ON THE WEEKEND of December 3 and 4, three vandals destroyed seven or eight large glass windows in the Hall High School cafeteria. The windows were smashed by bricks, which were found at the scene and taken by the West Hartford Police Department as evidence in their investigation. According to Dr. Donald Slater’s address to students during period three announcements on Monday, the cost of replacing the windows is about 5000 dollars. This money will be taken from other places in the Hall budget, minimizing the amount available for other positive uses, such as purchasing new textbooks.
At the end of the evening shift early Saturday morning, the evening custodial staff noticed two broken windows just before they left Hall, some time before 3:00 am. The custodians immediately contacted head custodian Paul Edlund. He proceeded to notify the police, who came to Hall to investigate. The more severe damage to five or six additional windows occurred some time during the night Sunday into Monday morning, before 3:00 am. The police officer who had been called to the scene very early Saturday morning combed over the grounds early Monday morning and observed the damage, which in addition to the broken windows, also consisted of paint that the vandals had thrown through the windows. Edlund again was contacted, and the police remained at the scene until about 5:30 am to continue investigating.
According to Edlund, a temporary plastic covering was placed over the broken windows to keep out the cold, and from five-thirty am until about eleven in the morning, the custodial staff cleaned up the area. During this time, carpenters from Plant Facility Services arrived at school to board up the windows, and the glass company that made the custom factory windows took measurements to make new windows. The glass company is attempting to rush-order the windows so the cafeteria can be restored as soon as possible. In total, the cleanup effort required the work of the custodians, two town carpenters, and the person from the glass company who took measurements.
In his address to students on Monday, Slater also mentioned that there is a 500 dollar award for any valid information that leads to the apprehension of the vandals. On Wednesday during an address to students, Slater explained that two students received 250 dollars each for their information that led to the apprehension of the vandals, who are Hall students and are not minors. “Unfortunately, they [the vandals] were students here at Hall,” Slater announced. However, Slater reassured the Hall community that this act was not a premeditated offense and was not done with any particular malice towards Hall. According to Slater, the students did express remorse, and they will have serious consequences.
With all the trouble the vandalism incident has created, Edlund noted that many other such events have happened in the past. “The press box fire, and now this; its just not right,” he said. When Highlights questioned School Resource Officer James Mahon as to any possible connections between the vandalism and previous incidents, he commented, “I hope not. I don’t know if there’s a connection to it.”

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Coach Curnias’s Accomplishments Honored
of these students Brianna London, Jenna London, Stephanie Bohannon, Erin Bourgault, and Lauren Bell.
At the recent cross-country awards dinner, the two captains acknowledged that they couldn’t have made it to the state open without the support and encouragement of Curnias. Rosenblum said, “No one deserves this prestigious award more than Coach Curnias. Her cross country and track teams’ great success over the years is a direct result of her outstanding coaching. She has established an incredible running program at Hall.”
Curnias works so hard to maintain the quality of her teams. Not only are they successful at their sport, but they also respect themselves, Curnias, and their teammates. For many coaches, the most important thing is winning; for Curnias, however, the most important goals are self-improvement and support for ones’ teammates. She makes winning a lesser priority than bettering oneself, and supporting the team.
She said, “I believe that in addition to skill development, we need to respect the role of a coach and realize that every act we perform or word we say is under the scrutiny of developing young minds and spirits. We as coaches must cherish our role and act responsibly in our victories as well as our defeats.” Curnias encourages a healthy environment in which winning, while clearly important, is less of a priority. This is most likely why she has been so successful.
Her teams have an optimistic attitude when it comes to competition. Bohannon said, “Coach Curnias has been so supportive of her cross country and outdoor track teams and has helped runners of all abilities to progress throughout their running careers.”
This attitude has earned her three Coach Of The Year awards already, one each for outdoor track, gymnastics and cross-country. As the only woman to receive three Coach Of The Year awards for three different sports, she is a role model for women athletes everywhere.
When ending her acceptance speech, she used a quote that encompasses her coaching philosophy. She began with, “True nobility is not about being better than someone else, but by being better than one used to be.” She went on to say, “I hope that I have been a noble coach and teacher.” All of Coach Curnias’ athletes wish her good luck with her future endeavors and congratulate her on having such an amazing career.

