Despite the early hour and cold temperatures, hundreds of people filled the green space of Centennial Plaza on Monday, Feb. 6. Comprising the crowd were students, parents, teachers, church members, and other community members drawn from across the St. Louis area. American flags, unicorn costumes, rainbow apparel, and Catholic school uniforms alike made their way to the front yard of CHS.

Officially beginning at 7:50 a.m., the protest by the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) involved far fewer. A total of five protestors stood in a police-protected area approximately half a football field away from the larger crowd. The WBC members sang songs and held signs with messages like “Mourn For Your Sins” and “Soldiers Die 4 Fag Marriage.”

According to its website, the WBC was protesting CHS’ support for its students, especially its Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA).

“We go to high schools all over the country, but Clayton has been on our radar,” WBC member Fred Phelps Jr. said.

Phelps said that the group’s reason for protesting is to send the message that “sodomy” will destroy the nation.

“What this country is doing is raising, as a general rule, children who are utterly, completely ignorant of the Bible, are amoral, and have no fear of God,” Phelps said. “And of course that’s a sign of the last days.”

A Westboro Baptist Church member protests the Gay-Straight Alliance at CHS. (Paul Lisker)

The Clayton community first learned of the WBC’s plans to protest when the church contacted the Clayton Police, requesting protection for the day of the protest. The CHS GSA immediately began brainstorming how they wanted to respond.

Senior Halo Howell, co-president of the GSA, said some students initially had angry responses.

“They were really riled up about it,” Howell said. “Like ‘let’s go naked,’ and ‘let’s go run around and make out with people.’ So we immediately had to deal with kind of suppressing that reaction and being like ‘no, this is going to be a really positive event where everyone is supporting our community, and we get to show that support and how awesome Clayton really is.”

The GSA created an event page on Facebook, which they used to spread the word about the planned CHS response. A few things were asked of students and community members: to remain peaceful, to get all signs approved by the school administration, and to celebrate CHS instead of “counter-protesting” the WBC.

Both Andrea Hermann and Sydney Wright, two of the GSA’s co-presidents, said that they were pleased with the way students behaved and sent only peaceful, positive messages.

The administration had also emphasized the importance for all students to report to their first period classes on time. There was some concern that this might be difficult to manage, but as 8:20 a.m. approached, students streamed into the school building. A number of outside supporters clapped for them as the students passed.

“I was really impressed by our students and the way they behaved and how when asked to go to class, they went to class,” associate principal Dan Gutchewsky said. “A couple of the news organizations and the police all commented that they couldn’t believe that everyone left and went to class when they were supposed to. They were kind of amazed.”

Common Ground

People came to support the response from all over the St. Louis area, including many high schools. There were students representing Ladue High School, Burroughs, MIDCS, Villa Duchesne, Visitation Academy, and others.

“We came to support everyone and protest the Westboro church, because I think it’s disgusting what they’re saying and doing,” said Lizzy Wallis, a junior at Ladue High School. “I was kind of nervous coming because I didn’t know if there were going to be riots or something breaking out. I didn’t expect to see this many people. I was surprised when I came up because I knew it was a big deal, but I didn’t know how many people would actually show up.”

Meadow Faulkner, also a junior at Ladue High School, said she agrees with the peaceful manner of CHS’ response.

“I came out here to support a cause because I really believe in equality and tolerance,” Faulkner said. “And I just believe in the support of Clayton High School even with the protesters who came to hate.”

Nick Rubin, a student at Washington University in St. Louis, lives close to CHS. He said he came because he is gay and supports gay rights. He also said that he agrees with how CHS students chose to respond to the protesters; however, he wishes the students were not so fenced off.

Supporters from outside of CHS display their signs. (Paul Lisker)

However, students weren’t the only ones that came to the high school to show their support. Valery York-Schneider, a 59-year-old from South City, came because she wanted to set an example of how to respond to the protest for her family.

“I am a life-long lesbian,” York-Schneider said. “I had a 33-year partnership until my life partner died. So I have participated in this kind of thing my whole life. And I just love the way Clayton High School has got such an open and embracing inclusiveness with its student body. It’s like ‘My gosh! How can you not be here?’”

York-Schneider, who has been witnessing the changing attitude toward the LGBT community for many years, believes that events like this prove that society is moving toward a more open position and attitude.

