Freshman Year

I literally walked into CHS on my first day of school with an iPod in my pocket playing Arcade Fire’s debut album “Funeral”. The reason that I remember this is that I listened to the album just about every morning on my way to school. Just as I was truly entering my teenage years, I once again returned to this album that I had become enamored with in middle school. The lyrics about finding one’s place in a nondescript “neighborhood” appealed to me as I entered the behemoth of high school. By the winter, I began listening to Tegan and Sara’s “The Con.” Instead of focusing on expansive social issues like “Funeral,” its singular focus on individual struggles appealed to me. Just about every song was under three minutes and it was a lot more pop-oriented and simplistic than “Funeral,” as well. When combined with a lot of Rihanna songs, it was the perfect contrast to the gloominess of “Funeral.” In the spring, I discovered Patti Smith and started listening to her 1975 album “Horses”. I remember an article referencing her as the “godmother of punk.” I didn’t even know that such a title existed, so I was intrigued. After the first listen, I didn’t really get it. However, by the third or fourth listen, I was completely absorbed in the literally poetic lyrics (Smith was a well-respected poet in the New York poetry scene, as well as the burgeoning punk scene) and the powerful subject matter. From there, I delved even further into the past. It was my last summer at sleep-away camp, where folk and acoustic guitar music are essentially required territory. That was the summer that I discovered Bob Dylan. I alternated between listening to various greatest hits compilations and his 1964 album, “The Times They Are a-Changin’”. Not coincidentally, this was around the time that I really started becoming interested in politics and following the 2008 election, so I’m sure that my growing political consciousness had something to do with my interest in Dylan’s inherently political music.

Sophomore Year

Around the time that I returned to school, my friend burned me a copy of Neutral Milk Hotel’s 1998 concept album “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea.” Although most of the lyrics don’t actually make that much literal sense, the overarching influence rooted from the Diary of Anne Frank is made pretty clear in the lyrics. At that point in my life, “Aeroplane” was also probably the most objectively “weird” album that I had ever listened to. On the first listen, Jeff Mangum’s voice can seem a bit affectless and nasally to some, but the songwriting and lo-fi simplicity drew me in nonetheless. From that point on, I was a lot more open to listening to conventionally bizarre songs. For the rest of the school year, I alternated between two very different albums: Rilo Kiley’s “The Execution of All Things” and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs album “Fever to Tell.” Rilo Kiley’s Americana-infused angsty rock album was the perfect complement to my sophomore year. Meanwhile, the ferociousness of Yeah Yeah Yeahs lead singer Karen O had a contradictory effect, inspiring me to take more risks and even occasionally serving as my pump-up music before tennis matches and tests. Over the summer, I became interested in Sleater-Kinney’s 1996 album, “Dig Me Out” and the entire early-‘90s riot grrrl punk music scene that accompanied it. It was definitely the loudest, most powerful album that I’d ever listened to and the raw passion of the music amazed me.

Junior Year

Lady Gaga’s The Fame Monster opened my fall with a bang. It was one of the few mainstream pop albums that had actually interested me for years. Like the rest of the world, I was in love with “Bad Romance” and Lady Gaga’s unique public image and message. Rarely was there a day where I drove my car without playing a song from that album. That winter, I began listening to the debut album of a band called Girls, aptly named “Album.” Girls, a San Francisco band which is actually comprised of only male members, wrote probably the cheeriest break-up album ever. The jangly, ‘60s-inspired rhythms of the songs were the perfect antidote to dreary winter weather. Meanwhile, I had already begun reading the novels and poetry of the Beat Generation, also mainly based in San Francisco. Around the time I began studying for my first year of AP testing, Joni Mitchell’s classic album “Blue” became my most reliable study companion. At the time, the onset of the college application process and the pressures of standardized testing were incredibly overbearing and the quiet power of “Blue” was the perfect accompaniment to any relaxation and meditation. After seeing them do a free, in-store performance at Vintage Vinyl in the spring and in anticipation of seeing them at LouFest in August, I listened to Titus Andronicus’ Civil War concept album, “The Monitor.” As both a fan of punk rock and American history, I cherished this album almost immediately. I’ve never heard another album before or since that switches between Abraham Lincoln quotes and screaming over rapid, complicated guitar solos.

Senior Year

Summer was coming to a close when, due to my love for Arcade Fire’s past work, I bought their new album, “The Suburbs,” in a way that is unusual for me: I went over to a record store to pick up the album on its release date. As soon as I got home, I eagerly placed the record on my turntable and absorbed the lyrics. For years, I’d been growing tired of suburbia, so the album really connected with me. In fact, I identified with the album so much that I officially decided to apply early decision to a school in the city around the time that the album came out. I’d grown far too tired of the sprawl.

Make sure that you keep an eye out for the next issue of The Globe in August. Otherwise, you might not recognize us.
Yes, The Globe will be getting a makeover. The Globe staff has recently come to a decision that next year this publication will transition to a newsmagazine format. Thus, CHS will now have The Globe newsmagazine instead of The Globe newspaper.
Zach Praiss, who will be a Senior Managing Editor in the 2011-2012 school year, anticipates that students who read The Globe casually might be surprised by the significant change in format.
“I think it’s going to be a big change for us, as editors, but it’s also going to be a big change for our readers in that they’re going to see a new format on the first day of school when they walk through the doors,” Praiss said.

