Features

Avi Cantor

Staff Writer

The Science Leadership Academy community is no stranger to budget cuts and overall financial issues. From having a small donor base to pull from for fundraising events, to not having enough money to have teachers for Spanish 3 and 4, SLA and every other Philadelphia public school has had to wrestle with funding issues.

The latest victim of such problems is the SLA and Ben Franklin sports teams.

According to SLA athletic director Matt Kay, all teams will merge with the exception of the boy’s and girl’s basketball teams.

“[The merge was decided upon] to save money so that they don’t have to pay all the coaches,” Kay stated.

He continued by explaining that there were no meetings with the President of the Public League Jimmy Lynch, to debate this issue. “We didn’t have a choice,” he explained.

While the veteran English teacher’s statements may have been a bit blunt, he has a point. For years, the school district has been finding new ways to cut certain programs that aren’t directly tied to the required curriculum for public schools.

Such cuts include the defunding of art, computer science, drama and theater programs across the city that have left schools across the city without creative ways to express themselves outside the classroom.

However, when it comes to athletics at SLA, this decision could have several different implications.

Possibly the most optimal would be that the sports teams could become more competitive. Given that teams will now have more players who will be able to try out, there is a higher likelihood of creating a stronger, more competitive team.

For example, at least two SLA students–freshman Zahfir McCullough and sophomore Kyree Yates–plan to try out for the Ben Franklin football team and will likely prove to be useful assets for a developing squad that went 7-5 last season.

However, the downsides are much more abundant than the upsides.

Junior Amani Harb explained that the SLA volleyball team needs very few if any new players. She added that creating a junior varsity team likely comprised of mainly Ben Franklin girls might make for ineffective practices for the girls who already know the game quite well.

“Practice isn’t practice it’s you being a teacher to people who don’t know volleyball,” Harb said.

Another issue that this competitive edge may create is a decline in students who just want to try a sport out. If an under experienced student saw a highly competitive baseball team, for example, they may not want to try out fearing that they’ll be well behind their higher skilled counterparts.

To say that this decision is definitively bad or good is hard to say but how both schools approach sports will forever be altered.

Jayla Wright

Copy Editor

When people first hear of SLA they think it’s a school based in STEM. This assumption makes sense. The school is called Science Leadership Academy. Plus, we are known for our well-rounded science and engineering programs. However, SLA is not just filled with STEM-aligned kids. Students interested in the arts have a place in the community as well.

A problem arises when the students find that there is a divide between the arts and STEM at SLA.

A sample survey finds that a majority of students do find that STEM classes receives more respect and attention than the arts at SLA.

Where does this idea come from? Most likely budget cuts. Budget cuts causes fine arts to receive less funding. Leading to less resources in the art department. There’s also only one art class students are required to take in one half of their freshmen year. Other art classes are delegated as electives.

A majority of teachers do find that STEM and the arts are mostly equal at SLA. The problem lies less in SLA and more in the district and societal expectations.

Science teacher Surinder Kaur states, “A lot of the courses that fall under STEM are required for graduation where as [the] arts is like an elective. So that’s probably part of the reason why there’s more funding towards STEM than [the] arts.”

Dig Vid teacher Anna Walker-Roberts finds that the budget cuts targeting the arts can be due to the reliance of state testing.

Walker-Roberts states, “It’s really hard to test the humanities. It’s really hard to test anything with higher order thinking skills, even in the STEM world. It’s easy to test knowledge and what people can memorize like basic skills. And I think schools put such a focus on that kind of stuff because that’s what the state testing was, that’s where our funding came from, and that caused them to pull away from investing as much in these things that aren’t measurable. But it turns out that human well-being isn’t measurable.”

Many of the teachers consider humanity classes to be a part of the arts. Which is what causes them to see art equal to STEM due to the balanced ratio of arts and humanities classes to STEM courses. This mindset works when considering how strong SLA’s English program is. However, we still only have two language art teachers causing students who want to continue to learn foreign languages to use Rosetta Stone. A program which doesn’t come close to teaching the valuable skills gained from human teachers.

With budget cuts and the well-being of students in mind, teachers try to integrate the arts into their classes. For example, Dig Vid students use both technical and creative skills to create films while those in Advanced Computer Science can code games that allow someone to draw.

