Port Huron High School - Student Yearbook (Port Huron, MI)

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Port Huron High had to say goodbye to Retailing teacher Mr. Watt, who was laid off along with several other members of the P.H. staff. A lonely sight: an empty Shop classroom bears silent witness to the repeated failures of the school tax millage. Study halls were overcrowded due to teacher lay-offs. Chris Moran contemplates his th-hour surroundings before returning to his work. 2 OPENING

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The Student. Volume 83. Port Huron High School 2215 Court Street Port Huron, Michigan 48060 Initiating the editor-in-chief, sophomore Brian Hock adds the finishing touch to the tarring and feathering of Tina Carroll. Brian used Hershey’s Syrup for the tar. LAYOUT DESIGN BY TINA CARROLL M • TITLE PAGE 1

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FALLEN FEATHERS The Big Red headdress has been plucked. The triple failure of the school tax millage (in June, July, and September) meant a lot of clipping at Port Huron High School this fall. Noses were out of joint about the whole situation. Had it passed, the millage would have allowed the school curriculum to remain un- changed. As it was, several programs were cut, as was the optional sixth class for many students. Some teachers and administrators lost their jobs or were shifted around the school like a badly shuffled deck of cards. Students were forced to give up classes they wanted in order to get the ones that they needed. The P.H. morale came through it all looking rather tattered, and attempts to fill the gaps by rearranging the plumage were not entirely successful. Among the missing plumes were Cadet Band, Advanced P.O.D., Wood Shop and Metal Shop, half the Fine Arts program, most of the second-year Foreign language classes, one of the two AP Physic courses (ditto for AP English), and several Business classes, including Typing and Shorthand. Teacher casualties included Mr. Dickenson (Social Studies and Class of 1990 Sponsor), Mrs. Wiley (English), Mr. Watt (school store), and Mr. Hoover (So- cial Studies, Odyssey of the Mind, and Science Olympiad). Miss Smith was trans- ferred to Woodrow Wilson Elementary, and Mrs. Harrington and Mrs. Stein’s positions were also eliminated; as a result, there was no clerical help in the school library, and the CRC (Career Resource Center) was closed. Only 30% of the students (520) were able to take a sixth class this year, as opposed to 64% (1200 students) last year. The result: study halls were so packed that many Juniors and Seniors were given all three lunch hours to relieve the crowding. Sophomore Shellee Coburn said, “I was affected by the millage failure be- cause I couldn’t take a sixth class. I wanted to, so I could have extra experience for col- lege, but they wouldn’t let me.” Even the teachers and administrators who remained at P.H. did not all escape the wrath of the Port Huron area taxpayers. Mr. Langolf was bumped out of his position as Department Chairman and into Drafting and Reading; Mr. Arnold was switched from Wood Shop to Drafting. The millage failure also put a cramp in Ms. Zauner’s style; many potential Yearbook staffers were unable to join because they could not take the sixth class they would have needed. Instructional supplies were also affect- ed. The textbook budget, for instance, was cut by 75%. This meant that classes which should have had new books were forced to get by on worn-out, out-of-date texts. In attempt to make the bus system more efficient and economical, school opened 15 minutes earlier each day than it had in the past, starting at 7:55 rather than 8:10 a.m., which made it that much more difficult for habitual latecomers to get to first hour on time. It sometimes resulted in less attentive and sometimes crankier students. But in spite of all the problems caused by the failure of the millage, the Big Red spirit remained unbowed. Staff and stu- dents worked their way around the missing pieces, filling the empty spaces as best they could, determined that a few fallen feathers were not going to ruin their 1988-89 year. This book is dedi- cated to their unruffled spirit, pyjoclute A screen stares blankly out at the empty CRC (Career Re- source Center), which was closed when Mrs. Harrington was laid off. Victims of the millage: these worn-out Rhetoric books were forced into another year’s service for Mrs. Johnson’s Advanced Comp classes. LAYOUT DESIGN BY TINA CARROLL OPENING 3