The Globe newsmagazine design for the 2011-2012 school year

While this may seem sudden, the idea of changing formats has been considered by the editorial staff for a while.
“The first time the idea of a newsmagazine came up was last year,” 2011-2012 Senior Managing Editor Jackie Leong said. “Mrs. Freeman first mentioned that, if we wanted to do a newsmagazine-type thing, that this would be the year to do it. No one wanted to do it last year, mostly because last year we didn’t know if we could do the design aspect of it. This year, we’ve played a little more with design and I feel like we could pull off a very design-heavy newsmagazine that would definitely pull in more student readers.”
Ultimately, 2011-2012 Editor in Chief Noah Eby came to the conclusion that a newsmagazine would be the best option by considering what students would most enjoy.
“We wanted to make the Globe more reader-friendly, something students could read on the go or put in their backpacks to take home,” Eby said. “And we also wanted to give ourselves an opportunity to experiment with new design techniques that emphasize photos and graphics.”

Let’s Put This in Perspective

Most people imagine The Globe as a broadsheet because, in recent years, it has been the most durable format.
“Well, the broadsheet’s been around since 2004,” Advisor Nancy Freeman said. “So, it’s probably been the thing that we’ve had the longest since I’ve been here. I mean, I’ve been here for 15 years and, for seven of those years, we’ve had a broadsheet.”
However, many people are unaware of the frequent changes in format that The Globe has had, even in the last 15 years.
“Before the broadsheet, [the format] changed about three or four times in the eight years that I was here before that,” Freeman said. “It went from being a newsmagazine-type of thing, to a black and white tabloid, to a tabloid with spot color, and then to a broadsheet.”
Freeman wishes that the transition to a newsmagazine had happened during her time at CHS; however, she is excited to see what next year’s staff will accomplish.
Meanwhile, the head staff this year pondered what would be the best course of action for next school year.
“We’ve looked to student and professional publications for inspiration over the past months,” 2011-2012 Editor in Chief Noah Eby said.
In particular, the head editors have been drawn to newsmagazines by Exeter High School and Francis Howell North High School, as well as professional publications like Sports Illustrated, Time, and The New York Times Magazine. In other words, The Globe will be in good company in shifting its focus to the newsmagazine.

Our Generation: It’s All About the Students

Besides the desire for a fresh, new way of making a print publication, the editorial staff was intrigued by the potential for innovation inherent to a newsmagazine and the student interest that will, hopefully, increase as a result.
Traditionally, The Globe has struggled to attract student readership, with copies often being brought from CHS to Clayton homes, only to be read just by parents and other adults. However, the new emphases brought about by a newsmagazine have the potential to change this.
“I think the special emphasis that we will have to be put on creative design is really exciting,” Eby said. “If we get it right, we could have a truly great publication, and I’m confident that the staff will be able to use the magazine to its full potential. Specifically, I love the idea of having a cover story span seven or eight pages of the magazine. The doors that this opens up for design and creativity are very exciting.”
While 2011-2012 Senior Managing Editor Jackie Leong believes that it will be a challenge to transition from various stories and teasers arranged on a front page to bringing the focus of the front page to a specific cover story, she also thinks that a well-designed cover will convince more students to pick up The Globe.
“Great design is definitely something that people like to see,” Leong said. “It definitely attracts them more than a text-heavy broadsheet will.”
Eby hopes that students will not only be more likely to pick up The Globe because of the design, but also be more likely to read it.
“I think readers will love it,” Eby said. “I know some people will be sad to see the broadsheet go, but once people get used to it I think they’ll really come to appreciate the magazine for all that it offers.”

The Obstacles and Challenges

The new format will not be without its challenges, however, the staff believes that most of the problems will stem from the initial surprise at the digression from the original broadsheet layout.
“First and foremost, we fear that people won’t like it,” Eby said. “While we’ve heard a few moans and complaints, the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, so hopefully that first concern won’t materialize”
However, other concerns involve the impending challenges that the staff will face in developing new skill-sets concerning design.
“We have a long way to go in terms of educating ourselves on how to design and manage a magazine, so that’s something we’ll have to work on extensively over the summer and at the beginning of next year,” Eby said.
Additionally, there will be less room for stories in general, so altering the distribution and length of the article will be a challenge for both reporters and the editorial staff.
“We definitely will have less space in general,” Leong said. “Before, we’ve had this giant broadsheet of 24 pages. Now, we’re going to have a 48-page newsmagazine. That sounds like it’s equivalent, but it’s definitely going to be a little slimmer, so I think that the stories are going to have to get a little shorter.”
However, ultimately, the head staff believes that these challenges will ultimately improve The Globe.
“The newsmagazine will really push us to develop our design skills and put us in a new realm of editorship,” 2011-2012 Senior Managing Editor Zach Praiss said.

