I can honestly say, and I'm sure my peers would agree, that Grillfest Resurrection was a rousing success. There were lots of hot dogs, many attendees, and the organizers made a tidy $100 towards a repeat in the spring. I have no doubt that all in attendance left Allmendinger quite satisfied. Way to go guys, keep up the good work.
Burnout
11.16.2007
11.15.2007
Grillfest™
Everyone should head over to Grillfest™ tomorrow. It's at Allmendinger Park. You can get there from Pioneer by walking out the Clock Tower entrance and following Edgewood for about three blocks until you get to a large field with some baseball fields-that's Allmendinger. We'll have correspondents checking in tomorrow with an official Grillfest™ follow-up.
11.14.2007
Offenders will be sent to Honor Level Two.
How long until this sign appears in the hallways of Pioneer?
Honor Level Slips
Pioneer Uncovered has obtained one of the official honor system "blue slips" (not that they were that hard to get ahold of). The infamous slips contain point values for different violations.
Expectations (Points Deducted for failure of expectations, which I assume means failure to meet expectations)
Arrive to class on time (2)
Come to class with necessary supplies (2)
Follow reasonable requests (3)
Moving through the hallways orderly [what?] (2)
Settle conflicts appropriately [or Mr. White will chase you down] (3)
Use appropriate language (3)
Use indoor voices (2)
Being on-task in class (3)
Come to class with class work (3)
Follow classroom and school rules (3)
Respect school and others property [doesn't make any sense, but you get what they mean] (5)
Treat peers/staff with respect (5)
Expectations (Points Deducted for failure of expectations, which I assume means failure to meet expectations)
Arrive to class on time (2)
Come to class with necessary supplies (2)
Follow reasonable requests (3)
Moving through the hallways orderly [what?] (2)
Settle conflicts appropriately [or Mr. White will chase you down] (3)
Use appropriate language (3)
Use indoor voices (2)
Being on-task in class (3)
Come to class with class work (3)
Follow classroom and school rules (3)
Respect school and others property [doesn't make any sense, but you get what they mean] (5)
Treat peers/staff with respect (5)
Faux Fridays!
Today, during Physics, I had a revelation. Monday of this week felt like a Friday. Yesterday felt like a Friday. Today felt like a Friday. And tomorrow's definitely looking like another faux Friday. And next week is a two-day week, so we won't really be doing anything, in any classes. So that's another two Fridays.
So, according to my calculations, if we take into account Friday the 9th and Friday the 16th (Grillfest!), we're looking at an unprecedented eight straight Fridays.
I can't really tell if this is a good thing or a bad thing.
So, according to my calculations, if we take into account Friday the 9th and Friday the 16th (Grillfest!), we're looking at an unprecedented eight straight Fridays.
I can't really tell if this is a good thing or a bad thing.
Enough is Enough
I'm sure you've all had the experience of driving into school at 7:39 and you can just make it on time if you haul ass to through the parking lot to your first hour. Right? But, as you're booking down the isleways, alas. There is some retard parked in the middle of the walkway making it virtually impossible to squeeze past unless you have a body mass similar to that of a peanut. I'd say the most annoying thing about them is, they obviously weren't going to be late because they're already there when I walk through. They just do it to piss people off and keep from walking as far. If Mr. White is going to crack down on something, I wish he would pick these goddamn parking lot blockers instead of students who don't "use indoor voices."
Burnout
Burnout
Drinking the Kool-Aid
As most of you probably didn't notice, it's the second Wednesday of the month. What significance does this hold? Well, until this year, the second Wednesday of the month was reserved for Activity Days, days where the school day started at 8:18, with the time from 7:40-8:18 devoted to club meetings. We haven't had one yet this year; according to Mr. White, allowing Activity Days to continue would be akin to letting cars drive over a bridge that was about to fall (I've spent two months trying to make sense of this analogy. If you understand what he was trying to say there, please email pioneer.uncovered@gmail.com).
