PHHS, Pleasant Hill, ORVolume 63, Issue 1

THE BILLIE BULLETINTHE THE THE MONDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2013

District considers new building projects

This school year, students at Pleas-ant Hill and students across the state will experience a new type of grading: profi -ciency in achieving Common Core State Standards. 44 other states besides Oregon have implemented this change as well. The Common Core standards are considered more challenging and designed to prepare students for college and the workplace.

Pleasant Hill students are confused as to what this might mean for homework and grading.

“What Mrs. Martin started last year was profi ciency-based grading--when you can retake tests below 70%,” said Biology teacher, Dani Tubman. “That was going to be required for everyone until July 23. Now teachers can only grade assignments that are linked to standards. Profi ciency-based grading makes sense for math, but for other subjects like AP Biology students should have an incentive to fi nish homework. Also, in college grades on tests are fi nal. I don’t want students going into college thinking they can retake their tests. That’s why I do a blend [of assignments and tests].”

EMMA BOYS

Common Core = Confusion?

SOURCE: DISTRICT WEBSITE

Mila Butler (10) and Jim Pray (10) were voted Homecoming Queen and King. Mila is a baking enthusiast and Jim relishes the time he gets to spend playing guitar. They spend a good amount of their free time rehearsing with their band and both enjoy The Grand Old Opry. photos courtesy of Lorrie Pray and Gene Cleveland

Most teachers haven’t had to change their curriculum to incorporate the new re-quirements.

“Standards have to be part of the grade, and documented in the grading sys-tem. In assessments, [teachers] have to be specifi c about the standards that are be-ing assessed,” said Social Studies teacher Erik Hoberg. “So yes, there is more work. [but] how I’m doing things hasn’t really changed.” Students most likely won’t see a major change in their grades or workload. “Teachers have always taught standards,” said Hoberg.

As for how teachers feel about the Common Core, some are strong support-ers.

“I like it,” said Mr. Hoberg. “... They’re skills that students need, and we

[as teachers] have a responsibility to teach them.” Though not a major change for students in the short

term, the Common Core Stan-dards may make a difference as they move on to college and careers.

Other teachers have mixed feelings but are encorporating

the standards in their teach-ing Pleasant Hill High School’s Homing Court (left to right): Megan Miller (9) and Gar-rett Olsen (9), Mila Butler (10) and Jim Pray (10), Rileigh Nielson (11) and Kamryn

Pierzina (11), and Deepraj Pawar (12) and Reece Blatch (12).

Homecoming 2013

PHSD #1 is in the process of creat-ing a Master Educational Facility Plan. A facilities committee, comprised of 36 par-ents, community members, students, and staff, have been meeting since March.

Each school site was toured, available data was reviewed and solutions to exist-ing capital needs were discussed, priori-tized, and disseminated into the plan sum-mary below.

This draft plan was created based on the most critical needs and affordability for the community. Over 300 surveys of staff and students were gathered and re-viewed.

The District invites patrons to address the School Board at any regularly sched-uled board meeting and invited to commu-nicate directly with the superintendent.

CORE ISSUES FOR FUTURE CONSIDERATION*Replace core education wings at High School,

including a stand-alone grades 6-8 classroom wing and commons - $12,700,000

*HighSchool–Renovate stage into kitchen and reno-vate GP Room as cafeteria - $450,000

*HighSchool–Renovate remaining restrooms and locker rooms - $480,000

*Add(4)K-2classrooms to elementary school to address growth and un-housed students–includes new restrooms - $1,390,000

*Elementary renovations–expand library and adjust 4 classrooms to meet the needs of the youngest grade levels. - $240,000

*Re-Rroute busing to perimeter and out of parking areas - $310,000

*Invest in Safety throughout campus - $450.000* Invest in Technology throughout campus -$720,000*Invest in Critical Capital Repairs throughout campus -

$2,480,000TOTAL BUDGET $19,220,000

HOW WOULD THIS BE PAID FOR? The current tax rates would remain the same if the District ran a general

obligation bond for $17.1 million. To increase the bond amount to $19.2 million would increase the tax rate by 30 cents, equal to an increase of about $60 per year for a $200,000 home. Current bond (for elementary school) ends in 2016.

See page for satellite views of total district changes

8Designed By

Sierra Johnson BehindBehindBehindBehindBillie

Why do leaves change color during au-tumn and not any other season?

