Teachers Appraise Desirability Of Merit Pay Plan

Spring Carnival '75: New Festivities To Bloom

Director Craig Matheson (center) coaches cast through the Duchess' kit~chen scene froJ'lthe forthcoming Theatre 308 production of .. Alice'ili- 'Wonderland:" set for AprfI11-12. (Photo by Jim Clark)

Last year's Carnival had itssuccesses and flaws. The moresuccessful activities, which includedfree coffee and donuts, a student vs.faculty basketball game, a coffee house,a French toast breakfast, and a dancewill more than likely be held onceagain. The past activities whichshowed little response have been leftout of the weekend's plans. Thechairwomen mentioned skating and afield day as two such flaws. The bikerace and car rally are tentativelyplanned to take the place of these.

When asked to comment on the com­ing Spring weekend, Leslie said thatshe wishes to get more people involved,citing that the greater theparticipation, the better the chances forsuccess. Jane commented that, "Theonly way it will work is if people aren'tso apathetic as they have been in thepast. It's too bad that there isn't moreenthusiasm in this school."

teacher evaluation system. AlthoughDarien has adopted a merit pay rating,an evaluation process would still be em-

-pfoyed in ordertOfulfillth'~"8tat;'sre- ..quirement for an evaluation system,regardless of whether or not the schoolsystem had merit pay.

Faculty ReactionThe effects of merit pay are now be­

ing realized by the school system.Many of the teachers and departmentheads whom Neirad interviewedbelieve that, although the philosophybehind merit pay is good, it is difficultto administer. Some faculty membersalso noted that merit pay appeared tobe hurting the morale of the teachers."Teachers who receive a three ratingtend to feel it is equivalent to a grade of'C,' which has a demoralizing effect,"expressed one teacher whom Neiradinterviewed. There is a $600 differencein the year's raise between a teacherwith a three rating and a teacher whoreceived a five rating.

One suggestion to improve the meritpay system is to eliminate the use of

Continued on page 4

DHS library budget.As to the question of what additional

teachers will be let go, Mr. Cataniareplied, "We'll have to make decisions.A handful have already been notified."He explained that March 1 is thedeadline for indicating whether or not ateacher is going to be rehired. If theyare not contacted, the teachers areautomatically kept on. However, if theteaching position is abolished, ateacher can be cut after March 1.

If the 13.5% reduction of DHSte~cherll ill put into effect, Mr. Catani'ldoes not see a way for the program notto suffer. "We're going to have to makesome changes. We're going to explorethe different areas and find where wecan make the cuts where it hurts theleast."

In addition, a reduction in thegeneral budget for the departments atDHS will probably hurt the electives."We were hoping to do some things,"Mr. Catania commented, "that werereally advantageous to the HighSchool. We'll still pursue them butseveral of the things we were planningw,,'!,~not going..to be able to do."

March 11, 1975

Culs Call For Teacher LayoffsBy JANE ADAMS

year',s carnival, a French Toast Break,fast, will be held once again on Satur­day morning by the juniors. One of themore original ideas of the chairwomenis to hold a road rally on Saturdayafternoon. Safe driving and limitingthe rally to cars that get over eighteenmiles per gallon are two major rules.The rally will cOIlBist of a course with atrial time that has been established bya trial car. The entrants must travel therecommended speed while observingall traffic safety regulations. The of­ficial trial car's time will not be posteduntil all rally cars are over the finishline.

The Senior Class is in the processnow of planning a Las Vegas night forSaturday evening. At the moment, any'plaIlB are tentati ve for legal reas~ns. Ifthe Las Vegas night is unable to be held,a dance will take its place. To end theCarnival, a junior vs. senior softballgame is being planned by the ActivitiesCouncil.

With $93,000 cut from the DHSallotment in the Superintendent'sbudget for 1975-76, there is the pos·sibility that six and a halfto seven anda half more teaching positions will beeliminated, in addition to the threeteacher removals already decided on.

The Board of Education voted onTuesday, Feb. 5, 7-2 in favor of the 10%teacher drop. Salvatore Catania, DHSprincipal, hopes, however, for the ad­dition of an amendment to the proposalwhich would indicate the amount of thebudget reduction in monetary, notpersonnel, terms.

Already specified for removal fromthe DHS faculty and staff for next yearare one librarian, one guidancecouIlBelor, and a part-time nurse. ThreepOsitioIlB, or the equivalent of $40,000in part-time physical educationpersonnel, one special educationpsychologist, and a part-time artteacher will be cut from the schoolsystem as a whole. In addition, a totalof $20,000 will be cut from the libraryand audio-visual budgets schoolwide,whic_h ineludes a $3,475 reduction in the

performs the objectives he set forhimself at the beginning of the year isalso reflected in this interim report aswell as the final report. The departmentheads and assistant principal continueobserving the teacher in a classroom

. environment and recording theirobservatioIlB until the final conferencewith the teacher at the end of the year.It is at this meeting that a finalevaluation is formulated and theteacher is given a numerical rating ac­cordance to the merit pay scale.

State RequirementsThe state requires every ,school to

devise and implement teacherevaluation procedures. This is theprimary reason for the existance of our

By ANNE LIBBY

Plans are now being made for theDHS second annual Spring Carnival tobe held March 21, 22, and 23. JaneAdams and Leslie Milne are headingthis year's event and have drawn up aproposed agenda consisting of a fewnew carnival ideas.

To start the weekend off, free coffeeand donuts for all will be available onFriday morning, compliments of theActivities Council. An Easter egg huntis tentatively planned to be held all dayFriday inside the High School. This isone new idea, never done at DHSbefore. A bike race is planned for X­period on Friday afternoon. Thesophomores will then do their part bysponsoring a student vs. faculty basket­ball game in the gym Friday evening.To end the day, a coffee house is beingplanned by the Junior Class. This willbe held following the basketball game.

