runs one of the largest corporations in America. DeVos comes from the world of wealth and politics, where she’s donated $10 million dollars of her own to the GOP. As a family, she said it’s “very possible” the DeVos family has donated neatly $200 million dollars to the party.

Betsy DeVos is a pro school-choice advocate (which isn’t bad for a magnet school) and a heavy believer is Christian learning and its relevance in the American classroom. That means she wants to make public schools into Christian private schools with public school dollars. If they can’t be privatized, make them charters. She worked her strategies once in her state of Michigan with a voucher system, which Principal Lehmann believes could be funded by cutting title funding. Now, her old city of Detroit has the largest rates of charter schools in the country, and the schools she has backed have declined in test scores.

She actually has no formal experience in public education. She and no family of hers has been student or faculty in the system. DeVos also in her hearing had what appeared to be no knowledge of the 1975 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the staple for any accommodations and needs for students in a classroom. Principal Lehmann sees I.D.E.A as “how we prevent the disenfranchisement of students with special needs and the idea she has a profound lack of knowledge and it’s terrifying to me as a school principal and a parent. She has shown time and time again she’s deeply unqualified for the job.” With such poor knowledge and background the pick for Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education proves money plays, as her donations to the party and 22 of the 50 senators who voted for her suggests.

So we have Betsy DeVos as the secretary of education now. As unqualified as she sounds I and our principal see no true positive to her in this position. As a public school, you have to hope what she’s done to Detroit won’t come to fruition in Philadelphia.

Column: SLA and Promposals

February 21, 2017 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Deja Harrison

Staff Writer

It was an average Monday afternoon for me, or so I thought… I was heading to my Y band lunch with my friends like I normally do when I realized something was off.. The hallway seemed almost empty on one side of it. My friends seemed to all disappear except for one, Madison Harris. As her and I were walking down the hallway people started to hand us things. Candy, Teddy bears and flowers filled our hands and confusion filled my face. For some reason I could not guess what was going on but it was so obvious to everyone else. We walked further down the hall almost at the end and I stopped walking. I was scared to see who was at the corner waiting for me. I still had no idea what was happening my mind couldn’t put it together. My friends literally had to push me the rest of the way because I was so nervous. I closed my eyes and opened them and there he was. The sign said ¨ Can I spot a date to Prom with You¨. I thought it was cute with me being a cheerleader and all. It was one of the weirdest yet cutest moments of my life.

Promposals are a huge deal here at SLA. Everyone seems to go all out with the creative signs, flowers and gifts. It´s one of the best and cutest times of the year at school but no one really thinks about all the work that goes into it. One part is literally whipping up the courage to be publically rejected or not and the other person is put on the spot to give an answer. So here’s a little inside edition from all sides of a promposal.

Saamir Baker asked someone this year and these are his feelings about situation. ¨ It was talked about but I never really thought it would happen. Our moms actually put it together. I wasn’t mad about it or thought it was weird it was just something that was going to happen. We were friends I didn’t care if I went with someone or not but I’m glad I’m going with her. My mom pretty much made everything happen I just had to show up. Me being who I am I was very overwhelmed, it was unexpected honestly. After I digested that I was really going to ask her. Even though I already knew her and knew we were friends but I still didn’t know her answer. I was standing there and I was so nervous for her reaction. What would she do when she found out it was me? My heart was beating so fast and I felt a little sweaty, then everything stopped I held up the sign for her so see. She read it laughed and said yes then she hugged me. It was one of the most nerve wrecking moments of my life.¨

Teachers at SLA also witness these promposal and have opinions on them. English teacher Larissa Pahomov noticed what she said was about 40 kids with there phones out in front of the girls being asked. Ms. Pahomov goes on to say that the kids weren’t even trying to capture the girls reactions they were more focused on trying to get the entire scene.
It is still very early in the promposal game so I’m sure there are still plenty more to go in case you missed the ones that already happened. After all only one senior Peter Torelli has asked someone to the upcoming senior prom in May. We’re running out of time guys, let’s see some more promposals.