“I think this is a part of a wonderful and evolving inclusiveness, in general,” York-Schneider said. “You will have pockets like the Westboro group who feel differently, but I think we are becoming a much more inclusive society.”

Like the CHS GSA and administration, many visitors hoped that the response would remain positive.

“I came out to support the students,” said 49-year-old Mark Fredericks of Richmond Heights. “Obviously I don’t like Westboro’s message but I wanted to keep it peaceful and keep it loving.”

Leon Braxton, the executive director of The LGBT Center of St. Louis, attended the event with kids from the program to show their support for the community.

“This is the response I was expecting to see,” Braxton said. “Because in St. Louis, when you attack us, we bond together as one big happy family. We come out and it’s wonderful to see that not only are there young people here but there are people well into their 80s.”

Like many supporters, Cheryl from South County had personal reasons for attending the response. But she was still surprised by the magnitude of the event.

“It’s more than I expected,” Cheryl said. “I’ve never done this before, so I really had no idea what to expect. But I had a step-daughter who was transgender, and she died five years ago, so kind of doing it for her too.”

For Occupy St. Louis member Catherine Lipinski, participating in the response was about something bigger than herself.

“[We came out today] because biogotry is not okay,” Lipinski said. “And it’s not okay to try to shove that message in front of kids and down kids’ throats. As far as I’m concerned, the children of this country really are our future, and if we want to build a world where hate isn’t acceptable, then we can’t allow for hate to be brought to the kids’ front doors.”

Love in Numbers

The GSA’s goal was to hold a peaceful response to the WBC protest, but many came to see the morning as more than just a response. Junior Jonah Lindblad said it was a great demonstration of the strength of the community and of how much support the school has for the LGBT community.

“I thought it was really beautiful,” Lindblad said. “It was great. We had a couple veterans out there who actually had American flags with them; we had moms holding up a pride flag. We had such a vast amount of people, I felt it was really empowering.”

CHS Principal Louise Losos also said she was impressed by how much support CHS received.

“It was so heartening to see the number of people that showed up to support us,” Losos said. “I don’t think I’ve ever been more proud of this school and this community. There hasn’t been a negative note at any point – it’s been fantastic.”

Wright said that the response was significant for the LGBT community, at large.

Senior Margaret Mulligan sends a positive message at the front of the barricaded student area. (Paul Lisker)

“It really brought everyone together and reminded people why we were here,” Wright said. “[It showed] more support for the LGBT community and support for equality across all borders, instead of just anti-Westboro.”

In addition to the discussion that took place at the high school, conversations regarding the protest were raised at the district’s middle school.

Mary Ann Goldberg, Wydown Middle School’s principal, said that the event has been a great “teachable moment.”

“At the middle school, we had conversations all last week, in Social Studies class and in Literacy class, about how the Westboro people get to do this, and then how we need to respond to it,” Goldberg said. “So it’s been a lesson in civics and citizenship and to why our country runs the way it does – it provides people the opportunity to be able to do this.”

Goldberg said she knew of a number of middle school students whose parents brought them to CHS the morning of the protest, because their parents felt it was important for them to experience the event and to express their support.

To some, the event was a reminder of what makes Clayton unique.

“We talk about the Clayton community being very supportive, very open-minded,” Losos said. “You know that sort of intuitively, but when you actually see it in evidence, it’s very affirming and reminds me of why I’m very appreciative of working where I work.”

GSA sponsor David Hoffman said the school’s response to the protest is important for the CHS community, specifically.

“It was touching,” Hoffman said. “It was so supportive. If you’re a kid in this school who is wondering about his own identity, what I think we saw here today says ‘you’re okay.’ And I think that’s a great message.”

Howell had a similar response about the Clayton community.

“Clayton has been surprising me since I moved here,” Howell said. “People can make whatever judgments they want to make, but these people will really stand up for you when the time is right, when you really need them. They’ll go outside of their comfort zone and really put up a good fight.”
Although the WBC protest generated a good deal of discussion about the best response, many supporters said they agreed with the peaceful response by the CHS student body.

“The GSA worked long and hard to make sure that it was a celebration of us and not a counter-protest, and I think that’s exactly what it was,” Hoffman said. “It’s like they didn’t matter today. It wasn’t about them being here, it was about us. We couldn’t have planned an event to celebrate the LGBT community better than what happened today.”