Of course, he was trying to save face; does anyone remember the Ann Arbor News photographers who followed him around early in the school year? Those same photographers got a tip about the nature of Activity Day and wanted to take pictures of that. Mr. White started asking around among the teachers, and they all told him that having those pictures in the paper would not be good for publicity. So he canceled Activity Day and got the paper to take pictures of him (without his state prison-style PA system) and serve the Kool-Aid to the community.
Now, we all know that maybe Activity Day wasn't always used the way it was supposed to be used. Mostly, students slept in or hung out in the halls doing homework. But honestly, what was so wrong about that? Sometimes students just need a way to get ready for the day, kind of like Advisory in middle school. We just need to chill and talk to our friends and do homework. Doing that one time a month wasn't so bad.
Alas, so far this year, Mr. White has shown off his immense fear of students being in hallways. So if we need to protest anything. . .you know what to do.
Of course, he was trying to save face; does anyone remember the Ann Arbor News photographers who followed him around early in the school year? Those same photographers got a tip about the nature of Activity Day and wanted to take pictures of that. Mr. White started asking around among the teachers, and they all told him that having those pictures in the paper would not be good for publicity. So he canceled Activity Day and got the paper to take pictures of him (without his state prison-style PA system) and serve the Kool-Aid to the community.
Now, we all know that maybe Activity Day wasn't always used the way it was supposed to be used. Mostly, students slept in or hung out in the halls doing homework. But honestly, what was so wrong about that? Sometimes students just need a way to get ready for the day, kind of like Advisory in middle school. We just need to chill and talk to our friends and do homework. Doing that one time a month wasn't so bad.
Alas, so far this year, Mr. White has shown off his immense fear of students being in hallways. So if we need to protest anything. . .you know what to do.
Kind of like saying "Please Key My Truck"
I saw a bumper sticker in the parking lot today that said "My truck was made by wrenches, not chopsticks."
Definitely one of the most blatant displays of racism I've seen in Ann Arbor since I got here.
Definitely one of the most blatant displays of racism I've seen in Ann Arbor since I got here.
11.12.2007
The Labyrinth
At lunch today, on my way to my car, I noticed a distressed Pioneer parent roaming upper lot in a classic soccer mom minivan. As I was walking out there, she stopped me and several of my compatriots to ask how to get out of the parking lot. She had been driving in circles in large figure eights among upper and lower lot for all of 5-10 minutes and had not been able to find the exit. Now, while I freely admit that the intelligence of said soccer mom was probably not a lot higher than an average mollusk (twice the intelligence of an average pioneer student), it does say something about the pioneer parking lot if parents get lost in it. It's not a good thing. If parents get lost in the parking lot, they can't leave.
Burnout
Burnout
Veteran's day II
I realize that if any holiday deserves 2 posts it probably isn't Veteran's Day, but, being the inappropriate one, I figured I could make the war joke my esteemed colleague neglected the opportunity to capitalize on in his previous post. Now read the following war joke and laugh hysterically.
Bush and Powell were sitting in a bar. A guy walked in and asked the barman, "Isn't that Bush and Powell?"
The barman said, "Yep, that's them."
So the guy walked over and said, "Hello. What are you guys doing?"
Bush said, "We're planning World War III."
The guy asked, "Really? What's going to happen?"
Bush said, "Well, we're going to kill 10 million Iraqis and one bicycle repairman."
The guy exclaimed, "Why are you gonna kill a bicycle repairman?!"
Bush turned to Powell and said, "See, I told you no one would worry about the 10 million Iraqis!"
Burnout
Bush and Powell were sitting in a bar. A guy walked in and asked the barman, "Isn't that Bush and Powell?"
The barman said, "Yep, that's them."
So the guy walked over and said, "Hello. What are you guys doing?"
Bush said, "We're planning World War III."
The guy asked, "Really? What's going to happen?"
