Regent Review-- December 2016

The Regent
Review
Volume XLVI Issue 4 December 2016
Pathways program sparks controversy
by Nell Williamson Shaffer
West High School
will implement a the new
“Pathways” program next
year, and conflict in the
student body over the
proposal is mounting.
The MMSD strategic
framework describes
the new pathway program
as “a sequence of rigorous
interconnected courses and
experiences, both within
and outside of school, driven
by the student and their
academic and career plan,”
with a goal for increased
graduation rates and providing
students with a “postsecondary
plan that could
lead to an industry-recognized
certificate, license or
associate or baccalaureate
degree.” However, the specific
details of the plan have
some students concerned.
The pathways system
plans to eventually place all
students on a pathway in 9th
grade, which they will stay
with all four years. The pathways
are being drawn from
a list of 17 career clusters
from WIcareerpathways.
org including Business
Management and Administration,
STEM (Science
Technology, Engineering
and Math), Manufacturing,
and Transportation.
West plans to implement
the Health Science pathway
in the 2017-2018 school
year, a currently undecided
pathway in the 2018-2019
school year, and then vote on
whether to place all students
in the pathway system by
the 2019-2020 school year.
However, the Pathways
list has a focus on
vocational training. Additionally,
the Pathways program
has partnered with
the Chamber of Commerce,
the Wisconsin Workforce
Development Commission,
and Madison College,
but not the University of
Wisconsin System, suggesting
a focus on vocational
rather than a profes-
School administrators comment on the pending Pathways plan
by Henry Barford
At West and across
the school district, students,
teachers, and administrators
anticipate the
sweeping and controversial
Personalized Pathways
initiative, set to begin in
the fall of 2017. Part of a
larger, comprehensive plan
by MMSD to formulate
a more relevant curriculum,
with a more comparable
experience between
schools, Pathways promises
to significantly shift
the academic experience
of the students taking part.
According to Principal
Beth Thompson, early
development of Personalized
Pathways began as
early as Superintendent
Cheatham’s first year on
the job: “When she first
came in as superintendent,
she did a lot of listening
sessions to get a feel for
the district;” additionally,
“an outside consultant was
hired to do a review of the
courses offered throughout
the district as well as
a data analysis to inform
us on how kids are doing.”
This initial research
culminated in the formation
of an advisory committee
of “2,500 community
members from all stakeholder
groups, including
teachers, parents, staff,
post-secondary educators,
and the private sector.”
According to Principal
Thompson, this advisory
committee was responsible
for outlining a “strategic
framework” that would develop
in students “the skills
and abilities that all the
stakeholders prioritize”, and
would provide “instruction
and curriculum in an interconnected
way to get at the
things that students were
asking for, like relevance
and cultural competence.”
Thompson went on
to discuss the implementation
of the district’s new vision:
“We’re re-creating the
concept of a small learning
cont. on page
7
community- students will
have some common teachers
creating a program of study,
which will have a theme.”
This idea of all students’
academic experience
having an overarching
theme is at the heart
of Pathways. “They’ve
looked into a whole bunch
of large interest areas. The
first one is health science,
which is a very broad one,
and it’s not about being a
doctor!” says Thompson
emphatically. “This is not
Career Pathways, I want
to be clear on this. This
cont. on page
8
New Teachers
p 2
West’s Fall
Play
p. 3
Star Wars
p. 4
Rocket Launch
Site
p. 6

Regent Review Staff
Co-Editors in Chief
Katie Buhman
and
Nell Williamson Shaffer
Layout Editors
Cailin Jordan
Hadar Ohana
Layout and Design Advisor
Ms. Engelbart
Faculty Advisor
Mr. Nepper
Page 2
Feature
New teacher interview with Mr. Harvey
by Stella Rumble
Meet your new
German teacher!
Earlier in the school
year, I interviewed Mr.
Harvey to catch up on
his life, see how he is
enjoying West so far,
and hear his advice
for West students.
Mr. Charles Harvey
began teaching last
February, but this is his
first full year at West.
What do you
teach at West?
I teach German.
What made you
want to become a
teacher?
I’ve always
enjoyed sharing what
I know with people. I
have always felt a strong
connection to Germanic
culture and have loved
learning the language
ever since I was very
young. So, becoming a
teacher allowed me to
share my passion for
all things Germanic. It
seemed like a natural fit.
