CPS mandates longer school day, Lane reacts

By Alexandria Martinez

CPS officials released their plans to extend the school day by an additional 90 minutes back in August. Lane students and teachers were left wondering if they would be affected by the, originally optional, longer school day proposal. On Oct. 7, Lane students and teachers were sent home with a letter announcing that CPS will adopt a longer day and school year in the year of 2012-2013.

This news did not settle well with many Lane students and teachers. Lane English teacher, Mr. Valderrama, was very upset upon hearing that high schools will be among the schools forced to extend their school day.

“The idea of a longer school day operates on the assumption that more school is better, and that if students were to stay in school for an additional 90 minutes, they will be less likely to get into trouble,” Valderrama said. “However, this policy fails to recognize that the 4,300 students Lane is comprised of as well as all students in selective enrollment schools are not the students that get into trouble at the end of the school day.”

Teachers like Valderrama and Mr. Dongas, also an English teacher, both disagreed with the statistics included in the letter supporting CPS CEO Jean-Claude Bizard’s decision to extend the school day.

The statistics cited pointed out the achievement gap for African American students and Latino students as a reason for extending the school day.

“This matter has now become patronizing and condescending to African Americans and Hispanics because CPS is singling them out as the reason everyone needs a longer school day,” Dongas said.

Valderrama agrees.

“[The letter] basically says that African Americans and Latinos are the slow ones and therefore all students need a longer school day,” Valderrama said. “If they are going to target these racial groups, perhaps they should consider that poverty is affecting them and that is a reason why they have an ‘achievement gap’ compared to other racial groups. But instead, this letter condemns them of being guilty of poverty.”

Dongas and Valderrama both attended a meeting between Karen Lewis, the Chicago Teachers Union President, and Brizard.

“I went to Brizard myself and told him that I have five kids in the system and that if he implements this, he will be forcing me to remove my kids from the CPS system because I will not have my kids in school until four,” Dongas said.

Alexandra Oleksiuk, Div. 368, is concerned that the extra 90 minutes will restrict her ability to have time for anything else outside of school.

“I’m on the Dance Team and practices after school run long. It already takes me like an hour to get home after school. I’m worried that between practices, homework, and the commute back home, I won’t get enough sleep or down time,” Oleksiuk said.

Mrs. Michaelson, French teacher, is also not in favor of an extra 90 minutes.

“Lane Tech already has an abundant amount of extra-curricular activities that keep students busy afterschool. So a longer school day is not really needed,” Michaelson said.

Unlike many of her peers, Alexis Catibog, Div. 278, likes the idea of a longer school day.

“Our school system can become more efficient and gain better test scores because of an extended school day,” Catibog said. “Regardless of the fact that many students despise the idea, it will benefit CPS.”

Lane English teacher, Ms. LaRoche, took time after receiving the letter in class to discuss opinions about the matter with her students.

“My students brought up the impracticalities of this situation,” LaRoche said. “One of my students said, ‘Doesn’t CPS realize that this new policy will just drop graduation rates because students will not want to be in school until four?’”

LaRoche disagrees with the statistics stated in the letter.

“The statistics in this letter are a blatant lie. Our schools do not have the shortest day in the school system. L.A. and New York have about the same school day length that we do,” LaRoche said. “Also, is it really a problem that only eight percent of 11th graders are not college ready? They have an entire year to be college ready. That’s why there’s a 12th grade.”

Teachers are also concerned about whether or not they will be paid for the extra classroom instruction they will be giving with this new policy.

“If this is a policy that all schools take part in, teachers need to be compensated for their extra time,” Michaelson said. “Work is work and if [teachers] are going to work extra hours, [they] need to be paid for them.”

Valderrama agrees.

“Too often [CPS] forgets that teachers are not social workers and disregard that we do not appreciate non-teachers telling us how to work,” Valderrama said. “However this matter affects students just as much as it affects teachers. If this policy is bothersome to Lane students, they really need to take action and protest. Sign petitions, whatever it takes to make CPS realize this is an awful idea, because if teachers are the only ones taking action, we look greedy.”

Dr. LoBosco clarified what will take place if the longer school day is implemented.

“The longer school day is a CPS decision and they dictate the rules Lane has to follow. Another class will probably not be added to the seven that students already have. Instead, minutes will be added to each one,” LoBosco said.

Lane used to abide by its own rules and regulations regarding matters like the grading scale and the longer school day, but that is no longer the case.

“Lane used to be what is considered an AMP School [Autonomously Management and Performance], which means that we were able to make our own decisions about things like this ‘Longer School Day Pioneer Program,’ but we are no longer an ‘Amp School’ as ‘AMP Schools’ no longer exist,” LoBosco said. “So this is something that we will have to do, if CPS implements it.”

In an email sent to CPS staff on Oct. 20, Brizard reported that “the Chicago Teachers Union recently asked the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board (IELRB) to block CPS schools from extending their school day through the Longer School Day Pioneer Program.

Today, the Labor Relations Board ruled in favor of the Union’s filing. The IELRB now will have to make a request to the Attorney General on today’s decision, and then a circuit court judge will have to be petitioned to hear the case. The case will have to be won before that judge in order for the Pioneer Schools to roll back the time they’ve added. This could take several weeks.”

New dress code aims to rid school of short skirts, shorts

By Mary Presley

In 90 degree weather, less is always better. But short shorts, halter tops, spaghetti straps, and skirts that dangle halfway down the thigh are not acceptable attire for school according to the Lane administration.

Lane updated the school dress code over the summer with the most noticeable change calling for shorts or skirts to be at least knee-length. The previous dress code mandated that they had to reach one’s finger-tips (when arms hang down flat against the body).