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Fire Investigation
West Hartford Police Detective Paul Roy, who is investigating the press box fire, declined to comment on the ongoing investigation, which has not yet confirmed whether the press box fire was arson. He also affirmed that the idea of a link between the fires was not being considered. Roy did speak to the rampant rumors at Hall that disgruntled Bloomfield football players had set the blaze. According to Roy, “the Bloomfield police has been apprised of the situation. However, police and fire department personnel have to conduct a complete investigation before we come to any conclusions about the source of the fire.”
Another driving force behind the press box investigation, West Hartford Fire Chief Bill Austin, has not yet responded to Highlights’ calls questioning the details of the investigation.
Echoing Roy, Deputy Mayor Art Spada, the head of the public safety committee, told Highlights that he had only the barest knowledge of the situation. “The committee will continue to be informed as police and fire personnel conduct their investigations. We can only remedy the situation when we know the details.”

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HEART Builds Community
By Julie Goodman, ’07
News Editor

On December 2, HEART, Hall High School’s Equity and Respect Team, held a forum of about 40 people at the town hall. Representative students from each club at the school attended the forum, which was facilitated by teachers, administrators and social workers. Former West Hartford Mayor and Connecticut State Senator Jonathan Harris was the keynote/kickoff speaker at the forum, which centered on ideas for building school spirit and community, HEART’s theme for this school year.
The forum is just one step for HEART towards fostering an environment of respect and tolerance at Hall among the diverse student body. According to its original mission statement created on December 1, 2003, “HEART is dedicated to creating an atmosphere of respect, safety and compassion for all members of the Hall community through education, awareness, and intervention.”
HEART was founded in 2003 to address tensions among different racial, religious, economic, and other members of the Hall community. During its first year, parents, teachers, and students were involved to work towards respect and tolerance among Hall teachers and students. During the 2004-2005 school year, the group’s theme was “Voices of Concern,” and HEART held a series of forums for teachers to determine ways to foster tolerance and to understand students’ views on Hall’s diverse culture.
At a workshop on November 3, 2004, teachers heard recordings of students reading their essays about tolerance and equality from a human rights class. HEART also held a student panel to answer questions in front of the faculty and hosted a speaker from the Connecticut Educator’s Association, whose discussion entitled “Flash Judgments” addressed diversity and prejudice.
For this school year, HEART decided to again involve parents and students in order to work towards this year’s “Building Community” theme. According to Hall Assistant Principal Donna Namnoum, who works with Assistant Principal Shelley Solomon to run HEART, “We decided we needed to involve parents again; we needed to get the perspective of students.” The December 2 forum is just the beginning of a yearlong process to raise community spirit by providing an opportunity to create a course of action. At the forum, HEART adopted action steps to work with students this year to foster a sense of community through different activities.
One of the ways HEART is seeking to increase a school wide feeling of community is through their efforts to connect students to the school. According to Namnoum, becoming involved in school clubs, organizations, and athletics helps to unify students and to link them with their school. Although many students are currently involved in numerous extracurricular activities at Hall, there are some students who are not involved at Hall beyond attending their classes.
In order to pinpoint how many and what types of students aren’t currently involved, HEART is conducting a tally of students who sign into clubs on their attendance sheets. Once all of the data is collected by springtime, HEART will examine any trends and help those students who aren’t members of a club to connect to the Hall community. Namnoum believes that an involvement in student organizations will create more of a link between students and their school. “It’s important for kids to get involved in the school so that they can really learn and work to their fullest potential,” Namnoum said. “It’s a great school, and to make it even better we want everyone to feel connected and [feel] good to come to school,” she added.
Although the collecting of data isn’t complete, as no information has yet been compiled from winter/spring sports and newly emerging clubs, the current tally of students involved at Hall is that 1000 students out of the 1550 Hall population belong to some extra-curricular activity. So far, Solomon, who has taken on the task of collecting attendance lists, is pleased with the number of students who are involved in clubs and athletics and anticipates more students to be added to the 1000 as the count progresses.
As HEART continues to work towards its goals this year and in future school years, Namnoum stresses the group’s importance in bringing together the diverse Hall community. “We have to find things in common while respecting each other’s differences in order to build community,” she said.