Column: Murder On the 3rd Floor

February 21, 2017 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Fatu Castillo

Staff Writer

Extra! Extra! Read all about it!

Deadly homicide on 3rd Floor!

There has been a grueling, double homicide in a 3rd floor men’s bathroom. The victims were an older bathroom stall couple, aged eleven and married for nine years, their doors had been savagely ripped from their hinges in an act of inhumane violence.

Children of the victims, two young ceramic sinks and plastic soap dispenser, were forced to watch. It was as if they were transfixed to the wall, as the suspect used brute force to tear their parents apart.

The children were left unharmed as the suspect fled the scene before conducting any further action. Authorities have since moved the survivors from the murder scene and transported them to Toilette Hospital. While unharmed, they were undoubtedly traumatized from the horrors they witnessed.

A fund has been started in their name by kind hospital personnel to cover the payments of the therapy sessions they will have to go through in order to recuperate.

Currently unidentified: the suspect is current still at large and authorities urge to the public to provide vital information in order to apprehend the murderer.

The suspect was not witnessed fleeing the murder scene but due to our incredible scientific inventions authorities can gather the suspect has eyes, hair, shoulders, and a mouth. Due to the location of the murder, authorities suspect the culprit may also be male but students and staff should be wary of any with hands.

If you see anyone matching this description, authorities urge you to call them with you information but warn to stay away from the suspect as he is dangerous.

With no way knowing of where or when suspect might strike next, anyone with hinges or screws is warned to be on alert.

School Dance Postponed After Inappropriate Advertising

February 21, 2017 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Ella Petersen

Staff Writer

On Tuesday, January 24th, this sign appeared in the hallways at SLA — and it did not make the teachers happy.

The sign announced there was a dance to be held in the cafe, with different colored wristbands to show the other attendees whether or not or not the attendee was “available.”

Though the intentions of the party planners, seniors Ashlye Fitzmaurice and Niah Lombo, were not to be inappropriate, the party was not perceived in the same way by some of the faculty who saw a different message in the codes.

The Reasoning for the Party

Ashlye explained that the motivation for the party was an innocent one.

“Being that Valentine’s Day was coming up and at most high school dances people are afraid to approach their crush, we thought: ‘why not create a codes theme where people can tell others their relationship status by wristbands?’”

Ashlye and Niah did not think the party’s theme was inappropriate, otherwise they insisted they would not have gone through with promoting it. They received a lot of positive feedback from students so they figured that the party was going to be a hit. Many of the SLA students told them they would bring students from other schools.

The Problem

The planners did not ask for approval from a teacher before they hung up the fliers, which is the main reason for the event’s downfall.

“The idea of a dance was run by me beforehand, but not specifically a ‘codes’ dance,” Health and Physical Education Teacher Pia Martin said. She made it clear that such a theme would not have been approved.

Many of the teachers thought that the idea of the codes party was promoting something that a school should not be be advertising.

“The issue was the way it looked. It seemed as if the codes party was based on the premise of hooking up, not hooking up, who is eligible to hook up, who wants to be left alone, those sort of things. The reality is that this is a school and we have to promote ourselves in the best possible light all the time and a lot of times people don’t take that into consideration because they are not thinking that way,” Ms. Martin added.

Though Ms. Martin understands that the intention wasn’t to make a “hookup party,” she also notes that it can be misinterpreted by students when looking at the flyer.

“I understand that these kind of parties happen at colleges all the time, but they are not hosted in the school, they are somewhere else. So for us as a school to sanction something that can be misunderstood as a hookup party, whether or not it was intended to be promoted as a hookup party, it’s just not the face we want to put out to the public or the kind of party that we should be hosting.”

An Ongoing Issue

The party was rescheduled without the wristbands once the faculty became aware of the codes theme.

“Many teachers laughed at the fact that we came up with this idea…They simply explained to us what they thought it meant in an adult’s perspective. After hearing their thoughts, it made sense why they aren’t allowing it,” Ashlye noted.

