By Naomi Lawrence ’17 The 50-percent rule may have raised students’ grades, but does it prepare them for real life or just get them through their high school career? Ten years after the implementation of the rule, the question remains hotly debated across MCPS, particularly among teachers. Established in 2006, the 50-percent rule was created as a response to former … Read More
By Lexi Matthews ’18 Decorating the classroom with shamrocks and wearing green are activities most American students have grown up expecting to participate in each St. Patrick’s Day. For students of Bruce Vento Elementary in Minnesota, however, March 17 will simply pass as another school day. February saw the banning of ‘dominant’ holidays in the school, including Thanksgiving, Halloween,Valentine’s Day … Read More
By Alleigh Keyes ’16 Although Rock ‘n’ Roll is celebrating 45 years, this year is more than a special anniversary, because it is also long-time director and choral teacher Bill Evan’s last production. This is a transition year, and next year, choral teacher and assistant director Mike Maddox will be taking over. Maddox already has taken advantage of technology by … Read More
By Kayla Cohen ’17 Social Studies teacher Josh Kinnetz helped deliver his son, Bodhi, during the blizzard on January 23. Kinnetz and his wife, Jenny Krueger, decided that they wanted to have their baby born at home, but when the baby was ready to be delivered, Kinnetz and Krueger were nervous that the midwives would have difficulties arriving at their … Read More
By Tyler Ruth ’16 Legislation recently has been submitted to rid the state of Maryland of speed cameras. Thirty-four lawmakers support the law but it has not reached committee yet, and only four of the supporting lawmakers are on the appropriate committee hearing the law, so its possibility of passing is still unclear. The legislation has been submitted based off … Read More
By Noel Rosendorf ’17 Montgomery County Public Schools has been closed for six days because of the recent snow storms, but only has four inclement weather days built into its calendar. As of now, two days will be added onto the school year based on a contingency calendar which extends the school year as a result how many snow days … Read More
By Danielle Tobb ’17 As a result of efforts to keep students in school, the number of out-of-school suspensions at Sherwood has remained at an all-time low over the past two years. There were six suspensions during the first quarter of this school year. During the first quarter of 2014-2015 school year, there were just three suspensions. The school, instead, … Read More
By Megan Werden ’17 Last year for the first time Sherwood students, along with other MCPS high school students, took the PARCC assessment for Algebra 1, Algebra 2 and English 10. Sherwood test-takers did significantly worse than the MCPS average. In Algebra 1, only eight percent of the school’s test-takers received a passing or excelling score, 19.8 percent for Algebra … Read More
By Morgan Hill ’16 At the beginning of this school year, the Level 1 ESOL class had 15 students enrolled in it, following the recommendation to have 15 or fewer students in ESOL classes. Yet, by the month of December, the number of students in the class had more than doubled, and there were 37 students enrolled in the class. … Read More
By Maddie Peloff ’16 On December 18, after months of preparation, Assistant Secondary Administrator Sapna Chaudhry became a U.S. citizen. Chaudhry, who was previously a permanent resident in the United States maintained her Indian citizenship but is finally able to call herself a U.S. citizen as well. The process for obtaining citizenship began for Chaudhry in July of 2015 when … Read More