Looking Toward the Future

Even traditionalists have to admit that the breed of broadsheet newspapers is diminishing. With the transition to a newsmagazine, The Globe will be joining an ever-growing group of publications that convey information to their readers with graphics and shorter articles on a smaller, more condensed layout.
“I think the change represents the fact that newspapers are evolving and the media is constantly evolving,” Praiss said. “I think that our generation feels more of a connection with the newsmagazine format in that, nowadays, teenagers and young adults aren’t as accustomed to opening the broadsheet newspapers… There’s a greater appeal for our generation to pick up a newsmagazine.”
Essentially, newspapers worldwide are adjusting their methodology and, as a result, The Globe’s head editorial staff wants to follow suit.
“Publications are really going through a lot of changes and I think it is important that The Globe stays current with these changes,” 2011-2012 Senior Managing Editor Laura Bleeke said. “The newspaper, sadly, is dying out, but hopefully the newsmagazine will be something fresh and new and will keep our readers interested.”
Along with this desire to innovate with regard to design and content, The Globe also hopes to expand into more of a community-wide newspaper by improving business techniques and new media skills with the help of next year’s advisor Erin Castellano.
“We’re very excited to have Ms. Castellano coming next year,” Eby said. “She brings a wealth of experience in multimedia and design, and we hope she’ll be able to help us improve the business aspect of The Globe as well. Many of us have worked with her before, and we know that she’s a very kind, personable teacher who we’re sure will make the transition to the magazine and the transition from Mrs. Freeman as smooth as possible.”
Likewise, Castellano is looking forward to working with the students on creating a newsmagazine that is of the times.
“I’m excited to work with the staff to come up with a look for the newsmagazine that is contemporary,” Castellano said. “I think the kind of visual storytelling we will be able to do with the new format will be an interesting change of pace… I’m also looking forward to making changes to the website and integrating videos to enhance the stories we put online.”
Eby agrees that nature of the magazine will also force The Globe website into a higher realm of performance with regard to its website.
“Hopefully, moving to a magazine will help our website develop as a source for up to date Clayton community and sports news,” Eby said. “The magazine format forces us to focus more on features and less on breaking news and game coverage. As a result, we hope to transition most community news and game reports to the website, which should boost traffic and improve the content of our print publication.”

It was quite a sight to see. On May 6, hundreds of CHS students congregated on the circular lawn by the front entrance of CHS to protest coach and teacher Sam Horrell’s dismissal from his position as CHS Varsity football coach.

Horrell holds his son as he meets with students in the circle on May 6, when hundreds of students walked out of class to protested his dismissal as football coach by walking out of class. (Thalia Sass)

The decision to dismiss Horrell from his coaching position was made by the administration after they learned that Horrell had been attending off-season workouts with Wydown Middle School eight graders in February.

“Coach Horrell was engaged in strength and conditioning workouts with eighth graders from Wydown Middle School,” Athletic Director Bob Bone said.

Ann Brown, whose eighth grade son attended one workout, doesn’t recall her son being invited specifically by any of the CHS coaching staff.

“I don’t really know how it got started,” Ann Brown said. “I thought that it was kind of the word of mouth with the kids, but I don’t know.”

Ann Brown doesn’t agree with Horrell’s dismissal and believes that the workout sessions didn’t warrant the controversy that has resulted.

“[My son] went to one session and felt uncomfortable with the high school kids there and stood around and did nothing,” Ann Brown said. “He said he wasn’t going back, it was ‘stupid,’ and that there was no instruction or guidance.”

Andy Brown, who is of no relation to Ann Brown, also has an eighth grade son who participated in the workout sessions and believes that the punishment given to Horrell was too harsh.

“From my point of view, I don’t think what the kids did was a violation at all,” Andy Brown said.

Andy Brown believes that the sessions were too informal to be considered violations.

“There was nothing formal about any of it,” Brown said. “[My son] played catch in the gym with Chase [Haslett] a couple times, which is not against any rules, to play catch with another student. He was never coached.”

The alleged violation came to light after one of the eight grade parents called the school about the workouts.

“Her son had come up to work out,” Principal Louise Losos said. “He had normally come in the back door, through the link with one of the coaches. That coach wasn’t there. She was wanting to find out what was going on because he had to pay a visitor fee because they weren’t members….”

Once the administration found out about the violation from the parent, they investigated the incident and then self-reported the alleged violation to the Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHSAA). Then, MSHSAA responded to the administration that Horrell had violated MSHSAA policy.

Bone said that the decision to dismiss Horrell from coaching was not made lightly.

“This is a high school athletics issue,” Bone said. “Dr. Losos and I made the decision in consultation with the High School Administrative Team and the District Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources.”

Horrell was not dismissed from his post as a physical education teacher and currently plans to teach at CHS next year.

“High school coaches cannot work with eighth graders,” Losos said. “You can work with sixth or seventh graders, but not eighth graders.”

The decision to self-report was made because doing so is required of the administration by MSHSAA. Additionally, had someone else reported the incident after the team had already started the following season, “the entire season would have been wiped out, the students involved would have been ineligible… and there would have been greater consequences for [our] school’s noncompliance,” Losos said.

Despite the reasoning of the administration, enough students disagreed with the administration’s decision that they staged a substantial protest.

Seniors Wolfy Gaidis and Chase Haslett were instrumental in organizing the protest, in large part because of their personal relationship with Horrell. Gaidis, who felt that Horrell’s punishment was “far too severe,” hoped to use the protest to publicly defend Horrell.

“Coach Horrell has been a really big part of my life,” Gaidis said. “I mean, he’s a really positive guy; he teaches us a good work ethic. He always makes sure he’s there for you when you need him. Chase Haslett and I have both been playing with him for a while and we just kind of thought something needed to be done. It’s not right for him to go out like this. He deserves much better.”

CHS students and much of the community are overwhelmingly in support of Horrell, with the “Bring Back Coach Horrell” Facebook page having over 800 members as of May 11.

For many students who knew Horrell, football players especially, he was more than just a coach.

“I’ve known him since second grade and, this is a little bit cheesy, but he’s kind of like a second father to me,” Gaidis said. “He made sure that all of his players, especially his older players and the big men on the line, had a family to go to. Even if you were having trouble at home or, you know, troubles outside, he made sure he was always there for you.”