How do you feel about the response to your protest against CHS?
I love [the response from CHS]. It shows how far gone this country is. And it puts a spotlight on what we’re saying.

What message are you trying to send to the high school?
[We’re sending] the Bible message that sodomy will destroy our nation like it did Sodom and Gomorrah. The last great sin before the flood, according to Jewish historians, was same-sex marriage. That just shows where this country is going. It’s finished; it’s just a matter of time.

Why has the WBC chosen to protest CHS?
We go to high schools all over the country, but Clayton has been on our radar. We get emails from people about activities in the school, and we get requests from all over the country, so we try to keep all that information and if we’re going to be in a certain area, that’s where we go.

What is a typical day for you? How often do you protest?
I’m an attorney, so a typical day is working. I probably protest two to three times a week…. I’ve been to all 50 states.

Is protesting effective for you?
We’ve gone to the whole world to preach, so the whole world knows about this little church.

In what ways have people reacted to your protests in the past?
We’ve had varied responses [from high schools]. They had a riot alert once in Omaha, Nebraska. The students were out of control and the officers hadn’t done an adequate job of preparing.
What this country is doing is raising, as a general rule, children who are utterly, completely ignorant of the Bible, are amoral, have no fear of God, and of course that’s a sign of the last days. And I say that as a group – I’m not referring to you specifically. There’s always going to be some good things in there, but as a group that’s what is going on in this country. That’s why reports can’t keep up with the crime rates and the politicians can’t build enough prison cells.

Why do you think many people are resistant to your messages?
Christ said that in this world many people will hate you. They don’t want truth. I graduated from high school in 1971 – those were the good old days. This was not even on the radar. I’m a civil rights lawyer, and I was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1988. I got up and gave a speech, because that was when this issue started surfacing. And somebody yelled out at me, you’re a civil rights lawyer, why are you [doing this]. I said the Bible doesn’t say it’s an abomination to be black. Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind. It is abomination – what the Bible says is the filthiest, most depraved, most debauched… I can’t think of enough adjectives to describe that behavior, that activity. It kills the body, and it destroys nations.

Check back tomorrow for more on the Westboro Baptist Church protest and response!

A member of the Westboro Baptist Church makes her point with signs in the free speech area outside the stadium before the start of Super Bowl XLV where the Green Bay Packers face the Pittsburgh Steelers at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, Sunday, February 6, 2011. (Sharon Ellman/Fort Worth Star-Telegram/MCT)

The picket will last from 7:50 to 8:20 a.m. and will take place on City of Clayton property across from Centennial Plaza. The GSA has taken the initiative in organizing a response to the protest.

“We’ll have a face painting booth for those who arrive early, Love Conquers Hate T-shirts, and a donation table where people can donate money to different charities,” said senior Andrea Hermann, one of the GSA’s four presidents. “In addition we’ll have a large canvas rolled out where people can dip their hands in paint and place their hand-prints, which will then be hung up in the Commons.”

Principal Louise Losos said that she expects a large gathering of students – including students from other schools – parents, and a number of organizations to show their support Monday morning.

“I hope that it will be a positive demonstration showing who we are as a school and as a community,” Losos said. “It should be a celebration of us, not an attack on ‘them.’ I hope that we will have a peaceful counter-demonstration and at 8:15 students head inside and school begins on schedule at 8:20.”

Another co-president of the GSA, Nadia Diamond, also stressed the importance of being in class for the start of the school day.

“This protest is not an excuse to skip school,” Diamond said. “The WBC will succeed in their goal if they disrupt our day-to-day life, and therefore students should make sure they arrive at their first period class on time.”

The GSA and school administrators have emphasized that the purpose of the CHS response is to peacefully counter the WBC protest with a celebration of Clayton’s diversity and support for LGBTQ individuals.

“We want our message to be about the community and not the WBC,” Hermann said. “Our goal is not to fight back, but to come together as a loving community even in the company of these hateful, arrogant people.”

Diamond said that in order to successfully counter the protesters’ message, students and supporters must avoid acting in a potentially harmful manner.

The Clayton High School Gay Straight Alliance is selling "Love Conquers Hate" t-shirts as part of the response.