​ How do you
like West so far?​
I’ve been here at
West since the end of
February and I really
like it here. I feel very
fortunate to have such
wonderful colleagues
and to have students
who really want to learn
about German speaking
countries and enjoy
learning the language.
Do you have any
hobbies​outside of
school?
I enjoy spending
time with my friends.
I’m also a big fan of film
and try to see a movie as
often as possible. I also
can’t wait for the lake to
freeze over so I can go
ice fishing this winter!
Do you have
any advice for
West students?​
I would say to
them, try to get to know
your classmates, and
not just talk to the same
group you’ve known
for a long time. Those
people could turn
out to be the friends
who last a lifetime.
Also, we never really
grow as people if we
continuously stay in
the same places with
the same people.
Take a chance and
talk to someone new!
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!
Attention high schoolers looking
for a volunteer/service
opportunity:
The Franklin/Randall elementary
school Glo Ball will be
held on January 28, 2017
and they are still in need of volunteers.
If you would like to help out and earn
some volunteer hours, please use the
following link to sign up:
http://www.signupgenius.com/
go/20f0e4fabad2daa8-globall
Students who are particularly interested
in volunteering for face painting, please
contact Rebecca Upham at r.upham@
charter.net

Page 3
Feature
The West Play: The 39 Steps
by Maya Williamson Shaffer
One of the greatest
opportunities West
has to offer is found in
the amazing theater program.
This year’s play,
The 39 Steps, opened in
December, but work towards
the production was
underway in November.
Aviv Goldberg, one
of the stage crew heads,
said that “as far as building
the set, work on the
play started about three
weeks ago and then this
week we’ve actually
started building things”.
The 39 Steps is a
fun, dramatic, and action
packed play adapted
from the 1915 novel
and the 1935 movie
by Alfred Hitchcock.
Set in Great Britain,
it follows the dashing
Richard Hannay, played
by senior Stefo Livorni,
as he is thrust into a world
of adventure, spies, criminality,
and eventually,
love.
Although it
was first performed with
a cast of only four people,
West’s production had a
larger cast, where some
of the actors had multiple
roles, which to Goldberg
was “really fun to see”.
Although Goldberg
says work on the production
was going “very
well,” she thinks the biggest
challenge in putting
together the production
will be “getting the sets,
costumes, and characters
all together like in one
big unit and making sure
everything fits together.”
But she was quick to add
that, although they still
had many weeks of work
ahead of the them, “the
actors [had] put in a lot
of time and the set [was]
getting a really good
start,” and there were
some “really cool set
pieces and the costumes
[were] really cool”.
Although auditions
are done for the year,
there are still ways to get
involved.
West High has a
number of different student-lead
theater crews;
including stage crew, costumes,
lighting, sound,
hair and makeup, admin,
and props. Crews are open
to all- regardless of experience-
and are an essential
part of helping a
production come together.
The easiest way to
join a crew is to stop by
Theater Club in the auditorium
at lunch on Thursdays
and get yourself on
a crew’s communication
list. But if Thursdays
aren’t a good day for you,
you can always check the
theater board on the third
floor by the choir room
for updates and information
about theater at West.
Stage crew, a good
crew to join for general
production experience,
has builds every
week. Goldberg says
that“anyone who wants to
get involved can come to
anytime for as many hours
as they want”. Another
good way to help out and
see the performances as
to volunteer as an usher,
although it’s mostly students
in theater classes.
Goldberg encouraged
everyone to see the
production, even if they
aren’t interested in theater,
remarking that “it’s a
really cool show because
it’s Alfred Hitchcock kind
of thing and it’s a super
cool mix if you’re interested
in action or comedy”.
And of course, the entire
theater department appreciates
support for their
amazing actors, teachers,
and crews from people
when you come see their
wonderful productions.

Page 4
Entertainment
Star Wars Rogue One: What You Should Know
by Quinn Buhman
The next movie of the Star
Wars saga is going to be a
standalone film detailing
events which occur just
before Episode 4, “A New
Hope”. It features a group
of Rebels who attempt
to steal the Death Star’s
plans. The release date
for the film is December
16, 2016. Let’s dive in on
what you should know
when it hits theaters:
Plot:
Jyn Erso, a former criminal,
is recruited by Rebellion
leader Mon Mothma
to help in a quest to steal
the plans to the Death
Star, a massive armored
battle station capable of
destroying planets. She is
joined by a ragtag group
of Rebels who attempt
to outwit Director Orson
Krennic, an overseer of
construction, and provide
the Rebels with a means to
destroy the battle station.
