By Derek Etter, Emily Heiss, and Ali Kochik
Collaborative investigation While on duty during C lunch Wed. Nov. 29, senior high principal Mark Shue learned that a male student brought a loaded gun with him that morning. In that moment, Shue said that he knew that the student needed to be located and taken into custody.
0 Comments
By Carly Guise
Editor-in-Chief For many students in school districts across York county, early August often means gearing up for the upcoming school year by viewing their schedule before the first day. For Red Lion students, this has not rung true up until the 2017-2018 school year. This year, administration has made the switch from MMS, which tied together multiple systems for the various needs of the school district, to Skyward, which combines all of these needs into one. By Chris Trantham Staff Writer Red Lion Area School District has been working hard at replacing all of the old first aid kits, aka “Go-Kits” with a standardized, easy to find, and use, “Go-Kit.” Mr. Grant Gouker, assistant principal, is the person in charge of the Go-Kit program for the district. Gouker has made roughly 417 kits for the district. There are a few things that Gouker has either changed, added, or removed from the kits to make them much simpler and easy to use for teachers and students alike. By Helen Zeidman Editor-in-Chief The Red Lion Area Senior High School shows its pride goes beyond an undefeated football team with its new status as the No. 2 school in York County. Red Lion’s high score on the Pennsylvania School Performance report bumped the school to the top of the county. The Pennsylvania Department of Education annually evaluates schools in Pennsylvania on a plethora of different factors. The department combines the scores from various categories to calculate the overall score for a school. Therefore, the top performing and well-rounded schools end up at the top of the rankings. Red Lion’s new ranking shows the hard work from staff and students has paid off. “The message I try to send is that we have a great school,” Mr. Mark Shue, the principal of Red Lion Area Senior High School, said. “This validated what we do. It really shows we have a great school here.” By Helen Zeidman Editor-in-Chief Mr. Rickard is the father of Elura and Sam Rickard. They are in seventh and twelfth grade, respectively. He religiously attends their soccer matches and cross country meets. He heckles his son about finding college scholarships and doing senior year right. He takes his role as a parent seriously, just like his new job helping the students as the assistant principal. “I want them to know that I have their best interest at all times. I look at them like they are my own children,” Rickard said. “And if something is not good enough for my kids, it is not good enough for them.” By Joel Zamora Staff Writer The state finally passed a budget for public schools that initiated a start for funding on March 26. Tom Wolf, the governor of Pennsylvania, decided to let the bill pass by the House and Senate, to be passed without his signature. This was an advancement in progress for the schools throughout the state. For Red Lion, this means about $2 million is received from the state. Originally, the state owed Red Lion $9.7 million. People residing in districts might ask public schools where the rest of the money is if the budget was already passed. “I was delighted that progress was being made,” Dr. Scott Deisley said, the superintendent of the Red Lion School District. “However, the budget being passed is only half the story.” By Zachary Rhine News and Feature Editor From lunches to schedules to bathrooms, students are always eager to voice their opinions on how Red Lion can do better. That is where RSVP and student council step in, not only to listen but also to act. RSVP occurs three times a school year during a day six academic prep period where student council representatives visit every homeroom and listen and take suggestions from the students on what they want to see changed in their school. “RSVP is based off student response, so we go wherever they lead us,” Mrs. Jane Dennish, student council adviser and Red Lion English teacher, said. “We may have some questions prepared, but typically it’s all based on student need.” The student council members report their findings back to Dennish, and then they as a group bring those issues up with Mr. Mark Shue, Red Lion High School principal. By Zachary Rhine
News & Feature Editor Substitute teachers are often a class’s dream come true, but that dream may be in trouble as of late. In the past few years the number of substitute teachers in the country, and Pennsylvania specifically, has decreased by more than fifty percent, according to comments from the PA Senate and House Education Committees released in October. Superintendent of Penn Manor School District, Michael Leichliter, spoke at the state Congress about this substitute teacher shortage. Leichliter explained that Penn Manor, a school only a forty five minute drive from Red Lion, doubled in the number of vacancies left unfilled from the 2013-2014 school year to the 2014-2015 school year. “As our pool of substitutes has shrunk in relation to those needed just to handle routine sick day and personal day needs of teachers,” said Leichliter, “the number of professional days for teachers has grown, further contributing to our current crisis.” Not only is the demand for substitutes at an all time high, but the fairly recent Affordable Care Act is also making schools hesitate to schedule the substitutes that they already have. The Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare as it is commonly known, redefined how many hours a full-time and part-time job entails. If a substitute is scheduled for more than thirty hours a week then by law they are entitled to certain benefits, salaries, and are considered full-time workers. Schools now have to find a balance with how many teachers they can