Adam Banks (CHS ’09), who was a quarterback on the football team under Horrell, also remembers Horrell as a father figure who was a wonderful example for the students on his team.

“I lost my dad when I was in the eighth grade, and I don’t know a person who has lost a parent and just compares anyone to their lost parent,” Banks said on the Facebook page. “For four years Sam Horrell was a father figure in my life and for that I admire him very much. Sam’s coaching transcends the boundaries of the football field and is applicable to much more in life. Everyone who has played for Coach Horrell knows about being in the circle and out of the circle and controlling what you can control. This idea is just one of many that are applicable to the field and also to life in general.”

Horrell showed up to the rally in his support and was given printouts of the Facebook page in support of him by students.

“I walked out there and was greatly surprised by the student support and outcry and the feelings…  [it] has been absolutely tremendous and very heartwarming,” Horrell said. “I think, in education, there are a lot of times when you don’t ever as an educator get to know how your students feel about you, and I’m very fortunate right now for that. The way that the alumni, the students, and parents and community are expressing their feelings toward me, I’m very grateful for their thoughts.”

While Losos disagreed with the  goal to reinstate Horrell as football coach, she appreciated that the students who participated in the rally behaved peacefully.

“The students were… manifesting their first amendment rights to peacefully assemble and petition for redressive grievances,” Losos said. “I thought that Coach Horrell should really feel supported and loved by the students. I had a number of teachers say to me that they were proud that the students followed through. In many ways, the reality is that the students have behaved better than many of the adults involved, I’m not talking Coach Horrell here, going back to Facebook here.”

However, Losos has found herself at odds with incorrect facts and misinformation being spread around the community. For instance, many defenders of Horrell have claimed that MSHSAA categorizes Horrell’s alleged violation as a “minor” violation that only calls for a five-game suspension for the coach. According to MSHSAA Communications Director Jason West, categorizations such as “major” and “minor” don’t apply to the case in question.

“We just don’t have those distinctions,” West said. “Flat out.”

West said that MSHSAA doesn’t have the authority to suspend a coach for conduct off the field, but that the eighth grade students involved face ineligibility for a 365-day period. However, because CHS self-reported the incident and took actions against Horrell, this might impact the MSHSAA Board’s decision of whether to keep the players involved ineligible.

“Any corrective action that the school takes, they have a self-report and are asking for a lesser penalty, is taken into consideration by the Board of Directors,” West said.

Despite some assertions that the administration used video surveillance from the weightlifting room, Losos said that video surveillance from the weightlifting room wasn’t used as evidence.

“There’s been a lot of misinformation out there,” Losos said. “Like, that this happened in the weightlifting room. No, this has nothing to do with lifting weights. It has nothing to do with a coach spotting another student to make sure that they’re safe. The eighth grader participation occurred out on the Center courts.”

Additionally, Losos refutes any rumors that she sent in surveillance videos to MSHSAA or leaked the names of any students involved.

“I’ve heard the rumor that we sent video of eighth graders to MSHSAA,” Losos said. “That’s not true. No video has been sent to MSHSAA. No names have been sent anywhere. It’s a complete misunderstanding.”

Ultimately, for Losos, the decision was about protecting the students.

“The eighth graders are truly the innocent victims in all of this,” Losos said. “They were doing what they were invited to do and, so, they did nothing wrong.”

Unfortunately for the members of the community who want to know all of the details of the case, Losos is legally obligated to withhold certain personnel information regarding Horrell’s dismissal.

“Did we have to remove Coach Horrell as coach? No we did not have to do that,” Losos said. “We had to do something. There is other information that led us to make that decision, but that’s information I cannot share with you.”

Losos believes that her ability to defend the administration’s decision has been affected by the restrictions on what factors in the decision-making process they can reveal.

“When I got hired, my line has always been to students and, certainly, to Globe reporters that, if I can’t explain a decision, then I shouldn’t have made it,” Losos said. “I still believe that. Unfortunately, I’m constricted in explaining the full decision.”

Students join hands as they encircle Gay Field in Protest on Friday, May 6th. Leaders, such as Chase Haslett and Wolfy Gaidis, aimed to maintain a peaceful atmosphere. Once they commanded the attention of students, the leaders instructed the crowd to remain cooperative.

For more photos of the student protest, click here.

Protest photos (Andrea Stiffelman):

Graphic by Jackie Leong

Clearly, it’s a bit unrealistic to expect all high school students not to drink on prom night. As everyone knows, many CHS students drink every weekend, and prom night won’t be an exception. However, we do think that it’s not only realistic, but also incredibly imperative, that CHS students who do choose to drink alcohol on prom night do so responsibly.

That means that students shouldn’t be staggering into a school event in an intoxicated state. That means that there shouldn’t be a layer of smelly vomit on the dance floor. And, most importantly, it means that chaperones shouldn’t have to call an ambulance to save the life of a student suffering from alcohol poisoning or have to call the parents of a student who just got into a car accident while driving drunk.

In fact, no matter where you are, no one should be drinking so much alcohol that they become sick and put their health, as well as their life, in danger.

In light of the recent spur of students being suspended for consuming alcohol and other drugs at school or school-sponsored events, prom should be the event where CHS students finally buck the trend. Sure, many students will likely want to drink at after-parties, but surely that’s better than drinking at a school event. Why put yourself at risk for suspension just for a few drinks?