Cast:
Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones)
– a reckless young woman
(believed to be 20-30),
on her own since age 15,
who has extensive knowledge
of the galactic underworld
and combat
Director Orson Krennic
(Ben Mendelsohn) – an Imperial
weapons researcher
tasked with keeping the
Death Star plans secure
Bodhi Rook (Riz
Ahmed) – a highly experienced
Rebellion pilot
Mon Mothma (Genevieve
O’Reilly) – primary
Rebellion leader
Chirrut Îmwe (Donnie
Yen) – a blind warrior
who uses simple
weapons and spirituality
Captain Cassian Andor
(Diego Luna) – a chief
intelligence agent for the
Rebellion Saw Gerrera
(Forest Whitaker) – a Rebellion
freedom fighter
K-2SO (Alan Tudyk)
– a once-Imperial enforcer
droid which
was reprogrammed to
serve the Rebellion
Timeline:
The above image indicates
where all the Star Wars
Universe films, books,
comics and TV shows
fit in a timeline (Rogue
One is circled in red).
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Dear Reggie...
Page 5
Entertainment
Dear Reggie,
What should I do if I’m marked absent in class but I was there?/ What should I do if
I’m marked absent but I was just tardy?
Sincerely,
Absent Abby
Dear Absent Abby,
Every SLC office should have copies of attendance update forms available. All you need
to do is pick one up and fill out the date and class period for which you were marked
absent. Then, take it to the teacher who marked you absent and they will sign it and
update it with whether you should have been marked present or tardy. Finally, take the
signed sheet back to your SLC office and turn it in to have your attendance updated.
This can be especially important for athletes, as athletes may have to sit out games or
competitions for unexcused absences. So remember to clear up those unexcused absences!
Sincerely,
Reggie
What should I do if I need help in a class?
- Struggling Sam
Struggling Sam,
After progress grades have been released, many students may find their grades aren’t
what they hoped they’d be. The best way to get help is to talk to your teacher. They
might have ways for you to make up missing assignments, give you extra credit opportunities,
or help you find review materials for a test. If you’re unsure of how to ask
your teacher, the easiest way is to send them an email or talk to them after class, and
ask to meet with them at lunch, before school, or after school.
If meeting with your teacher didn’t help, another way to get help is to go to the resource
hall and request a tutor. If you have a study hall, there are always honor guard
tutors in study hall who are there to help you with homework or prep for tests. If you
don’t have a study hall, you can sign up for a peer tutor, which will
be matched to you. Peer tutors are available in most subjects and
can meet with you before school, after school, or at lunch. Remember,
it’s not too late to get your grades up before finals!
Sincerely,
Reggie

Page 6
Feature
West Rocket Club campaigns for new launch site
by Hadar Ohana
West Rocket Club is
currently working towards
easing public controversy
over a new launch site.
Currently, the club must
“drive to the Richard Bong
recreational area, which is
a 100 minute drive away
from Madison” according
to club member Valerie
Hellmer.
There are currently no
local areas available for
the team to launch their
rockets. Parents and
students view this as a
major inconvenience that
hinders club participation.
The Department of
Natural Resources has
recently compiled plans
for a new recreational area
that includes a launch site
for model rockets which
will be available 10 days
per year. However, public
controversy over the use
of this land abounds. Local
residents worry of noise
and pollution that may
result from the rockets.
Hellmer is one of the Rocket
Club members who spoke
at the Natural Resource
Board meeting about park
usage on Wednesday,
December 14.
She stresses that the sound
emitted from rockets 50
feet away is like that of
a loud conversation--not
louder than the humans
using the park. Lacking
the potential to cause
environmental damage,
the rockets only make a
very small plume of smoke.
West Rocketry
has expressed interest
in partnering with a
conservation group to
protect the park, offering
to volunteer time working
there to maintain the
environment. West Rocket
Club would benefit greatly
from the new launch site.
A model rocket launch. Photo courtesy of Valerie Hellmer
above and below: West Rocket Club activities.
Campaigning against model rockets Photo courtesy of Sauk Prairie Conservation Alliance

Page 7
Continued Stories
Pathways
cont. from page
1
sional or liberal arts focus.
Some students have expressed
concern that this
program will not provide
as much support to students
who plan on attending
a four-year college
in a more humanitiesoriented
field, especially
as the pathways program
has lumped all humanities
and social sciences into
one pathway titled “liberal
arts and sciences.”
