NEWS

Teacher Meetings Change Wednesday Schedule - By Eva G.

In the coming weeks, the Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) Program at IHS will be undergoing scheduling changes, moving to before first period on Wednesday mornings.

Class Color Day Descends into Chaos - By Alexander S.

Before sunrise on Friday, October 3, a group of seniors arrived in the IHS parking lot and spray-painted "'09" on several parking signs and under the covered walkway from Activities building to the Gymnasium. Thus began a chaotic and confusing day, ultimately culminating in the cancellation of the homecoming dance.

Quad Closed Due to IPD Recommendation - By Michaela S.

Since October 2007, the IHS quad has been closed during non-lunch periods, which include first, second, seventh, and eighth. The IHS administration took the recommendation to close the quad from the Ithaca Police Department (IPD), after they gave a demonstration and assessment of safety at the school.

New Program Offers Formal Education Foundation - By Matt S.

In the United States, most high school students have had the luxury of an uninterrupted, K-12 education while students in many other parts of the world have not. Recently, a new program has been started to address the needs of such students enrolled at IHS. A course called Students with Interrupted Formal Education (SIFE), an offshoot of the English as a Second Language (ESL) program, is taught by Claire Soules, and seeks to give a foundation to a formal education to those who have been denied it.

AVID Grows and Learns with Students - By Adele O.

The Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) program, one of the Ithaca City School District's (ICSD) programs to promote equity, has been growing ever since it was introduced to IHS three years ago. The program was started in California 27 years ago and is active today in nearly 3,000 school districts throughout the country. AVID is designed to encourage students to achieve their best in school and in college. Four teachers run the program at IHS: Andrea Kiely, Kim Sholl, Mark Johnson, and Bryan Reynolds. College students from Cornell University and Ithaca College also come to some of the tutorials and fill the students in about college life and what it takes to succeed. The AVID program is run as a typical class and is taught every day, periods one through four.

New Website's Changes Neither Seen nor Heard, but Effective Nonetheless - By Julia S.

The ICSD website experienced a facelift this September. This new website builds on a project that began last September, which focused on using multimedia such as videos and photos. The new multimedia website is the product of the old text-based website and the newer one, featuring more pictures and videos.

Computer Labs Welcome New Equipment and Supervisor - By Grace W.

The computer labs at IHS have recently undergone changes in equipment and personnel. Lab one in the library is now home to 30 new iMacs, while the IHS technology committee forecasts technological updates in other departments and areas of the school.

Anonymous Survey Assesses Teen Behavior - By Julia S.

It seems that nowadays one has but to turn on the television or pick up a magazine to see examples of teenagers running amok. Perhaps in an effort to compare Ithaca's teens to the extremes portrayed in the media, the district administered the New York State Office of Alcohol and Substance Abuse Services Youth Development Survey (NYSYDS) during an extended homeroom period on Monday, October 21. The statewide survey is designed to provide a comprehensive view of students' behaviors, attitudes, and living circumstances. It consists of the standard NYSYDS questions, as well as nine or ten additional questions provided by the school district. The survey, which will be given to all ICSD students in grades six through 12, is entirely anonymous. Indeed, the officials who wrote the survey went to great lengths to preserve student anonymity.

Anglophile Program Continues Successfully Without Bach - By Jiyoung W.

Every year, special guests from different parts of the world come to IHS as part of exchange programs. The Anglophile Exchange has been a long-standing tradition at our school, with students of the Combined Class (CC) being notable participants.

Second Chinese Semester Puts Language First - By Colin R.

The Chinese program at IHS is expanding to include a second semester course to be offered for the first time this spring, during period one. The new course will cover about 350 of the 50,000 total Chinese characters, and their equivalents in pin-yin, an English transliteration of Chinese sounds to aid English-speaking students in their study of Chinese. This knowledge is enough to hold basic conversations, and to complete Explorations in Chinese Language and Culture, the same textbook that is used by Chinese 1 students.