Newspapers / North Carolina School of … / Dec. 1, 2004, edition 1 / Page 2
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2 december 2004 news the stentorian I ncssm Boarman contribution in this field has been the trimester system. Dr. Boarman said, “It was important to me to indicate to faculty and teacher and stu dents why I felt the trimester was important.” He felt that the original system was too hard on juniors. He also believes that AP courses should be emphasized more. “It’s important we offer courses that take you beyond AP and also give the option to take AP and get credit,” he said. Finally, Dr. Boarman believes that his job is to orchestrate change and oppor tunities. “I have to be flexible enough to make changes,” he said. He says that he greatly admires students and their opinions and enjoys his eight advisees. “You [students] will be the determining factor, you are the clients, they are the cus tomers,” he responded, “We cannot be afraid to change it because it didn’t work.” And Dr. Boarman has many changes and goals in mind for the next few years. One of his goals is to get stu dents more involved with research. He was very proud of the Siemens Westinghouse semi-finalists and finalists and wants more students to be involved in research. “We have to align ourselves with real top flight research,” he said. He also has many changes in mind for the cur riculum. “We have to give stu dents a rich curriculum that meets their needs,” he said. He cites that the new year brought 21 new classes including psy chology and forensics. continued from page 1 Along with a new curriculum. Dr. Boarman wants to hire more faculty to offer more interdisciplinary courses. He believes in a spiral curriculum and wants to inte grate learning, nothing that, “life is not separate, learning is not separate.” One of his goals is to start an AP English Language class. He also wants to give all students an opportunity to conduct research. Dr. Boarman also has some major structural changes in mind for the next few years. The first project will be the construction of two tennis courts where the sand volley ball court is. This will cost approximately $150,000 with the Class of 1984 donating about $90,000. His goal for 2007 is to raise $3 million to renovate the Watts building on its 100th birthday. He wants to repair structures, fix air conditioning, reduce mustiness, and continue to fund student activities. However, his most ambitious goal is the construc tion of a Discovery Center in the middle of campus where the swings are located. It would add dormitories, scien tific labs, a library, classrooms, and an above ground cafeteria. It would cost about $42 million and would begin in 2007. Dr. Boarman calls it the “best addition this campus has ever had.” Dr. Boarman believes that much progress has already been made. “Collaboration like this between students, fac ulty, and administration is unprecedented in the school’s history, he said. “We are mov ing slowly together in a direc tion that is beneficial to all of us.” His vision is one of a “place where ideas will be acted on not by who presented them but because they are good ideas.” We also wanted Dr. Boarman to clarify a few rumors and comment on cer tain aspects of the school. When asked about increased enrollment, he replied that the ceiling is 750 unless extra facilities were added. When asked to evalu ate the trimester. Dr. Boarman quickly said, “The trimester system was not my idea, it was Jim Title’s suggestion. I just liked it the best when it was explained to me.” He assured us that he was the “imple- menter not the founder.” Howeve,r he also said, “it has gone quite well, considering we changed a whole paradigm; however, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have flaws.” One of the flaws was seen at the beginning of the 2nd trimester. A shortage of classes left many students under-scheduled or put into classes that they were not inter ested in. Others were imable to get popular classes like psy chology, economics and WECS. Since forgoing senior ity in scheduling, many seniors find that popular classes with long senior waiting lists con tain many juniors. Although he notes that there has been a shortage of some popular classes and a problem with the testing sched ule, he said that, “I talk to a lot of students; it’s been 8:1 who really like the trimester.” He also noted that “there was some concern that maybe stu dents had too much time. After the second week and home work, that has been dispelled.” He believes that every body does not have to be busy all the time and is happy to see students out playing fiisbee. “The true test is that we’ve only had two students who have left,” he said. He believes that implementing a zero- based scheduling system where they don’t anticipate classes and wait until after reg istration to make classes could alleviate some of the stress. However, that requires more teachers. “We’ll continue to adjust it; we want feedback from students,” he finished. On the subject of SATs, Dr. Boarman said, “SA’s are just one measurement of stu dent potential. It does not measure your desire or your work ethic; it measures poten tial.” He maintains that our SATs are so much higher than the norm, that he is not wor ried. He assured us, “I don’t look at the juniors as being smarter than the seniors.” On the honor code. Dr. Boarman said, “I believe in an honor code.” However, he said, “I don’t know if an honor code can be implemented until the majority has the same belief.” He asked, “Would you be ready to turn someone who is cheating in? Are you going to do the right thing when no one is looking? I don’t ques tion the integrity of students- this is a very honorable group of students, but in any large group there will be somebody that might go over the line,” he said. It was also interesting to listen to Dr. Boarman’s opinion of SGA. “I do think they are leaders in the school and the administration sees them as leaders,” he said, “I would like to see students support them more and become more strong ly involved, not to bum the administration but to careftilly look at position and to see how students want to react or self- govem those positions.” Finally, Dr. Boarman