Laura Nicholas, the
co-president of Current
Events Club and a leader
in the student Pathways
opposition task force, has
expressed concern over
the treatment of the humanities
in the Pathways
proposal.
She describes herself
as a “humanities
kid” with a broad range
of interests in all the subjects,
and feels like she
wouldn’t “fit into any
pathways or the system
in general” and wanted to
advocate against the program
because she “knew
that other kids would
have similar struggles.”
Junior Angie Jiang,
who is not a member
of Nicholas’ task
force but is concerned
about Pathways, agrees
that Pathways may not
be for every student, saying
that “Pathways should
be kept as an option… a
widely publicized and
accessible option but
not wall to wall because
it’s kind of suffocating”
Nicholas plans on
“getting more diverse
groups involved” with
her movement to reduce
the perception that those
opposing Pathways are
composed of privileged
students, saying that “unfortunately
the group we have
right now is mostly white
and affluent students. Pathways
is trying to address
the achievement gap and we
want to get more students of
color involved. We want to
reach out to all sorts of different
groups who have different
stakes in the program.”
Jiang agrees that there
may be a slightly incorrect
perception of the Pathway
opponents, saying “there is a
stifling by the school board
who’s saying that the people
complaining about pathways
are privileged. I somewhat
agree and I somewhat don’t.”
Jiang adds: “Obviously
pathways is meant to
deal with the achievement
gap, which is one of the most
pressing issues in Madison,
but the complete lack of understanding
of what Pathways
are trying to support,
which is incentivizing historically
disenfranchised minorities
and showing them a
future that they can see and
that they can achieve, by
the people opposing pathways
is also troubling...It’s
not a black and white issue
and I think some people
are treating it as such.”
However, Nicholas
and Jiang both have similar
problems with the current
Pathways proposal. Nicholas
and her Pathways opposition
task force have outlined five
major problems that they see
in the Pathways proposal:
lack of choice, lack of flexibility,
an ideological challenge,
the lack of transparency,
and the speed of the plan.
Nicholas characterizes
the Pathways system
as having a “lack of choice”
for students. Unlike in high
schools like Memorial,
where most students take
a standardized sequence of
classes like English 1 through
English 4 to fulfill graduation
requirements, West
has always been known for
the variety of English, science,
and history electives
taken by upperclassmen instead
of a more standardized
curriculum. According to
Nicholas, Pathways would
change this, as the plan currently
outlines “consolidation
and cutbacks in the humanities
department, as well
as in some science classes.”
Additionally, Nicholas
is concerned by the lack
of flexibility created under a
Pathways system. According
to the district, students
may exit the Pathway to
take electives and will only
take 3-4 core classes within
their pathway.
However, Nicholas
suggests that this core type
system may have ramifications
for students. Because
there will be limited space
in core classes, if a student
not in a Pathway wanted to
take a Pathway class as an
elective, it would be hard
to get in as there would
be prioritization for students
within the Pathway.
Nicholas and her
group take an ideological
opposition to the Pathways
proposal: “Do we want 14
year olds to even be considering
narrowing their possibilities
or narrowing their
focus? Most 14 year olds…
are certainly not thinking
about college. It seems premature
to me.” Nicholas
also commented that, if she
were a freshman deciding
a Pathway, she might be
tempted to follow a friend
into their Pathway, even
if she had no interest in it.
Additionally, 80%
of college students change
their major at least once
during their four years of
college, so it stands to reason
that high schoolers
may regret their Pathway
choice. Furthermore, the
district says that students
will have the ability to
switch Pathways, but they
have not outlined a plan for
how this action will work.
However, Nicholas
believes that the “most
pressing issue right now”
is the lack of transparency
with the Pathway development.
She believes that
there has been “No effort to
communicate the progress
throughout last year and
and this year with parents or
students” and that “the only
way students are hearing
about this are from teachers
educating us about what’s
happening in the school.”
Noticing incongruity between
answers given to her,
Nicholas believes that she’s
“been hearing different answers
from different people,
and [the administration]
seem to be changing their
answers by the audience.”
According to Nicholas,
sometimes, the MMSD
or West administration says
that Pathways will “contextualize
the learning by
focusing the curriculum of
history, math science on
a Pathway like health sciences,”
while other times
the administration claims
that the curriculum will
“stay the same besides
quarterly focused projects.”
Nicholas cites lack of response
to feedback from
teachers and students as part
of the transparency issue.