The new dress code will indeed be enforced this year, but some girls have not yet accepted it.

“Why do they have to be to your knees? We are not nuns.” said Jenal Ortiz, Div.481. “Especially for a tall girl like me. No skirt that I’m going to buy will come down to my knees. The shorts length for a tall girl is not going to change. We have long legs, so our skirts are going to still look short.”

Ortiz is not the only student with complaints.

Jovana Flores, Div. 377, claims some students are overlooked when it comes to violations in the dress code.

“I do not see why I can not wear finger tip length clothes, when the cheerleaders’ and the volleyball players’ uniforms are to their butts. It is not fair that they have priority over everybody else,” said Flores, who has been sent to 210 by her division teacher this year to put on sweat pants.

Trips to the Discipline Office for dress code violations has proved a deterrent to wearing skimpy clothes for some.

“Last year when it was really warm like it is [at the beginning of the school year], I would wear shorts or skirts that weren’t fingertip length and I would wear spaghetti straps without a cover up. Now I do not really bother. I just wear jeans,” said Daphne Trujillo, Div. 360, who finally grew tired of being sent to 210 last year for dress code violations.

According to Dr. LoBosco, the administration changed the rule for skirt and short lengths because the fingertip rule was being ignored by so many.

“We were getting really short shorts in the summer, so we figure if we ask for them to be knee length, then the shorts would be longer,” LoBosco said.

In hopes that the more conservative policy will lead to more conservative fashion choices, the administration seems to understand that there will always be students who bend the rules, even a few inches at a time.

Lane switches to 10-point grading scale

CPS mandates all schools move to new scale. Teachers worry less stringent standards may lead to lower student performance.

By Cherrell Anderson

On the first day of school, after a year-long deliberation among the staff and pressure from parents, Lane students were welcomed with the new 10-point grading scale. This change was mandatory for all departments.

The push for a new standardized grading scale began with some of the parents of elementary CPS students. They complained that their children were at a disadvantage when it came down to getting into selective enrollment schools, compared to students at schools with lower grading scales.

“CPS reacted by standardizing the grading scale across the city,” Dr. LoBosco said. “We had a teacher committee survey [Lane’s] staff with two different grading scales to get our feedback. We listened to the parents and tried to make them happy.”

The two scales were the 10-point scale and a harder scale used by Jones College Prep High School in Chicago.

Last year at Lane, every department had their own scale, but there were some challenges when it came to the teacher/student online resource, Gradebook. The website was based on a five point scale for Honors and AP classes and around a seven to eight point scale for Regulars.

“If teachers made their own scales, they would have had to override Gradebook’s scale so it would show their students’ correct grades,” LoBosco said. “Teachers could only override the grades at certain times and some would forget to do so.”

Challenges like these would turn an A into a B on Gradebook, a B into a C, a C into a D, etc, which would sometimes make parents unnecesarily upset with their children who brought home report cards with grades worse than what they really had in their classes.

With all the departments now using the 10-point scale, some students are already noticing a difference in their academic performance compared to last year.

“The 10-point scale is helping me a lot, actually,” said Arielle Steward, Div. 462. “Last year, if I [had] a 91 percent, I would’ve gotten a B. Now it’s an A.”

“Ever since [I’ve been] a freshman, I thought the grading scale was too [tough]. I feel the new scale is fair because 94 percent should never be considered a B,” said Julian DiMaio, Div. 272, who was referring to last year’s Honors and AP grading scale.

While students are enjoying the benefits of an easier grading scale, some still question whether it is fair for students in Honors and AP classes, who are expected to work harder than they would in Regulars classes. Some even argue that the scale is not appropriate for a college preparatory school like Lane.

“The 10 point grading scale for a school that isn’t a college prep is fair,” Steward said. “However, [Lane] is a college preparatory school. Therefore we are held at a higher standard and [the new scale] is a bit too easy.”

“AP classes are harder than Honors, but they aren’t that hard that they should be knocked down to a 10 point scale,” said Anthony Surganov, Div. 264.

The 10 point grading scale has changed some teacher’s expectations of their students. Some teachers have rearranged their scoring criteria.

“For something worth 20 points, I used to give 20 just for the effort. Now, I actually read through all of their answers,” said English teacher, Ms. Coleman.

“I’m not a big fan of this grading scale,” said history teacher, Mr. Allegreza. “This is a college prep; [students] should be performing at a higher level. When they [go to college], they’re going to be in a for a very unpleasant surprise. Colleges are not going to be easy on them.”

The news about the 10 point grading scale reached some Lane alumni, some of whom had strong opinions.

“I feel a little bitter about Lane having an easier grading scale because I wanted my senior year to be very easy going,” said Class of 2011 alumni, Christine Javanillo. “I honestly believe that my college options would have had more of a variety because my GPA would have looked better.”

“I don’t feel anything towards the new grading scale. The old one made me work harder for my grades, whereas on the 10 point scale, people will have an easier time and aim for the minimum,” said Class of 2011 alumni, Kanza Ahmed. “Ultimately, academic success and failure depends on the student, not the grading scale.”

Ahmed’s belief that the 10 point scale leads to students putting forth less effort refers to what educators call “The Pygmalion Effect.” The Pygmalion Effect was formulated by college professor Robert Rosenthal and elementary school principal Lenore Jacobson. Their research showed that teacher expectations influence student performance. If a teacher has high expectations for students, the students will perform better. If a teacher has low expectations, the students will not perform as well. The same applies to managers’ expectations of their employees in the workplace.

Although the 10 point scale is easier than the previous scale, some students say that academic success is still up to the student.

“[AP students] are still being challenged even with the new scale, said Natalie Frazier, Div. 281.

“I think it’s more about the effort and the motivation that each student has,” Steward said.