The most successful event of last

"People may prefer us as an alternativeto a minister, social worker, etc.,because of our policy of anonymity."

"I think people should demand tohave a place like this - if not forthemselves, then for others in town. It'stheir right."

principal. The department heads andassistant principals observe the,teacher by visiting the classroom andbased on each visit complete a stan-

,dardized form which appraises theteacher's relatioIlBhips with his pupils,class' preparation, and teachin~

procedures.Midway through the year a

conference is held involving theteacher, his deparment head and the as­sistant principal. At this co'nference,the teacher's performance relative tohis objectives is discussed. The purposeof this meeting is to strengthen theteachers weak points with constructivecriticism and acknowledge the areas heis proficient in. How well the teacher

Darien High School, Darien, Connecticut

By MARTHA CONSTABLE

Money Troubles Plague Centre StoneCentre Stone, Darien's peer counsel­

ing telephone service, is undergoingfinancial problems which may result ina decision to close it.

Michael Grimes" Centre Stone'sdirector, told Neirad reporters that theBoard of Directors of the hotline anddrop-in center had asked the Board ofSelectman for full funding, to theamount of $19,500. "We do not have thetime, energy, or manpower to do fun­draising on our own - it spreads us toothin," explained Mr. Grimes. He statedthat the work load is increasing - thecenter has received a 25% increase inthe number of calls per month duringthe past six months.

If the Board ofSelectmen refuses fullfunding of Centre Stone, twoalternatives may be taken: 1) the centermay be put under auspices of theWelfare Board or 2) under theSelectmen's Committee for Youth. Inthis way, Centre Stone would receivemoney 'through the budgets for thesegroups. The reply from the Board ofSelectmen will come in April. "We'renegotiating for our existence," said Mr.Grimes. "If no money comes, our boardof Directors will have to make thedecision to shut down."

Centre Stone telephones now havemore adult volunteers, which can serveto widen its appeal to parents as well asteenagers. Mr. Grimes emphasized thatit is not necessarily used as a last resort.

Volume LXXV, Number 8

:By TOM GAMMILL and...-.-_.---.... . --,-

~ARRY LEONARD _The concept of merit pay has been a

topic of concern among faculty atDarien High since i~ implementationin February of 1974. Merit payevaluates teachers on a scale of one tofive and financially rewards teacherswho receive a two, three, four, or fiverating.-

Performance ObjectivesAt the beginning of the year every

teacher is required to submit a list ofhisperformance objectives to hisdepartment head and designated as­sistant principal. Throughout the yearteachers are evaluated by their respec­tive department heads and assistant

Page 2 Neirad March 11, 1975

Does Darien Care?

Students Take Calculated Risk

.-----\JIEWPONS------.,

having a fasting day at school anddonating the money to help the needy.But why have only One a year?? We feelthis is a very direct Wf1.Y students andteachers can help.. We would like to urge everyone toconserve on fuel. The hours spent wait­ing for gas in the gas lines have beenquickly forgotten. Try taking the b~sorcarpooling with those three or fourother kids who drive from yourneighborhood. When the weather isnice, try riding a bike to school.What've you got to lose but a fewpounds?

Stop complaining about the world'sproblems and start doing somethingabout them. Let's show people thatDarien is concerned and aware of theseproblems and is tyring to do their partin helping to solve them.

going to need the aid of a pocketcalculator., It is evident that students who are ad­dicted to pocket calculators becomevery tense and emotional. I have heard.of one sophomore who had to receiveprofessiomil help after he discovered ahole in his $200 pocket calculator thatwas leaking numbers and geometricfunctions all over the floor. Another·DHS student turned frantic when hercalculator became waterlogged whileshe was running to Portable II on arainy day. Although Post 53 was able torescue the pocket calculator by ad­ministering mouth-to-mouth resus·citation, the girl 'has never been thesame. (Note: Mouth·to-mouth resus­citation on a pOCket calculator shouldnot be attempted by people withbraces.)

It is conceivable that pocketcalculator addicts will move on to othermachines to satisfy their need to pressbuttons. Elevators, automats, andphone booths with push·buttontelephones will become the hang-outsfor this disturbed generation.

Immediate action must be taken todeter the use ofpocket calculators in ourschools. Free clinics could be opened todistribute slide rules. The viewing of.Sesame Street might become man­datory for students in grades 9-12. Cen­tre Stone could open a hot line with aspecially trained .staff to recite.arithmetic sequences and answer sim­ple math problems for its callers.

If the community works together, wecan get our youngsters thinking clearlyagain without being dependent onpocket machines. To save the future ofAmerica, we must stop the flow andwide-spread use of pocket calculatorsamong our children.

By THE SCHOOL COUNCILPUBLIC RELATIONS

COMMITTEE

The students of Darien High Schooland the members of the Darien com­munity should become more aware ofthe serious shortages the world is fac­ing today. There are many problemsthat affect us, either dir~y or in­directly, and few are doing anythingabout them. The food shortage and fuelshortage are two such problems. "But,"one may say, "what can one person likemyself do to help the whole world?" Theanswer is plenty!

One very simple way to help the foodshortage is to stop wasting. Buy onlywhat you can eat instead of having tothrowaway good food. Another waywhich has been found to be effective is

Students and all'other school community members, including parents,are currently being encouraged to sign up to work on new committees es­tablished under the ad-hoc Committee on Options.

Students may sign up on bulletin boards located in the Senior Commons,across from the library and along the cafeteria. Students may also contactvarious members of the Organizing Committee.