The fact of the matter is that if you are suspended for showing up to prom intoxicated, you’re putting yourself at risk for a suspension that all of the colleges that you apply to will see on your application and take into consideration. The consequences aren’t short-term, and I don’t think that anybody in the CHS community would like any more students to go through this experience.

It should also be noted that arriving at prom intoxicated isn’t just putting yourself at risk, but also putting the rest of the CHS student body on the line with you. Each time a student is found to be under the influence of alcohol at a dance, the likelihood of future CHS dances as we know them today dwindles even further.

However, just because the suspension of one student can affect the entire student body doesn’t mean that students should place all of the blame for the cancellation of the spring dance on those who were suspended at Peppers. Clearly, they were not the only intoxicated students at the event, but the only ones who were caught in the act. How are they any guiltier than those slightly more skilled at camouflaging their drunkenness?

If CHS students as a whole continue to show up to dances in an obviously intoxicated state, then CHS may become one of the many schools nationwide that chooses to have no dances at all to avoid the liability of intoxicated underage students under their supervision. As we saw with the cancellation of the Spring Dance, it wouldn’t be out of the question for the administration to do so. For many CHS students, dances are an important part of their high school experience, and it would be a shame to see CHS eliminate dances altogether.

Prom 2011 will hopefully be a fun event for all students in attendance. In fact, let’s make it even better by waking up the next morning with the knowledge that nobody was suspended from school and nobody went to the emergency room.

When CHS alumnus Elad Gross was a sophomore at Duke University in 2008, he had an idea. Through a program at Duke, Gross was able to get a community service grant to teach St. Louis Public School District students over the summer after his sophomore year. That summer, Gross went to St. Louis with four Duke students and three other volunteers.

An Education Exchange Corps volunteer takes a break from a math lesson with his elementary school students.

This collective of volunteers was setting the stage for what would become Education Exchange Corps (EEC), a nonprofit serving to educate underprivileged youth in the St. Louis Public Schools. While the overall focus is education, Gross said that the purpose of the Education Exchange Corps is multi-faceted.

“When we’re saying ‘exchange,’ it’s really an attempt to connect communities and really have people learning on all sides,” Gross said. “So, if we bring a volunteer into a classroom to teach some math lessons to a group of kids, yeah, the group of kids is learning. But so is the volunteer. And, oftentimes, so is the teacher and so is the principal. I know, sometimes, if we get businesses involved, they learn something about the community and kids get to learn something about how to make a shirt or how to run a business.”

Gross founded the organization with fellow Duke student Lauren Lee-Houghton, but now runs the organization mostly by himself as the full-time executive director since he gradated from college in 2010. He was inspired to work with students over the summer after similar experiences beginning over his high school summers.

“I used to work at Summerquest with Mr. Peck over at the high school during the summer for three years before that,” Gross said. “I just thought that it would be really cool to do something similar where kids who are underprivileged could have some kind of similar opportunity.”

Gross wanted to focus on the summer after learning about summer learning loss, a phenomenon wherein a student regresses over the summer after the extended absence from academics.

An EEC Volunteer explains a problem to one of her students.

“What studies have found is that a lot of students have this,” Gross said. “But, the question is, how much so does it happen? For kids of lower socioeconomic statuses, that gap is really a lot wider. That’s one of the reasons that some people point to for the disparity in academic achievement gaps.”

Over the summer, Gross observed the full extent of the achievement gap firsthand, but was proud of the impact he had made. However, he also believed that he wouldn’t be able to make a lasting impact unless he kept returning to the students.

“I was working with a kid for a long time on learning the alphabet and he knew one letter when we started,” Gross said. “It was the letter ‘X’. He was going into first grade and I worked with him for a few weeks and, you know, he got up to the letter ‘E’ and I was really excited and then, you know, he didn’t come to school anymore. It kind of highlights that there are a lot of issues with the District, that a lot of kids fall through the cracks and need some extra help, but even the kids who are ahead need to be pushed further. That a lot of kids are homeless and they don’t know if they’ll to be going to school that day. There’s a lot of uncertainty.”

Afterwards, Gross ran a fall pilot program from his college and, from there, “It just kept getting bigger and bigger,” Gross said.

Typically, volunteers are assigned to a classroom in a St. Louis elementary school on a semester-by-semester basis. From there, volunteers will work with students one-on-one, in small groups, or even with large segments of the classroom.

Ariel Arpadi, a CHS alumna who is a recent volunteer for the EEC, has enjoyed working with small groups in her second grade class at Lexington Elementary School. Arpadi chose to work with the EEC because she wanted to “do something useful” with her time while also gaining experience working with at-risk students.

An EEC Volunteer pulls students on a wagon during a class break.

“While I have worked with the whole class before, I tend to mostly work with a small group of students, usually three to four, who have fallen behind,” Arpadi said. “In the small groups we focus mostly on site words from the kindergarten level and work on basic addition and subtraction problems.”

For Arpadi, the experience has been extremely rewarding as it allows her to pursue her passion in education and help children improve their academic skills.

“I really enjoy my time at Lexington Elementary,” Arpadi said. “The teachers there are really welcoming to any and all assistants they receive, and the kids, while at times can be exhausting, are a joy to be around. It’s always great to see a child’s face light up when he finally puts two and two together.”

Jefferson Elementary Principal Nathalie Means has been working with EEC since last summer. Although the school hasn’t tracked any statistical evidence of academic improvements, she appreciates the help of the volunteers and that many of the volunteers have plans to pursue a career in education.