Bush said, "Well, we're going to kill 10 million Iraqis and one bicycle repairman."
The guy exclaimed, "Why are you gonna kill a bicycle repairman?!"
Bush turned to Powell and said, "See, I told you no one would worry about the 10 million Iraqis!"
Burnout
Veterans' Day
Happy fake Veterans' Day, everyone. The real Veterans' Day was yesterday, actually, but no mail today, for some reason; the federal government just hates wasting a perfectly good day off on a Sunday. Most schools have the day off today. Not Pioneer, though, nor the rest of the Ann Arbor Public Schools. . .
Still, today's a good day to tell a veteran "thank you" for everything they've done. Making a war joke here would be completely inappropriate, so I'll leave it here.
Still, today's a good day to tell a veteran "thank you" for everything they've done. Making a war joke here would be completely inappropriate, so I'll leave it here.
11.08.2007
It's official!
So, highlights from the packet that was distributed to teachers about the honor level system:
". . .the program will individually calculate the student's stages of consequence."
My god, he loves that word, doesn't he?
"The fourth blue slip within a 14-day period imposes (3) hour Saturday School (8:00-11:00 AM)."
'And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They're quite aware of what they're going through'
-David Bowie
Also-we actually have demerits this year. Really shocking that Pioneer is only the second high school to use this, huh? Check this out: the list of schools that use this system. Use the find function on your keyboard to search for "high school." If it doesn't work on your computer, I'll tell you what it says: there's one high school to use this system. Where is it? New Zealand.
*note: it's been pointed out to me that you actually get four results when you look for "high school". However, if you look closely, you'll notice that all but one of these is a "junior" high school.
"STEP 3: The student will receive a consequence. . ."
You just can't make this shit up.
"Student helpers can assist in placing notices in the teacher's boxes at the end of the school day."
I hope someone is willing to do this and really mess with the system. . .
"Phase Three: The full lunch detainees. . ."
There are constant references to "major referral slips," used when students are extra bad and don't show up for their detentions. Sounds dangerous. According to the packet, "Major Referrals are used when teachers observe or deal with a student displaying severe misconduct or who has been identified as a habitual offender who requires the immediate attention of an administrator."
"POSITIVE REWARDS:
Every 2 to 3 weeks, Pioneer High School staff will reward or treat the behavior honor level one and two students to school-wide fun activities."
Interesting. See, after Mr. White touted this as a "positive reward system," I expected it to be a BIT more positive. This packet is 2.5 pages long. Positive rewards comprise the very last section, a total of six lines. Here are the final four:
"Periodically, behavior honor level one and two lists are printed and posted in several locations around the building.
The computer will print almost any type of report or list needed. If a team is meeting with a parent, a personal report can be printed to show the parent the student's level."
Those lists are supposed to be positive. Look at this, kids! You're famous! That's your name, on the wall, in size 12 print! You're an honor-level all-star!"
"What do I get?"
"Why, popularity among your fellow good-citizen students, of course!"
Anyway, here's all the info you need to know, if you didn't catch it yesterday.
Blue slips can be given for every two tardies to a single class, or for three incomplete homework/classwork assignments.
Consequences (everything is within one 14-day period):
1 blue slip: full noon detention
2 blue slips: another full noon detention
3 blue slips: after school detention (served at either 7 AM or 3:30 PM)
4 blue slips: 3 hour Saturday School (8:00AM-11:00AM)
5 blue slips: "an Administrative Action," which apparently means an automatic one-to-three-day suspension.
Unfortunately, I don't know the points system right now, but I believe a blue slip for tardies and the like is equal to 2 points. Someone correct me if that's wrong.
Demerits for Honor Level Placement (once again, within a 14-day period):
0 "value points"-Honor Level One
1-12 value points-Honor Level Two
13-20 value points-Honor Level Three
21+ value points-Honor Level Four
Points are apparently erased every 14 days. I guess the fun activities will be at the end of every 14 days, or else everyone would, in theory, be able to participate. . .