Committees are as follows: Pass-Fail Option, Final Exams, AttendancePolicy, Weighting ofGrades, Alternative High School Programs, Interdis­ciplinary Programs, Cooperative and Team Teaching, Humanities,American Studies, Open-ended Morning, Tutor-Mentor Program forSophomores and New Students, Career Exploration, Daily SChedule,Registration - Pre-registration, Independent Study, Programs for theGifted, Project Reason - Controversial and Provocative Topics, CollegeCredit Program, International Studies Abroad, Human Relations andValue Clarification, Communications Workshop, Project Alma Mater, andMini Courses.

By TOM GAMMILL

There is a serioUs epidemic sweepingthe country, in which an alarmingnumber of high school students arebecoming dependent on pocketcalculators. I feel we should gO to anyexpense to stop the addiction to pocketcalculators among our youth, even if itmeans turning the kids towards drugsand alcohol.

The problem began in Decemberwhen science and math teachers (whoare undoubtedly large ~tockholdersin 'Texas Instruments and similar com­panies) began encouraging theirstudents to ask for pocket calculatorsfor Christmas. The teachers explainedthat with pocket calculators, studentswould not have to spend time withtrivial arithmetic but could devote moretime to theories and functions. Someteachers even went so far as to implythat those students with pocketcalculators would inevitably end upwith higher grades at the end of themarking period!

The teachers' inducement worked.After Christmas vacation almost everystudent returned to math classes with apocket calculator he or she had received'as a present or borrowed from a friend.Now, after less than two months, thereare obvious signs that our nation'syoungsters are becoming addicted topocket calculators, and the students inDarien are not exempt.

Pocket calculators have been ruiningthe minds of even our brightestchildren. Last week, as an example, mymath teacher asked the smartestperson in our class, Dot Product, to go to ,the niath lab to get six algebra books.Dot returned ten minutes later withoutthe books and explained that she was...JUST PRETEND

WE'RE NOT HERE I~ .

Morale Cut With Budget?

Neirad is published by the students ofDarien High School on a bi-weeklybasis. Letters and "Viewpoints" may be mailed to Neirad, Darien HighSchool, Darien, Conn. 06820. Annual Subscription rate,$4.00.

All Neirad features Are Copyrighted © 1975.Co-editors-in-ehief ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••._•...••••••••••••••••••• Jane Adams

Meg McGoldrickAssistant Editor, Production Martha ConstableAssistant Editor, News •.••••..•.••.•..••••••.••••.••••••••••••••••..••••.•••••• Tom GammillAaistant Editor, Features •••••••: Garry LeonardBoys' Sports Editor ••.••••••••..•.•••••.•••••••••••••••••.•••••••••..•••••••••• Steve FranklinGirls' Sports Editor Winky WardEntertainment Editor •••••••••.••.....•.••••••••••••••••••••••.••.•.••••••••••• Bob JeffersonBusiness Manager ••••••••••••••••...•...•••••••••••••••••••••••••••...•.••••••••••••••. Sue AllardPhoto Editor .•..••••••••..••••••••..••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Jim ClarkCirculation Manager .....•••..•.•....~ ..••..•••••.••••.••.•.•...••••.•••••••..•• Peter HooverAdvisor .•.•••.•.••.....•..... ~ " •.•••••..•... Robert Davis

The current budget proposal approved by the Board ofEducation cut $93,000 fromthe proposed High School budget. As planned by the Board, this reduction will in­clude the elimination of lOV2 teachers from DHS.

Some teachers have already been notified that they will not be rehired. Others, in­clu<!lng tenured teachers, could receive notice at any time iftheir position is droppedfrom the DHS curriculum.

In addition, under the merit pay system, teachers are constantly being evaluated.These evaluations by department heads directly affect teachers' salaries.

We feel that teachers' insecurity over their jobs and salaries may develop from theelimination of teachers through budget cuts and from the merit pay system. Thiscould be detrimental to the morale of teachers and the school. _

Perhaps the merit pay system is producing better teachers. Under this system,teachers are motivated by the realization that a good evaluation by a departmentchairman will lead to a pay increase. But, in conjunction with the budget cuts, pres·sures from these systems could have a negative effect on the teachers' attitudestowards their work.

The amendment proposed by Salvatore Catania, DHS principal, asks that thebudget reductions be named in terms of money, not personnel. He and Dr. Portercould then decide if it is possible to lower other expenditures instead of dropping ateacher.

Neirad supports this amendment. As the budget stands now the 101;2 teacher cutwill hurt the DHS course offerings and put an end to many teacher "extras," such asindividualized help. .

Budget cuts, along with the merit pay grading system, could have an ill effect onthe morale of the school community. We hope Mr. Catania's amendment is given achance as a favorable alternative.

Not For Men OnlyIt is 1975 and women athletes' around the world are gaining greater recognition

and earning more prize money. Yet, at DHS, female athletes are still ignored. Therecan be no doubt that the problem exists. Witness therecord·breaking crowd ofone atan away game for the girls' basketball team.

Would new uniforms for the girls increase game attendance? Something tight andslinky?

Or perhaps the attending of girls' games should be a mandatory requirement for.graduation. The speech requirement could be simultaneously fulfilled ifany cheerswere performed.

We feel there is the potential for girls' sports to develop into exciting spectatorevents. First, old stereotypes about how a girl should act and about what is interes·ting to watch must be broken down.

Increased game coverage and familiarization with the rules could do much to at­tract fan support for the team.

More equal practice times and facilities could upgrade the level ofplay ofthe girls.That there is more pressure on the boys' teams to excel and therefore they shouldhave more court time for practice is not valid reasoning. Given a chance, the girls'teams could go far. The time is now.