“The WBC relies on winning free speech lawsuits at the places they protest in order to make money to voice their hate everywhere else,” Diamond said. “If we really want to counter them and dilute their message, we should not do anything that could lead to them filing a lawsuit against us. Ways we can keep that from happening are not doing anything to make them feel threatened such as yelling back at them or approaching them.”

In order to reduce any antagonism toward the WBC protesters, the school administration said that all signs on school grounds must be approved before they are displayed. Signs with negative or sarcastic messages directed toward the WBC will be confiscated.

Hermann said that the school’s planned response has received a great deal of support from the community.

“I am so proud to say that I’m a member of a community that cares so deeply about each other and sending a positive message,” Hermann said. “Everyone has been so helpful and wonderful. I can’t begin to thank them enough!”

Losos agreed that the event has led many community members to express their pride in the district. She also emphasized the importance of demonstrating what Clayton stands for.

“In the end, we have no intention of allowing them to change who we are and what we do,” Losos said. “Monday is a day of school, and I think educating our students to be active, involved and informed citizens is the best response to Westboro’s hate.”

More information on the event schedule, donations, and parking can be found at the School District of Clayton’s website.

This is the vision behind James Surls’ recently commissioned sculpture for Shaw Park titled Molecular Bloom with Single Flower.  18 feet tall and 10 feet wide, this new sculpture, set to be complete by the spring of 2013, will be a significant addition to Clayton’s world-class collection of public art.

Molecular Bloom with Single Flower by James Surls is set to be completed by the spring of 2013. (Courtesy of James Surls)

Almost a year ago, the Clayton Century Foundation, in a joint effort with the City of Clayton, established a committee to begin the selection process of a piece of art for the corridor between the ice skating rink and pool in Shaw Park.

“This is a great place to have a commissioned piece that is about Clayton, for Clayton and specifically designed for the site and this city,” Patty DeForrest, the Director of Clayton Parks and Recreation, said.

The committee sent out 40 requests for proposals to artists across the country.  Then, this past December, the committee unveiled the final four proposals to the public.  Ultimately, the committee selected Surls’ tall bronze sculpture of a single flower in a slender vase.

In his written proposal to the committee, Surls explains how his inspiration for the sculpture was derived from the simple notion of the uniqueness of a single flower in representing a city in bloom: “As an artist, my sculpture begins with an idea, a belief, a truth I consider to be a universal concept.  This concept will reflect the importance of the City of Clayton’s 100 year of existence, it’s centennial, and promote the region’s artistic stature.  It will reflect and recognize the people of this remarkable area and will become a landmark for all humanity.  To create a legacy for Clayton and Shaw Park is a personal honor.”

DeForrest indicated that she is very thankful and appreciative of the community’s dedication to public art like this sculpture by Surls.

“I think it’s great that we are bringing a world renowned artist’s work to Clayton and also that the community has been so supportive of public art,” DeForrest said.  “I just think it’s a very striking and beautiful piece of art.  I’m very excited to have something by [Surls] in the city.”

The Centene Corporation, a national health care company headquartered in Clayton, was at the forefront of the community’s support, pledging to donate the entire $400,000 for the commissioned sculpture through the Centene Charitable Foundation.

The sculpture will be dedicated in the spring of 2013 along with the surrounding new Century Garden.

“We are going to redesign the garden [around the sculpture],” DeForrest said.  “There will be a landscape architect brought on to work with the artist to redesign the site to really accentuate the art piece…I can’t wait to see the final product.”

For several years, the idea of a community dog park in Clayton has been a highly controversial issue.  Complaints of neighbors have repeatedly chased out proposed dog park locations including Oak Knoll Park and Concordia Seminary.  However, with the presentation of the Haddington Court dog park proposal at the Jan. 9 Clayton Parks and Recreation Commission meeting there is renewed optimism and hope for a dog park in Clayton in the near future.

Two years ago, the Haddington Court residential subdivision off Clayton road west of Brentwood Blvd. was declared an official flood zone due to serious, periodic flooding.

As a result, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) joined the City of Clayton through a grant to help buy out the 12 residential homes in the neighborhood.