“[The reception has] been pretty positive from my staff who appreciate the additional bodies to help grade, file or work one-on-one with a student or small group of students,” Means said. “It’s been a great relationship and we plan to continue to utilize EEC volunteers.”

Maureen Nolan, Head of Volunteer Services for the St. Louis Public Schools, has observed a widespread appreciation for the EEC and is impressed by its development into a “signature program” over time.

“The response from students, quite naturally, is great,” Nolan said. “What student doesn’t appreciate extra help from someone closer to his or her age that can make learning fun? Staff, principals and teachers especially have been very appreciative as resources continue to dwindle. Parents appreciate the extra attention that their children receive.”

In fact, Nolan believes that the EEC’s model could work effectively in other areas, too.

“It is a program that could well be duplicated in other urban districts which have numerous colleges and universities in their town,” Nolan said. “I know of no other program (staffed by a volunteer) that has prepared and placed college students as volunteers in urban schools and school districts (as interns) and followed up with the students and staff with evaluations to be able to make future improvements.”

Gross also sees the potential impact of EEC and believes that people in Clayton and other areas can “bridge the gap” and help neglected school districts and communities in the area.

“On a lot of days, we’re working with third graders who still can’t read, fourth graders who can’t read, fifth graders and sixth graders who can’t spell their name,” Gross said. “That’s something that’s pretty present in a lot of these schools that we’re working with. It’s not something where we’re saying the schools can’t really teach their kids. There’s a lot of things that are stacked up against these kids outside of school, too. When we’re talking about an impoverished community, the schools can only do so much.”

Elementary school students receive instruction on their work from a volunteer in a small group setting. (Photos courtesy of Elad Gross)

Gross believes that education is an essential tool for kids to find success. He cites the story of an elementary school student who entered school on a summer day in a somber mood, but who was elated after an EEC volunteer taught him how to solve fraction problems.

“People make a lot of assumptions about what’s going on,” Gross said. “But, when you get down to it, kids are kids. They know what’s going on, especially as they get older, and by older I mean fourth or fifth grade. They know that they’re in a bad spot and they know that education is something that can really help them out.”

Currently, he’s welcoming applications from high school students interested in volunteering as teaching assistants over the summer, as well as more experienced adult professionals interested in working for EEC on the administrative level or providing advice for the young organization.

“This is really something we’re looking to bridge the gap between these communities, especially in St. Louis city, that have kind of been neglected in general,” Gross said. “The relationship between these communities and other areas of St. Louis isn’t really there, and [we’re] really trying to leverage the community to really get involved and really benefit these kids. Right now, the outlook for them isn’t all that great. There are tons of ways for people to get involved with that.”

Courtesy of the School District of Clayton

The group of Ladue students who organized the rally showing their disapproval for the layoff of Ladue teachers pose for a picture with a sign that says “We Support Our Teachers and Staff.” (Jon Young)

Everyone who passed by Ladue Horton Watkins High School on the morning of Monday, Mar. 14 saw an unusual sight. Dozens of Ladue students stood hunched over in the snow in front of the school, some even carrying umbrellas to shield themselves from the snow.

The students weren’t just standing outside their school aimlessly, but with a distinct purpose in mind. To demonstrate that they care about their teachers and staff with signs and shirts declaring their support.
The rally was in response to a series of layoffs and reassignments that had been announced at school the previous Friday.

“Well, the reason the changes were made is because, like most school districts, we’re seeing a significant decline in revenue,” Ladue High School spokeswoman Susan Dielmann said. “It had gotten to a point where, in order to balance our budget…we had to make about $5 million dollars in cuts.”

After already making $2.5 million in budget cuts over the last few years, the District had gone as far as it could without reducing the staff, according to Dielmann. Only six teachers were eliminated, of which four were full-time employees. Most of the changes were reassignments.

After school on the day of the layoffs, a group of students met in the parking lot to discuss the situation and what steps to take next. Afterwards, they waited outside a faculty meeting and spoke with administrators before finally deciding to organize a rally. One of the students, Katie Rank, was proud of the collaborative nature of the rally.

“The rally was a collaboration of efforts,” Rank said. “There was not one person who started it; it really was a team effort. It began with a few confused, shocked, and upset students standing in the parking lot after school, and with the support of so many people, turned into something much bigger.”

Although the students were upset by the fact that some popular teachers were among the teachers whose jobs were eliminated, what most upset them was the fact that teachers were taken out of their classrooms during the day and told that they were being reassigned and no longer working for the School District.

“We were upset at how the teachers were told they were let off,” Ladue student Saya Jacobs said. “We were upset over who got laid off, too. The main thing was just that we though it was very disrespectful to the teachers for the administrators to come during their class time and tell them.”

Rank was in one of the classrooms interrupted during the day.

“We were taking a test and one of the administrators came in and pulled our teacher out of class,” Rank said. “It wasn’t too long, but it was probably like six minutes and we were confused. Then, at one point, the administrator was sitting in the class. Then she left and another woman came in. Then, our teacher came back and said, ‘Well, I just got fired.’”

Dielmann said that the Superintendent and his cabinet made the decision to proceed with the layoffs and reassignments in this way. However, the process did not go as planned and Dielmann concedes that the District should probably have waited until after school had ended.

“The intention was not for teachers to go back to their classrooms,” Dielmann said. “Teachers chose to go back to their classrooms despite the fact that we had substitutes to take their classes over for the rest of the day.”

Even though students were upset by the way that the incident was handled, Rank still believes that it was an experience that students could learn from.