March 11, 1975 Neirad Page 3

No CompetitionMr. Avedisian says he doesn't

apologize for not implementing thegirls' programs earlier, since none ofthe neigh boring schools hadinterscholastic teams for the girls tocompete against until this year.

"One of the rubs is funding," said Mr.Avedisian, when commenting on howthe new law was working out. He wenton, "According to Title IX, a schoolmust pay whatever it costs to equip ateam. Many people think the lawmeans there should be equal funding.Actually funding should be based onwhat money needed to implement thesport."'LaSt year the girls' swim team was

new. Over $1400 was spent on swimsuits and timers. Next year Mr.Avedisian says they will not spend as ­much money on the swim team. Eachyear certain teams will receive moremoney and some teams will get less.

Darien High ~choolhas no problems'as far as Title IX is concerned, Mr.Avedisian feels. There are 24 sports: 14for boys and 10 for girls. The four extraboys' sports are football, soccer wres­tling and ice hockey. DHS has ~ll theinterscholastic sports other schools inthe state have. When asked why therewere six coaches for the high schoolfootball team while' only one for thegirls' field hockey team, Mr. Avedisianexplained that the team has six coachesmainly because the supervision for acontact sport ,like football is needed forsafety. There are two coaches for eachteam: varsity and junior varsity. Therewas no sophomore team this yearbecause there weren't enough kids, butthe two extra coaches stayed on.

Girls BackedAs lontr as he's been here Coach

Mautte said that girls usually receiveda backing to follow athletic pursuits, ifthere was enough enthusiasm. He saysthat equalitY as far as the use offacilities is fine, when there is enoughdemand.

-i'Tbe-iirls don't get enough spec- 'tators here," says Coach Mautte. Hefeels that one reason for this is thatgirls' sports used to be consideredunfeminine, so people didn't botherattending games. "But that isn't true "he insists. Both girls' physic:Ueducation teachf;!rs, RebeccaStrominger and Deborah Billington,agree that the girls are treated quitewell. The only problem seems to bespreading the money around.Bruce Hill

c.S.1. STUDENTS!

748 Poet Road, Darien, Conn"Cticut655-8344

Our up-to-date Category Index will directyou to the information you need - factsand ~ll shades of opInion on contempo-rary Issues are at .

"There has been a change in attitudetoward girls. Girls used to be told not toparticipate in sports; only jocks dothat," Del Mautte, chairman of thePhysical Education Department atDHS, commented.TItr;"IXor- the Educational

Amendments, effective July 1 1972guarantees girls equal rights 'in th~field of sports, as well as in other areas.The key section of Title IX says "Noperson in the U.S. shall, on the b;sis ofsex, m: excluded from participation in,be dewed the benefits of, or be subjectedto discrimination under any educationprogram or activity receiving Federalfinancial assistance."

Charles T. Avedisian, Director ofPhysical Education, admitted that~ls' interscholastic sports programsill the junior high schools need to beupgraded. He says the budget plan for1975-76 responds to Title IX. He hasmade a recommendation to the Board?f Education .for the expansion of girls'~ter8Cholastic athletics in the junior?ighs. Both junior highs already havemterscholastic gymnastics and thesupportive activity, cheerleading.lfthe

! board approves the recommendations 'next year they will have tw~interscholastic sports each season forgirls: field hockey and volleyball in thefall,' basketball and gymnastics in thewinter; and track and softball in thespring. ,

Equality In The Gym:

New Law Defines RightsBy MEG McGOLDRICK

Hardware

Birdseed

Flags

21 Tokeneke RoadDarien, Connecticut655-0325

The Tool Box

.Regarding- us as imbeciles, they as­Signed us what even we considered a~elatively easy job - that ofputting oil .ill the car. Mter ten minutes we openedthe can (you never realize how difficultit is to o~en an oil can until you try it),and realized that we weren't sure whereto put it. We found what looked like a~ely place. We were stopped just intime by a loud shriek that said "No noyou jerks, you don't put oil in' th~radiator!" In our confusion, the oilended up. luckily not in the radiatorbut spilled allover the floor. Not know:ing at this point what to do, we headedfor the nearest door after scattering afew towels around, vowing never againto return.

We do not mean to imply that the ex­perience was not beneficial; if either ofus ever gets stuck on a cold dark nightand needs oil desperately, we will atleast be able to open the can. Nor do wewant to discourage other females frominvading the inner sanctum of powermechanics.

signs. Then each person wouid stand inthe correct order in line on a flatstraight stretch of road where peopl~could read it. The workers were to make .sure they did these projects nearnewspaper offices or radio andtele.vision stations. ', They also put out many pressreleases and were involved in the dis­cussions of issues through flyers whichthey produced and distributed.

J.{eflecting upon the experienceBruce states he has "ambivalentfeelings of cyn icism and confidence

__wi~~ respect. to"our political process.'~Youcan elect anyone with the propercampaign organization and finan­cing." However, Bruce also stated thathis confidence was inspired by the en­thusiasm and ability of volunteers.They were an encouraging sign thatpoliticalsvstem is still healthy, he feels.Last April, Bruce attended a seminar

for youth coordinators in Washington,D.C. sponsored by the Committee forRe~po~ible Youth Politics (C.R.Y.P.),which IS a conservative organizationresponsible for placing Bruce and otherstudents in campaigns.

Hill Clears Campaign Trail

.~~,(.. ,r~,..::l\\!l

Female Monkeys Grease It UpBy MISSY McMAHON and WINKY

WARD

Mter being assigned a feature storythat was to give the female view ofpower mechanics, we headed toward D­wing, an area with which neither of uswas at all familiar. We donned ourgrease monkey suits, tied back our hairand entered a room, not knowing whatawaited.