After being declared a flood plain, the Haddington Court residential subdivision was bought out by the City of Clayton along with FEMA and today is a bare, empty field. (Zach Praiss)

Today, after the demolition of the houses, Haddington Court is about three acres of empty land owned by the City of Clayton, posing as a possible location for a one and a half acre dog park.

“A significant number of Clayton residents have been focused on creating a dog park in the city, and we have been looking for an appropriate location that does not infringe on existing park land,” Mayor of Clayton Linda Goldstein said. “When Haddington Court became available for other reasons, it made the property a logical choice for the dog park.”

For Patty DeForrest, the Director of Clayton Parks and Recreation, the Haddington Court dog park proposal came as great news.  She explained how after searching and studying various proposals for many years, she finally feels that this is the appropriate location for a dog park in Clayton.

“It was an excellent surprise,” DeForrest said. “I was so excited that we might have an option that satisfies the majority of residents.”

With the support of the Clayton Board of Alderman and Parks and Recreation Commission, the proposed dog park is on track to be completed by mid-summer with funds raised by a group of residents according to DeForrest.

Nonetheless, Clayton City Manager Craig Owens noted that the proposed dog park has yet to clear several important hurdles. Those include permission from the FEMA and other government agencies involved, along with further analysis by Clayton’s Parks and Recreation Commission and the Board of Aldermen.

DeForrest explained how the Clayton dog park would operate like other municipal parks in the region. Dog owners who want to use the park would buy memberships that would offset the cost of maintaining the facility.

“I think it will be a wonderful dog park,” DeForrest said. “I cannot wait to see it come to fruition.”

Target Round:

9th Grade

Jeffrey Cheng, 1st place

10th Grade

Chris Cormier, 3rd

11th Grade

Harrison Garrett, 3rd

Chris Cho, 2nd

Jack Wei, 1st

12th Grade

Tyler Ponder, 3rd

John Kwon, 2nd

Corrine Yap, 1st

Overall

Tyler Ponder and Jack Wei, 3rd (tie)

John Kwon, 2nd place

Corrine Yap and Jeffrey Cheng, 1st (tie)

Sprint Round:

9th Grade

Jeffrey Cheng, 1st

11th Grade

Noam Kantor, 3rd

Chris Cho, 2nd

Jack Wei, 1st

12th Grade

Corrine Yap, 3rd

Tyler Ponder, 2nd

John Kwon, 1st

Overall

Tyler Ponder, 3rd

John Kwon, 2nd

Jeffrey Cheng, 1st

Team Round (small schools division):

Jack Wei, Chris Cho, and John Kwon: 3rd

Jeffrey Cheng and Tyler Ponder: 2nd

Relay (small schools division):

Noam Kantor, John Kwon, and Chris Cho: 1st(Note: Not only did they get first, but they were also one of two teams that scored any points at all.)

Overall Individuals:

Corrine Yap, 3rd

John Kwon, 2nd

Jeffrey Cheng, 1st

In past Christmases over $287 billion dollars have been spent during the holiday season, but with the unemployment rate projected at over nine percent, many people will commit crimes to make up for their lack of money as they try to join in the holiday spirit.

“During an economic time like right now, there are a lot of people having a difficult time making ends meet. And then you also add to the fact that they want to provide gifts,” School Resource Officer John Zlatic said. “The crimes that we have in this school are basically crimes of opportunity where people leave their property out and typically at Clayton High School it is good property.”

Although it seems that Clayton High School has an uptick in crime during the holiday season, Officer Zlatic and the Chief of Police of Clayton Mr. Byrne assure citizens that people just need to be careful.

“The most prevalent crime we are experiencing is thefts from automobiles. The thieves break into cars that appear to have something of value. Examples of these would be Garmin’s on the dashboard or packages left in the vehicles in plain view,” Byrne said.

So the question you may be asking yourself is what is the process to evade crime in Clayton? The answer: be smart.

“The best deterrent for these types of thefts is not to leave anything of value visible in the interior of the car and of course lock the vehicle as well,” Byrne said.

Additionally, as the holidays get closer the Clayton police department increases the number of officers parked or roaming the areas of downtown Clayton, or just parked in parking lots waiting for possible thefts to occur.

Downtown Clayton and other specks of commercial property do not add up to much when considering the vast amount of commercial property elsewhere in St. Louis.