Math and Computer Science teacher Victor Hernandez tries to involve self expression in all of his classes. He has his own definition of art, stating that, “It’s the expression and communication of a creative idea or thought.” With this in mind, he opens up the idea of what art can be.

As well as integrating Stem and the arts, Engineering teacher John Kamal tries guide kids away from defining themselves as just art or STEM students.

Kamal states, “There’s some groups of kids that see themselves as that, and I try to actually encourage kids to think of themselves more broadly, and more holistically, and try to develop themselves as whole people, and I most admire and most enjoy being with people that the particular interest that they have like that is just a part of a broader look of the world and enjoyment of all aspects of living and of nature and relationships with people. The teaching cohort at this school is particularly interested in developing whole people and we celebrate especially when we see crossover between STEM and art programs.”

Students are the most affected by the perceived divide between the arts and STEM. They find that the art program needs some changes before it’s at the the same level as STEM’s.

Some of the biggest concerns are resources, art courses offered, and collaboration between art and STEM.

When students look at the art room, they find that it leaves a lot to be desired. Materials, such as paint and paint brushes, look worn and old. They find that updating these and other tools every few years can enhance the program. With new art supplies, those in art classes would be less likely to find the comparisons between the art and STEM courses so extreme.

There is also an issue with just having one art course. Students stated that those who have an interest in the arts either have to take the one art class offered, or look for electives in the humanities to satisfy their creative urges. While the art and humanity classes allow expression, students yearn for more specific mediums of art offered. Taking a general art class and electives that don’t align with a student’s interest makes it harder for them to know for sure what kind of art are they are interested in.

Art oriented senior capstones struggle under both of these issues. With low resources, students have to try their best to get materials they need and oftentimes use substitutions that don’t fit their artistic vision. And without specific art courses, art students have to teach themselves techniques through trial and error to make their craft better. This causes their progress to a completed capstone to be slow and arduous. If they had a source closely related to their topic they could question and learn from they would stumble less on understanding their interest and have a more satisfying capstone.

A common offered solution to this problem was a CTE program for art. This would allow art students to hone in on the different types of art they’re interested in and leave highschool with a certificate, just like the Engineering and Dig Vid students.

Senior Kiah Johnson drew inspiration from Spain’s education system, “In Spain, they have an interest and they stay throughout their interest throughout the whole high school career and then they take a test on that and then do whatever. So I think it should be some aspect of that after you reach a point, so maybe Sophomore year. Sophomore year you should atleast have an idea of what you like. So that would be simpler to just have a whole bunch of electives people have to take so they know what they like.”

Senior Eric Valenti believes the proposed art CTE program could allow for more direct collaboration between art and STEM students

Valenti states he desires, “more things are shown to people where art and STEM are doing STEAM and we learned more of how you can incorporate art and STEM. I wish there was a third track in SLA, like how there’s Dig Vid and Engineering, and maybe there is this art thing. There could be a project where we’re combining the programs. Like this week we’re doing an Art and Engineering thing where the Art and Engineering kids have to work together and create something which is one of their benchmarks. Or the art and Dig Vid kids are like ‘You guys have to make a movie’ and then combine all three of them.”

STEM courses are mostly considered by the student body to be given more attention than the arts. However this is not an issue made by our teachers and staff, but one made by the decisions of the district. SLA still can bridge this divide. Moving into a new building is an opportunity to create improvements in the art and STEM classes, and the environment at SLA encourages students to share opinions that can guide any future changes.

The teachers want both the arts and STEM to succeed, as the lives of students would benefit. Spanish teacher Joselyn Hernandez states, “I do believe that art should be maintained in schools because it fosters creativity.”

Lauren Nicolella & Sukainah Hasan

Staff Writers

Every teacher at SLA has their own grading policy, which is usually introduced at the beginning of each school year to lay down baseline expectations for grading, late work, and absences.

But how do teachers develop these policies? And how do they affect their students?

History teacher, Jason Todd, who teaches half of the sophomores and seniors, explained how there are more individual grading policies for each classroom, and it differs from the other Sophomore World History teacher, Dan Symonds.

