Austin High School - Comet Yearbook (Austin, TX)

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Editor ' s Journal Jan. 1 Winter Vacation ended; With a new year cornea federal tax changes. This year ' s changes reduced personal income taxes but increased Social Security Jan. 2-3 Driving These days were holidays. Jan. 4 When the ice i AISD called school ba Jan. 7 The U.S. and months of separation. Sec. of Slate George Shultz and Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko met for three and a half hours in Geneva. Switzerland. The meeting was descrit ed as flat and businesslike. Jan. 8 Washmgton and Moscow agreed to enter ambitious nuclear arms negotiations aimed at preventing an arms race in space and terminating it on earth. They planned of talks on weapons I Soviet SS-18 and I and icy conditions, school scheduled final exams were n Austin lawyer active in Jan. 15 The Supreme Court ruled tha search students suspected of breaking the law or school rules without probable cause or court approved Jan. 15-17 Final examinations Jan. 18 Staff Development Day concerning the r id single district representation with eight itricts. Voters approved a one cent sales tax transit system; rejected city council elections ; kept Mueller Airport at its present local; and the endowment of developing land around Palmer Auditorium. J«n. 20-21 President Reagan participated in inaugural Jan. 25 The superpowers agreed to resu negotiations in March in Geneva. Jan. 26 SAT testings Jan. 30 A plan was introduced to raise tuition at slate colleges and universities to $12 a semester hour by 1987. Jan. 30 The State Senate Committee approved a bill to raise the drinliing age Irom 19 to 21 as a result ol the U.S. Congress ' action to hold back highway tunds to states that do not raise the drinking age to 21. FEBRUARY The Austin- Americen Statesman quoted (slate Sen. Bill) Sarpalius as saying, -are we going to raise tite legal drinking age or play patty-cake with the federal government? NED SHEHMAN. i drinking age issue. I tell for Austin ' s the Austin shrinking domestic spending tt programs helpful to the middle class. This submitted budget would have eliminated $45 million in federal er the actual effective Feb. 6 The first State ol the Union message given by President Reagan in his second term. Feb. 7 Senate Republic leaders proposed a one year increase for Social Security plan reducing government Feb. e President Reagan named Fob. 10 Ronnie Milsap ' Jerry Reed at the Fran sponsored by the evening the Maroon band gave its annual Pops Concert at Austin High. Fob. 19 AHS Choir Pops Concert Feb. 19-20 TABS testings G c ata, and the student ' s grade point average. In addition, the AISD course numbers and the State of Texas course num- bers were listed. The listing of the statewide course number enabled the transfer of credits throughout Texas to be less complex. In order for a student ' s par- ents to be aware when report cards were mailed out, the AISD central office proposed public service announcement for each local TV station which asked, have you seen your child ' s report card? Vice-presiden tial candidates battle the issues For 85 mmutes in Philadel- phia, the vice presidential candidates praised and ar- gued their running mates ' campaign issues a half a week after the first election debate. Historically, it was the first di- rect confrontation between man and woman running for national office. An ABC survey gave Vice President George Bush a 42 percent lead over Geraldine Ferraro ' s 33 percent afte r the debate. Although Ferraro ' s performance did not bring her party a success, she more than achieved her debate goal: to do nothing to jeopardize Mondale ' s momentum. Democratic aides felt that Ferraro was too subdued, but her performance proved to critics that a woman could have the experience, depth and temperament to hold such a high office. Republican aides were pleased with Bush ' s debate, even though he appeared to outdo himself as the president ' s cheer- leader. Editor ' s note: In regard to this debate and the presidential debates before and after this de- bate, what was the reasoning be- hind it? When television viewers are asked what they expect to see on the tube, they answer sex and violence. Thanks to carefully ar- ranged media questioning and nationally televised debates, sex and violence was again exemplified previous election time to give voters exactly what they desire. For example, the presidential and vice-presidential candidates added to the violence factor in our society by performing in three consecutive debates. If that doesn ' t bring an image of mud-sl- inging, than what have you? Not only do the debates themselves add to violence on television, but the issues discussed also do, like nuclear warheads, American troops in Beirut and Nicaraguans getting blown up or tortured, and the