PINGRY RECORD 10.24.Indd

THE NATION'S OLDEST ON THE WEB: COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL record.pingry.org NEWSPAPER VOLUME CXXXII, NUMBER 1 The Pingry School, Martinsville, New Jersey OCTOBER 24, 2005 KIDS AND MONEY Headmaster Conard Stresses Technology Failure Disrupts Daily Life its internal compass. made harder by the fact that OLL EVEALS Diversity, Intellectual Rigor By ADAM GOLDSTEIN (VI) The tech department had some students had not turned P R If anything at Pingry fails, a backup of the Active Di- in their Technology Agree- he attended a boarding school with rectory system on hand, ments, Mr. Vo said. In restor- By NADINE REITMAN (VI) it is usually a student. On an emphasis on learning for the but was unable to restore ing studentsʼ accounts, then, SPENDING HABITS sake of learning, not for grades; in Tuesday, September 27, On July 1, Mr. Nathaniel E. however, there was a differ- it. Microsoftʼs tech-support the tech staff had to handle fact, his high school did not even department was unable to fix two issues simultaneously: Conard assumed the position of give grades. ent kind of failure: the Mar- FEW SCHOOL-YEAR JOBS headmaster, replacing Mr. John tinsville Campusʼs network the problem either, and as a recreating each studentʼs ac- These two experiences pro- count, and double-checking Neiswender. Most recently, Mr. vided two different windows of Conard comes from the Emma that each studentʼs account By ADAM GOLDSTEIN (VI) diversity, as well as a foundation had not been disabled be- Willard School in Troy, New York for intellectual learning. In grade Most Pingry students receive cause of a failure to sign the where he was Assistant Head for school, the only diversity was thousands of dollars a year in Academics, but he has taught and Technology Agreement. socioeconomic, but in high school, There were other ag- allowances, birthday gifts, and tutored since college and grew up the school had a socioeconomic random parental handouts, but on the campus of a boarding school gravating factors, too. The and ethnically diverse student tech department is small fewer than 40 percent have a and farm his parents founded. body. It also emphasized an for the schoolʼs size and is school-year job, The Pingry Mr. Conardʼs first impressions alternative non-traditional teach- not staffed at all hours of Recordʼs first-ever Money Poll of Pingry are consistent with ing style, focusing on hands-on the day, Mr. Vo said, so the revealed. his expectations from the hiring experiential learning. repairs were discontinuous. Most stu- process. He was particularly enam- From his own education, Mr. Moreover, the tech depart- dents arenʼt re- ored by the warm welcome from Conard has learned that diver- the community and impressed ment had a number of other quired to pay sity of any kind is beneficial and with its spirit. “It is great how the stresses intellectual rigor. He has responsibilities at the same for electronics, community rallies around causes; time, including installation magazines, or already informed the teachers and not every school has that level of parents that he puts more value on of the new phone system. books, but a concern,” he said. Those jobs had to be post- majority of students do pay intellectual, rather than academic Though Mr. Conard says that rigor. The difference, he says, is poned by a week. for their own CDs, DVDs, and itʼs generally too early to say what The failure was the worst movie tickets, the poll found. “quality, not quantity.” Mr. Conard C. Berman (VI) changes need to be made to the wants the quality of thinking in the technology disruption in Under five percent of students, Apu helps a student get her email up and running. school, the one area he already sees classroom and work outside of the years, according to Mr. Vo, however, pay for their own needs improvement is diversity. classroom to be high, but he does accounts system. result refunded the schoolʼs and it was made worse by schoolbooks or standardized “In my life,” Mr. Conard said, “I not want it confused with the quan- For several days, teachers entire tech-support payment, Microsoftʼs inability to fix tests, the poll revealed. havenʼt learned a lot from people tity of work. “Just because there could not use their comput- Mr. Vo said. the problem. But rather than Students receive money from just like me; itʼs the diversity of is a lot of work, does not mean it ers, students were unable When it became obvious switch to a new network a variety of sources. Thirty-eight people that have contributed to is of high intellectual quality,” he to receive their email, and that the tech staff would not backbone, the tech team is percent receive a regular allow- my growth and development.” He explained. nobody could connect to be able to restore the system looking at other ways to