The Bluffer - Red Bluff, CA
Issue link: http://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/629697
January 22, 2016 Serving Red Bluff High School since 1901 Volume CXVI Issue 8 Upward Bound Sign Language • Are you interested in meeting others who sign language or would you like to improve your own skills? • Come join today on Friday, January 22 during lunch in Room 206. • Ask McGrew additional questions. • This is for first generation, college bound students. • There are applications for their year- round programs. • The deadline is January 29. • Applications and information are available in the Counseling Center. • Come see Mr. Roa for more information! "I just tell my students to put it away in their bags. I don't like to have control over student's phones." -Mr. Wheeler 370 Taylor Nguyen Staff Writter CTE Classes give a taste of careers Ceighlee Fennel Editor in Chief ACT Tutoring, page 3 'The Forest', page 5 Varsity Girls Basketball ,Page 7 Brooke Blythe Staff Writer Julissa Villalobos/Bluffer Courtesy Photo Masquerade Formal Bluffer The College • Go on Tuesday, January 26th during 7th period and after school until 4:00. • A representative from Butte College will help you with filling out applications. • Two high school counselors will be available to help you as well and answer quesitions. • Are you interested in being a part of College Connection next year? • Then go pick up a flyer in the counseling center. • Bring a parent to College Connection Information night on February 25th at 6:00 in the library. Juniors Cell phone policy gives teachers different options If you are one of the estimated seventy three percent of high school students who carry a smartphone, you might be interested to know that Red Bluff High School has updated their cell phone policy. When the policy was put into place, phones were just used for texting and calling; never would it be thought that someone could pull out their phone and find the answer to a test question. With our phones becoming more capable, Red Bluff High School had to revise their policy to match the current times. The old policy demanded that no electronics were to be seen. Any visible phone was to be confiscated immediately; however, many teachers let students use their phones as calculators, books and sources for homework assignments, so the policy was unknowingly being broken. The changed policy allows the teachers to choose whether to give the students a warning or to take their phone to the office. Now, teachers also carry the job of having to look at students using their phones to see if they really are using it as a source rather than texting their neighbor. " I just tell my students to put it away in their bags. I don't like to have control over student's phones," stated Mr. Wheeler. Even though the old policy changed, the new one still carries over the important aspect of forbidding students to take videos or sound recordings in classrooms, locker rooms and offices without staff permission. Consequences for violating the policy remain the same. The first violation will result in the phone being taken with a notation on the student's record; students can retrieve the phone at the end of the day. The second violation states that the phone will be taken, a mark will be put on the student's record and the parent or guardian will be required to pick up the phone at the end of the day. A third violation will give the student possible suspension and the phone will be taken to the principal. Students with repeating offences may have their phones taken away for the remainder of the school year. Special needs students who requires the use of electronics, must have the administration's approval before using the electronic device during class time. This new policy should go a long way in clarifying when it is appropriate for students to use or not use a phone. It is well known that the Red Bluff High School offers an abundance of CTE, Career Technical Education, courses. These courses range from R.O.P Health Occupations all the way to Firefighting. The main goal of these courses is to give students a "taste" of what that specific career pathway is like while they are still in high school before they make the commitment of pursuing that field. According to the CTE instructors, the biggest benefit of taking a CTE course is to help students decide whether or not that certain field is right for them. Students are given this opportunity to explore through these career pathways. "Either outcome benefits the student," stated Mr. Scott, Therapeutic Services teacher. Generally, in the first semester of these CTE courses, the students learn all the necessary information about the career that class is focused on. In the second semester, students are selected to work or volunteer for that specific field. According to Therapeutic Services instructor Lonnie Scott, students are able to choose their jobsite. The process for the Health Occupations course is slightly different. Their teacher, Mrs. Roth, then places these students based off of their grade along with their attendance in their class. There is no certain or limited number of students that are chosen to work and or volunteer for their field. "This year, I have nineteen students placed in fifteen different job sites," said Scott. Placements by Mr. Scott's class include offices that specialize in physical therapy, orthopedic medicine, chiropractors, sports medicine, fitness, acupuncture, and firefighting. In the Health Occupations class, the students are able to choose from certain departments at the hospital such at the ER, ICU, day surgery, medical surgery, pediatrics, radiology, obstetrics, and respiratory therapy. "We can also be placed at Lassen Medical and dentistry offices, and the fire department" said Marissa Mills, junior. When asked if there are any expected changes to occur for the next year's course, Mr. Scott replied explaining how he hopes that the classes continue to improve. He wishes that there will be an addition of "hands- on" skills training along with more guest lecturers from those related fields. primavera-online-high-school.com- Winter Formal is earlier this year than past years by around three weeks. This impacts the students with the timing for everything. Andrea Martinez, senior, said, "I don't like it because it gives me anxiety about trying to get everything together in time and now there is no time." Also the cost of the dance is another huge factor. Students have to buy the tickets, their outfits, and other add-ons such as dinner or pictures. Most of the time the cost is difficult for students, but there are also deals if you can find them. Jake Samuelson, senior, said, "I got two tuxes for the price of one which were on sale for $330. Tickets, corsages, and dinner comes out to around $100, so Formal is almost $500 with everything." The theme for Winter Formal this year is Masquerade, so participates should bring or wear masks to the dance. Also, the dance moved to 8-11 instead of 9-12 for curfew which puts more of a crunch on time because Red Bluff doesn't offer dinner options like Redding or Chico so it pushes students to make the 45 minute drive there and back, not even including time for dinner. Theme, cost, times, and plans for Formal are buzzing around. Prepare yourself for the 9 hour day on Saturday. Earlier times influence students Bluffer/Tymberlyn Bealer