WVHS Brochure

[wvhsparent]

wvhs.ipsd.org/WVHS_Brochure_FINAL.pdf

This is what the Ashwood developers helped put together....pretty nice!

[cantretirehere]

It is very nice.

I had to laugh, however, at this quote from Paul Konrad '83.

"I had teachers who knew me well..."

And this relates to today, how?
In the 1982-83 school year there were 665 kids in that high school! Ask someone who graduated last year if they can make that statement.

The latest figures available (that I could find) for school enrollment are for 2004-05 on the 2006 school improvement plans. In that year WV had 3324 kids, about 47% of the total high school enrollment for the district.

There is a figure for total HS enrollment for 2005-06 and that is 7617. 47% of that is 3578. So that would be an approximation of last year's WV enrollment.

665 vs 3578. Hmmmmm, if you are going to talk about what WV is like and relationships with teachers, can you talk to someone a little more current for the brochure???

Also, as nice as the grammy thing is, I'm willing to bet that most, if not all, of the parents of the kids in the music program give more credit to their children's PRIVATE music teachers than the teachers at the high school. The foundation of these HS music programs are the kids that have been studying and practicing with their private teachers for 8 to 11 PLUS years. Just moving here and putting your kid in the HS band or orchestra isn't going to make them good.

Other than those two things, the brochure is really nice. Too bad the developers of White Eagle didn't produce something like that when they first started selling homes.

[EagleDad]

Ouch. When I saw the last reply on this thread was from "cantretirehere" after having read it earlier, I thought to myself, "How can this possible be torn apart". Then I opened the thread

Now I know

On the bright side, the chances of the statement "I had teachers who knew me well..." is increased by 50% at each of the new schools once the 3rd high school is running. That, surely is a good thing, right?

[wvhsparent]

OK the school was less populated in 83.... OK a lot less.....but it also was physically smaller then too...I dont have a time line, But I am pretty sure it was the original bldg minus the 7 additions that the bldg currently has.... I also doubt there many, if any computers there either.
IMHO
I thought it was nice to include something from the way-back machine to show the school has withstood the test of time well.

[cantretirehere]

eagledad said:

Ouch.

Why the ouch? Did I say anything that was untrue or didn't make sense?

I know that the school district put together a brochure about Neuqua to put into kids' college applications so that college could get to know Neuqua because it is new. I don't know when they intend to stop putting the brochure in, nor do I know what it looks like or what it says. It is nice that WV has its own brochure now even though it wasn't compiled by the district.

If the district intends to keep putting the NV brochure in the applications for much longer, then I think they should consider doing the same for WV. I don't think that NV can be considered "new" for more than one or two more years. Perhaps they should put the brochures into applications going to schools where no one has applied before or where no one has been accepted before. They have these records, it's all on PrepHQ.

[EagleDad]

cantretirehere said:

eagledad said:

Ouch.

Why the ouch? Did I say anything that was untrue or didn't make sense?

Actually, yes you did. While you quoted the 665 vs 3578 figure, do you feel the individual class sizes have grown 5 fold, or that a given teacher is teaching/interacting with 5 times as many students in a day?

I maintain that, even today, with a larger school it is entirely possible, and even quite probable that for many students to say "I had teachers who knew me well...".

As for the NVHS brochure, I wasn't aware of that, but it sounds like a good thing as well. I'm sure most of the cost was upfront in developing it, not in printing and distributing it. I'd encourage all schools to do this, not force them not to because one isn't. I'm sure most parents would be in favor of the district exhausting a whopping .50 cents or so on a glossy brochure touting the quality of education their child has, so they can get into the college of their choice after 12 years.

[gatormom]

I think we all agree that an aging WV needed a little PR to promote the school. I think this is nice.

If the developer of Ashwood put it together only to sell more homes, whatever. If they could have found somebody a little more current, whatever.

The whole point of this brochure was just to do a little damage control on the sagging reputation of our older high school as well as place a spotlight on what many of us already knew, it is a great school.

By the way, my senior at WV has many teachers who know him well. ;D

[wvhsparent]

gatormom said:

I think we all agree that an aging WV needed a little PR to promote the school. I think this is nice.

If the developer of Ashwood put it together only to sell more homes, whatever. If they could have found somebody a little more current, whatever.

The whole point of this brochure was just to do a little damage control on the sagging reputation of our older high school as well as place a spotlight on what many of us already knew, it is a great school.

By the way, my senior at WV has many teachers who know him well. ;D

It was a joint effort by Macom/Ashwood Inc. and WVHS to help promote WVHS and yes do damage control caused by certain vocal groups, which had an effect on the sale of homes also.

and I agree My daughter (an '05 grad) has many teachers, including the featured Mrs Modine who know her well...maybe they could have added a blurb stating that it was true in 83 and still holds true today.

CRH do you or did you have kids at WVHS? I tried to look back and review your old posts, from which I gathered your kids were NVHS, or was I wrong.

[cantretirehere]

eagledad said:

Actually, yes you did. While you quoted the 665 vs 3578 figure, do you feel the individual class sizes have grown 5 fold, or that a given teacher is teaching/interacting with 5 times as many students in a day?

The more teachers, kids and rooms a school has, the less likely it will be that given child will have a given teacher more than once.
The only teacher that my son had more than once was his orchestra teacher. Had the gold campuses existed for his freshman year, he would not have even had that. I do happen to think this is the norm from more than just my own kids' experiences (see below). Yes, WVHSparent, my kids go to NV but I don't think the situations are all that much different.

eagledad said:

I maintain that, even today, with a larger school it is entirely possible, and even quite probable that for many students to say "I had teachers who knew me well...".

I maintain possible but not probable. The district agrees with me!!! I asked the district why it does not take part of and induct students to the National Honor Society. Their response was that the National Honor Society requires, as part of the application of the students, a letter from someone who knows the student well and can speak to the character, personality, and academics of the student. Over the years the teachers became less willing to write these letters because the were uncomfortable writing about a student who they felt they did not know well and only had for 45 minutes a day for a year or a semester. I'm sure some students have private music teachers or coaches that could write these letters but that is not what was happening. Due to the teachers' own perceptions that they did not know these students, the district adopted the "Indian Prairie Scholars" program in lieu of NHS. If you think it doesn't matter, try applying to a few colleges and you will see there is a box to tick off if you are a member of the National Honor Society. Colleges care less about a district wide honor society. Also, there are scholarships out there that have NHS as a requirement. Our kids are deprived of this because of the teachers not knowing them well.

So, I still stand by my opinion that Mr. Konrad's view of teacher/student relationships are not relevant to today. It is nice that he had this experience, but it was 13 years ago and you do have to admit that Ashwood developers are not selling the WVHS of 13 years ago. They are selling the amazing school that WVHS has become and should have interviewed someone more current.

I just want to make myself clear here: I like the brochure idea. I'm not sure y'all picked up on that. If the WVHSers out there have teachers that know them well, then fantastic , they have something that my kids didn't get at NV .

Chill and have a great weekend.