“As disgusting as this whole situation has been, it has made me appreciative of all of our teachers and staff on a whole new level,” Rank said. “Despite being a second semester senior, I started working harder than I was before, not only for myself, but for them. They really do deserve that much from us students.”

Jacobs also concedes that the District layoffs and reassignments may have been unavoidable and is “sure that they’ve done a lot to cut the budget.”

Despite the fact that no changes were made as a result of the rally, Rank is still proud that students were able to get their point across.

“It was just a way to show the whole Ladue community that we care, regardless of whether what we did would make any specific change,” Rank said. “Of course, that would be ideal. I would have loved if there could have been some kind of change, but it didn’t. What’s most important is that we got our point across: that we were upset.”

In fact, Dielmann was also proud of what the students accomplished and the positive message of the rally.
“The students were awesome,” Dielmann said. “They were so organized; they were so supportive. There wasn’t a negative tone to it. I was really quite proud of them. I mean, they have every right to do what they did and they did it very well.”

In spite of the recent struggles, leaders of the Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region have continued to work hard with the intention of bringing reproductive health services to women in the Greater St. Louis area. Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region is estimated to serve 50,000 patients this year and 95 percent of these services will be prevention services.

President and CEO of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region, Paula Gianino, has observed an increase in hate mail from pro-life groups and individuals as the U.S. House recently voted to defund Planned Parenthood and pro-life groups have secretly recorded conversations with Planned Parenthood staff and released them to the conservative media.

The conservative organization Live Action was behind the secret recordings and recorded interactions at a New Jersey Planned Parenthood between two Live Action members posing as a pimp and an underage prostitute and a Planned Parenthood employee. They acted out the same scenario at various Planned Parenthood centers and a clinic manager at a New Jersey location helped advise the Live Action plants.

Planned Parenthood reported a possible underage sex-trafficking ring to authorities due to the surge in similar scenarios before it was revealed that Live Action was behind the incidents. After the recording of the conversation between the clinic manager and the Live Action employees was released, Planned Parenthood promptly fired the clinic manager for her behavior.

Board Member of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region Linda Raclin has observed a significant decrease in morale amongst Planned Parenthood employees since the Live Action incident.

“I think that the staff members at Planned Parenthood right here in St. Louis feel like they work so hard to maintain their own professionalism and be as courteous and professional with patients as they can,” Raclin said. “When they read about this one staff member at the Planned Parenthood in New Jersey, who they felt was not being very professional in her interactions with the Live Action intruders who came into the clinic, I think it just hurt their morale. They felt like somebody on their team let them down.”

Raclin is leading a special task force to handle the recent publicity challenges facing Planned Parenthood with fundraisers, communicating with supporters, and organizing educational forums.

”It’s our job to coordinate the Board’s efforts to combat negative publicity generated by the Live Action attacks and to also generate support for Planned Parenthood in connection to the attacks against them currently going on in Congress,” Raclin said.

In spite of the increase in hate mail, Gianino has been pleased to observe increased written and monetary support.

“On Feb. 24 we held a summit attended by some 150 supporters,” Gianino said. “Donor support is increasing, women and men are speaking out about the wonderful care they have received from Planned Parenthood and they are angry that we are being targeted… In addition, we are conducting the largest-ever citizen mobilization campaign to contact elected officials about the de-funding of Planned Parenthood to try to stop the attack on the funding we receive to serve patients in need.”

Gianino believes that now would be a particularly inconvenient time for the federal government to cut funding from Planned Parenthood as she calls Planned Parenthood’s current economic situation a “perfect storm of challenges.”

Due to the increased unemployment in the current economic climate, more people are uninsured. As a result, Planned Parenthood has seen a recent increase in patients at the same time as they have faced rising health care costs.

Meanwhile, conservative pro-life groups and congressmen have argued that the nation’s economic struggles require budget cuts and the approximately $300 million given to Planned Parenthood by the federal government each year could be saved to help lower the deficit.  In a February interview with National Public Radio, Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the anti-abortion-rights group Susan B. Anthony List, argued that Planned Parenthood should be defunded because the country is “at a very acute economic crisis where there are no sacred cows.”

Raclin, however, believes that defunding Planned Parenthood would be detrimental to the health and well being of millions of women each year.

“I think it is an essential source of health care for many local women” Raclin said. “I also think for many low-income women and men it provides an affordable and very professional source of services for contraception, testing for sexually transmitted diseases, for HIV testing, and really essential cancer screening services, both for mammograms and cancer of the cervix. I think a lot of those women would not have an affordable place to get that health care.”

Gianino agrees, asserting that Planned Parenthood follows federal procedures and provides a unique service to Americans that no other organization does in the same quantity.

“We are a vital part of the health care safety net needed by low income and uninsured people,” Gianino said. “There is such a shortage of providers serving these populations. The Planned Parenthoods in the country serve over 3.5 million people each year who depend on us for their care. We are the experts in gynecologic, reproductive and sexual health care, a very, very high quality and low cost provider. Without Planned Parenthood, millions more Americans would not receive health care. The federal funds we receive go to the services we provide. They are categorical funding streams for which the funding is very strictly proscribed, and we comply with each and every condition of participation for each of these federal programs.”

Gianino paints a bleak future of the end results if Planned Parenthood were to lose funding and either have to downsize or disband. Currently, Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region is the only abortion provider within 150 miles of St. Louis that is non-profit and specifically serves low-income women.