The "green" leaves you see are actu-ally colored with at least four pigments: green chlorophyll, yellow xanthophyll, and red antho-cyanin. These molecules are not stable below a certain temperature. When the temperature fi rst gets close to freezing, the green chlorophyll chloroplasts die, and that color disappears, leaving only the yel-low and a bit of red still to color the leaf. The yellow xanthophyll is more able to tol-erate cold than chlorophyll, but still, it too will die, if it gets cold enough, leaving only the hardy red anthocyanins. A "hard frost" will bring out the red leaves as the only pigment left. After the really cold weath-er sets in, all you have are brown, on any leaves still hanging on the tree. Most have fallen off, because it takes less energy for the tree to make new leaves in the spring than preserve those already on the tree. Ms. Tubman can show you how to do an experiment in class that will separate these pigments into individual bands of color on a paper strip.

Why are the dead, or skeletons, portrayed as scary in our culture, while in other cul-tures, they are celebrated? e.g. Dia de Los Muertos

The sight of a skeleton reminds us all that we too, one day, will die, be buried, and leave only the hard skeleton behind. When the Spanish got to Mexico, they found a culture that used death as a way to consecrate their temples, at one point killing 26,000 of their neighbors just for one pyramid alone. The new religion of the Spaniards adapted, bringing in some of the customs of the new converts, and as-sociating familiar fi gures from the Nahuatl religion to become identifi ed with saints already in the new religion. The Celts had their New Year on October 31st, and the barrier between the living and the dead

If you’re walking in the parking lot two minutes before school starts, you may see Alex Leong peeling into the parking lot in Ela (pronounced, “ay-yuh”). His 2004 Acura RSX is tricked out with a sun roof, windows with the maximum legal tint, and a broken hula girl on the dash.

“It’s good for storing my spare tire and my jack and my fl ares, and also my body,” remarked Alex.

He purchased it for around $8,000 from a woman in Creswell, whose father was a mechanic and “kept it fresh.” He saidd that, when driving it, “I feel like a moist tigress prowling the lanes of the jungle fl oor.”

His favorite activity to do in the car? “Personally, I like to go on weekend excursions with her. Get away from the kids,

you know.” When asked if he had any good memories in the car that he would like to share, he

said, “Couple guys, they all came into my car, and then they were like, getting all weird...but it was ok. It was fi ne, but I got kind of nervous.”

His favorite song to bump in the car is “Your Life Is A Lie” by MGMT, and when asked to describe his car in one word, Alex decided on “generous.”

KORY SCHNEIDER

was very thin on that night. The dead an-cestors could cross over to visit the living. The Christian Church established Novem-ber 1st as "All Saints Day" and so the night before, October 31st, became the "All Holy Evening" or "All Hallowed Evening" or, as it's slurred and shortened to now, "Hallow-een." A custom that arose from this "night of the walking dead" was for people to dis-guise themselves in costumes, so the dead wouldn't recognize them.

What is the origin of Jack-O-Lanterns?With the Celtic Samhein (pronounced

"Saw-when") of the New Year, when the barrier between the living and the dead was very thin, strange things could be seen at night, including the "Will O the Wisp" of fl ammable marsh gas glowing in the dark near bogs. The Celts "trapped" this eerie light with a candle in a hollowed out tur-nip. Later, after pumpkins were brought back to Europe from the New World, the Celts found them to be an even better "Jack O'Lantern."

How do you grow an award winning pumpkin?

You might ask local huge pump-kin grower Thad Starr, who came in fi rst in 2012 at the "World Series of Pumpkin Growing" with a 1,775 pound entry, or even Steve Daletas, who came in second with his 1,521 lb entry. Both men live in Pleasant Hill, both have won contests like these quite regularly. They can tell you exactly how to do it, but I think it's a combination of really good seeds, of vari-eties that grow large, careful watering and tending, and the right fertilizer. With these two winning families, Pleasant Hill is the BEST place to ask someone how to grow large pumpkins.

The trouble, of course, is fi nding those really huge ovens to bake the monster pies made from them.

SIERRA JOHNSON

Chase Stowell (12), Summer Morris (12), Moria Hamtil (12), Kory Schneider (12) and Alex Leong (12) show off their Flintstone alter egos: Bam-Bam, Wilma, Pebbles, Dino and Fred. The Seniors barely scraped their fl oat together in the last hour and then walked away with the victory.

Dora, Karlei Blatch (9), protects her purple backback from Swiper [Malakye Plummer (9)]. Their Dora the Explorer fl oat came complete with turf, 60 feet of rope and potted fl owers. Everyone was surprised when the freshmen pulled together to create a top-notch hallway and place second in the Homecoming fl oat competition.

The Sophomores put a galactic spin on a modern day family. Mackenzie Blackburn (10), Maggie Murray (10), and Jenna Michelson (10) display their school spirit and amazing costumes. The Sophomores’ came in with a respectable third place.

KORY SCHNEIDER

Car of the Month