District Considers Chromebooks for BHS Students
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Vol. 55 No. 6 www.bcomber.org Beachwood High School 25100 Fairmount Blvd. Beachwood, OH 44122 June 2013 District Considers Chromebooks for BHS Students Next year, sophomore Alexander Machtay might not be the only one with a “It is a lot easier to read books, it helps me with note taking and I find myself Chromebook. Photo by Alex Mintz checking my grades more often,” said sophomore Maria Alvarez. However students will not be receiving iPads next year. Photo by Grant Gravanga. ByEmilykate Hopson-Boyd & Christina Phelps it will be of little cost to students. efficiencies of Chromebooks,” Asst. said, “[The iPad Mini] is really great After running a pilot program this “We are looking at a minimal in- Principal Paul Chase said. [compared to] the Chrome laptops. It spring, the Beachwood Board of Edu- surance cost with a deductible if stu- “They use it as much as they can is a lot easier to read books, it helps cation will vote this month on a tech- dents break the machines. Right now, in all different capacities, learning in- me with note taking and I find myself nology plan for the 2013-14 school year we are proposing $25 per student to side the classroom and outside,” Veon checking my grades more often.” that would include one-to-one Google start up, and $50 for the deductible, wrote. Sophomore Danielle Adelstein, Chromebooks for all BHS students. depending on the severity of the dam- Every couple of weeks, partici- iPad Mini user, thought the iPad was As for the purpose of the program, age,” Veon wrote. pating students have taken a survey to flawed but nevertheless helpful. Technology Director Ken Veon wrote The pilot program that began in determine which machine is more ef- “It would be nice to have a big- in an email, “ [It is} for technology to mid-Feb. distributed Chromebooks fective. ger keyboard; however, it helps me enhance learning in the high school. and iPad Minis to a random group of Sophomores Tamarea Townes be more proactive in school,” Alvarez [The focus is] not about the technology BHS sophomores. and Maria Alvarez participated in the said. but the learning.” “We are looking at the efficien- pilot program. Should the program be approved, cies of iPads in class settings and the Alvarez, who used the iPad Mini Continued on pg. 3 ByFaculty Max Bleich Cracks Down on Classroomanymore,” she said. Cell Phonechanges Use on technology use as well. Online Editor-in-Chief it’s upside down so access to the phone The existing policy is that if a de- “You’ll see that the handbook will After several BHS students were is impossible without me noticing or vice is seen or heard, it is taken and also have adjustments to the bring- caught sharing embarrassing photos seeing the box being moved.” given to Chase. A parent will have to your-own device policy,” Chase said. and videos of their teachers on social Majercak feels that her approach retrieve the phone at the end of the “By law, schools have to police your media sites, BHS faculty have cracked to cell phones is working. school day. personal computers when you’re on down on cell phones in recent weeks. “The investment level in my class Chase explained that he confis- the school network. There has to be While the phone ban has existed has gone up,” Majercak said. “I feel like cates an average of one cell phone per rules that say whether I have the right for many years, enforcement had be- students are definitely paying atten- day. to confiscate your computer if there’s come relaxed in many classes. In early tion and doing the things they need to “Some days you get five at once. reasonable suspicion. If you try to May, Assist. Principal Paul Chase made do instead of sneaking little wisps of I get 180 to 200 per school year,” he cheat on an exam, or if you plagiarize an announcement that cell phones phone use.” said. “In the last couple weeks, I’ve something on your computer, or some- would be collected at the beginning of One study conducted in 2010 by had about eighteen phones confiscat- thing much worse.” each class. the Pew Research Center found that ed since the announcement has been Many question whether or not Some teachers carefully follow 65% of cell-owning teens at schools made [regarding the crackdown].” tablets such as the Apple iPad and the new procedure. Others continue to that completely ban phones bring their Chase explained that there will be Google Chromebook have a place in address cell phones only when they are phones to school every day. 58% of many changes in the student