John H Reagan High School - Spur Yearbook (Austin, TX)

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ne day this |reH)branc f- i birds; Lyaell n«uld like that. Sotm day this jreW)bran will ov ide a home for the birds; Lyaell »«iild like that. said Mr. jim Suggs, husband of Reagan ' s Business teacher Mrs. Lynell Suggs, who died January 2}. Mr. Suggs and his son Dale bestow the traditienal kr» on W branches of the live oak tree planted oiwhelftagan campus in memory of Mrs. Suggs. (Far left): Resource teacher Freddye C ' airo helps students in a pre-vocational lab, which they take before being employed in on-the-job training. (Left): Retiring after a teaching career that spanned 34 years (the last two of which were spent at Reagan), Resource teacher Lydia Sclaes shovels dirt over the roots of the tree planted on the Reagan campus in her honor. 1 plan to travel and enjoy life now, she said. 70 CD CO O c o CD 9o CD CD CD CO 123

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0) o o O CO 0) Resource Dept. teaches confidence; With 135 students enrolled in Resource classes, and an average of 10-14 students per class, Ms. Mary Crook and the other Resource teachers found themselves with their hands full this year. These kids have to be worked with in- dividually. Wherever they are academically is where we like to work with them, ex- plained Ms. Crook. So, with 14 students in a class, working with each individually was difficult. For teaching aids, Ms. Crook and the other Resource teachers used over-head projectors, film strips, record players cassette recorders and newspapers. Newspapers are big, said Ms. Crook. They teach Language Arts, math . . . and it ' s real, not something the teacher made up. Every student has a folder showing how- he ' s doing, what classes are needed and why, social evaluation, etc. The state and school need to see this to make sure the student is being treated individually and his problems are being addressed, said Ms. Crook. We could do a lot more teaching if there wasn ' t so much paperwork. What the Resource teachers tried to teach was how to make the students feel good about themselves and others. Most of the kids graduate on the Op- tion 2 plan (or work-study program, as the state calls it). This is where they take a year of pre-vocational, and work half-day as juniors. Once they ' re seniors, we try to have them working full-time at least one semester. A lot of them have gone as fas as they can academically, so they get a job and improve vocationally, said Ms. Crook. Individuality is important in the Resource Dept. We have a class (Personal Social Skills) that teaches the kids how to get along with others. Special Education students have a low self-concept. The class teaches them how to think better about themselves, explained Ms. Crook. The image that Special Ed. gives peo- ple is why the name was changed to the Resource Dept. To many people, ' Special Ed. ' means, ' retardos, ' and that ' s not fair. We don ' t have many retarded students. We have emotionally disturbed, learning disabled, health disabled (like seizures), auditorial- ly handicapped and speech handicapped students. Matter of fact, one of my students scored in the top 10 percent of the nation on the STEP test, Ms. Crook bragged. By the time they ' re juniors, or seniors, most of the students realize they ' re not bad people because they take Special Ed. classes. Having learning problems is not contagious, added Ms. Crook. Mr. Lawrence Britton retired this year after teaching at Reagan 1 1 and a half years. Mr. Britton was sponsor of the Human Relations club. Health teacher, and a former intramural, basketball and track coach. He said he intended to keep active in community and athletic groups and the East Austin Youth Foundation, which he co-founded in 1972. Ms. Lydia Scales, Resource teachers, retired this year after teaching 25 years in Austin, two years at Reagan. The old order passes and gives way to the new, said Ms. Araminta Seal, who retired this year after teaching English at Reagan since the school opened 17 years ago. That ' s the way it should be, don ' t you think. ' Ms. Seal started the Ariel, Reagan ' s stu- dent literary magazine, which won many state awards. I think now they should begin again, she said. Rename it; start a whole new goal, a new vision. Business teacher Ms. Lynell Suggs died suddenly January 23. This was her second year at Reagan teaching Typing, Shor- thand and Accounting. Other teachers who left at the end of the year were Kathryn Hartfield, Stewart Munroe (11 years). Sue Reese, Chris Scott, Ken Steele ( 10 years), and Joanie Turbin. Showing her class what iht hunun liver looks like. Human Biology leacher Lydia Scales explains ihe digestive system. W T I M Wf Ai the annual Iree-planling ceremony on ihe Rutar campus. Health leacher Lawrence Briiion turns diri over the tree planted in honor of his reiiremeni. I What are you doing out of your seal? Resource leacher Mary Crook asks a sfudeni. 122

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c o ■4- 0) C 1 -o m M tm tl€lL tO t£|gkp - ' Q ' The goal of all the principals this year was to raise Reagan ' s scores on the STEP tests, and to increase attendance. Mr. Jimmy Viranontes, principal, explained how these were part of a long-range plan: We have one-year and five-year goals. The five-year goal is to improve academics and make Reagan at or above national norms on the STEP tests. To do this, we adopted a new attendance policy; we had teachers give progress reports to all students (where previously only failing students received progress reports); and, instead of just basic classes (Social Studies, Math, English, Science) giving finals, all classes were required to give (written) final exams. Besides trying to improve Reagan academical- ly, the principals had everyday duties to deal with. For example. Assistant Principal Oscar Kellner had the job of issu ing school ID cards, while Assistant Principal Joe Leonard had to worry about teaching civil defense. Mr. Viramontes had to deal with payroll and leaves of absence. Then there was the everyday problem of discipline that all the principals were involved with. Luckily, this year, it wasn ' t so bad. We ' ve had real good students this year, Mr. Viramontes said. No serious problems at all. As 1 said on the announcements, the Senior Class was superb. Each year the students are improv- ing, and I hope it continues. Reagan ' s three deans became assistant prin- cipals this year, making the school ' s total number of principals this year six (one principal and five assistant principals). The other three assistant principals were Mr. Jack Louis, Mr. Charles Gorin and Ms. Estella Wills. We had consulted with the superintendent of (Right): Budgets, payrolls, curriculums. bulleiins and announcements, honors and awards were just some of the things that demanded Principal Jimmy Viramontes ' attention during the day. (Far right): Not only did Assistant Principal Joe Leonard oversee building maintenance, but he also managed to keep track of textbooks, lockers, and insurance forms, among other duties. schools for years to get the title changed. All the other schools except for Austin and LBJ have the assistant principals. It was more for it to just have the title than anything else. Nothing really changed, said Mr. Viramontes. Assistant Principal Gorin agreed, It hadn ' t changed my job at all. It was just a title change, to make the schools consistent. The best part of his job. Assistant Prin- cipal Gorin said, was seeing a change. Well, you know, we work with discipline, and when you see someone with a behavior problem and causing trouble, change, that ' s the best aspect of the job — when you see some results. You know, we don ' t get a thrill from suspension and detention. But we have to do it sometimes to see a change. Scheduling student activities and fund-raisers were just a few ' of the many duties that kept Assistant Principal Oscar Kellner busy throughout the year. At the annual tree-planting ceremony. Principal Jimmy Viramontes congratulates Mr. Intramural , Health teacher Lawrence Britton on his retirement. Vhen she wasn ' t in the student parking lot checking parking spaces. Tenth grade Assistant Principal Estella Wills was in her office dealing with sophomores ' problems. 124