A NEW SCHOOL YEAR BEGINS

School started quietly this year on Lincoln-Road, and as far as everyone is concerned, the quieter the better. Though L-S will go through its annual extravaganza of turmoil, stresses, strains, controversies, growth, learning, marches, assemblies, athletic victories and defeats—I am referring here to the normal realities of a high school year—everyone at L-S would be happy to see this year pass without any extraordinary challenges.

The school administration and faculty are trying hard to strike the right balance between remembering the tragedy of last January 19 and moving on. This is a very difficult undertaking, and there are no blueprints available. We are making this up as we go along, and are fortunate to be able draw upon the instincts and ideas of so many thoughtful staff and students.

The school safety committee-made up of administration, school committee, police, and townspeople—issued a provisional report over the summer. How wise they were to take time to deliberate and not simply react to the emotions of last January. The report called for the installation a few surveillance cameras trained on a some doors (to deal with intruder and property damage issues); a restriction on the number of doors that visitors and students can use; a better way to identify and sign in visitors; the provision for regular lock-down drills; house meetings to reinforce the need for students to keep communications flowing. In short, the administration and faculty continue to believe in the positive nature of the L-S culture and that our security is best assured by good communications and relationships within the building.

Most gratifying is that the great majority of parents still thinks highly of the school and approve of this deliberative, common sense security approach. That’s the feedback we have received thus far and that’s what last years post-January 19 school committee and over-ride votes indicated.

DR. JOHN RITCHIE’S COMMENTS

In the recent LS staff newsletter, Superintendent/ Principal John Ritchie added these thoughts to the issue of security and L-S culture:

• I also think I'm on to some aspect of the school that I'd like to write about more, which is the unique and healthy dichotomy between a casual and informal attitude and culture, and deep seriousness and order underneath. I'd be interested in your views.
  
  
• Late last spring, I sent an angry letter to the local papers about the sudden disappearance of the large, round, wooden L-S sign that hangs--or hung--on Lincoln Road. The sign meant a lot to me, as I'd had it designed and installed during my first year at L-S, surprised as I was that the school had no attractive signage whatsoever. It was very discouraging when it disappeared, and very depressing to contemplate the possibility that students had stolen it. Anyway, it was returned over the summer, along with a note, in the form of a poem, indicating that the sign had been taken merely for safekeeping (who knows why?), and that it been cleaned, and now was being delivered back to us. Apparently, whatever perils the sign needed guarding against had passed. I love stories with happy and surprising endings, and I share this with you as it was just one of the little things that contributed to such a positive beginning to the school year.
  
       
• I've been thinking a great deal of late about the famous 'culture' of L-S, a phenomenon or set of characteristics widely cited as being at the heart of the school, thought by many to be the source of the school's strength, and thought by some to be the source of some of the school's problems. I would like to write about this topic at greater length, in a different venue, and I will. But for now, what has struck me is that I think there is a fairly widespread misunderstanding of the 'L-S Culture,' Here, in brief, is what I'd like to say on the matter. There is, without doubt, an informal and casual quality about the school. Students are allowed to hang out in groups in the hallways. There is no dress code (though dress is generally completely appropriate). You might, on a given day, hear a student sitting on a carpeted area playing a banjo. Some adults are known to students by their first names.
  
      
• The surface casualness, however, does not imply or reflect a casual attitude towards policies, procedures, or the well-being of students. This is by no stretch of the imagination an "anything goes, keep it loose, play it by ear" school. In fact, the contrast between the informal atmosphere and appearance, and the substructure of intentional and thoughtful mechanisms to keep track of students, discuss them, look out for them, follow up on them, is startling. This is not, by the way, a claim of perfection. It is simply a reflection on the odd fact that--from my perch, anyway--L-S is at once both the most casual, on its surface; and least casual, at its core, school I've ever known. As I said, I have more to say on the topic and will in the near future.”

SOME OTHER NEWS NOTES OF INTEREST

• The football field and the track are done! The former now has artificial turf, the latter a state-of-the-art synthetic surface. The new grandstands are in. The project, which was the final piece of the new building project, was completed in collaboration with the town, which will also have use of the field;
  
  
• How great that the classes of 1962 and 1963 are going to have a reunion lunch—at the new school! The big date is, Saturday, October 6.
  
  
• Enrollment continues to grow. We are now at about 1650….down from the high of about 2,000 in the early 70s….but way higher than the low point of 850 of the early 90s.
  
  
• Please check out the History and Culture Page to see some of the recent happening at the school and some of the new artwork/displays. Each year, it seems, new murals are being completed, which continues a tradition begun in the old building;
  
  http://www.lsrhs.net/publications/HistoryCulture/
  
  
• Students are not happy about the new state regulations requiring more driver education, and more supervised driving time. Remember when you got your license? Oh happy day!
  
  
• The U.S. Supreme Court, in the notorious, "Jesus does bong hits” case issued a ruling that further restricts free speech for most high school students. Happily, this does not affect L-S students (or those in four other states) whose free speech is protected by state law;
  
  
• The Supreme Court also issued a ruling bearing on racial balance plans that could potentially endanger the METCO program. Though the threat is not imminent, there have already some early efforts to mobilize on behalf of the program. It would certainly be hard to imagine L-S without the METCO  Program. More on this in subsequent newsletters.
  
  
• The 20th Annual Jimmy Mack March Against AIDS is scheduled for Sunday, October 21, at 11 am. Please consider joining us in one of the school's oldest traditions. Named in memory of alum Jimmy McIntrye, the march has tried to spread awareness of the continuing AIDS crisis, raise money for treatment and research, and remember the dozen L-S alums who have succumbed to this terrible disease. The school’s old and new AIDS Quilts can be viewed at these addresses:
  Photo 1 | Photo 2
  

That’s about it for now,

Bill Schechter,
History Dept., Emeritus
bill_schechter@lsrhs.net

FORUM/ THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER
http://www.lsrhs.net/alumni/forumnewspaper.php

THE NEW LS HISTORY/ CULTURE PAGE
http://www.lsrhs.net/publications/HistoryCulture/

 

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