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Honors Courses Proposed For Next School Year

them with standard classes that are not challenging. As Cohen explained, “Kids are forced to be bored stiff or work much too hard in APs.” Cohen would like to see the addition of more honors classes so that students can balance their schedule with courses that all are challenging rather than some easy and some difficult courses. Holtzberg also agreed that students aren’t given enough choice in the breadth of course levels.
Holtzberg believes that West Hartford has not added more honors courses for fear of leaving behind less competent learners in the standard classes when the more high-achieving students level up to honors. According to this rationale, Holtzberg said, the competent learners will no longer be in the class to enrich the experience of those who struggle in standard classes, which will diminish the educational environment for the standard students.
Holtzberg disagrees with this logic and feels that this essentially puts so much focus on the limited learners that the needs of high-achieving students are not met. “Really what’s happening is with the sensitivity to limited learners, there hasn’t been more focus on more competent learners,” he said. Holtzberg also believes that standard students would thrive if some students were lifted out of those classes into an honors level and disagrees with the notion that the achievement gap would widen as a result. He feels that there would be more chances for students to be outspoken, therefore increasing their academic success.
Although Holtzberg and Cohen are in favor of adding more honors courses, Slater would like to have some more dialogue with the community before a decision is reached. “I believe there should be more in depth discussion first. I would like all members of the Hall community to be a part of this discussion to see how they feel about adding honors courses,” he said.
While Slater feels that there is a great likelihood that honors courses will be added to Hall’s curriculum in the future, he also feels that the current standard classes are challenging. “Our standard courses are preparing our students for college level studying,” he said. He explained that in terms of standard biology, the curriculum is dynamic and changes to maintain a challenging educational experience. “Our biology curriculum is updated as necessary,” Slater said.
Cohen and Holtzberg are hopeful that the board will pass the honors biology proposal. “What we want is for these things to go into effect next year,” Cohen said.

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Schools Debate Intelligent
Design And Evolution Theories

By Allyson Cartter, ’09
Highlights Staff Writer

ON NOVEMBER 8, a Kansas school board put into effect a motion that will redefine the school district’s science education by allowing intelligent design to be included in the biology curriculum. On that same day, a little over 1,000 miles away, the members of the Dover, Pennsylvania school board, who had been sued one week before for condoning the placement of the very same topic into the ninth-grade biology curriculum, were voted out of office. At least 20 other states are debating the topic of evolution versus intelligent design.
Evolution, the theory most commonly ascribed to naturalist Charles Darwin, is defined as the biological development of a race or species. Intelligent design, on the other hand, is the idea that life on earth is too complex to have been the result of evolution alone.
According to a poll conducted in October by CBS News, 51% of Americans do not believe in evolution, but instead believe that humans were created by a divine power. A separate poll by the Pew Research Center concluded that only 38% of Americans think that intelligent design should replace evolution in school curriculums.
The next question raised by this discussion concerns whether putting intelligent design into the curriculum is a violation of our constitutional right to separation of church and state. Leslie Weeks, an earth science teacher at Hall, believes it could potentially become one. “I worry that this could set precedent for further infusion of religion in government, which I see as a threat to democracy,” said Weeks.
Others argue that the theory of evolution is simply that: a theory, not a fact. Some schools, such as those in Atlanta, Georgia, have gone as far as to include warning stickers in biology textbooks stating this about evolution.
This subject is not new to the Kansas school board, which tried to eliminate the teaching of evolution, along with the Big Bang theory, in 1999. Their decision was later reversed in 2001. Nor is this topic new to schools across the country. In 1968, Susan Epperson, an Arkansas school teacher, brought a case against her state’s anti-evolution law to the Supreme Court. Similar trials were held in 1925 and 1987.
Why has this become a prominent issue again? “Right now, our society seems to be driven by fear, and people turn to explanations that bring comfort,” said Weeks. “Sometimes a natural explanation creates more questions than answers.”
Hall students also have varying opinions on this subject. “I believe you should be allowed to discuss intelligent design along with evolution,” said freshman Emily Siegel. “However, teachers should not be given permission to give their own opinion on the subjects.”
Others, such as freshman Vicky Garcia, don’t think religion should be taught in school at all. “I believe that students shouldn’t be allowed to be taught about God when there are [people of] different religions in schools.”
“You should teach both sides of the story,” argues freshman Isabella Salamone. “How can we be taught but not exposed to everything?”
This controversial subject has prompted strong arguments from both sides, and this national discussion is far from resolved.