The class was watching a moviewhich was almost over and we couldnot ~etermine the subject. Feelingsheepish enough as it was, we tried tomake ourselves as inconspicuous aspossible and sat on a bench in the backof the room. Out ofthe front ofthe roomcame a loud snicker, and soon the wholeclass had lost interest in the movie andwere staring at us, laughinghysterically. We realized, far too late,that what we had thought in the darkwas a seat, was reallya greasy, oilywork bench.

By SUSAN LANE

For Independent Study last semesterBruce Hill was an employee of tw~political campaigns, Douglas Harlan'sin Texas, and George Har;sen's inIdaho. As a youth coordinator Brucewas basically engaged in the organiz­ing or recruiting of student volunteers,and the supervision of their workwhich included telephoning, door-knoc:king, mailing campaign materialsalong with some special projects. '

Although Bruce was baSically m­volved in organizational work hesometimes did travel with the'can­didates, especially at parades or otherevents which needed a large student~owd. Bruce was paid a salary andgiven an apartment during each cam·paign., In comparing the two campaignsBruce "didn't feel comfortable with theTexas candidate and didn't enjoy cam·paigning with him." This is because hefelt he was an opportunist due to someof his vacillation on issues. Brucetravelled more extensively with GeorgeHansen of Idaho and got to know him 'and his family quite well. "I likedGeorge Hansen. I considered himhonest, capable and intelligent." TheTexas candidate lost his electionwhereas the other one won. '_ .Special projects were assignments­given to youth workers in order to gainmore notoriety and votes for the can­didate, som.e of which included awindshield wash and "Burma ShaveSilPlS." The "Burma Shave ~ign"wasa tetull <)f <Ox or seven ,_ workers whowould put pI:!rase by phrase aslogan on six or seven .

Page 4 Neirad March 11, 1975..

Students 'Taking Care Of Business'

666·3003

HANDBAGS

BOOTS SHOES

1073 POST RD.

(On Darien Theatre Bldg.)

Julie Hufferd stars as the world"famous Alice. John Cannon is featuredas The White Rabbit, along withBarbara Gray as The White Queen,Frank Venezio as The White Knight,Charii; Worthen as The Mad-HatterRobin Young as The Red Queen, To~Gammill as The King Of Hearts, BrianDonofree as Humpty Dumpty, KathyKiernan as The Duchess, and NancyNichols and Trudy' TenBroeke asTweedle-Dum and Tweedle-Dee.

Tickets are now available from anycast member.

organizations. There are a number ofservices'in this area which depend onhigh school volunteers for their ex­istence.

There are approximately 20 DHSstudents who are currently volunteer­ing their energies at Centre Stone, acounseling center. A volunteernormally spends three hours a week onduty at Centre Stone,manI\ing thehotline and directing people who mightp<.lrsonallyvisit the center.

.Catie Ilndsey is one of several highschool girls who devotes three hours aweek as a candy striper at StamfordHospital. One duty of the candy striperis to deliver patient medication to thenurses. at a designated station. Ac­cording to Catie, one trains for the workas a candy striper by spending sometime observing and working with ex­perienced volunteers;.:.

Approximately 45 high schoolstudents are members of Post 53, avolunteer organization which runs anambulance for the town and providesmedical supervision at Darien HighSchool football, basketball and hockeygames. A student must complete a 20­hour course on Standard First Aidbefore he becomes a member of thePost. Courses in Advanced First Aidand training as an Emergency MedicalTechnician are offered to more ex­'perienced members. Every Post 53member works six hours every otherweek, plus additional time on theWf'PkAnds.

Seven volunteer members of theStratton Ski Patrol come from DarienHigh School. Bill Holmes, who is a firstyear member of the patrol, told Neiradthat training in advanced first aid is arequirement of every volunteer. Can­didates must also take toboggan andskiing tests before they become amember ~f the i>a.tro~ Members of the"ski patrol from Darien High School areon duty at Stratton almost everyweekend.

308 Cards To Create fWonderiand'

-

Monarch NotesPaperbacks

StolersNoroton HeightsShopping Center

Panama, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua.While she was in Nicara<TUa, an earth­qUaKe occurred one evening at dinnertime. "We were sitting at the dinnertable, and the waiter told everyone:~8il

quietly. Then he got under the door,frame, which is the safest place to be inthat situation."

"My philosophy on traveling is thatyou should always realize that you arean ambassador for your country. -

You !ll-e a guest and shouln treat thepeoplewith respect. I always learn howto say 'thank you' in the language ofthecountry I'm visiting, and people are soappreciative!' ,

By BRIAN DONOFREE

DHS kiddies will be pleased to knowthat The White Rabbit will be hoppingabout long past Easter to appear inTheatre 308's spring production, Alicein Wonderland, scheduled for April 11­12 in the DHS auditorium.

A cast of over 60 troupers will singand dance as assorted frogs, cats and .catapillers in the magical fantasy­world 9f Lewis Carroll.. '''This is 308's first attempt at this sortof entertainment in several seasons,Mr. Matheson remarked. "In the past,

we've limited ourselves to more-or-lesstraditional theater pieces,"With 'A'iicewe plan to spend a great deal of time,enthusiasm and money to create a pot­pourri of styles, running the gamutfrom slapstick humor to sophisticatedavante-garde."

A slim majority of seniors do havejobs - the average wage is again

.higher for seniors, $3.30 per hour.However, some have tutorinll: iobswhich pay anywhere from $5.00 to$7.50 an hour; not including these jobs,the wages were still higher at anaverall:e of $2.51. Not many seniors arelooking for jobs. The average workweek for seniors is 16.8 hours.

