NEWS

Destination: College - By Maira S.

Three years ago, Colleen Ledley and a few associates began a “grassroots movement” to gather information about Advancement Via Individual Determination, or AVID. A national program used in schools for the past 27 years, AVID teaches confidence and the academic habits necessary to help students reach college.

Site-Based Council Debates Decile System - By Eva G.

During the 2006-2007 school year, the IHS Site-Based Council discussed abandoning the long-standing decile rank system, a weighted rating that groups students according to which tenth of their class they fall into academically. The council later decided to keep the system, but not before bringing up a number of controversial points.

News Briefs - Staff Report

Administrative Restructuring

Over-Enrollment Hinders Schedule Changes - By Lily C.

Every August, IHS guidance counselors must deal with one of the most difficult scheduling challenges: over-enrollment. As Guidance Department Leader Sharon Gublo said, “There has been an issue with not being able to put students [in] or move students to other classes because we’re not able to over-enroll classes, so that keeps us from resolving conflicts in schedule[s].… My wish is that we were able to offer every single class every single period of the day so that you could give students what they want.” This is, unfortunately, impossible, and many students every year are unable to enroll in popular classes such as Advanced Placement (AP) Environmental Science and AP Human Geography.

Link Crew Excited for Second Year - By Lily C.

Before school began, this year’s Link Leaders met with freshmen, learned their names, played games with them, and showed them around the school. And, most likely, freshmen began to form their own opinions about the Link Crew program. Many freshmen last year found the idea of starting off the school year with older friends attractive; others questioned whether Link Crew was right for them, drawing from their experiences and perhaps also doubting the merits of such a new and experimental program.

District Hires New Assistant Superintendents - By Harryette K.

Patrick Jensen, former principal of Cayuga Heights Elementary School (CHES), and Lesli Myers, previously Director of Student and Career Support in the Greece Central School District, joined the Ithaca City School District (ICSD) administration this July.