ance, for example, and 65 per- praises the diversity he encoun- Mr. Conardʼs theory on diver- the Internet unless using a automatically, they began safeguard the existing Active cent receive random handouts tered in his own education and sity is similar to his educational non-school or Macintosh recreating the accounts one Directory system, including from their parents. Eighty-four cites it as a reason for his educa- philosophy. He notes that diversity computer. Other services, at a time. With only two the possibility of installing a tional philosophies today. percent receive money from in the school is often thought of on like Pingryʼs online bulletin members of the tech staff “fail-over” server that would Growing up in Vermont, Mr. birthday or holiday presents. a statistical basis, and says the next board system and webmail on site, however, they were take over network duties in Conard went to grades one through the event the main server When it comes to work, stu- step in creating more diversity is to sites, became either broken forced to triage accounts. six in two different two-room failed, Mr. Vo said. dents seem more occupied with move away from statistics alone or inaccessible to most stu- Working until 3:00 AM, Ms. schoolhouses and was the only Still, Mr. Vo noted, the homework than employment. dents. Perla Rodriguez and Mr. student whose parents had at- There could hardly have Rich Jensen recreated all the most important data—peo- Only 36 percent of all Upper Continued on Page 3 tended college. For high school, been a worse time for the accounts of the Pingry staff, pleʼs email and network School students hold a summer accounts system to break. including administrators and files—were not lost, but job, for example, while fewer Teachers were supposed members of the development simply became temporar- than 28 percent babysit and 12 to turn in progress reports office, but left all the other ily unavailable. “Look at it percent have a school-year job within days, and Mr. Quoc accounts broken until the optimistically,” he said. “It besides babysitting. Vo, Director of Technology, next day. was an inconvenience, but it had to leave early to take The tech teamʼs job was didnʼt ruin anyoneʼs life.” AGE DIFFERENCES care of his new child. Short-handed, the tech In general, younger students staff worked feverishly to Inside The Record are less likely to hold a job. diagnose the problem. Soon, Only 21 percent of 7th graders Mr. Vo said, they discov- report holding a summer job, ered corruption in Active for instance, but that figure Directory—the system that rises to 61 percent for seniors. matches peopleʼs names and Similarly, no Middle Schoolers passwords to their files and email. With the Active Di- Continued on Page 6 N. Lee (IV) rectory out of order, it was Headmaster Conard is pleased with Pingry thus far. as if each computer had lost New Building Underway; Construction Highly Visible Designed by USA Architects “unique middle school identity.” and hanging lights. By HALLIE BIANCO (IV) of Somerville, New Jersey, the From the outside the building The highlight of the new build- The building of the new middle new building will be attached to will be a light brown stone and ing, however, is the middle school school is “an exciting project to the present building where the will attach to the current building commons. Encased in glass and give the middle schoolers their loading dock is currently located.. through a glass walkway. The open to the second floor, the own space and their own oppor- Lead architect Mr. Mark Coan interior design of the building commons will be a place for tunities for growth,” said Middle said, “The students in the new was inspired by elements of all Middle School students to “relax A. Sampat (VI) School Director Mr. Phil Cox. building will be going through three Pingry campuses over the and make their home,” Mr. Coan A construction vehicle at work moving dirt around the In 2001, the Long Range Plan a special time physically, emo- years, including a chapel pew said. middle school construction site. outlined a plan to “provide an tionally, and academically.” The from a previous campus and the The building, which is sched- Is the Honor Code followed? New Teachers Join the age-appropriate middle school building, therefore, should create a current campusʼs exposed beams uled to be finished late next fall, Trevor Topf (IV) and Sam Adriance Community experience for students that fo- will also allow for an increase (V) debate the fundamental idea of the Ten new faculty bring skills and cuses on the special needs of in grade size. Each of the three Honor Code and its importance in the experience to Pingry academics, coun- this age group and ensures their middle school grades will have a community today.

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