“De-funding Planned Parenthood will mean more disease like cervical cancer, more sexually transmitted diseases, more unintended pregnancy, more teen pregnancy and more abortion,” Gianino said.

Gianino believes that attacks on Planned Parenthood are an example of bipartisan politics working against the public good.

“This is the most serious attack on Planned Parenthood’s reputation, on our ability to serve those in need,” Gianino said. “These attacks are completely politically motivated by the most extreme anti-choice groups and a few in Congress who are paying them back for the 2010 elections. This is political hardball politics at the expense of women’s health care and attacking Planned Parenthood is not the priority of the American public. The economy, jobs, the economic crises. These should be the priorities.”

Phelps left the WBC, an extremist fundamentalist Kansas church that has received publicity in the last decade for their protests of soldiers’ funerals and inflammatory signs, at midnight on his eighteenth birthday after enduring years of abuse from his family.

He created a new life for himself in California and later Canada. Recently, he has reinvented himself as an open agnostic and LGBT rights advocate. He speaks to groups nationwide about organized religion and the dangers of child abuse.

Currently, Phelps is working on a book to speak out about his difficult upbringing and is the subject of an upcoming documentary

Check back throughout the night for live updates and up-to-the-minute coverage!

7:57 PM: Nate Phelps ends his speech and the Q&A session begins.

7:53 PM: Nate Phelps speaks about the importance of sending positive messages to children.

7:40 PM: Nate Phelps decided to wait until he was eighteen to run away from his childhood home because his older sister was caught during an attempted escape at the age of seventeen and he witnessed her suffering in the months leading up to her eighteenth birthday.

7:30 PM: Nate Phelps talks about his father’s health obsession.  He remembers that this obsession extended to having all of his children, one as young as seven, run a marathon with him.

7:26 PM: Nate Phelps recalls selling candy in bars and taverns as a child to earn money for his family.

7:22 PM: Nate Phelps felt isolated from the world as a child and recalls having to leave the classroom for any Christmas-related activities as a child.

7:17 PM: Nate Phelps recalls first noticing the problematic nature of his parents’ church at the age of eight, when he had a nervous breakdown while considering the concept of eternal damnation.

7:15 PM: Nate Phelps has begun speaking.

6:53 PM: If you’re planning on attending this event, get to the CHS auditorium as soon as possible.  This place is filling up quickly.

6:36 PM: A Fox News truck is parked outside the school to cover the event.

5:50 PM: Westboro Baptist Church members have not arrived, but cones have been set up in case any protesting occurs.

5:15 PM: The Equality Club meets with Phelps for dinner and discussion before the talk.

From left: Justin Elliot, Nate Phelps, Marin Klostermeier, Cooper Minnis

Thankfully, Board of Education members are confident in the abilities of Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources and Student Services, Sharmon Wilkinson, who will fill the role of interim superintendent during the selection process. Board of Education Secretary Lily Raymond believes that this will allow the Board to take their time finding the right candidate for the job and not rush the process.

“It’s been really nice that Sharmon, our current Assistant Superintendent, is willing to step in for a year or more if we need her to,” Raymond said.

Board President Sonny Buttar is also impressed by Wilkinson’s abilities and flexibility in taking on a new position. Although Wilkinson did not apply to be the superintendent, Buttar is open to considering Wilkinson as a candidate if Wilkinson shows an interest.

“Honestly, it is going to be partially dependent on what Sharmon wants,” Buttar said. “I mean, this is going to be the first time she’ll be superintendent, if she really enjoys this, there’s a maybe a good chance she’ll come back and say, ‘I want this.’ And then it’s up to the Board to say whether we want to do a full search.”

Currently, the Board is unsure whether it will begin the process of choosing a new superintendent next year or the year after.

“At this point, we haven’t determined specifically when we’re going to do that and whether it will be next year or the following year” Raymond said.

Buttar believes that Board members will be able to use lessons from the last selection process to choose the best candidate the second time around. Previously, the Board used feedback from parents and teachers as a basis for what qualifications to prioritize. This time, they will be paying particular attention to experience.

“What we learned from that was that everybody was basically looking for the same things, which was someone who was a natural leader, who was experienced in curriculum areas as well as bigger picture partnerships and all of that,” Buttar said. “But we also learned a lot of things that we went through the process. We had a strong preference for someone who was experienced.”

Buttar believes that Herrmann was an effective superintendent during her time at Clayton and has affirmed many of Buttar’s priorities for selecting a superintendent candidate, while also raising the bar for her replacement.

“One of the things we really loved about Dr. Herrmann, as a Board, was that she really hears what we’re saying and what we’re really after and what we’re asking about, and she carries us forward” Buttar said. “She listens and hears us in a very different way than we’ve had in our prior experience.”

Raymond is looking for similar qualities as Buttar and appreciated Herrmann’s knowledge about structuring curriculums. However, she is specifically focused on finding a superintendent with experience specific to affluent, suburban school districts like Clayton and, most likely, prior experience working as a superintendent.

“We value someone who is currently a superintendent and has that level of experience,” Raymond said. “We ended up interviewing some people that came from districts very different from Clayton [in the last interview process]. I think we need someone who has at least one experience in a district similar to Clayton so that they understand how a small, high-performing district works.”

Unfortunately, these high standards make it quite difficult for Clayton to find suitable applicants.

“Especially after going through the last search, we found out that there really aren’t a lot of people coming from districts like that,” Buttar said. “If they are in districts like that, they’re pretty happy. They don’t want to be wooed away.”