Many high school students are alsoworking as volun~rs for nonprofit

___...AlIDilN-.....··j,

Mark Werner washes "Georgia" Armstrong's windshield. (Photo by JimClar~) ;

The majority of juniors surveyedhave jobs, and generally enjoyworking, although there are more com- .plaints about wages and/or hours thansophomores have. Many are searchingfor jo~ - and once again all are en­countering difficulties. The' averagewage is $2.30 an hour, higher thansophomores, probably due to the fact-that since they' were older they havemore experience. The average worKweek is 19.6 hours.

lUKnly unlikely that anyone WIt! askyou to decline a fifth declension noun."

An extensive traveler, Miss Stone. has visited 110 countries. Among hermost recent trips was one to theCanadian provinces of Prince EdwardIsland, New Brunswick, and NovaScotia last fall. She also toured severalCentral American countries lastFebruary and March, including

!

I-----r-I

Miss Stone, In Retirement, Goodwill Ambassador

By SUSAN LANE and MISSYMcMAHON

Neirad recently conducted asurveyin selected homerooms to determine ap­proximately how many students work,how much they are paid, and whatkinds of jobs they hold or have held.

"(need the money" is the overwhelm~ing response as to .the. reason stu~ents

work, and many cite this as the onlyreason. Although the majority of thestudents are happy with their jobs,most wouldn't work if they didn't needthe money.

The most common job is that of asalesclerk, or a counter attendant.

Many students also have hadsummer jobs as caddies, lifeguards, do­ing general yard-work, painting housesor being a mother's helper. Severalunusual jobs included working in akennel, being an accountant, and writ­ing for a Darien weekly paper.

The majority of sophomores do notwork, probably due to the fact thatmany are not 16, or have recentlyturned 16. \The a-ie~age wage for thosesophomores who work is $2.15 an hour,and they work an average of 14.6 hoursper week.

By MARTHA CONSTABLEA.lthougn Winifred :stone retired

from teaching. Latin at Darien HighSchool in 1973, she asserts: "Teachingwill al~ays be a part of me. I honestlydon't feel I'm retired - I feel as ifI'm onvacation all the time. The thing is, Idon't have to hurry back for LaborDay.....

She continued, "I loved teaching. Itwas fun -that's the way I looked at it. Ihad 80 much·to tell. If I had been bored,it would have!J.!!E!u hard on ~eryone.

Miss Stone came to Darien fromVermont, two years before the presenthigh school was built. .

Roman-and Greek Culture-Along with Latin grammar and

etymology, Miss Stone made it a pointto-maude a great deal ofRoman ana'Greek culture study in her teachingmethod. "Today, with people travelingso much and making the world smaller,you may need to know somethingabout, for instance, the history ofRoman civilization. But, with all duerespect to the Latin language, it is

Page 5

GREAT PANTS,JEANS, TOPS,

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ANDFOR HER

~uperbly 'and played tough defense.Other times (usually in the fourthquarter) they were just the opposite.

There were fine individual efforts putin by members ofthe team, but they justran into bad luck.

At the start of the season fan supportwaS very good at home games and allright at away games. Near the end ofthe season at home games it was badand at away games it was practicallynon-existent. This seems to be the trendfor sports at DHS this year. For some,unexplainable reason the supportgiven varsity is terrible; whether theteam has a winning record or not doesnot seem to matter.

,There used to be a time when youplayed' a sport for the fun of it. Now"winning isn't everything; it's the onlything," has taken the fun out of sport. Ithink Mr. Percudani and every memberofthe team should be congratulated fortheir fine spirit and desire the entireseason. Never giving up, never ceasingto hustle and giving each opponent acontest, they demonstrated truesportsmanship and class in theirplaying, and a~ corny as it sounds,weshould be very proud of them' for:representilUr our school. ., 'So ends another season of basketball,at DHS, and while the te~ won't godown in the record books as the best toplay at Darien, they should beremembered for their accomplishments'during the season.

DARIEN. GREENWICH. NEW CANAAN

RIDGEFIELD. STAMFORD

MASTER CHARGE. BA/IIt<. AMERICARD. PANTS AND CHARGE

Hoopsters End With Losing Season'Karin Ameberl{ goes into a forward roll on the balance beam.

By TODD BURGER

The Dl1S basketball team concludedits season Friday, Feb. 15, by losing tothe Wreckers ofStaples High 73-66. Theloss was the twelfth for the' Blueagainst four wins and ends anotherdisappointing year for head coachRichard Percudani and his hoopsters.

Paul Sellew was high scorer in the,last game with 17 points, with Rod'Walters next up with twelve, and co­captains Jeff Fitzpatrick and JeffLeonard aided the losing cause with 10,points apiece.

Itwas a frustrating year for the team,which lost some heartbreakers (Stam­ford Catholic, Ridgefield, New Canaan)and just brew leaCIBiri'otlier gilmeirthiltcould have turned the season around., Inconsistency piaiued. the Wavers.­At times they executed. their plays

winning outcome meant they wouldhave participated in atatetoumament ,play. ,',-

"Coach Nelson will not be coachingthe girls next year and j.v. coach DebbieBillington will take over. She is looking

'forward to a good season next year andsaid, "I hope next year we will play withconsistency throughout the season andexhibit our true talent from the word

go;;'

Ne~ad

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honestly thought'that we would go this:far.:but we have and the girls haveIihoWJ?'me I was wrong."