Over the summer, the
district hosted a summer institute
for teacher feedback,
and that she’s “heard from
teachers that their feedback
was ignored and those
issues persist right now.
Nicholas also says that opportunity
for changing the
current proposal is limited,
cont. on page 8

Page 8
Continued stories
Pathways
cont. from page
7
as “they’ve been keeping
this under the radar for a
long time when it was under
development but now
it’s progressed so far that
there’s not much leeway
for us to make a measurable
impact,” leading to her
concern over the speed at
which the proposals have
been progressing, which she
describes as “disturbing.”
She believes that the Pathways
system has not been
well thought out by the district
and the West administration
saying “their answer
to a lot of our questions
has been ‘we’re figuring it
out’... I don’t think that’s
an acceptable answer.”
Jiang concurs, saying
“Pathways doesn’t
have as much research on
it as we need.” Support for
Pathways has mostly come
from the Long Beach Unified
School District Study,
where all students are in a
system like Pathways and
have generally benefited.
However, as Jiange points
Administration
is a different way of expressing
your education.”
“It’s a broad field
and it’s a marketable area
of study,” Thompson continues.
“The theme this
year is Health Equity for
social justice. Our school
is always been very social
justice oriented.”
The Pathways student
experience will center
around new SLCs for each
pathway, which will provide
a “thematically integrated”
program of study.“A group
of teachers at each grade
level is sharing this group
of kids and integrating their
curriculum with quarterly
assignments,” Thompson
out, the Long Beach District
is made up of mostly wealthy
families, and so “that doesn’t
line up with what Madison’s
situation is… with the
amount of support that people
of their income get, it’s
not proven to be beneficial
for lower income families”
Nicholas has mostly
been doing her Pathways
related advocacy through
her leadership in Current
Events Club, which is comprised
of about thirty students.
During the last two
meetings, the club has discussed
what Pathways was,
the problems that they see,
and their plan of action. According
to Nicholas, they are
“trying to get more community
members aware and involved”
because “that’s the
only way we’ll have enough
pressure to make change”
Nicholas has formed
a task force that plans to
advocate for changes to the
Pathways proposal through
forums and letters to local
newspapers. Their main goal
is getting the district to wait
on voting on “wall to wall”
pathways, placing all students
in every school in a
pathway in 9th grade, until
the first two pathway cohorts
have graduated, after the
2021-22 school year. Nicholas
says this “just makes
statistical sense,” as the
Pathways program would
measure success by increased
graduation rates and
decreased classroom segregation,
the effects of which
would “not be truly visible”
until after the cohorts graduated.
Jiang agrees, saying that it
would be “smart” to wait,
so “we can see the effects of
Pathways on students before
making it mandatory.”
The Current Events
Club task force plans on attending
the West pacific forum
on November 28 with
a philosophical statement,
stories, and personal experiences.
Nicholas plans on
having these stories share
“personal experiences with
broad range of electives
available, both honors and
non-honors throughout the
grades, to show that it’s
explains. “You’ll still be
learning the same content
but you’ll also have this integrated
project that’s connected
with the pathway.”
The ‘strategic framework’
set in place by Dr.
Cheatham’s advisory committee
is twofold, Personalized
Pathways being one
part. Most criticism of the
coming changes stems
from the second part: the
“alignment” of school curriculums
across the district.
Principal Thompson
stresses “a comparable experience
between schools,”
saying, “a lot of our departments
are taking a step
back, for instance, English-
we’re trying to create
an experience where
everyone gets an aligned
[sic] experience. The idea
is not to remove electives
in English or social studies,
that richness in the range
of the electives offered that
creates student engagement,
not a narrow focus.”
Students interested
in becoming involved can
come to Current Events
Club, which meets Thursdays
in room 2034, or join
the Current Events Club
Facebook Group, which has
links to proposal documents
to help students better understand
the Pathways proposal.
Nicholas encouraged
interested students to
attend the Board of Education
meeting on Pathways
to share concerns with the
West specific representative.
As final advice to
concerned students, Jiang
says “try and get informed…
form your opinions but remember
that others are valid...The
thing that we are
learning from our humanities
electives is to look at
things from multiple perspectives.
And if you are
defending these things, you
should take the lessons that
you’re learning and apply
them to what’s happening.”
but it is forcing us to analyze:
Are they still aligned to
the standards? Are they still
popular enough for kids?
Are they effective enough?”
Join the Regent Review!
We are looking for writers,
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Meetings are on Mondays at
lunch in room 3002.