Discipline Board in Limbo
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PAGE 3 • IN-DEPTH PAGE 5 • FEATURES PAGE 6 • ARTS With mayoral elections Virtue, a Southern As a dedicated actor, in just a few weeks, turn American restaurant, junior Henrik Nielsen to the Midway to help recently opened in Hyde works hard to embody a inform your decision Park. It provides a cozy range of characters both of who to vote for. Find atmosphere and flavorful mentally and physically summaries of each food, but there are few in school productions candidate’s agenda. vegetarian options. such as “Dracula.” University Of Chicago Laboratory High School 1362 East 59th Street, Chicago,U-HIGH Illinois 60637 MIDWAY Volume 95, Number 6 FEBRUARY 14, 2019 LUNAR NEW YEAR Discipline board in limbo practices are in line with state law was not informed when the DRB Board cut from and independent school best prac- was initially removed from the tices,” Ms. Weber said. “She gave handbook, and handbook during us some feedback, not so much that the commit- about the discipline process, but tee has struggled a legal review there were some questions that to get informa- she raised. She and I worked on it tion on the sta- by EMMA TRONE this fall, so I just need to move that tus of the DRB. EDITOR-IN-CHIEF process forward.” In faculty meet- The faculty’s discipline commit- In the meantime, students can ings, Ms. Shapiro tee is pushing to reinstate the high only appeal their disciplinary de- and fellow com- school’s Discipline Review Board, cisions to the principal, Ms. We- mittee members Susan which has been inactive since last ber. The fall election of sopho- have pushed for Shapiro school year while under review by mores and juniors to the board reports on the legal counsel. were never conducted, resulting in status of the DRB from Ms. Weber, The Discipline Review Board no standing board for 2018-19. including at the most recent meet- originated as a three-way agree- Susan Shapiro is a member of ing Feb. 6. ment between the administration, the faculty’s discipline committee “We need to reconfirm the ex- the faculty and Student Council to composed of faculty members se- istence of the Disciplinary Review provide students the opportuni- lected to evaluate the principles of Board in whatever modified form,” ty to weigh in on disciplinary de- the Discipline Review Board. She Ms. Shapiro said. “On principle, cisions. In the case that a student said she is frustrated by the cur- faculty, students and administra- undergoing disciplinary issues rent lack of student or faculty par- tion working together to solve dis- wanted to appeal the original de- ticipation in disciplinary matters. ciplinary issues should be recon- cision made by the Dean of Stu- “Being an old-timer, I find this firmed.” dents, the Discipline Review Board very disturbing,” Ms. Shapiro said. Ms. Weber said she supports would review the case. Students “If there were things that need- student input in the discipline elect classmates and faculty mem- ed to be tweaked or needed to be process. bers to serve on the board. under consideration, [the Disci- “I believe in the idea of the re- Principal Stephanie Weber said pline Review Committee] certain- view process, and I think it can be the Discipline Review Board was ly would consider these things. So a good one,” she said. “I think hav- temporarily removed from the to just throw it out, does not sit ing it as an option for students is MIDWAY PHOTO BY ISABELLA KELLERMEIER Student and Family Handbook well with the committee. We can’t a good thing, but we just want to Aly Latherow and Eleanor Skish compete during a legal review by Universi- throw out the baby with the bath- make sure it’s in alignment with GONG XI FA CAI. ty lawyers. water. It’s the only place students best practices and legal require- in a dumpling eating contest during a Lunar New Year cel- “The whole handbook was re- have an important role in decision ments about confidentiality.” ebration hosted by Asian Students’ Association Feb. 5. The viewed by outside legal counsel, making.” Grace Zhang contributed addi- festitivies included a chopstick contest and free lunch. just to be sure that our discipline Ms. Shapiro said the Committee tional reporting. Principal search committee seeks resilient candidates by AUDREY MATZKE then visit cam- The committee includes five ad- search committee is looking for ASSISTANT EDITOR pus, where they ministrators and five faculty mem- “ We have different divisions, candidates who both honor and By the end of winter quarter, will demon- bers. Administrators are Assis- but we are the Laboratory challenge U-High’s existing cus- the principal search committee strate their com- tant Principal Asra Ahmed, Dean Schools, so the ability to toms. plans to select a top candidate to munication and of Students Ana