“The dynamic of each class is different, and there are a number of factors that go into that. I play a role in creating that, and some classes seem more engaged than others.” says Todd.

All sophomores go through the Cortez trial, where they are given a role to defend in a simulation that lasts for at least a week. Because no class or teacher at SLA is the same. Each of the classes works through the project at their own pace with different approaches.

Mr. Todd explained that the project is a product of SLA’s combination of collaboration and autonomy for teachers.

“The trial is something Mr. Symonds and I have collaborated on and shared ideas on, but outside of collaborating on the unit, we haven’t touched base on reflecting on how it went during each class.” said Todd.

Mr. Todd has not expressed any concerns with students or streams, but instead is always looking for ways to improve his classroom and receive feedback from students about assignments and benchmarks.

“If I feel like the students are overwhelmed or I look at the calendar and I see other teachers have projects I’ll usually try to pull back and not give as much homework. I’ve been trying to give more time for longer readings, so they can be broken down and give more time to do a second part.”

Mr. Todd also takes personal feedback seriously, using emails from students and an end of the year survey to improve on specific units and benchmarks.

“I do listen to the general consensus and feedback. If I get a few emails from kids, I’ll pull some aside and try to engage in how overwhelmed they are.”

Symonds has also made student health his top priority when starting this school year.

“For the first day for freshmen, I assigned sleep as their homework. I try to make room so it’s equally as important to focus on learning,” Symonds explained. “I try to be very accommodating when it comes to health.”

He is known for giving students some extra time to do work, only when he sees that they are being genuine about struggling rather than making up a false story that is just a fault of being lazy and procrastinating.

On a personal level, it is difficult for teachers to create time to grade, as they are constantly finding ways to improve their schedules and plan out lessons that can align for when grades need to be due. They try to accommodate to the students without damaging their sleep schedule too much.

“I made a pledge to my world history class that if I don’t grade it within two weeks, it’s an automatic 100%,” says Symonds.

After speaking to some teachers, we decided to interview a freshman and a sophomore to see if students feel the same way about the grading policies that their teachers have. The first question that we asked both students was: How do you feel about the grading policies for each teacher?

“Some of my teachers grade slower than others,”  sophomore Ami Doumbia started to explain. “The ones that are grading slower than others, are making an effort to grade faster since lots of students are complaining about it.”

When we asked freshman Imajay Harvey the same question, he also stated that some of his teachers grade slowly.

The second question that we asked both students was: Do different grading policies make it harder to work in certain classes?

“Yes, because since some of my teachers grade slow, sometimes I don’t get to see my overall grade, until the end of the quarter,” Imajay stated. “Since this is the case, it doesn’t allow me to make up any assignments to make my grade higher than I want it to be.”

When I asked Ami the same question, she also stated: “It does make it harder to work in certain classes, because the more that teachers grade slower, the more students won’t have a chance to change their grade, and see what they can actually improve on.”

Based off of these responses, it shows how it makes it harder for students to work to get a good grade in certain classes, because of how some teachers grade. The next question that I asked both students was: Does your teacher grade at a pace that makes you satisfied or annoyed?

“Most teachers grade at a pace that I’m satisfied  because the grades that we get is what we deserve” Ami explained.

When Imajay was asked this question, he stated, “The way some of my teacher’s grading pace are makes me annoyed, because of how slow I receive feedback on assignments.”

So how should students deal with these challenges?

“The ability to communicate about your education is important,” Imajay said.

When we asked Ami this she also said: “Communication with a student and teacher is important, because some teachers grade harshly without knowing the mindset of a student. A teacher might say something, but students may have taken it the wrong perspective and it faulted into their grade.”

SLA teachers are very open to criticism, and receiving feedback so they understand what could be better for those apart of their class the following year. Mr. Symonds explained how he uses methods like anonymous surveys, email individuals, or personal conversations — but that those comments do take a toll sometimes.

“I try and open myself to feedback and criticism, but that’s hard to do. Every time I say ‘Be honest, what do you think?’ and somebody’s actually honest, it still hurts.”

Despite this challenge, Mr. Symonds and other SLA teachers feel the effort is worth it because they’re constantly trying to improve their classrooms.

“I think people are more willing to give me feedback because they understand I am still learning. Every teacher really is still learning.”