The signs were taken down on January 24th — but that wasn’t the end of the issues around the party.

The week of February 13th, a video surfaced on social media featuring several SLA students dancing in a provocative matter, including shots that were taken at school.

Thanks to the video, the school decided to postpone the dance in an attempt to separate it from the reputation of being a codes party and anything that was implied in the video. The party will now be held on March 10th.

School staff is not pleased with the developments, but they recognize that there is a limit to how much they can manage an event and its advertising. Ms. Martin has a feeling this is not a first time thing.

“Now I’m getting an inkling that there have probably been parties here that have been advertised differently than we thought they were being advertised, although I have no evidence to say that. The reality is, once we ‘okay’ something, the way it is promoted on social media we don’t necessarily have control over.”

Conversation: 20 Minutes Without WiFi

February 17, 2017 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

So, we’re sitting here in Journalism and the internet is down. We all have work to be doing, but we can’t do it, so we thought we would describe what we do when the internet goes down at SLA.

Deja: I guess I’m sitting here for the next 20 minutes. What am I supposed to do? There’s nothing for me to do. I could type, but it wouldn’t save. There’s no point. I just try to keep whatever I was thinking in my head until the wifi comes back. Pulls out a pencil and starts to do some math. Anybody want to trade pencils for one that’s good?

Tamir: I think, “oh damn, I hope that saved.” And then I just sit there on my phone. There’s nothing else to do.

Saamir: I get a little upset if my stuff didn’t save. Then I think, “Oh, free period!”

Deja: You know what I actually do? I do stuff for other classes. I’m doing math right now.

Ella: I just go on my phone. I have unlimited data.

Tamir: I have a hotspot, so sometimes I do that.

Aaron: If I’m not in math class, this is something I am always thinking about. It shuts down your upside, you know?

Aidan: I do math homework.

Mekhi: First I think, “no work for right now!” But that just means more work for later.

Caroline: It’s a waste of time. Usually people just go on their phones until it starts up again.

Saamir: You wait for Ms. Diane to say, “ok everybody, the internet is down.”

Aaron: An internet outage is as bad as a power outage, if not worse. We haven’t had one in years, though.

Maddi: When it goes down during class, I talk to someone.

Tamir: Or you start looking around and asking, “it it only my wifi?”

Meymey: I know the wifi is down, but I keep trying to switch between different networks.

Aaron: When there’s no wifi, I go through the definition of insanity.

Lauren: I keep refreshing the page, but if it’s Google Drive I don’t do that.

Pahomov: What’s the worst scenario you’ve ever experienced with the wifi going down?

Tamir: I was doing a video project on WeVideo. It didn’t save. I cried. I really wanted to fight SLA.

Deja: I think it was a Spanish project last year. The wifi was messed up.

Meymey: If you decide not to type on Google Drive, and you actually do it on a canvas assignment… The whole room gasps. I’ve lost big pieces of writing that way.

At this moment, Ms. Diane comes on the loudspeaker to make the announcement about the wifi being down.

Taamir: Is that really necessary? Is there anybody who is actually trying to do work right now?

Aaron: People who type in canvas do not deserve sympathy. If they lose their work, that’s their fault.

Tamir: I have unlimited data, but it doesn’t always work.

At this point, the conversation about wifi dies down for a few minutes.

Ella: Oh, I got it!

Everybody opens their laptops again and frantically begins clicking on their keyboards.

Mekhi: Mine’s not working.

Ella: Oh… it worked for a second.

Deja: My browser says the site can’t even be reached.

It’s 10:42 PM. Class runs until 10:55, with no restoration of the wifi in sight.

Ella, at 10:51: Ok, it’s really back on now.

Tamir: No, it’s not.

Pahomov: Wait, yes it is!

Everybody opens their laptops again and begins to type.

Ms. Diane, over the loudspeaker: The internet is back up! The internet is back up.

Conversation captured by Ms. Pahomov.