Photo Courtsey of www.venganza.org
Bobby Henderson, a student at Oregon State University, created the religion Flying Spaghetti Monsterism in response to the Kansas Board of Education’s decision to teach intelligent design to students.

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Multicultural Club
“Raising Cultural Awareness”
By Melissa Lauretti, ’08
News Associate

Where’s the only place in the school a student can be exposed to a variety of different cultures? The Multicultural Club, which as a new this year, strives to bring together students from around the globe. “We wish to create a synchronized atmosphere where color, race, or nationality differences do not exist because we have learned to appreciate and accept other students’ cultures,” said Ms. Eva Fruhwald, the club’s advisor.
Fruhwald, currently a language teacher at Hall, traveled between the Hall and Conard schools last year. While at Conard, she and another colleague set up a club similar to the Multicultural Club. The club was a great success over at Conard and received much notoriety and support from families, restaurants and teachers after holding an International Dinner.
This year Fruhwald brought the idea to Hall’s Vice Principal Shelley Solomon and the idea was met with great approval. Next, Fruhwald talked to some of her previous students who helped with the recruiting process. “One of our future goals is to join Hall and Conard in a friendly encounter of our different and diverse communities” said Fruhwald.
Currently, the meetings are centered on discussing plans for future events, one of which will be “A Night Around the World.” At this program there will be food, dances, and entertainment from various countries provided by students and families who will be dressed in the clothing representative of their countries.
Also, the club is in the midst of planning activities that would involve teaching modern dances from different countries such as Indian, Salsa, Merengue, Bachata and many others. At meetings, club members have the opportunity to sample authentic foods from different countries as well as view foreign films dealing with cultural issues. Examples of such movies are Spanglish and Dirty Dancing Havana Nights which is based on the revolution during Batista’s rule in Cuba.
The Multicultural Club meets every Monday at 2:30 in room A-208 or 211. If you would like to get involved, contact Eva Fruhwald, Puja Arora (president), Kana Sonokawa (vice president), Amal Dirir (treasurer) or Leslie Diaz (secretary).

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New Classes Proposed
like to add yet another language, Chinese. The purpose of the class is to introduce students to the fundamentals of the language, its oral practices, conventions, and the written Chinese characters.
Two additional courses are being considered for the science department. A class with one semester of chemistry and one of physics will become a new class called Physical Science - Conceptual Chemistry and Physics. It is offered to high school juniors and seniors who wish to study science experimentation, investigation, and connections of science to the real world. Finally, a potential course addition is Science Investigational Skill. This is a one-semester course offered to students so they can meet graduation requirements and conduct independent research while using science skills.
Although these courses will not be definitely added to the course selection book in January for students to choose from, students are encouraged to continue to discuss their interests with their guidance counselors. For those students who are currently unhappy in their classes and seek a wider variety of course offerings, these new and interesting classes might be included in the list of the course selection handbook for the 2006-2007 school year.

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Hall High Student Association Holiday Update
By Alex Porter, ’08
Opinions Associate

