The RCDS DRUMLINE marches in the MLK DAY Parade ... PHOTO BY JAKE O’SHAUGHNESSY Published biweekly by and for the Upper School students of Riverfield Country Day School in Tulsa, OK JANUARYAPRIL 19,3, 2015 2018 THE COMMONS Update on Bixby HS assault in- Clark says vestigation By Maddy Edwards and Staff school needs According to an affidavit released by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, a 16- year-old football player at more Space Bixby High School told school officials on Oct. 26 that he had By Jack Bluhm been sexually assaulted by sev- NEWS EDITOR eral teammates a month earlier. The Bixby school board was r. Toby Clark is Head of the Upper and quiet about the incident and Middle Schools here at Riverfield. He didn’t report it to police for a also teaches 9th grade Geometry and week. The board has not re- coaches 5th-6th basketball and Middle leased much information since. and Upper School tennis. Mr. Clark is Not surprisingly, several Mone of the people who gets to decide on big plans for the weeks later this incident is still school, and he gets to finalize pretty much everything for the making headlines. Mr. Clark points out some of the improvements planned for the Upper School. I spoke with him last week about the school’s According to the Tulsa Blue Gym expansion. PHOTO BY MASON MALLOY plans. World, the incident has not been discussed at recent Bixby school Jack: What were some of the challenges in 2017? and provide more space for away fans. We should have an board meetings. Parents of stu- Mr. Clark: Space. Middle schoolers are using the Learning entrance/exit that isn’t through the Middle School. We should dents are furious at the school Center, and the Industrial Arts class is really big. That class is also add a new concession stand. board for not addressing this using the Science classrooms. The Upper School is sharing the J: Do you think by next fall we will have more high school situation publicly. facilities with Middle Schoolers. students here at Riverfield? The former superintendent J: Are we going to add or drop any electives? Mr. C: This year we have a smaller junior class, but we of Bixby Public Schools, Kyle Mr. C: No, we’re not dropping anything, but we may be have the biggest senior class we have ever had. Next year will Woods, resigned because he adding Robotics. It would be an after school program for mid- be similar to this one, but in two years we will see an increase does not want his name affiliat- dle schoolers. We can maybe add that to be an Upper School because there is a bigger 7th grade class. ed with the situation. However, activity as well. J: Riverfield is always getting bigger. How big do you think the assault occurred at his home J: What are you looking forward to the most? the school will get? during a party for the football Mr. C: The next big step for us as a school will be adding Mr. C: Three sections per grade, and we can average about team’s offensive line. new spaces, whether that be constructing totally new facilities 44 students per grade. We have about 132 in the Middle The Tulsa World reported or expanding facilities that are already built. School right now. Our goal is 40-45 students per grade, so 180 on Jan. 10 that five Bixby foot- J: What are your thoughts on expanding the Blue Gym? is the maximum student count for the Middle School. In the ball players had admitted to Mr. C: The issue is practice space. The Blue Gym needs to Upper School, we are in the range of 160-180 students. In the involvement in the assault. “It's be bigger so more than one team can practice at the same time. next two years, our goal is to have about 150 students in the unclear whether the school dis- We also need to expand the locker rooms, add a weight room, Middle School and about 180 in the Upper School. trict disciplined any player,” said the World. One football player, who admitted videotaping the assault on his cellphone, came forward and turned over his phone to U.S. plans for shooting down N.K. missiles police. He was concerned about “protecting potential evidence” By Andrew Jordan U.S. military and some of its THAAD for short. It is a hit-to tions for shooting down mis- after another player’s father STAFF WRITER allies in the region have been kill-system, which means it’s a siles, and they are even testing offered to purchase the phone, practicing shooting down such missile without a warhead. In- microwave weapons that may the World reported. One of the main threats to missiles from the hermit king- stead, it uses kinetic energy to be able to shoot down missiles, After