News
Orientation assignment
Private Draft
emmalee reed
Feb 25, 2020
The first person I talked to was Lara Wakefield. Wakefield is a parent with two children in Columbia Public Schools, a freshman and a senior at Rock Bridge High School, and another child that is not her own but resides with her that attends Battle High School. She does advocacy work related to civil rights for students with disabilities, especially focusing on IEP and 504 plans. Wakefield said that she speaks at school board meetings often and that she does not approve of any of the board members. She dislikes Peter Stiepleman. Story ideas from our conversation include:
- An investigation into seclusion and restraint policies. Wakefield said Missouri had the weakest seclusion and restraint law in the nation. CORE and Catapult Learning, which operates it, have been a big topic of discussion at board meetings and candidate forums. Would be good to look into if possible.
- How redistricting is affecting families, particularly related to splitting up siblings and athletic try-outs. Wakefield said students who want to try out for athletics have to try out at their current school, but aren’t always allowed to stay on the team at the school they transfer to because of redistricting.
- Columbia Public Schools’ Chief Equity Officer, Carla London. Wakefield said being Chief Equity Officer is not London’s full-time role and that more time and energy needs to be allocated to the position. Look to see if this is true and if there have been any visible effects on student life in the district.
- Superintendent Stiepleman’s track record and role in relation to the board. Wakefield said he has power over the board where the board should have power over him.
- Helen Wade and Jonathan Session’s track record as the board elections approach. Wakefield said Sessions has some sort of body-cam footage related to him that is undesirable, and claims that Wade sends her child to private school.
I talked to Nancy White next. White is an American literature and creative writing teacher at Hickman High School, where she has taught for 15 years. She is the advisor of Louder than a Bomb, a poetry performance club. Last year, her team traveled to Las Vegas to compete in the Louder than a Bomb competition. She said that around 72 teams from all over the world participated. Story ideas from our conversation include:
- A story focused on Louder than a Bomb at Hickman. How does performing poetry impact these students? Possibly focus on practice/process of preparing for competition. White said that to write a performance poem well, one has to write about more than themself, and then make it into a performance.
- A larger trend/impact story about Louder than a Bomb or poetry in general in the area. White said Rock Bridge, Battle, Mexico and Jefferson City teams all participate in regional competitions.
- Hickman Literature Review will have a debut event on May 7. White said that the review is highly awarded by Scholastic. Last year’s copy that I looked at seems incredibly well produced and designed. Who are the students that put together this review? Why do they do it? What will the debut be event like?
The third person I talked to was Sara Dexheimer. Dexheimer is a music teacher and choir director at Fairview Elementary. She is in her 13th year at Fairview Elementary and said that being a music teacher is her dream job. When I went to meet Dexheimer, I had to wait until after she was done talking to a student. She said that the student was sad because his mom told him he couldn’t be in the choir anymore, but it would work out. Her choir students clearly love to sing and to be in her class. Her choir, the Fairview Songbirds, was one of three elementary school choirs selected to perform at the MNEA Conference last January. There are 100 students in her choir, which she describes as a community and safe place for all kids. Story ideas from our conversation include:
- Is her choir the largest elementary choir in the state? My high school orchestra was the largest at 200 students, but it was high school.
- A feature on the Fairview Songbirds. How did 100 students join? What does a rehearsal look like? Why do kids flock to the choir and how does it impact them?
The fourth person I talked to was Eryca Neville. She has been the principal of Douglass High School for nine years. It was her first administrative position. Neville applied for the role after her sister told her that she had a lot of theories about education and to see if she can make them work. Neville said that she thinks she has made those theories work out at Douglass. Story ideas from our conversation include:
- The school’s new partnership with Veterans United called Flourish Initiative. The program will establish a home to serve as transitional housing for students in the spring. It also sets up college investment funds for students, provides mentoring and establishes emergency funds. Veterans United also hired one student through the program and will have eight internship slots available this year for students. How are students affected by these programs?
Last, I talked to Jeri Donoho and Gennie Pfannenstiel. They both work at Locust Street Expressive Arts Elementary (LSEA), Donoho as the visual art instructor and Pfannenstiel as an art integration specialist. Donoho and Pfannenstiel both work to connect typical curriculum with arts for students. There are around 200 students attending LSEA this year while the school is under construction. There are 300 in a normal year. Story ideas from our conversation include:
- LSEA’s new building. Why is the building being expanded? How much did it cost? How will it affect students’ learning?
- There is a lottery process for students to attend LSEA. How does that work? Are students being selected fairly?
- Students have made an animation to be displayed during the Columbia Civic Orchestra’s performance on Saturday, Feb. 29 at 3:30 p.m.
- Fifth grade students are producing a podcast on the environment to enter an NPR student podcast competition.
- Fifth grade students wrote plays about the Revolutionary War and said in reflections that the performances helped them know themselves and their classmates better. How does performance, specifically this type of performance, affect kid’s learning?
I made a google map of locations important to the Columbia K-12 beat, linked here:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1-ij1rDaqfklPaBsNtatXjxfEu2GhMOJz&usp=sharing
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