The Student News Site of Burlington High School

BHS Register
The Student News Site of Burlington High School

BHS Register
The Student News Site of Burlington High School

BHS Register

Vermont

Changes to the administrative hiring process under Superintendent Yaw Obeng have removed parents, students and teachers from hiring committees. | Photo: Alexandre Silberman/Register

Investigation: Reduced Community Input in Hiring Process Sparks Criticism

March 29, 2017

Changes to the administrator hiring process under Burlington School District Superintendent Yaw Obeng have removed parents from committees and left community members concerned. Obeng was involved in hiring a new principal at Champlain Elementary School...

Senior Alex Cate, a captain on the Burlington High School Varsity Football team, has been selected to the 2017 Shrine Maple Sugar Bowl, the all-star game of Vermont football. The Shrine Bowl is an annual competition between the best players from Vermont and New Hampshire. Vermont players are selected by a committee of coaches each year based on their performance and skills in the past season. They are coached by the BFA Varsity football coach Bob Lockerby, who has had several exceptional seasons with his team in the past few years. The Shrine Bowl was first played in 1954 in New Hampshire. It was played in the granite state every year but one until 2009, when it was played in Windsor, Vt. for three years. After three years back in New Hampshire, the game has been hosted at Castleton University for the past two years, and will be played there this year on Aug. 5, starting at 5 p.m. Since the bowl’s creation, Vermont has only won 14 out of the 63 matchups. Vermont won last year in a 50-2 blowout victory.

Senior Alex Cate Named to Shrine Bowl Team

Theo Davis • March 27, 2017

Senior Alex Cate, a captain on the Burlington High School Varsity Football team, has been selected to the 2017 Shrine Maple Sugar Bowl, the all-star game of Vermont football. The Shrine Bowl is an annual competition between the best players from Vermont...

Students pitched tents in the lobby and hallways after winter weather moved the annual Spectrum Sleep Out event indoors. | Photo: Alexandre Silberman/Register

Winter Weather Moves Spectrum Sleep Out Indoors

Emma Chaffee • March 24, 2017

Over 100 Burlington High School students planned to bundle up and brave the cold tonight for the annual Spectrum Sleep Out. Mother Nature decided otherwise. Organizers moved the event inside the high school building after a combination of snow, sleet...

Photo via Creative Commons

Budget, Maintenance Bond Pass, New Board Members Elected

March 7, 2017

Burlington voters approved a $74 million school budget on Town Meeting Day, said yes to a capital improvements bond and determined school board members. The complete education-related results are below: North District - School Board Incumbent Mark Barlow...

Helen Hossley (left), is challenging incumbent Mark Barlow (right), for the North District seat on the Burlington School Board. | Courtesy Photos

Your Guide to Burlington School Board Candidates

March 4, 2017

North District Five Burlington school board candidates will be on the ballot on March 7. However, only the North District is a contested race. Incumbent Mark Barlow will be facing off against challenger Helen Hossley. Barlow, a graduate of Burlington...

A torn up Register newspaper found in C-Woods | Photo Emma Chaffee/Register

The “C-Woods” Legacy

Emma Chaffee • March 3, 2017

Junior Alida Beste says one word comes to mind when she hears ‘C-Woods’: trouble. C-Woods is the area behind the C building of BHS, the wing in which most English and History classes take place. Junior Delia McConnell also feels that C-Woods has...

Burlington High School senior Matt Boisvert wrestles for the Frisbee in a game against Vermont Commons School in April 2016. | Photo: Jake Bucci/Register

Ultimate Frisbee Growing in Popularity

Lucy Govoni • March 1, 2017

Walking through most parks on a warm sunny day one often finds a handful of teens and twenty somethings throwing a frisbee around. The game is synonymous with cookouts, trips to the beach and college students. However, the relatively new sport of ultimate...

The law school diploma of Agnes Kelley, the first woman to graduate with one in the state of Ohio. | Photo: Courtesy

What’s Up With That? The Kelly Collection

Lucy Govoni • February 28, 2017

Every day hundreds of students pass through the library, however few know of the Kelly Collection of books. Near the beanbag chairs and in the upstairs corner of the library, students can find the Kelly Collection of books. The Kelly Collection boasts...

Abbey Pasquence and Sean Fleming both work in the Offensend Library at Burlington High School. | Photo: Lucy Govoni/Register

Technology Reduces Need for Library Books

Lucy Govoni • February 22, 2017

Technology is a central to the learning at Burlington High School. There are smart boards in many classrooms, students turn in their assignments online and every student has a Chromebook. Unfortunately, when technology became integrated into the BHS...