Campos, Dean of connect across divisions is Through conversations with forward to Director Charlie Abel- leadership skills Teaching and Learning Noah Ra- consultants from Dialogos, the mann, who will make the final de- through meeting chlin, Athletic Director David Rib- important.” committee was made aware of cision. with students, bens and Diversity, Equity and In- — CARLA ELLIS, U-High’s renewed interest in unity. ASSISTANT DIRECTOR Guided by recent discussions Carla parents, faculty clusion Director Priyanka Rupani. “We have different divisions, but with outside consultants, the Ellis and staff. Faculty members are Laura Do- we are the Laboratory Schools, so 10-person committee is seeking a “The plan is to, learning coordinator; Sari Her- the ability to connect across divi- replacement for current principal for the community to interact with nandez, English; Cindy Jurisson ficult feedback. sions is important,” Dr. Ellis said. Stephanie Weber. Ms. Weber an- finalists,” Assistant Director Car- and Naadia Owens, history; and Working alongside consultants In addition to desired quali- nounced in November 2018 she la Ellis said, noting the opportu- Fran Spaltro, world languages. Dr. from Carney Sandoe, the school ties, Carney Sandoe helped the would leave her position at the nity for wider involvement in the Spaltro served as interim principal outlined six desired qualities in a committee determine opportuni- end of the school year. search process. in 2015-16. future principal: confidence, re- ties for growth within the school, The search process will begin The committee is seeking resil- “The culture here is that people silience, vision, curiosity, sensitiv- which candidates should be eager with a series of video interviews ient, community-minded candi- express their opinions from all an- ity to school cultures and ability to to take on. Building trust between with candidates to determine the dates, according to Dr. Ellis, who is gles,” Dr. Ellis said, and mentioned navigate complexity. students and the administration is finalists. These candidates will leading the committee. the importance of listening to dif- According to the outline, the at the top of their list. Semester switch official at last by NIKHIL PATEL for the University of Chicago. Weber said the group will be com- WEB MANAGER Concerns about the loss of as- prised of faculty, administrators The last obstacle for switching sessment days and students, and will continue its to semesters has been cleared, al- and feedback work next year to review progress lowing administrators to move for- are still being ex- and make suggestions and im- ward with scheduling for the next plored, Ms. We- provements. school year. ber said. Win- “We’ll focus on a classroom The Council of the Universi- ter and spring level, and we’ll focus on a calen- ty Senate heard the proposal to breaks will dar level,” Dean of Teaching and switch to a semester schedule on still be home- Learning Noah Rachlin said. “For Jan. 29. This was the final step in a work-free, but example, do we need to move par- process that gained traction at the Stephanie the specific pol- ent-teacher conferences, do we beginning of the school year with a Weber icies to ensure need to make them more frequent faculty vote Nov. 7. this have yet to since there will be less assesment The school year, holidays and be refined, she said. days?” breaks will remain unchanged ac- A working group has been The Program of Studies was MIDWAY PHOTO BY ODYSSEAS NIKAS cording to Principal Stephanie We- formed by the administration to published Feb. 6. Course regis- SELECTING STUDIES. Emily Chang and Isabel Randall look ber, who advocated for the pro- implement the calendar and to tration for 2019-20 began Feb. 8 over the 2019-20 Program of Studies. Students have the opportu- posal to the council, which is the ensure that any problems with the and continues through Feb. 21 via nity to choose a few new semester-long courses. academic decision-making body shift are identified and solved. Ms. PowerSchool. THURSDAY, FEB. 14, 2019 2 • NEWS U-HIGH MIDWAY • UNIVERSITY HIGH SCHOOL, CHICAGO Foote becomes Spectrum adviser Artsfest will by SAMIRA GLAESER-KHAN MANAGING EDITOR host ‘Cha Cha With the loss of their adviser, Daniel Bo- bo-Jones, senior Spectrum leaders are tak- ing on the responsibility of mentoring Slide’ creator younger students. Club president Bassem Noghnogh says by OTTO BROWN the student leaders have chosen Deb Foote, MIDWAY REPORTER a middle school world language teacher, to Artsfest, a time-honored student-led tra- be their new adviser. Ms. Foote had been at- dition at U-High, will take place on Feb. 28 tending some club meetings throughout the from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. In lieu of classes, year. students will attend two Bassem explained that Mr.