a search warrant was world peace at the moment is dom. kill a missile target. although those are in the early issued, Bixby school officials the problem in the Korean Pen- According to CNN, the U.S. The U.S also can use a few phases of testing. were given a Dec. l deadline to insula: North Korea. tested shooting down missiles in missile silos that have an anti- Overall, the U.S. missile produce emails related to the Over the past decade, North a couple of ways. One method ballistic missile inside them, but command said the recent tests matter. “Tens of thousands of Korea has ramped up its missile used its Aegis missile system on these are mostly still in testing. were a great success, and they emails in an unindexed and tests, and now it has a somewhat Arleigh Burke destroyers in Another way the U.S. could are confident they would be minimally searchable format” effective nuclear program. tandem with the land-based ver- technically shoot down a missile able to shoot down missiles were turned over to investiga- On Nov. 3, the North Kore- sion, Aegis Ashore. is to have an F-35 Lighting ii from North Korea in the future. tors, who have requested better an government tested a missile The second method used the shoot it down in its early launch Even though we may be documentation. that could technically hit the Terminal High Altitude Area stages. ready, the world should pray we The OSBI and Bixby police U.S. mainland. However, the Defense weapon system, or So the U.S. has a few op- will never have to try. are continuing to investigate. THE COMMONS is published biweekly dur- SPRING 2018 STAFF VOLUME XII ISSUE 7 ing the school year by the Upper School Newspaper elective class at Riverfield Country Day School, 2433 W. 61st Street, Tulsa, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ................. James Morley FRIDAY, JANUARY 19, 2018 Oklahoma 74132. The staff reserves the right to edit any article or MANAGING EDITOR ............. Brenden Paul letter submitted for publication. Send all submissions to the Editor-in-Chief at NEWS EDITORS ...................... Logan Payne, Jack Bluhm [email protected]. All opinions SPORTS EDITORS .................. Noah Laubach, Brady Heinig DESIGN EDITORS................... Jake O’Shaughnessy, expressed are those of the individual writ- OPINIONS EDITORS .............. Kip Derryberry, Quinten Nokes .................................................... Jack Jones, Mason Malloy ers and do not reflect positions of the staff, A&E EDITORS ......................... Connor Keesling, Maddy Edwards GRAPHICS EDITOR ............... Elise Wagoner adviser, or school administration. REVIEWS EDITORS ............... Alex Milton, Andrew Jordan COLUMNISTS .......................... Grace Clark, Grant Heinig, Online: riverfield.org/community/student-newspapers.cfm FEATURES EDITOR ............... Will Dozier, Hana Saad .................................... Jad Jaafar, Alexis Lipe, Adaira Reid THE COMMONS Friday, January 19, 2018 The varsity girls and boys basketball teams are competing in the glencoe tournament today and tomorrow — go ravens! SPORTS 2 Who will be the NFL’s MVP this year? By Andrew Jordan lot of bumps in the road over goes to Tom Brady. The New STAFF WRITER this season, and he led them to England Patriots’ QB seems to the playoffs despite the limited be on this list every year, but The NFL season is now roster he had. That earns him always for good reason. He has over, and one of the many my No. 3 spot. proven time and time again questions on people’s minds My No. 2 choice is Case that he is the best quarterback is, who will be this year’s Keenum, QB of the Minnesota of all time, and there’s not MVP? Vikings. He led his team during much in the way of facts that There are a few choices, a great run for the Super Bowl, says that he is not. He led his but I’ll go over my top three winning 13 games out of 16. team to another 13-3 season, picks for the spot. This is a huge improvement and he leads in passing in the My third choice is Matt from a player who has not had a league. Freshmen Brinley Lasiter and Jack Bluhm are this issue’s MVPs. Ryan, QB of the Atlanta Fal- good record with all of his pre- Overall, Brady is my pick PHOTOS BY PATRICIA DICKEY cons. After his embarrassing vious teams. It will definitely be for Most Valuable Player this finish last year, why would I interesting to see how well his year. However, this playoff pick him for this spot? Be- team does. season is very interesting none- Freshman player standouts cause he led a team that hit a The No. 1 spot, however, theless.