com mented on free tuition. He said, “It is merit based because of what you did to get here and what you did here. We have come under attack because we’re the only ones who have it,” he said. However we have “tremendous intellectual capi tal going to state universities.” According to last year’s statis tics, 80% of last year’s seniors stayed in state compared to a prior high of 67%. Dr. Boarman assured us, “I will fight to keep it for you.” When asked to comment on students who feel that stay ing in state is settling, he responded that “going to school in state is not settling, it’s wise to settle for a foimda- tion that will give you an out standing experience and then go to graduate school. If I were a student in this state, I would go to a state college.” In fact. Dr. Boarman plans to remain in this state with all of us. “I plan on being here another ten years, at least ten years,” he said. At this rate of change, the class of 2015 will surely see a very different NCSSM than the one that stands now. In the eyes of the man who is more CEO than president, this is the right direction. O’Dell continued from page 1 one way to disagree. In order to get more impartial feedback regarding students' academic experiences. Dr. O'Dell, along with two other faculty members, conducted a much more professional survey which they distributed at the end of the school year. Subsequently, all three received letters of reprimand for the incident, and Dr. O'Dell is now under a "gag order," prohibit ing her from doing research without permission of Dr. Warshaw and Dr. Adkin. It is also now required that all facul ty follow the research guide lines originally designed for students in the Student Handbook. Dr. O'Dell ques tioned these policies, asking “how can you expect faculty members to teach students how to do research if we aren't allowed to do research our selves?" Dr. O'Dell comes from a college environment where ideas are set on the table for other faculty members to examine and debate. She real izes the importance of col leagues coming together and asking questions and trying to fully understand new concepts or plans for the school. However, Dr. O'Dell claims that this same environment does not exist at NCSSM. Questions like "Is this going to make students better thinkers?" should be the focus and mis sion of our school, in her opin ion. Instead, the majority.of decisions are essentially in the hands of Dr. Boarman. Dr. O'Dell has continually insisted that the Faculty Council be a marketplace of free thinking, only to be consis tently disappointed. She has even been told on occasion to "be less inquisitive" by an exec utive vice president and "if you want to keep your job, get with the program" by fellow faculty members. The decision not to renew Dr. O'Dell's contract gives some indication of the administration’s thoughts toward outspoken individuals and may serve as an example to those who may not necessarily agree with all of the school’s policies. Drawing on experi ence from her university days. Dr. O'Dell believes that the cur riculum should be discussed and decided upon by the facul ty, simply because they are the ones who must teach it. At most quality institutions, the faculty members are viewed as valuable assets who can pro vide insight and criticism into school policies. However, at NCSSM, they are classified along with all other employees under "staff,” a popular term out of public school terminolo gy. In contrast, the administra tion ranks are littered with more "executive" titles than a corporate business. Dr. O’Dell noted while she is being asked to think of NCSSM as a high school, wonders “how many public schools have a president, an executive vice president, five senior yice presidents, multiple deans and many more officials under them?" Dr. O'Dell is also con cerned about the students at NCSSM, who she views as the group most secluded at this school. In her view, the school refuses access to many docu ments and data that would help such student organizations as the Student Government Association become more effective. In addition, student representatives are placed on a number of school committees, and then the administration prohibits the discussion of cer tain issues in the presence of students, forcing the faculty members to remain quiet. In one instance. Dr. O'Dell recounted that when she attempted to present a set of data to a student group, she was told by an administrator that she could not present the data via charts and graphs and should instead be given as only raw data, preventing her from effectively communicating her concerns on the issue. Overall, Dr. O'Dell feels that the school is drifting away from its original mission. When she first arrived at NCSSM, one of the things that impressed her most was the strength of the humanities department. In her opinion, a well-founded humanities department is vital in providing support for an excellent mathe matics and science program. Nonetheless, with the new schedule it is now possible for a student to have a trimester in which he or she is not even enrolled in a math course. She is concerned that if the current trend continues, it is likely that the school will fade out of exis tence. She believes that if Science and Math continues to decline in its rigor and academ ic performance, it is highly possible that state-funding could be cut, an essential ele ment to the successful operat ing of the school. While Dr. O'Dell plans to appeal the decision to not renew her teaching con tract, she intends to stay involved in the NCSSM com munity regardless of the resolu tion of her situation. She feels that this institution has amazing potential and should strive to become a community in which constructive criticism is wel comed and teachers and stu dents can serve as active mem bers in the development and implementation of new poli cies. The faculty and the stu dents are the only ones who get a first hand view of the opera tion of this school and therefore are invaluable resources when it comes to developing and implementing change within the school community. Carol O’Dell hopes that she is around to see these changes take place.
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