use of the heavens as warspace. In discussing sex is- sues, the candidates gave Amer- ican viewers abortion and the ac- tual presence of Mrs. Ferraro on the ballot. In other words, I feel that if the nation ' s voters had not already decided on their candidates three weeks before Election Day, then they probably were taken in by the garbage that television pro- duces, such as a series of one hour debates full of sex and violence. Failure rate increases Forty percent of AISD stu- dents received at least one F on their fall semester first six weeks report card. Due to the significant increase, AISD conducted a comparison study of the 1983-84 and 1984- 85 first six weeks grading periods. Seven out of nine high schools in the district re- ported at least a 4.1 percent increase in the number of stu- dents receiving at least one F. The two remaining schools, SFA and McCallum, reported a decrease in the number of failures with figures down 1.4 percent and 1.2 percent re- spectively. Local educators believed that the reforms in House Bill 72 could have contributed to the failure rate. With the elimination of the D grade im- planted in the bill, those stu- dents who normally passed with a D suffered the conse- quence of failure. Another reason was that the freshman students had to take academic courses instead of electives for graduation requirements, and academic courses have a higher percentage of class fail- ures. Additionally, the new attendance policy gave no credit to students who ex- ceeded five absences. In the first six weeks, de- spite the district-wide trend of failures, SFA managed to keep the percentage of stu- dents tailing well below the district ' s par and slightly under with 1.4 percent. This substantial decrease in fail- ure, the largest in the district, also reflected in the large number of students making the Honor Roll. According to data provided by the counelor ' s office, over 407o of SFA ' s student body made the Honor Roll in the first six weeks. The seniors reported 61 .04% of its members eligible for the Honor Roll, the juniors had 32.45%; the sophomores had 40.34%, and the freshmen had 36.00%. Because SFA had already implemented many policies now required by HB 72, such as four years English and a more stringent absence pol- icy. Principal Jacquelyn McGee felt that SFA ' s de- crease in student failures was because SFA experienced less of a change in school policy because of the bill. In the spring semester, 506 SFA students received an F during the first six weeks. Within the entire district, not only did 38 percent fail a six weeks in a subject, but those students were denied partici- pation in UIL events because of their failing grades. Under the no-pass-no- play rule that went into effect in January, students in ex- tracurricular activities were required to pass all courses with a grade of 70. Failure of a class made the student in- eligible for a six week period. Sixteen athletes on Austin High ' s boys track team, eight on the girls team, and three on the baseball team were ruled ineligible after the first spring grading period. The debate team lost two speakers who had failures in honors classes. These students were unable to compete in state- wide tournaments. Also, the band lost ten players for their spring concerts. As 35.9 percent of the stu- dent body received an F on their report cards, the ad- ministrators were optimistic in seeing the students face the worthwhile challenge of mak- ing their grades to participate in extracurriculars. By ex- periencing or observing the consequences, the student

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Clem Vetters blows up a balloon for the Great American Smokeout Litloft. Democratic nominee Walter Mondale and his running mate Geraldlne Ferraro. mostly noted for choosing the risky strategy of making his proposal to raise taxes to staunch the deficit. And Reagan used patriotic sym- bolism and imagery to further define his campaign. In the closing statements Reagan chose mainly to re- work his famous 1980 ques- tion: Is America better off than it was four years ago? Mondale kept his rhetoric fo- cused on the future by con- cluding with: The real quea- tion is, will we be better off? Are we building a future that this nation needs? Mondale was reported as confident, thoughful and well-informed. The presi- dent ' s aides said that Reagan got the best of the debate yet he overdid the statistics and was too defensive. Some Democrats felt that Reagan was off his script, struggling, floundering and uncharac- teristically ill at ease. Con- sequently, the Democratic party concluded that Reagan showed his age making age a campaign issue. However, by itself the de- bate was not enough to trans- form Mondale ' s faltering cam- paign. In spite of his good per- formance, the pressure for a success in the second debate on foreign policy