Here's the site for the system:
honorlevel.com
". . .the program will individually calculate the student's stages of consequence."
My god, he loves that word, doesn't he?
"The fourth blue slip within a 14-day period imposes (3) hour Saturday School (8:00-11:00 AM)."
'And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They're quite aware of what they're going through'
-David Bowie
Also-we actually have demerits this year. Really shocking that Pioneer is only the second high school to use this, huh? Check this out: the list of schools that use this system. Use the find function on your keyboard to search for "high school." If it doesn't work on your computer, I'll tell you what it says: there's one high school to use this system. Where is it? New Zealand.
*note: it's been pointed out to me that you actually get four results when you look for "high school". However, if you look closely, you'll notice that all but one of these is a "junior" high school.
"STEP 3: The student will receive a consequence. . ."
You just can't make this shit up.
"Student helpers can assist in placing notices in the teacher's boxes at the end of the school day."
I hope someone is willing to do this and really mess with the system. . .
"Phase Three: The full lunch detainees. . ."
There are constant references to "major referral slips," used when students are extra bad and don't show up for their detentions. Sounds dangerous. According to the packet, "Major Referrals are used when teachers observe or deal with a student displaying severe misconduct or who has been identified as a habitual offender who requires the immediate attention of an administrator."
"POSITIVE REWARDS:
Every 2 to 3 weeks, Pioneer High School staff will reward or treat the behavior honor level one and two students to school-wide fun activities."
Interesting. See, after Mr. White touted this as a "positive reward system," I expected it to be a BIT more positive. This packet is 2.5 pages long. Positive rewards comprise the very last section, a total of six lines. Here are the final four:
"Periodically, behavior honor level one and two lists are printed and posted in several locations around the building.
The computer will print almost any type of report or list needed. If a team is meeting with a parent, a personal report can be printed to show the parent the student's level."
Those lists are supposed to be positive. Look at this, kids! You're famous! That's your name, on the wall, in size 12 print! You're an honor-level all-star!"
"What do I get?"
"Why, popularity among your fellow good-citizen students, of course!"
Anyway, here's all the info you need to know, if you didn't catch it yesterday.
Blue slips can be given for every two tardies to a single class, or for three incomplete homework/classwork assignments.
Consequences (everything is within one 14-day period):
1 blue slip: full noon detention
2 blue slips: another full noon detention
3 blue slips: after school detention (served at either 7 AM or 3:30 PM)
4 blue slips: 3 hour Saturday School (8:00AM-11:00AM)
5 blue slips: "an Administrative Action," which apparently means an automatic one-to-three-day suspension.
Unfortunately, I don't know the points system right now, but I believe a blue slip for tardies and the like is equal to 2 points. Someone correct me if that's wrong.
Demerits for Honor Level Placement (once again, within a 14-day period):
0 "value points"-Honor Level One
1-12 value points-Honor Level Two
13-20 value points-Honor Level Three
21+ value points-Honor Level Four
Points are apparently erased every 14 days. I guess the fun activities will be at the end of every 14 days, or else everyone would, in theory, be able to participate. . .
Here's the site for the system:
honorlevel.com
Look out for tardy sweeps!
So apparently at least one teacher told her students this yesterday: under the new honor level system, no matter when you get two tardies or whatever, you'll get a detention. Every two weeks, the point totals are erased, but the offenses are not. The point totals only matter in regards to what "honor level" you belong to. But, say, if you're tardy tomorrow and then you get another tardy in the same class in May, you'll still get a detention.
11.07.2007
Hopefully, he'll be consequenced for this. . .
Poor choice of words on the part of Mr. White today, especially in light of Mukasey messing up with torture definitions recently. During his announcement providing information about the new honor level system, Mr. White referred to students being punished as "detainees." I think, at this point, what with Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib, the word "detainee" should not be thrown around lightly, and especially not when speaking about students who show up late to class. Might give people the wrong idea.
