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VOL. 8 NO. 3 ROCKY MOUNT SENIOR HIGH NOVEMBER 20, 1981 ROCKY MOUNT, NC 27801
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Guidance and students have communication problem
by Janice Braswell
Business Manager
Guidance department personnel feel
that in order to function more efficient
ly they need to improve communica
tions with the students.
‘‘What we are really doing and what
the students perceive we are doing — if
they are not the same thing — then,
we’ve got to change students’ percep
tions,” guidance counselor Phyllis
Jacobs said. Mrs. Jacobs, Counselor
Edith Tweedy, and Counselor William
Hutchisson all agree that there is a
definite communication problem bet
ween the guidance office and the stu
dent body.
Counselors say they worked with
“using the homeroom as a vehicle for
that communication,” but found that
«
Watts attacks
taking here
“Authorities have stepped up
measures to prevent drug and alcohol
use because of an increase in public in
quiry,” Principal Doug Watts says.
In so far as the faculty can ascertain
there has been no increase in student
drug and alcohol use, and Mr. Watts
said that whatever problem there is
concerning drugs here “will be
eradicated.”
Mr. Watts says that the’ faculty has
stepped up measures to prevent the
problem, and that he hasn’t found that
much drug traffic here. “The vast ma
jority of students here are not involved
in any type of drug activity,” Mr. Watts
said.
School authorities have taken certain
measures to prevent drug traffic. One
of these precautions is increasing the
adult supervision in certain areas of
and near the school, including the
bathrooms, the parking lot on the Nash
Street side, and lumber company park
ing area on the Hammond Street side.
Mr. Doll said that there have been more
policemen patrolling around the park
ing lots and the lumber yard than in the
past.*
the students are not receiving the infor
mation they put o\it. Mrs. Tweedy says
she believes possible reasons for this
are that either the daily bulletins are
not being read aloud or the information
from the guidance office is not being
posted as requested.
“I really was terribly disappointed in
college night,” said Mrs. Tweedy. “We
had 54 representatives of colleges here,
and at 8:30 one of the representatives
said, ‘It looks like no one else is coming,’
and began preparing to leave.” Mr.
Hutchisson added that if it were not the
communication problem that caused
the bad turnout, then “my guess is the
students felt they could make their own
decisions without help.”
However, counselors note that many
students are concerned about their ap
plications to colleges. Mrs. Tweedy re
quests that the students be a little
more patient. Mrs. Jacobs said she did
not think the students were criticizing
the work, but that it was the com
munications problem that caused some
unrest. “The students want to know
what is happening with their applica
tions,” she said. The counselors agree
that the seniors can help the situation
by using the most recent application
form accompanied by a check and any
picture, essay, or reference requested
before turning the application form into
the guidance office.
Another major concern of the
guidance personnel is the tremendous
amount of work expected from the
secretary, Mrs. Doris Dupuy. “The
guidance department at Senior High
possibly needs more clerical help. We
have four counselors and one secretary
being pulled in four different direc
tions,” said Mrs. Jacobs.
Mr. Hutchisson agreed on the need
for more clerical help, noting that “the
school is outgrowing the guidance
department.” He added that the
physical layout is another hindrance,
since it cannot support the number of
students that occupy it every day.
All of the counselors request that the
students remember they deal not only
with those people going to college. “I
should hope that there isn’t a student in
the school that doesn’t feel welcome or
good service in the guidance depart
ment,” said Mrs. Tweedy.
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ARCHING BAND pracUce^heir^ow for the Na-
tUonal Band Competition held November 7 in Johnson City,
Tennessee. Juniors Kelly Teeter and Elmina Johnson perfect
jtheirrifle skiUs in preparation for the competition^heband]
won eleventh place out of approximately 50 other bands.l
(Photo by Roger Winstead.)
“ ‘I promise I won’t do it again’ or
‘please give me another chance’ is the
widely used excuse when a student
marijuana is an automatic 10-day
suspension. Trying to buy or sell mari
juana also results in a 10-day suspen
sion. The second ofense of any of these
acts would result in expulsion. These
rules were not made by the school
authorities but were fixed by state law.
Rule six in the Policies, Rules, and
Procedures Relative to Student Con
duct in the Rocky Mount City Schools
states that “a student shall not know
ingly buy. sell, possess, use, transmit or
be under the influences of any narcotic
drug, hallucinogenic drug, am-
phetimine, barbituate, marijuana.
alcoholic beverage or intoxicant of any
kind (1) on any school grounds during
and immediately before and immediate
ly after school hours; (2) on any school
grounds or at any other time when the
school is being used for a school func
tion or by any school group; or (3) off
school grounds at a school activity,
function, or event; or (4) on any school
bus.”
teachers feel individuals must make choice
Charles Harrison
Managing Editor
Several teachers say that whether an
individual joins any teachers’ associa
tion is a personal choice. These
teachers have diverse affiliations. Some
belong to the North Carolina Associa
tion of Educators, some to the Profes
sional Educators of North Carolina, and
one has no affiliation with either.
“We should look at the organizations
provided and make our own decisions
based on our own beliefs and
, knowledge,” said NCAE local president
Nancy Jones.
English teacher Jo Ann Poole said,
“The decision should be a personal
choice.”
“I just do what I think best. It was a
personal decision,” said history teacher
Deborah Wilson. Mrs. Wilson is not af
filiated with any organization.
The issue of which organization to
join became an issue here after
teachers divided over a collective
bargaining resolution that was passed
at the NCAE convention last April. The
resolution said: ‘The NCAE shall sup
port and work for the passage of collec
tive bargaining legislai'on by the North
Carolina General Assembly and the
United States Congress.”
“Collective bargaining is a priority of
the Association and the NCAE Board of
Directors is directed to support collec
tive bargaining efforts.”
Several teachers felt they had no say
in the decision. Seminar teacher Bar
bara Taylor says the rank and file had
no input.
“I think a lot of teachers are concern
ed with the monolithic structure of a
professional organization that does get
the rank and file heard,” Mrs. Taylor
said. “However, I have the utmost
respect for Nancy Jones.”
Ninety-«ight per cent of the
issues were not known beforehand. I
don’t know whether there was subter
fuge, but I ani not willing to have the
actions of a group within the organiza
tion determine my participation in the
organization,” Mrs. Jones said.
Because of their dissatisfaction with
NCAE, some teachers have turned to
PENC.
“At this point. I’m not sure PENC
satisfies my desires for such an
organization, but NCAE doesn’t,” said
Mrs. Poole.
The teachers are unified in their con
cern for the students.
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