was greatly intensified for Mondale after the debate. The Age Issue Ronald Reagan ' s wobbly performance in the first de- bate stunned his staff and his opponent, and suddenly, the 73-year-old president ' s age was a factor in election ' 84. Within days after the de- bate, the White House de- tected a 3 point drop of Reagan supporters in a nationwide poll, the presi- dent ' s aides hastily reissued a Alumni Hill Rylander and Carole Keeton Ryiander lead a cheer at the Homecoming pep rally. Seniors Francle More, Paul Gerling and junior, Edward VanWisse preparing Homecoming Barbeque plates at Pease Park. statement on Reagan ' s last medical exam stating that he was mentally alert. This age issue hit the leadership factor, and Mondale ' s advisers gave the issue a new significance especially geared toward the second debate on foreign pol- icy. Before the second debate, Reagan ' s advisors argued that age played no part in the troubles the president had during the first debate. In- stead, they said the president was overconfident and over- coached by his staff. During the second debate Reagan took the offensive on the age issue himself by say- ing I will not make age an issue of this campaign; I am not going to exploit for politi- cal purposes my opponent ' s youth and inexperience. New report cards issued Distribution of the newly re-designed report cards was delayed throughout the dis- trict during the first six weeks. The district wanted the report cards mailed to each student ' s home after each grading period, but the grades were not printed correctly in their new fashion and addressed promptly by the school com- puter systems. The report cards were cor- rected and passed out almost a week after the teachers turned the grades in to the of- fice. The mailed cards were un- like previous report cards, which only contained grades, absences, teacher names and the grading system. The re- designed cards also included previous credits and courses, complete student testing

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1 . The Stephen F. Austin Birthday celebration In Austin ' Straight Jackets, Scott Montgomery, Brent Covert, Eric Meisser, Loius Black and November Robert Johanson. Senior IMIke Gaudion is awarded his varsity football at the last pep rally. body began to realize the gravity of passing class es within a year of drastic academic change. Foreign policy debated On Oct. 21 the two presi- dential candidates tried to prove his rival incapable of handling the occupation as leader of the free world in the second debate, this one on foreign policy. President Reagan and in- cumbent Mondale clashed over the responsibility for the terrorist bombings in Beirut and American policy in Cen- tral America. However, the most major issue of the debate was arms control. The president made a bold suggestion about the Star Wars missile-defense technology plans. He said the U.S. would share the technol- ogy with the Soviet Union. Mondale strongly disareed. He said he would not share any nuclear technology. After the debate was over, critics agreed that Mondale had failed to achieve any gain in popularity in which he de- sperately needed from his performance in this debate. Contrary to his appearance in the first debate, Reagan dis- played a polished and confi- dent image, thus excusing the age factor in the campaign. Squirrel darkens building A squirrel climbed into Austin High ' s electrical sys- tem Oct. 1 and triggered a power outage throughout the building for approximately five minutes. The lights and the cooling system instantly quit operat- ing when the squirrel crawled into a transformer fuse and consequently was shocked to Mock Election demonstrates Democratic support By PAUL SHERMAN De spite an overwhelm- ing victory for Republicans Ronald Reagan and Phil Gramm in the 1984 election, the results of the SFA mock election showed Democrats Walter Mondale and Lloyd Doggett the winners. The poll was held by paper ballot dur- ing all third period classes. In the student poll, Mondale narrowly defeated Reagan, gathering 42 more votes. However, in the US Senate race, Doggett won a substan- tial victory, gaining 417 more votes than his opponent Gramm. In the student elec- tion Mondale received 723 votes (51 7o) to Reagan ' s 681 votes (49%). Doggett received 904 votes (65%) to Gramm ' s 487 votes (35%). Roughly 84% of the student population par- ticipated in the election (1404 students out of a student body of 1670). The ballots were tabulated by the beginning re- porting class. The election was by paper ballots because an earlier and elaborate com- puter-assisted election was ruined by a software flaw. Al- though a majority of the stu- dents at Austin High sup- ported Mondale and Doggett, polls taken throughout the nation showed that the Re- publican party had tremend- ous support from the youth voting bloc. H