4 NewsOctOber 2012

Writing assignments incorporated into gym curriculumNicole Smina

Reporter

When Westhill introduced a rotating schedule this school year, a new addition was made to the Physical Education curriculum. Students are now required to spend part of their 88-minute block gym classes reading and identifying the purpose of gym-related news ar-ticles.

Articles are provided for the students to read for literary as-sessment. These articles relate to health and fitness, with topics including body image, sports nu-trition, sleep, motivation, energy drinks, and exercise. The students must read the articles and answer questions to assess their under-standing. “You have to say what the purpose of the text is and use quotes to support it,” sophomore Michelle Sanchez said.

Typically, about 20 minutes of the extended block are spent work-ing on the writen assignments, and the rest of the time is allocated to physical exercise. Gym teachers feel that using the entire block for physical activity would be too de-manding and challenging for some students.

“We knew it would be hard for students to exercise for 88 minutes; students may check out after about an hour,” Physical Education Department Head Ms. Quattrocchi said. By incorporat-ing writing assignments into fifth block classes, physical education time for students still increases, and students can productively use some of the time to increase their general health knowledge.

Many students and teachers

feel that the writing assignments are beneficial, as they follow com-mon core standards for english and assist in CAPT test prepara-tion. Similar assessments are also completed by students in health classes, so the material is familiar and useful. “I think the articles are insightful and should be helpful to students’ general fitness knowl-edge,” Athletic Director Mr. King said.

“The writing assignments al-low physical education teachers to do their part in the building,” Quattrocchi said. According to Quattrocchi, these literacy assess-ments, which were developed by the gym teachers before the school year began, have gotten positive feedback.

However, some students are not happy about this new imple-mentation into the physical edu-cation curriculum. To sophomore Emily Weinstein, gym class is a time to take a break from the aca-demic aspect of school. “I’m look-ing forward to [playing in] gym and [relaxing] my mind, so the writing assignments are unfair,” Weinstein said.

In addition to the new literacy assessments, gym is now averaged into a student’s grade point aver-age (GPA). “Every student is ca-pable of obtaining a good grade in physical education if they put ef-fort into it,” King said.

However, King does acknowl-edge that including a gym grade in a student’s GPA could be detrimen-tal to less active students. Some students choose not to change their clothes or participate in gym class. In addition, some students tend to not complete writing assignments.

Teachers’ union negotiates new contractsNatalie Skigen

Staff Reporter

Teachers in the Stamford Public School system work under a contract that has been in effect since 2010. The current contract covers a variety of topics, includ-ing health insurance, working conditions, non-teaching duties, salaries, compensation, and retire-ment benefits.

The current contract lays out the minimum and maximum salaries for each year. If a teacher achieves a higher academic degree, they get paid a larger amount. For

example, a teacher with a Bach-elor’s degree has a starting salary of $47,973 in the current school year, while a teacher with a Ph.D. gets paid a minimum of $59,129 a year. Extra money is added to the salaries of those teachers holding positions such as coach, director, or class advisor. In addition, the contract stipulates that teachers are not permitted to go on strike.

The contract implemented in 2010 is currently undergoing revisions. The contract that is cur-rently being used will expire on June 13, 2013, and the new con-tract will go into effect on July 1,

2013, unless an agreement cannot be reached.

If an agreement isn’t reached, negotiations will continue or the committee will go to an arbitrator.

An arbitrator can help the com-mittee reach a decision, and fa-cilitate the implementation of the new contract.

Contract negotiations be-tween the city and teachers’ union are currently underway. “The de-tails of the contract negotiations are confidential and cannot be

commented on. All I can say is they are still ongoing.” English teacher Ms. Walden said. Ms. Walden is Westhill’s representative for con-

tractual negotiations, and a direc-tor of the Stamford Education As-sociation (SEA). The President of the SEA Executive Board is Lora Rossomando, and the Representa-tive for High Schools is Guy Se-mon, from AITE.

Since no member of the committee is allowed to disclose information about the contract, there is no estimate in terms of a date when an agreement may be reached. However, if an agree-ment is reached without difficul-ty, a new contract should replace the current contract for the next school year.

The current contract covers a variety of topics, ranging from health insurance, working con-ditions, non-teaching duties, and retirement benefits.

EXERCISING THE MIND Gym students write about physical fitness essays in class. The essays were introduced this year as part of Westhill’s new physical education curriculum.

Alex Cooney / Photo Editor