schedule and also manage an already tight school budget. “With cuts in education, and hiring, and simply the diminishing of the substitute teaching state,” said Mr. Shue, Red Lion Principal, “the district certainly has been impacted.” When asked if administrators ever cover any classes, Shue explained, “On occasion, but often students unfortunately have to report to the commons.” Mrs. Joanne Bouton has been a substitute teacher for fifteen, going on sixteen years at both Red Lion and Dallastown. She planned on only teaching for a year or two, but ended up continuing because of how much she enjoyed it. She said that she has noticed that the pool of her fellow substitutes has dwindled over the years. “It’s a shame, too,” said Bouton, “because it’s such a joy to see the kids from elementary grow up, and see how they change going from middle to high school.” Junior Levi Jones expressed concern about this year’s lack of substitutes. “When Mr. Smith was out for a week after his injury there were many days where we didn’t even have a sub; we were simply told to go to the commons. So now we’re behind from where we need to be.” With all of the news and struggles that schools deal with day-by-day, few could have guessed that the seemingly bismal component of substitute teachers would cause such dramatic effects when their group began to vanish. Now two things must happen if this stupple of public schooling is going to continue for future generations: schools must find the budget to schedule more substitutes, and more of the younger generation will need to be enticed to pursue substitute teaching. A note from Superintendent Dr. Scott Deisley: It is nearly impossible to encapsulate a life in a few words. It is even more difficult to capture the impact and contributions of Jeff Fix to the Red Lion Area School District. A few days after the senior high prom, Mr. Fix wrote an open letter to the students of the senior high. I think his words best sum up his love for this district and our students.
Dear RLASH Students: I am often asked why I would want to serve on our school board. There are many long meetings, complex issues that must be resolved, balancing our budget with limited tax dollars…and we don’t get paid to do it! But I think I can speak on behalf of the entire board, both past and present, that the opportunity to serve YOU, our students, and assure that you get the best education possible is well worth the effort. We are constantly reminded of the outstanding things you do. Whether it’s your academic accomplishments, the excellence you achieve in music, athletics, and other extracurriculars or the many ways you give back to our community. Mini-THON and the Habitat House are two great examples of how you go way above and beyond what is expected. In my nearly eight years on school board, there have been countless occasions when I have been overwhelmed with pride in your accomplishments, but perhaps never more so than on the evening of April 25th. Each year, you select a Prom Queen and King who always represent the very best of who we are at Red Lion. And this year, you did so again by selecting Lauren Bankard and Cody Woods. Both are great kids and very special people. In addition to being special in the general sense, Cody is uniquely so, and it is not his needs that make him special nor define who he is. What makes him special is the joy, the enthusiasm, and the positive spirit that he brings to school each and every day. Thank you for bestowing both Cody and Lauren with this honor. On behalf of the entire school board, we are enormously proud of your gesture. I believe that we as a school district are perhaps best defined by how well we include our special kids in our lives. In that regard, you have set a very high standard. You are truly the best! Sincerely yours, Jeffrey E. Fix President Red Lion Area Board of School Directors Jeff understood the need to run a fiscally sound district. Although he worked to not raise taxes, he never wanted to give our students less--only more. He valued academics yet recognized the importance of extracurricular activities. He was proud of our facilities from our stage to Horn Field to the Fitzkee Center. He loved to brag about the opportunities that our students have. His 32 years as an unpaid tennis coach speaks to his commitment to our students. In addition to providing our students with a world-class education, Jeff was deeply concerned about uniting the entire Red Lion Area School District. Although Jeff was elected to represented Red Lion Borough, he worked to actively include the other two regions when making decisions. He dreamed of a united district where all students were able to participate equally. He did not like to hear that some students were unable to participate in activities because of a lack of transportation or funds. To that end, he gave freely of his time and energy. Certainly, Jeff loved this school district. He loved serving our students especially as the President of the Board. Truly Jeff represents the best of our school district. The blood that coursed through his veins undoubtedly was Gold and Black. Our district is a better place because of him. Carly Guise was the local winner for the Red Lion-Dallastown Rotary Club. Her essay was submitted in the larger contest of all the Rotary Clubs in Rotary District 7390 (Central PA). Carly won the larger contest as well.
She read her winning essay to the district convention May 2 and was awarded a check for $500. Her mother, Chera Stough, her father, Scott Guise, and her brother Shane were present for this. On Thursday, May 7, 2015 the Red Lion-Dallastown honored the finalists and winner of the Rotary 4-Way Essay Contest. A summary of each of the finalists’ essays was shared and Carly Guise read her essay to the Rotary Club members at the Great American Saloon Banquet Room. The students and their essays were warmly received. Submitted by Dr. Frank Herron. |
Archives
September 2018
Tags
All
|