The Chelsea Standard
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
CHS school newspaper faces cancellation
By Edward Freundl, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: March 13, 2008
It looks like the Bleu Print is going out of print.
Advertisement
The Chelsea High School student newspaper will likely reach the end of its press run next year because the class that produces it has been dropped from the schedule.
Although it's widely known as "journalism," the true name of the class is Production Writing.
According to Principal Ron Mead, there simply weren't enough students signed up for the elective next year to justify a spot on the schedule.
"It's strictly a numbers issue," he said. "If anything, (changing to trimesters) helped electives. Almost all my other class numbers were up, but this one was down."
Average class size is about 27, he said, and the cutoff point of 20 students is an arbitrary level to determine the level of interest in a particular class.
"If you run numbers around 20 that's significantly smaller than the average, and they didn't even have that many," he explained.
"I've probably cut about 20 classes already, and several of those were in the 15 to 20 range."
Mead noted that he had looked at the last five years of registrations for the class.
"Their numbers were always small, and it usually shrinks from when they sign up," he said.
Phil Jones, an English teacher who has taught the Production Writing class for the past four years and the former journalism class since 1977, seemed resigned to the fate of the class and the newspaper.
"I think it's pretty much a moot point," he said.
"By all appearances it looks like it's been left up to (Mead's) discretion, but some have questioned that because he will not be the school leader next year, Mrs. Deppner will."
Jones said the only year the class wasn't offered in the last 30 years was 1994-95, "and it was brought back the following year."
Jones said 16 have signed up for the class, a number he said had been "adequate in the past but it's not adequate now because the rules changed."
"That class size is the exact same size that we've had for the last four years," he said.
"It's not like we knew two months ago that we had to have 20 kids or the class would go; that was stated after the kids signed up."
However, Jones said he has not spoken to Mead about the change.
He said he missed a departmental meeting with the principal on the topic, and directed his students to take up the case with the school administration.
"The way things happen, I really encourage kids to be the leader of the activity and not for me to be the one to push things," Jones said.
Although he did not address the board, Jones, some of his students and their parents attended Monday's school board meeting to protest the change and ask for a reprieve.
Annika Schwiebert, a junior and editor of the Bleu Print's sports page, addressed the board first.
She said she and other staff members met with Mead on Friday and Monday about their concerns, and were told they hadn't met the 20-student criteria.
"What we're asking from you is funding for one hour for one teacher so we can have this class," Schwiebert told the board.
"What sets our class apart is what we give back to the school."
She said her classmates would try to find the needed number of students, but the smaller class size is actually an advantage because each staff person can work on their own computer.
"We feel really strongly that our school should have a paper, and we hope you see the worth of keeping our class and our paper," she said.
Schwiebert was followed by Crystal Hayduk, a writer and college professor whose daughter is in the class.
"I want to point out some advantages of the class," she said.
Among other things, it helps the students "build self-esteem, develop accountability, and critical thinking skills," Hayduk said.
"This is one class that teaches students to write, and write well."
School board President Laurel McDevitt said the students should not give up.
"I would urge you to continue to work with Mr. Mead; there are other classes that have not been renewed," she said.
After the meeting, McDevitt repeated that the students have not exhausted all avenues.
"We have a process in place for this, and I think they haven't worked through the entire process," she said.
"I'm glad the students came to us with their concerns, they are always more than welcome to speak during public comment."
On Tuesday Jones seemed puzzled by McDevitt's comments.
"I don't know what she means as far as 'process,'" he said.
"The process was followed: they went to Mr. Mead, he said it was out of his hands, and that's why they went to the school board last night.
"If they went to the superintendent first and then two weeks from now went to the school board, it may be too late," Jones added.
"By then Mr. Mead would have made his decision on the schedule."
In other business ...
Superintendent Dave Killips announced the retirement of his "right-hand person," Assistant Superintendent Iva Corbett, at the end of the current school year.
"She's been here 11 years, and she'd done an outstanding job for us," Killips said.
"She's a tremendous educator, and has been a great mentor for many administrators. She will be sorely missed in the district."
Corbett said she has been in education for 36 years, and decided it was time.
"I've been thinking about it for the last year or so, but I decided last month," she said.
"It's not about finding another job, I wouldn't leave here just for that," she added.
"I have no immediate plans; that's the best part!"
Not all stories are guaranteed to appear
online. The Web edition contains a reasonable
sampling of the print edition stories.
For the most complete news coverage, we invite you to
subscribe
to the print edition of the paper.
Expanded
Web
Coverage
TOP JOBS