The team came in second out ofeight,teams in the FCIAC meet, again behindGreenwich. Saturday, March 1,'Q1~ state meet ended the girls' hopes 'of beating Greenwich when they were,again defeated by Greenwich, this timeby more than three points. Greenwichwasn't too pleased by the end result ofthe meet for their hopes ofplacing firstwere smashed by a fabulously strongSimsbury"team, which dominated mostof the meet. The final lineup wasSimsbury first, Conard second,.Greenwich third, Darien fourth,Jonathan Law lfifth and Wethersfieldsix. This is the same order in whlch theteams entered the meet.. 'The team season is now over. Theonly gymnastic competitions left arethe regionals, Wed. March 5 at DHSand the individual state meet, Sat.,March 8, at Newington.

The team has improved tremen­dously since last year when their recordwas 4-3. The team is losing four seniorswho have helped immensely this yearboth in team morale and scoring. Thegraduating seniors are: co-captain Elli'France8coni, Joan Henn, Karen Petrusand MarlQrie Davis. The team is goingto notice this loss next year.

" Westhill visited Darien Feb. 11 andhanded the varsity team their seventhloss. The Darien girl~ tried to put ittogether the second half and it seemedthey were on their way to victory. ButWesthill was not going to give up. Theykept on fast breaking and sunk some in­credible shots Darien could not stop.They lost 46-52. "Westhill had a goodday against us," commented CoachNelson, "If we had played better wecould have won,"

The Darlen girls' varsity lost a'heartbreaker to Staples 61-62 in theirsecond night game. Staples was tied fornumber one in league play. In Darien'slast outing they dominated the wholegame until the last two minutell ofplay,when Staples overpowered Darien, sin­king a lay-up and a free throw. Pacingt.hp. Darien girl~' were Julie Hen·,Clrickson with 24' points and Mari'McCurdy with 20. Reflecting back onthe game, Coach Nelson said, "It wasthe best game the girls played all year'"The game meant a lot to the. girls as a

Wreckers Ruin Girls' State Basketball Hopes

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Girl Gymnasts End 10-1 Season,~Place Fourth In State' Tourney

By BERRYJ~E8

March 11, 1975

By SALLY MARTIN

, The Darlen High School girls' basket­ball team defeated the Wilton HighSchool girls' team 47-29 on Feb. 4. Itwas not a difficult game as Wilton hadonly won one or two games all season.High scorers for Darien were MariMcCurdy With 14 pointil..and AlisonKing with 9. Thej.v. team lost to a goodWilton j.v. team 35-46.,The girls then traveled to New

Canaan on Feb. 7. The varsity played avery cl08egame losing 41·47, in a three­minute overtime. Darien Coach GeorgeNelson remarked, "The officials hurt~, but we should have won. Miii-fMcCurdy got mto foul trouble early,w . .:.- __ . __

The DHS girls'gymnastic team hascompletedits '74-75 season at DHS withits top record so far: 10 wins and 1 loss.Up until their last dual meet, the girlshad not experienced a loss. Un­fortunately, Greenwich p;ovedstronger to beat Darien by 1.9, a closemeet. Darien girls did not have an ex­ceptional day. This, along withGreenwich's over-all depth, wasenough for the Greenwich team to pullout ahead.

The DHS girls were again led by theirconsistent performer, Karin Arneberg,who took first in vaulting, floor ex­ercise, and all around. Junior co-cap­tain Winky Ward placed first on the

'uneven bars. Other outstandingperformers were Liz Elfrink, who did afabulous floor routine, co-captain EllenFran¢9coni on beam, and Anita

:Hammer on vaulting. However, theteam would not have' b~n close to

,competing with Greenwich or any ofthe teams they have met without thetalent and effort put forth by the rest ofthe team all season.

Coach Sandy Oldham commented, "Iam really proud of the girls. I love theharmony that this team has, and itis sogood to see so many girls work togetherwithout bickering or bad feelings; Atthe ~KinQj~ of the season, I never

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March 11, 1975

Unfortunately ::;at's bad knee gotsteadily worse. Though he tried, he wasunable to compete in the latter part ofthe season, which was a majorfactorinthe team's late season slump. Hoping tosave his knee for the states he tried touse it as little as p088ible, but he hurt itagain in a practice the day before thewrestle-off, sohe was unable to competedespite the fact he was placed 'numberone. He was also chosen all-FCIACSecond Team.

Other standouts were John Steven·son, who led the team in pins withseven, Joe Lombardo and Scott Tuck,both of who led with 13 victories. Lom- ,bardo was chosen to the Second TeamFCIAC along with Lou Procacini. ScottTuck was named to the First Team ofthe FCIAC.

Coach DelMautte has some op­timistic comments as did CaptainChris Popov.

"It's been a pleasure having them,""said Coach Mautte. "They worked veryhard. They were terrific," he added.

"I thought it was a very good thing,"explained Chris Popov. "It was goodhaving a lot of people out there." Therewere more girls than guys at each prac­tice. Certain girls came every day,

,rarely missing a practice, explained thecaptain. "The only problem," he added,"was that sometimes the girls wereforced to compete against a stronggroup of boys at some of the meets,making it very difficultfor the girls towin. This was due to the lack of girls atcompeting schools."

One of the more outstanding runnersfor the girls, Lynn Ellison, added, "Ihope someone sees that the number ofgirls on the team is growing and weshouldn't have to run against boys allof the years to come."

for a disappointing 34-12 loss to'Staples.

·their last match against Wilton was'a little closer wbile winning four weight,classes: Joe Lombardo, 1071bs., 2-2 tie;Tuck, 134 lhe., 6-5 decision; DougSimpson, 140 Ibs., pin; and Procacini,Unl., pin, but Darien still ended up onthe short end of a 27-21 score.