“We don’t experience a significant increase in crime during the holidays simply because we don’t have a large retail area such as the Galleria,” Byrne said.

When it comes to protecting personal property this holiday season remember to use common sense.

(Photo by: Andrea Stiffelman)

Student participate in National Novel Writing Month

Many folks never consider writing a novel. Even less would consider taking on such a daunting task in a month. But there are a select few that choose to take on this challenge every November. These are the people of the National Novel Writing Month, or the “NaNoWriMo”, which takes place every year in November. As the website so kindly puts it, it is “thirty days and nights of literary abandon!” There really is no other way to put it, because when you have a month to write a 50,000 word novel, you are abandoning everything but writing.

Participants of NaNoWriMo, affectionally known as Nano, such as CHS freshman Emily Lovett, are kind enough to warn new writers of the stress.

“Note that it is impossible to get balance on everything in your life during NaNoWriMo, i.e. social life, grades, sleep, and extra-curricular activities,” Lovett said, a second year participant. “I have cut two of these, sleep and social life. So if you saw me walking around like a zombie, that’s why.”

The novels can be about anything. Participants are free to choose any fictional genre, although all characters must be original and you may not start writing before midnight on Nov. 1. However, you are allowed to outline your novel, which sometimes helps to ease the stress.
CHS sophomore Rilke Griffin, is writing a novel in one month for the second time.

“My novel is about an author whose daughter and husband died in an accident that was partially her fault,” Griffin said. “It is written in the form of letters to her daughter, and it’s about how she came to be a well-known author and all of her misadventures during that time.”

While the name of the event is National Novel Writing Month, it is actually international. Hayley Smith, an author from Lancashire, England, is a second time participant in NaNoWriMo. She won last year and has reached the 50,000 word mark by mid-November this year, although she is still working on her novel.
Many people debate over the hardest part of a novel. While it’s different for every person, oftentimes relatively simple things are the hardest.

“I think [the hardest part about writing a novel] is actually getting the words on the page for me. I have the novel waiting to be written, but I find that I can’t get it down quickly enough. It frustrates me, and I often just want to scrap the whole thing,” Smith said, who is ready to win again this year. “Getting the ideas down is easy in my opinion, but putting them down in some form of order that makes sense is what I struggle with the most.”

While NaNoWriMo is very rewarding, it is definitely a lot of work. Smith believes that the effort is worth it.

“Despite all the stress, the pain, and immense amount of caffeine consumed, [NaNoWriMo] is amazing, and should be tried at least once by all writers,” said Smith.
However, some students wonder if this is a task students should undertake.

“Honestly, unless you want your grades and social life to suffer, I would wait until you are out of high school, college, and a member of normal society,” Griffin said. “I do it [now] because I am completely obsessed with writing.”

(Photo by: Paul Lisker)

With everything in light of the economy now being considered a cost benefit analysis, the Board of Education, BOE, is currently looking to refine and possibly reduce the summer programs offered for Clayton students. Although no decisions will be finalized until December, it is likely that there will be some significant changes made to what is offered to Clayton students, k-12.

“Essentially the BOE is trying to make a decision on what they want to spend on the summer programs,” Paul Hoelscher, Principal of the Summer Program at Clayton said. “ In the past 11-12 years that I’ve been involved in the summer program, there has never really been a thorough strict analysis on it. And that’s what we’re currently doing right now. What we are looking for is a balance— to what degree of classes should we offer for kids who have failed and for kids who want to get ahead. In addition, how many sections, how many kids, and should the classes be total open enrollment.”

The cuts to the program will be fairly equally distributed among the age groups.

“I don’t think any one age is going to be significantly cut. It’s much more of a philosophical thing,” Hoelscher said. “K-12, what do we want to provide for the whole community and that would be applied equally across the board.”

For the BOE, offering classes for credit recovery and remedial support will be the program’s number one priority. However the population of kids who have failed classes is very minimal and so the next step would be to offer required classes, such as Personal Finance, Physical Education, and Government, for kids who want to get ahead.

“We have a lot of kids who use the summer program to get ahead and free up their regular schedules during the year for APs and other courses,” Hoelscher said. “We hear the voices of students and parents who say this is the way we want to use summer school. This makes sense and its something where there is higher interest level. However there is going to have to be a compromise between total supply and demand.”