AS WE APPROACH the holiday season, the SA is working steadily to sponsor more events for Hall students and to advocate for the student body in the continuing discussion of block scheduling.
We are really excited for our first event of the new year, a hypnotist. For those of you who have seen a hypnotist show, it can get really funny and out of control. Once you are under hypnosis, they have you doing all kinds of crazy things, to the utter enjoyment of the crowd. Tickets will go on sale soon after we come back from winter break. The event will take place in the auditorium on Friday, January 13th. There is no better way to spend a Friday the 13th than being hypnotized.
On January 18, students and other members of the Hall community are invited to the long-awaited faculty play. Faculty members have been rehearsing a “dinner theater” mystery for the past couple months, and have been specially cast so that their character is the exact opposite of their normal personality. The foods classes will be preparing dinner for those attending the play, and the SA will provide dessert. Tickets will be sold before the event, and members of the audience will be encouraged to buy clues to the mystery from SA docents during the show. The play should be quite a spectacle, so be sure to get your tickets quickly when they go on sale right after winter break.
Before winter break arrives, we encourage you to be generous this holiday season, because many people here in the greater Hartford area and around the country are in need of your assistance. The SA is sponsoring a toy drive, so be sure to bring in your gently used or new toys to donate to those who are less fortunate.
Also, a couple other fundraisers are going on around the school. These include a fundraiser for a Native American reservation in South Dakota and the annual Hall play-a-thon. The recipient of this year’s play-a-thon funds is Habitat for Humanity, which is working tirelessly to build new homes for residents of New Orleans. Thank you for your generosity!
The SA has and will continue to lobby for the Hall student body. We continue to monitor and participate in the discussion of block scheduling. President Sam Ritter and Board of Education Representative Geoff Carr both attended a parent forum on block scheduling in early November. The SA will continue to voice the opinion of the student body in continuing discussions on block scheduling, and we will make sure that the Board of Education is properly informed as to how the Hall student body stands on that issue.
From all of the members of the Student Association, have a joyous holiday season, and enjoy the winter break.

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SA Toy Drive Benefits Needy Kids
By Courtney Pendray, ’08
Highlights Staff Writer

THE HALL HIGH Student Association is holding their annual toy drive again this winter. The drive will benefit needy children in Hartford who would otherwise have nothing to unwrap for the holidays. Last year, the toys were donated to the 96.5 WTIC toy drive, and they were greatly appreciated by the children who received them.
When asked how the toy drive began, Mr. Cory McGann, Student Association co-Advisor, explained “We wanted to do a service as one of our ‘events,’ and also have it [be] something of an annual thing, so a toy drive was perfect. It also fits nicely up against the Empty Bowls food drive in November,” he said. “November equals food. December equals presents,” he clarified.
There have been a wide range of popular gifts in past years of the toy drive, and are expected again this year though there is not necessarily a need to donate a certain kind of “hot” toy that is flying off of store shelves because the main purpose of donating these gifts is to give each child something to open during the holidays. Mr. McGann suggested “buy something that you would want to get. Karma is a powerful thing…you just might end up getting that very thing for yourself!”
Students can contribute toys any time during the month of December. There will be boxes set up outside Mr. McGann’s office during the school day so that students can drop off their gifts – which actually should not be wrapped, but which should be new.
The Student Association hopes to gather more toys than last year so that more needy children will have something exciting for the holidays. All students are encouraged to participate and do something positive during the holiday season for the community’s needy children. As shown by the toy drive, the Student Association is not only an organization that plans student events, but also participates in charity work.

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School Shooting
By Rachel Smith, ’06
Highlights Staff Writer

ON NOVEMBER 8, 2005, Jacksonboro, Tennessee suffered the loss of a well-loved assistant principal as a result of a school shooting. A 15-year-old student named Kenneth Bartley, Jr., who has a previous history of violence, was called to the main office of Campbell County Comprehensive High School after he was rumored to be carrying a weapon.
Once in the office, a struggle ensued over the weapon, which was discovered to be a .22-caliber handgun. The struggle involved not only the Assistant Principal Ken Bruce, who was killed, but two additional administrators. Principal Gary Seale was shot in the abdomen, and Assistant Principal Jim Pierce, also the track coach at the high school, was shot in the chest. They were rushed via helicopters to the University of Tennessee Medical Center.
Even though he was severely injured, Seale managed to order a lock down from the intercom in the office, causing teachers to make sure all students were in classrooms and the doors were locked. Because of Seale’s quick thinking and the swift actions of teachers, no students were injured. Unfortunately, Seale and Pierce were left in serious and critical conditions, respectively.
Bartley, the suspect, is currently in custody at a juvenile facility in a neighboring town, Scott County. A third assistant principal, John Turnblazer, is currently filling in for Seale while he recovers.
What actions is Hall taking on a daily basis to ensure the safety of its students? According to Security Guard Jerry Lavery, Hall’s well organized security system is key. First, the security guards use a roving patrol system to move throughout the school building. This patrol means they’re not at the same places at the same time every day, so no one would be able to predict where they are at any given point of the school day.
Secondly, entrances of the building are locked once school starts in the morning, with the exception of one set of front doors where a member of the administration is stationed at a desk. This person ensures that no one enters who should not be at Hall. If anyone comes in, even recent alumni, they must first go to the main office to get a pass so security guards can check for an ID should they see them in the hallway.
Usually about three times a day the security guards go outside to check school grounds and make sure there are no unusual, suspicious looking cars without Hall’s parking sticker. Lavery said, “We know most of the students and staff.” Therefore, the guards are usually able to recognize any strange faces in the Hall building.
Further, all security guards have radios for easy communication should a problem arise. They also meet at the end of the day to review anything that has happened and to make any necessary adjustments. “This is a fairly secure environment,” Lavery said.