Could you describe the ruckus, sir?
So it turns out that in certain situations, under the new honor level policy, students could be given a three-hour detention on a Saturday, à la The Breakfast Club, although the detention in that movie was eight hours. Who's gonna be the one who shows up just because they have nothing better to do on a Saturday?
Positive. Like being whipped with a chain.
I'm sure the most pressing worries most of you have involve what would happen to Pioneer without a more strict discipline system. Fortunately, Principal Michael White has addressed your concerns. With the new "honor-level system," you no longer need fear a lack of discipline at Pioneer.
Having guaranteed detention to students who are tardy to class, Mr White has several other plans for Pioneer's disciplinary future. He hopes to one day set up a system in which whenever a student is tardy or misses an assignment, he will be taken out back and whipped with a chain while listening to repetitive meaningless PA announcements proclaiming the speaker as "Mr. White, your principal," until he surrenders all his electronic devices and agrees to call Mr. White Chancellor. The next step will be to set up an iron maiden in Mr White's office, in which will be placed all students on Academic Probation.
Since the start of the school year, the whole administration has been talking about the honor-level system and how it uses positive reinforcement to make students be good little children. I may be just missing the positive part, but if anyone else sees it I would really appreciate if they would tell me what it is, how it's positive, and what they have been smoking.
Burnout
Having guaranteed detention to students who are tardy to class, Mr White has several other plans for Pioneer's disciplinary future. He hopes to one day set up a system in which whenever a student is tardy or misses an assignment, he will be taken out back and whipped with a chain while listening to repetitive meaningless PA announcements proclaiming the speaker as "Mr. White, your principal," until he surrenders all his electronic devices and agrees to call Mr. White Chancellor. The next step will be to set up an iron maiden in Mr White's office, in which will be placed all students on Academic Probation.
Since the start of the school year, the whole administration has been talking about the honor-level system and how it uses positive reinforcement to make students be good little children. I may be just missing the positive part, but if anyone else sees it I would really appreciate if they would tell me what it is, how it's positive, and what they have been smoking.
Burnout
Honour
I find it strange that there is only one small tidbit on Pioneer's site about the new honor-level system, hidden in a PDF. Maybe they should get on that. I mean, it's not like this is a new system, they've known it was coming for the whole year. . .
Have I mentioned that Pioneer is the ONLY high school in the country to use this system, according to the system's very own webpage?
more, on this later. . .
Have I mentioned that Pioneer is the ONLY high school in the country to use this system, according to the system's very own webpage?
more, on this later. . .
11.05.2007
mini-weekend.
Everyone enjoy the day off tomorrow. stay up late, watch monday night football, sleep in, watch cartoons, put off that humanities essay until 9 PM tomorrow. . .
11.04.2007
Interesting. . .
So I heard from a friend of mine that two students in Mr. Snapir's second hour wanted to start a petition or something to get him fired (I know, it all happened a long time ago, I don't have that class so I'm out of the loop). This was definitely after the switching-out date, but the counselors apparently let them switch out of the class anyway, just so they wouldn't cause trouble. Anyone have any better information on this? Such as who the counselors were?
11 school days until Thanksgiving!
Just to let everyone know our official position on this, Pioneer Uncovered is in favor of random days off of school in the middle of the week.
If you didn't know, don't show up to school on Tuesday.
If you didn't know, don't show up to school on Tuesday.
Snobs and their Starbucks
I recently attended a concert. The type of concert where I was one of the 3-4 people in the audience under 35 and roughly 85% of the concert goers were wearing leather jackets. It was actually very good, but that didn't keep the crowd from being any less funny.
This particular performance was at The Ark downtown and offered open seating, meaning there was a line all down Main Street about an hour before the concert actually started. There were, of course, no outside beverages allowed inside The Ark, but there was conveniently a trash can near the door on the way inside. Now, I was somewhere in the middle of the line, but by the time I had reached the trash can, there was ony one variety of trash to be seen in said trash can. Starbucks cups.