With Personal finance for example, a course required by the state, the BOE is looking to raise the classes’ availability after seeing a significant increase in its demand. The class started out being offered to a maximum of 24 students. But as the number of students making four-year-plans increased and counselors started strongly advocating for its completion over the summer, demand shot up. Last year the maximum increased to 48 and this year the BOE is planning on offering 3 sections, increasing the maximum to 66 students.

As for the enrichment, elective style classes, such as film-making and computer programming, the BOE is hoping that it will be able to offer such on a tuition basis.

“What we’re looking at is not necessarily cutting any particular enrichment class, but how could we do it a bit smarter. Though we’re only speculating, what we’re playing with is the possibility of still offering cool classes, such as ACT prep or field research, but on a tuition basis. The classes would no longer be able to count for credit, but it would be of pretty minimal cost to the community.”

Another concern for the BOE is the possibility that offering too much in the summer may in turn prove to be detrimental to teachers during the regular school year.

“The more that is offered in the summer potentially means there will be less teachers needed in the school year, and that’s why we’re looking for a balance,” Hoelscher said. “Is it possible to add a section here without losing a teacher there. How can we offer things in the summer where there is a need, but not negatively impact the department or take away people’s jobs.”

In part of the negotiation, teacher salaries have also been reduced. Historically speaking, there has been a flat rate of $25 an hour for teachers teaching in the summer. However, such minimal pay led to struggles with getting Clayton teachers, who were already familiar with the curriculum, to give up the first month of their summer to teach. Thus the district went to a per diam payment basis five years ago in attempts to attract more Clayton teachers. With the per diam system, teachers would get paid based on their annual salary broken down into hourly wage.

“ Now in this cost cutting time, people are reevaluating the system,” Hoelscher said. “Last year, teachers were given the same per diam rate but there was a 15% cut compromise across the board. However, now we’re looking at is that still too much.”

The new salary structure hasn’t been finalized and so nothing has been set yet. However, it is certain that teacher salaries won’t increase and they will be less than the normal school year. The negotiation is how much less. The administration knows we want to cut costs but keep our teachers.

Photo by Andrea Stiffelman

(Joe Soriero/Baltimore Sun/MCT)

It’s a plastic card with a picture on it, but for teens at CHS it is a prized possession. A drivers license.  The day when they pass their driver’s test may be one of the best moments of their pre-adult life.  But this card can also lead to one of the worst moments in teen life – being pulled over.

For police offers pulling a teen over is not always a punishment, but a learning experience so that accidents will not happen. According to the California Department of Motor Vehicles, 52.7 percent of speeding tickets nationwide are given to people between the ages of 16-19. The police focus on teens in hopes that they will become better drivers as they reach adulthood.

Clayton Police officer John Zlatic knows how teens work. Zlatic is the Clayton High School Student Resource Officer and encounters teens everyday and has tried to impart this message to the teens he encounters.

“My philosophy is always to make the person aware of why I pulled them over,” said Zlatic.

Although Zlatic will pull you over for such offenses, he does not always give a ticket. Often he will let a teen slide if they are respectful and courteous.

“I will give a ticket to someone if I pull them over and they are disrespectful,” Zlatic states. “If someone is going to start screaming at me then I figure they’ve talked their way into a ticket.”

In addition, when a police officer flashes their lights, teens need to know that it is illegal not to stop. “The worst way to handle a situation is to fail to stop,” Clayton Field Bureau Commander Stephen Grenier said.

Zlatic believes that the teen’s behavior greatly affects the outcome of the situation.

“The worst thing a teen can do is think that being obnoxious will gain them points with their peers,” Zlatic said. “When you challenge someone who’s in an authority position, it tends to not go well, especially coming from someone that’s younger.”

Late one night senior Alexis McClanahan was pulled over for running through a flashing red light, resulting in a $100 ticket. Though she still got a ticket, McClanahan did learn from the experience. “I was nervous,” said McClanahan. “But I was polite and not ignorant about the situation.” McClanahan believes that she may have received a stiffer punishment had she acted differently.

Although CHS students may not like it statistically, teens tend to drive too fast and carelessly and as a result are more likely to get pulled over.  For the police they are hoping to impart some wisdom early to prevent major accidents later on. As Officer John Zlatic states, “It’s a safety issue.”