handbook the classroom. Chase seems to think seen or heard. cell-owning teens at schools that ban next fall. they do. English teacher Nicole Majercak phones have sent a text message dur- “Next year when the handbook “You have to separate the has bought small plastic boxes with ing class. The study then found that comes out, we’re going to lighten up on Chromebooks and the iPads and the locks, which she keeps on her class- 43% of all teens who take their phones use in the hallways,” Chase said. “…But cell phones,” he said. “A cell phone is room desks. Students are asked to put to school say they text in class at least in classrooms it is forbidden unless for much more of a social device then the their phones in the boxes during class. once a day or more. a classroom activity. You can easily not Chromebook and the iPad. I under- “If the phone buzzes, beeps, flash- Majercak agrees that cell phones use your phone for fifty minutes, es- stand that you can set up texts and es, or does anything inside the box, I have become a major problem in the pecially when you know you can use it access Facebook on your iPad, but still take it,” Majercak said. “They put classroom. when you leave the classroom.” the phone has become a common- it inside the box, there’s hot pink tape “I think students are so distracted In addition to the change in BHS on the top, they have to flip it over so they don’t even know they’re distracted policy, there will be state-mandated Continued on pg. 3 Inside the Beachcomber Shale Gas in Senior College ADHD Bunion Free! Peters Reflects on Historic Beachwood? List Year for BHS Athletics Pg. 2 Pg. 7 Pg. 8 Pg. 9 Pg. 11 News TheBeachcomber2 Beachwood School District Takes Part in Ohio’s Oil and Gas Boom “We add soap to lower the friction By Emily Topilow caused by pumping the water down A&L Editor the hole and a chemical called citric In recent years, there has been acid and sodium erythorbate -- both a significant natural gas and oil boom scary sounding food preservatives in Ohio. Beachwood is part of that that remove oxygen from the water. boom, as it sits on top of shale that The water returns back to the surface holds a lot of energy. when the procedure is completed and In 2009, the Beachwood City disposed of in a state licensed Class 2 School District installed a natural gas injection well.” well on the district’s transportation Prior to drilling the well, the garage property on Commerce Park. Beachwood Board of Education hosted Beachwood was approached an informational meeting, open to the by Duck Creek Energy, Inc. to use the public, for residents who live near the land on the bus garage property to The well is vertically drilled 3,500 feet deep and produces both natural gas and crude oil. well. No residents attended the meet- drill a natural gas well. Photo by Emily Topilow. ing. “Three property owners had crete. There are at least... three strings to construct the drilling pits. Revenue signed on to have their properties part of pipe placed and cemented in the “Usually, geologists have to Beachwood has a small amount of of a lease with Duck Creek for natural hole to protect the fresh water zones determine whether groundwater sup- land, so as a result, the City only gas exploration and drilling... They located above the zone to be fracked. plies are going to be at risk..There is receives a small financial percent- needed our piece as the last to make Fresh water does not exist in Ohio potential for drilling into a formation age. Beachwood receives 3.7% of the up that 20 acre plot because we have below 1,500 to 2,000 feet,” Mansbery that they don’t want to drill into,” said revenue generated by the natural gas about four acres there with the bus wrote. science teacher Joe Burwell. well. The well has generated anywhere garage,” said Beachwood Superinten- Drilling and hydraulic fractur- While an environmental between $10 and $500 per month for dent Dr. Richard Markwardt. ing are two different steps in the gas impact study was not required for this the school district. The Well extraction process. well because of its small size, Man- According to the contract be- The well is vertically drilled 3,500 “The drilling and fracking sbery explained the ODNR requires tween Duck Creek Energy and Beach- feet deep and produces both natural crews and equipment are different environmental planning. wood, the transportation building gets gas and crude oil, which is pumped and never even have contact with each “The ODNR does require our 400,000 cubic feet of free gas out of from the ground and separated at the other,” Mansbery said.