The sheer mass of Starbucks cups in this garbage receptacle had me boggled. The logistices behind that many Starbucks cups packed that tightly together. The type of people I would be sharing the audience seats with. It was insane.
Burnout
This particular performance was at The Ark downtown and offered open seating, meaning there was a line all down Main Street about an hour before the concert actually started. There were, of course, no outside beverages allowed inside The Ark, but there was conveniently a trash can near the door on the way inside. Now, I was somewhere in the middle of the line, but by the time I had reached the trash can, there was ony one variety of trash to be seen in said trash can. Starbucks cups.
The sheer mass of Starbucks cups in this garbage receptacle had me boggled. The logistices behind that many Starbucks cups packed that tightly together. The type of people I would be sharing the audience seats with. It was insane.
Burnout
11.02.2007
Postmodern Millie?
Everyone should come see Thoroughly Modern Millie this weekend. Only 8 dollars for students!
Here are the show times:
Saturday, November 3rd, 7:30 PM
Sunday, November 4th, 2 PM
Friday, November 9th, 7:30 PM
Saturday, November 10th, 7:30 PM
Sunday, November 11th, 2 PM
http://ptguild2.aaps.k12.mi.us/index.html
Here are the show times:
Saturday, November 3rd, 7:30 PM
Sunday, November 4th, 2 PM
Friday, November 9th, 7:30 PM
Saturday, November 10th, 7:30 PM
Sunday, November 11th, 2 PM
http://ptguild2.aaps.k12.mi.us/index.html
What is this, Howell?
Teacher: "I don't want to hear anyone call this 'the Dark Ages.' No one who made this could have possibly been dark."
. . .oops. To be fair, he did catch himself afterward and tried to correct himself. But he just kept digging deeper and deeper.
. . .oops. To be fair, he did catch himself afterward and tried to correct himself. But he just kept digging deeper and deeper.
All Star Driving School/Taxi Service
How many people took All Star for driving school? I'm guessing a fair amount. Now how many of you had to run errands for the driving instructor? That seems to be the latest trend.
At the Wireless store across from Pioneer today, I saw an All-Star car in the parking lot. Just this sight alone was a bit strange, but while I was stopped at the Main/Stadium light, I noticed there was someone IN the driver's seat, and another in the back, just waiting there. Note also, that this was at about 12:15. Right in the middle of 4th hour. I won't even guess as to why people are doing driving hours during school. Anyway, after a few minutes, the instructor walked back out of the store holding a phone charger, got in the passenger seat, and the car drove off.
The whole thing might have been somewhat acceptable had it been an isolated incident, but I had a similar experience when I was in all-star. Did anyone else drive with Paula? The irritating bus-driver lady? She made me drive out to her FARM. To pick up some relative of hers and drop him somewhere else. I had to ferry her brother-in-law's nephew or whatever the hell he was across town as a requirement to get my driver's license. I mean, what the hell?
Burnout
At the Wireless store across from Pioneer today, I saw an All-Star car in the parking lot. Just this sight alone was a bit strange, but while I was stopped at the Main/Stadium light, I noticed there was someone IN the driver's seat, and another in the back, just waiting there. Note also, that this was at about 12:15. Right in the middle of 4th hour. I won't even guess as to why people are doing driving hours during school. Anyway, after a few minutes, the instructor walked back out of the store holding a phone charger, got in the passenger seat, and the car drove off.
The whole thing might have been somewhat acceptable had it been an isolated incident, but I had a similar experience when I was in all-star. Did anyone else drive with Paula? The irritating bus-driver lady? She made me drive out to her FARM. To pick up some relative of hers and drop him somewhere else. I had to ferry her brother-in-law's nephew or whatever the hell he was across town as a requirement to get my driver's license. I mean, what the hell?
Burnout
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