Ashtabula High School - Dart Yearbook (Ashtabula, OH)

Page 9 text:

iLfcD INIU USr.LtSSNhSS, these lockers show just one aspect of the poor conditions. Lockers were ripped open to get to the valuable contents. INSET: A biting, cold morning starts with Mr. Mann spreading salt for students’ safety. Mr. Mann was only one of the custodians who helped to make conditions better at our school.

Page 8 text:

“I don’t know why I let you talk me into coming down here to look at some 65-year-old school.” “Come on. Dad. You have to admit it didn’t look too bad from the outside.” “No, but now that we’re inside, it’s worse than I ever dreamed of.” “What do you mean?” “1 mean I saw windows boarded up. lockers torn apart, and plaster falling like it was going out of style. No kids of mine are going to this pig stye.” “You mean I can't go here just because it’s a little run down? You're not even looking at the education i might get here. ‘‘What kind of education? The kind that teaches you to write on restroom walls?” “Dad, how can you size up a whole school system by the way it looks? Maybe it’s like this because they don't have the money to fix it up.” “What do you mean? Don’t you remember the realtor telling us they just passed a levy for the schools last year? They must be getting some money from that.” “Well, there are some new lights, and that auditorium didn’t look too bad.” “Sure, but a couple of things like that don’t make it a brand new school. That parking lot alone is enough to make you think twice about coming here. There’re holes big enough to get lost in.” “Okay, but look at the custodians in this place. We must have seen at least five of them since we came in. They’re trying to clean this place up. and there are even kids picking up papers outside.” “From the looks of the school, the custodians don’t do such a great job. And from what I’ve heard, they’re the only employees who do work around here.” “What do you mean?” Learning 4 lntroduction

Page 10 text:

“I checked into some of these teachers, and I’ve heard some pretty INTERESTING things about them.” ‘’Like what?” “From what the neighbors say, the only reason they come to school is to drink coffee.” “Dad, how come you know about these teachers when you never even went here?” “Because I listen to what people say, and 1 hear about all those kids fooling around in classes.” “What do you mean ‘fooling around’?” “Well, that neighbor kid says he can’t even hear the P.A. system because of the noise in some of his classrooms. From what he said. I’m sure he wasn't talking about class discussion making the room so noisy.” “From what I've heard, there arc some pretty good teachers in this school.” “Oh yeah? Good at what-teaching you how to disrupt a whole class in minutes?” “I talked to some kids who said they get pretty good grades, and that a lot of courses are really challenging. They said that a lot of the faculty members go to outside classes to keep up on what’s going on, and many have a Master’s Degree.” “All the knowledge in the world doesn’t help you if you can’t give that knowledge to someone else.” “I’m not going to lie, Dad. They did say there were some pretty bad teachers at the school. But, they also said that there were a lot more good ones, and some that are really great.” “Of course those kids are going to say that because they go to this school. But what about the kids that don't go here? What do they have to say about this school?” Who’s Mvrfcfin 6 Introduction