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Hall Suffers From Winter Substitute Shortage
By Rosemary Pierson, ’08
Highlights Staff Writer

IT IS A COMMON sight at Hall to see teachers struggling to find substitutes to cover their classes and, as the season changes, the lack of substitutes will become even more apparent. According to Principal Dr. Donald Slater, “During the winter months, at times our substitute pool is shallow. Some of our regular substitutes are retired teachers who fly south for the winter months and return in the spring.”
To find eligible substitutes, the Department of Human Resources advertises and interviews candidates for the district. The qualifying substitutes are than entered into and contacted on as needed basis through an automated phone system called “SubFinder.”
As a result of the winter substitute shortages, the number of needed teaching assistants increases. Slater said, “Our full-time teaching assistants help fill in the gaps when a teacher is unable to secure a substitute. Occasionally, teachers will cover each others’ classes if that is the only option left.” This situation creates the problem of one teacher covering more classes than usual, which puts stress on the teacher as well as on the students.
Slater said, “The substitute shortages is a significant problem at Hall and can be an inconvenience.” He added, “If teachers are prepared to be absent and secure a sub on their own or give SubFinder plenty of time to find one, it is not usually a problem at all.”
Because the SubFinder is an effective method of locating substitutes an updated program wouldn’t alleviate the problem. So what will help alleviate the problem? Slater said, “My wish list would include one full-time building substitute, in addition to our teaching assistants, who would sub when necessary or in an emergency. I also believe that upgrading the pay scale and added benefits might be attractive to more people seeking to gain experience working in a school.”

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Board Looks Into Honors Biology

By Julie Goodman, ’07
News Editor

AN UNSUCCESSFUL attempt in 1998 to add more honors courses to the West Hartford public high schools is currently being reexamined by the board of education. At the December 6, 2005 meeting, the board will vote on a proposal that, if passed, will introduce an honors biology course to Hall and Conard.
The process of working towards the creation of an honors biology course began when a small group of Hall parents testified before the board at the June 7, 2005 meeting about the necessity of offering honors courses. At the November 1, 2005 meeting, the issue was created into a formal agenda item. Although the involved parents like Dr. Grant Holtzberg and Ellen Cohen explained to the board the need for many additional honors courses, the December vote will only determine the fate of honors biology.
One of the concerns with creating more honors courses is that it may affect Hall’s competitive academic rating. According to Dr. Donald Slater, “Adding honors courses would adversely affect our ranking nationally due to the formula used.” Slater explained that the formula considers the number of students who take AP courses. By offering more honors classes, students would take less AP courses, which would potentially lower Hall’s rating.
According to some of the parents involved, there were multiple reasons that motivated them to work for more honors courses. One of their concerns was the period of time this issue has existed, as the curriculum has been arranged for many years so that an honors course isn’t offered for a class with an AP level. Cohen said, “People have been asking for this [change] for years. Nothing has been done for a variety of reasons.”
Concerns about student stress also motivated parents to speak to the board of education. Many of the parents shared Cohen’s view that high-achieving students are pressured to take AP classes in order to be adequately challenged, but then become overloaded. “To take all AP’s is just too much for almost anybody,” she said.
To balance their academic load, students are forced to take some AP classes and offset