NOCTILUCA Feb. 2016

AREYOUAWARE? Appleton, Wisconsin February 2016 Volume XXI

Issue I Page 2

North student population exceeds 1,700 Are you aware that Apple- By Erik Bakken

in staff members, as more teachers and support staff are required to maintain a feasible ratio of students to staff. Along with these changes and challenges, there are more opportunities open to North students because of the student population growth. In the past, advanced courses such as AP Physics, AP Calc BC and AP Statistics were not able to run every year because of a lack of students to ¿ ll classes. Now, with a larger student body, more classes are recurrently available and full. Staff have expressed their excitement for the increase in curricular op- portunities. “It’s de ¿ nitely positive that a greater number of students means a greater number of courses for students,” said Mrs. Baker. As for North’s future stu- dent population, it is not en- tirely clear as to whether it will continue to grow. If so, city school boundaries may even- tually be modi ¿ ed in order to equally distribute students at each of the three Appleton high schools. Additionally, if the city of Appleton grows signi ¿ cantly, a fourth Appleton school may be constructed in order to curb the in À ux of students attending the three existing high schools. than a conversation interrupted by tweets and updates to your snapchat story. This is partially the reason why the staff of the Noctiluca decided to dedicate a whole is- sue to awareness. We collected stories that (we feel) students should be aware about ranging from student features to policy changes. Giving these stories the coverage they deserve is hope- fully a small step towards be- ing more aware. Awareness will make us more compas- sionate and knowledgeable. So take out the earbuds, look up from your phone and give people the attention they de- serve. There is so much going on around you if you just pay attention. Megha Uberoi is a senior and Editor-in-Chief of the Noc- tiluca. Contact her through school e-mail or Facebook. Uberoi : Awarness importance, from page 1

There are many different ways that Appleton North stu- dents get to school every day. Some drive themselves. Some walk. Some take the school bus. And some take the city bus. Taking the Valley Tran- sit city bus is an option at all three of the major high schools across the city as well as at the middle schools, but the bussing system makes it much harder at Appleton North. While Appleton East and West are regular bus stops, meaning that the bus stops are once an hour, Appleton North is a peak stop, meaning the bus only stops here during peak traf ¿ c hours; for North, that means the bus stops here twice – once before school at 7:17 a.m. and once after ton North’s entire student population has exceeded 1700 this year? This ¿ gure includes students from the Appleton Career Academy, Renaissance School for the Arts and Tesla Engineering Charter School. The À uctuating size of the stu- dent community at North has generally grown due to many factors, producing both chal- lenges and bene ¿ ts for stu- dents and staff. There are several factors behind the surge in student population at North, the most prominent being the increased open enrollment at North. More students who live in boundary areas are choosing to come to North for region- ally acclaimed programs such as music, theater and sports. In general, North receives the most open enrolled students of the high schools in the AASD. Another external factor in- À uencing the growth in student population is increased preva- lence of businesses such as Kimberly Clark and Thrivent in the community since North opened, drawing more families into the Appleton area. Because of the growth in North’s student population, some challenges are posed to both students and staff. One By Ally Price

This bar graph depicts the number of students for all grades at Appleton North, Appleton Career Academy, Tesla and Renaissance. Growth in the number of stu- dents has caused scheduling con À icts and opportunities. Graphic by Erik Bakken

gym and PFM have become more dif ¿ cult to secure a place in, and class sizes have sometimes swelled in required courses. “The PFM courses that I teach have become more full. I would say that they’ve grown in size from around 25 students to around 30 students,” North PFM teacher Mrs. Roberta Baker said. Similar growth is evident across many required courses at North. The student growth often translates to an increase

North’s Student Population Data as of Sept. 18, 2015. Freshmen 414 37 1 6 Sophomores 410 24 2 4 Juniors 376 27 3 6 Seniors 414 23 2 10

North ACA Tesla Renaissance

of the greatest challenges per- tains to scheduling con À icts with many students. “Because there is a greater number of students who want to take the

same courses, scheduling has become more rigid in many cases,” associate Principal Dave Pynenberg said. Required courses such as

AASD seeks new public bus policy

school at 3:10 p.m. The fact that the bus is a peak stop rather than a regular stop can be problematic for kids who rely on the city bus for transportation to school. “Because the bus only comes twice a day, if someone who relies on the bus to get to school misses the morning bus, they have no way to get to school and will likely end up missing the whole day,” said Mrs. Debbie Strick, Ap- pleton North’s social worker. “Whereas if North became a regular bus stop, they could catch the next bus and only miss an hour or two of class.” The bus leaves right after Related Editorial Creating a public bus line that serves all students equally, Page 5

Talks have resumed between Valley Transit and AASD Assistant Superintendent Ben Vogel. Photo by Katharine Hackney

stop. The bus stop is seen by many as something that would greatly help students in poverty or with mental health and attendance issues, since a majority of students who rely on the city bus fall into this category. While as of right now, there are no immediate plans, ne- gotiations between Assistant Superintendent Ben Vogel and Valley Transit have been taking place, and attempts are being made at making North a regular stop on the bus line.

school and doesn’t come back means that students who rely on it for transportation can’t take part in after-school ac- tivities, whether it be a sport, a club, theater, or even attend- ing events like football games or plays. “Not giving these students easy access to transportation after school is cutting off an entire population of our stu- dent body,” said Mrs. Strick. Over the past year, she has been involved in contacting Valley Transit to advocate making North a regular bus