For Seamus Stein to get to class, he has travel up broken elevators, outdoors and up steep ramps. The Burlington High School building, built in 1956, is falling apart and no longer ADA compliant. The Burlington School Board toured the high school in 2013 along with Karen Downey, the District Occupational Therapist and Lindsay Foote, the District Physical Therapist. The group accessed many problems with ADA compliance alongside possible solutions. None of the solutions suggested have been enacted. Among the concerns in A Building are the constantly malfunctioning elevators, which are hard to find and need a key. The ramp to the main entrance is uncovered and exposed to the elements, potentially making it slippery during winter time. There is no easy access to the auditorium, as it is only accessible from the outside. Once in the auditorium, there is no clear path to a restroom. All but one of the ramps between buildings are out of ADA compliance. The sidewalk from the bus stop to the B Building entrance is potholed. For someone who is physically disabled to access the second floor of C Building, one would have to exit C Building and find another elevator to use. There is no emergency exit for wheelchairs in E Building, as the path from the building to the parking lot is unpaved. The district concluded that the amount of time needed for a handicapped student to travel from A to E exceeded the time given, and E and C building should no longer be functional for classroom use. For some, this is just a to do list. However, for Seamus and others who are physically disabled, these problems are an everyday hardship. For example, going to the restroom from the second floor of C Building is a journey in itself. “I would have to go to E Building using the ramp, go down to the outside floor using the elevator, then go outside.” Seamus is also forced to travel outside inorder for him to get from advisory in C Building to Algebra in D Building. Seamus mother, Kate, works at BHS as a substitute teacher. “The outside paths are not safe,” she said. “They are decrepit.” The lack of elevators is not the only problem, as the ones that are currently in place are not functional. There is inadequate signage within the elevators. In the E elevator, all the numbers are off by one. Staff members have been forced to correct the elevators with Sharpies, as well as writing directions from the elevator. “When you’re familiar, you learn it,” Kate Stein said, “but sometimes you get in the elevator and you’re like, ‘Hmm, which one am I in?” The elevators also malfunction, often times with students in them. In the latest instance, the B Building elevator stopped working while a paraeducator and their student were in it. The elevator was out for 25 minutes. The phone inside the elevator was also faulty, and the teacher did not know who to call on her cell phone. After 25 minutes, the elevator began to work again. Mrs. Stein has been leading the charge to put phone numbers inside and outside the elevator in case of malfunction. “It’s the kind of thing where you don’t know you need staples until you’re out of staples,” she said. Building Disrepair In a report prepared by Engineering Ventures in 2014, the district notes that “It is likely that the structural systems met the requirements of the building code at the time of construction. Therefore, even if current standards are not met, the buildings are code compliant by the ‘Existing Buildings’ section of the current building code.” Teachers and students, however, are finding more and more issues with the school, some of which have been disruptive to learning. Ron MacNeil has a crack down the middle of his classroom floor. After years of attempting to get the problem solved, the crack was covered by the installation of tile flooring. “It’s a temporary solution,” MacNeil believes Benjamin Roesch has been a teacher at BHS for 11 years. He has had a problem with pests in his class, specifically with ants and bees. “It’s frustrating when I have 10 bees in the room, and I have to choose between closing the windows on a 80 degree day, or swatting bees.” He has tried going through the proper channels to fix the problem, but he often times receives little or no response. “There is a little bit of a struggle sometimes between like the latitude we have to deal with on our own, and how well the school can respond to our needs,” he said. Roesch currently has a pile of dead ants on his windowsill. The school has been unresponsive in cleaning them. “It’s a struggle to keep up with need. And I don’t necessarily feel like it’s anybodys fault,” he said. “I’ve always felt that the custodians work their butts off. It’s just an old building with a lot of need.” Time to rebuild Three approaches to renewing the BHS campus were drafted by Black River Design and presented to the board in 2014. Plan A called for minor changes to the entrance, as well as making the building ADA compliant and up to code. This was the cheapest option. Plan B was intermediate in cost, and included keeping only the auditorium and the gym, demolishing everything else. The additions would be build in the field between the bus circle and the parking lot. The final proposal, Plan C, was the most drastic. It included a complete demolition of the school, and rebuilding it where the baseball field currently is. As of now, these plans have not seen the light of day. The main reason being timing, as the plans were proposed when the district was looking for a new superintendent. However, there is still hope. The school board plans to ask voters to bond 27 million dollars for capital repairs all over the district. The total cost of repairs would reach about 65 million dollars, including the 25 million needed to bring BHS up to code. The district has two options to consider when asking voters for a bond. The first would simply be to request a bond to cover the 65 million dollars in needed for the bare minimum of repairs. The second option would be to first ask the voters for the money to cover all repairs except the ones necessary at BHS. The district would then gather public opinion on whether the public would be willing to fund the construction of a new school, just the bare minimum, or somewhere inbetween. Despite problems being apparent, there is no easy solution. Creating a plan that taxpayers, students, teachers, and parents are happy with is not an easy task. “Does it make sense to just pour money into the school to fix things for ten years?” Kate Stein asks, “Or should we look farther out and look at a building that could be green, a building that could be more conducive to 21st century learning, and a building that could be accessible to everybody? I don’t know.”

Falling to the Ground: BHS Struggles With Disrepair, Accessibility

February 17, 2017

For Seamus Stein to get to class, he has travel up broken elevators, outdoors and up steep ramps. The Burlington High School building, built in 1956, is falling apart and no longer ADA compliant. The Burlington School Board toured the high school in...

A sign outside the South Burlington High School football field reads Once a Rebel, Always a Rebel, pictured on Feb. 8. The school board voted unanimously to remove the mascot, as ties to the confederate south prompted pressure from students and community members. | Photo Courtesy: Ben Tate

South Burlington Drops ‘Rebel’ Name

Emma Chaffee • February 13, 2017

On Feb. 1, the South Burlington School Board voted unanimously to change the ‘Rebel’ name used by the high school for sports teams. This decision marked the end of a long fought battle by students opposed to the nickname. The board voted to keep...

Whats Up With That? is a bi-weekly column written by Staff Writer Lucy Govoni.

What’s Up With That? Student Parking Lot

Lucy Govoni • February 6, 2017

In the state of Vermont people are legally allowed to drive when they turn 16, so it is no surprise that many Burlington High School students hit the road when getting to school each day. But the ride isn’t always smooth cruising. Those who drive to...

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