Darien fared slightly better in post-, season action as they placed five menin the sectionals. These five were: JohnDeCesare, 121 Ibs., second; Joe Lom­bardo, 107 Ibs., fourth; Captain SalFerraina, 147 Ibs., first; John Steven­son, 1871bs., third; andProcacini, Unl.,third. ' .Sal, ~Iieof the best m-estlers in recent'

years to come to DHS, ended up with a16-1 record. The one loss he sufferedwas to Jeff Miller, whom he wrestledwith a badly swollen knee, but he later

, defeated him convincingly in the sec­tionals.

John Kratky ties up opponent in recent DHS meet. (Photo by Jim Clark)

L.afeDefeafs' 'Hurf Mafmen

Darien 0 btained a 21st ra~kingin thestate tournament and opposed 12thseeded Amity in the first round. In spiteof out-playing Amity much ofthe game,which is reflected in Darien's 32-29shots~n-goal advantage, the BlueWave fell to the Spartans 4-1. BillVernon scored the first goal of the

. game, but before the period ended,Darien was confronted with a 3-1deficit. The second period presented ex­cellent goaltending from both sides asthe two goalies combined to stop all 21shots taken in the stanza.

- -_ ..Darien finished its season with an

overall 12-8-1 record which is identicalto last year's. Huck Hough led the teamin sooring for the year with 26 points (12

_goals, 14 assists), followed py. Stevel"ranklin with 24 pointR (8 goals. ]nAA­

s18ts), and ti1l1 Vernon with 21 points(16 goals, 5 assists). These three seniorscompiled a combined 71 points and

, were the fourth leading line in FairfieldCounty. Matt Clinton, Pete Romanosand Craig Sinelair played solid defenseall year and will all be returning on nex­t year's squad. Junior goalie Regan'Ashbaugh finished With an impressive2.76 goals-against average and will bean important factor determining nextyear's destiny.,

Track ~Girls Finish Second In CountiesBy MARY McGOLDRICK

This year's large turnout of girls forWinter Track has proven beneficial toboth the team and the girls in­dividually. The girls have fared well intheir cooed meets as well as placing infive out of six events in' the CountyWinter Track Championships held a

'few weeks back at the Wilton FieldHouse.

The girls wound up the season onFeb. 15, finishing second in the Countyto Stamford's girls, losing by only 1.5pts., and are looking forward to the up­comingipring track season.

A Neirad reporter interviewedseveral of the girls as to how they feltabout competing along with the.boys

, and being part of a co-ed team. Some of, the girls feel that the boys encouragedthe girls to keep going and "to workhard." Another commented that theboys respected the girls and weren't atall discouraging.

Neirad

against the rtldgefield Tigers as hescored two goals in the first period andadded a third early in the second stanzafor his second hat trick of the season.Darien controlled the game from theopening face-off as the Blue Wave had a3-1 lead after one period. This lead wasnever threatened for the remainder ofthe game as Darien's persistentforechecking kept the play in theRidgefield end until the, final buzzer.Dan Grady, Jeff Taylor, and PatCorsiglia !ldde,d the other Blue Wavetallies to help rout the Tigers 6-2 before'a small crowd.

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By ZIGGY STARDUST

Pat:""' 6 -

The Blue Wave hockey team com­pleted its Fairfield County action onFebruary 19 with a 6-2 win overRidgefield at the Darien Ice Rink. Thevictory gave Darien sole possession ofthird place in the FCIAC easterndivision with a final 12-6-1 leaguerecord. Darien then encountered Amityon Feb. 24 in the qualifying round ofthe

.state tournament and suffered a disap­pointing 4-1 loss to end the '7'4-75 cam­paijpl.

Huck Hough led the Blue Wave

Skiers Have Impressive Season,Victorious Over Unbeaten Cards

By WEIRD and GILLY the third team iD the tri-meet, took an'eighth place. All others in the top seven

The Darien High School ski team's belonged to Staples. Eversman andearly and mid-season efforts brought Whiteside turned in weaker than usual'about tremendous victories over their performances with unfortunate spillsdecrepit opponents. The score differen- occurring in the later part of the meet.tials were consistently and overwhelm- Captain Mark Eversman commented,ingly in favor ofDarien. Supporting the HI was very displeased about our loss toski team's wins this season were cap- Staples. We skied poorly, but I supposetain Mark Eversman, sensational every team is entitled to a bad day."junior JeffArmstrong and seniors Matt The next day, Darien facedHandley:Steve Muller, Paul Whiteside, undefeated Greenwich in another spill-Chase Ashley and Bill Littlefield. Also riddled meet. Remarkably, Darienadding valuable points were came out on top. for the first time insophomores Mark Handley, Randy many seasons while taking first,Jacob, Frank Hammel and Junior second, fourth, fifth, and sixth with By.JIMCLARKDave Chandler. Armstrong, Eversman, Ashley, Doble

It appeared that Darien was on its and Mark Handley possessing the Bad luck finally caught ~p with theway to an undefeated season, but a respective positions. Blue Wave grapplers as they finishedformidable performance by the Staples On the way home from - the with a disappointing 6-9 record afterskiers led to Darien's first loss of the Greenwich win, Coach Navio Ottavi ex. one of their best starts in recent years.season. Darien's places in the meet in- plained in a memorable statement that In their next to last regular season

'eluded third, fourth, and fifth with this year's ski team was Darien's finest contest t~ey could only manage to winArmstrong, Muller, and Handley tak- ever, on and off the slopes, and one of tl.rree weIght. <:1asse~: Scot.t Tuck, 134ing the honors respectively. Weston the most enjoyable to coach. Ibs., 7-2 decISIOn; JIm SmIth, 1141bs.,

, ~ pin; and Lou Procacini, Unlimited, pin,

Hockey Team Completes 12-8-1 Record 'With State Loss