Yorktown High School - Episode Yearbook (Yorktown, IN)

Page 10 text:

t ta L } t vb i Peter Ueberroth, Times ' Man of the Year, pulled off an Olympic achieve- ment in Los Angeles. Julian Lennon debuts in the music world with his Valotte album, and stood comparison to his father, John Lennon. Eddie Murphy remained on top as Beverly Hills Cop grossed $64.5 mil- lion in 23 days. MVP Joe Montana lead the San Francisco 49ers over the Miami Dolphins in the high scoring XIX Super Bowl. e t ( nV As the temperature rose to the 90 degree mark, not only was the weather hot, but so were many teachers as the start of school became... THE YEAR THAT ALMOST WASN ' T fof t weather, hot tempers and hot disputes all combined to make this past summer almost too hot to handle, for teachers, members of the school board and the community at large. As the summer drew to a close, the teachers and school board of Mt. Pleasant Township realized they were no closer to a contract agreement than they were in late June when a 15 min- ute meeting, consisting of the school board making a proposal and the teachers rejecting it, ensued. Reasons for the initial rejec- tion were obvious, with the proposal including no salary increase except the built-in two percent increment, elimination of existing dental and prescrip- tion drug coverage in the tea- chers ' health plan, a require- ment that teachers make up snow days on a one-for-one basis, and the expectation that teachers pay an anticipated 45 percent in- crease in Blue Cross premiums. In early August tempers flared Headaches accompanied deci- sion-making as expressed by Sup- erintendent David Hales, following a long day of negotiation talks. as C.A.R.E. (Committee for the Advancement of Respected Educators) spokesman Terry Nelson gave a fiery speech that won her a standing ovation from hundreds of teachers and sup- porters at a regular school board meeting. In her speech, Nelson claimed that the teachers were tired of lip service... if we are your number one priority as you say, then we want you to prove it. The newly-formed C.A.R.E. group, together with the York- town Classroom Teachers Asso- ciation, worked hard to earn community support throughout the negotiation talks. The tea- On the air with Channel 13 is Chief Negotiator Chris Goodwin on the night teachers decided to accept the schol board ' s final proposal. chers set up information booths around town, picketed the su- perintendent ' s office and opened up a Crisis Information Cen- ter on Smith Street. A petition was also passed around by par- ents at the first home football game that resulted in a compila- tion of over 200 names in sup- port of the teacher cause. Initially, the teachers wanted a 15 percent pay hike, but as days of negotiations continued, this percentage kept lowering until the final settlement reached a 5.16 percent salary increase, including increment. Other ma- jor points of interest were those concerning job security and Tired and frustrated, negotiating team member Chuck Newman, fram- ed by Kay Schnuck and Marilyn Pickell, take a break outside the Lion ' s Club following a marathon negotiating session. major benefits in insurance in- creases. The final proposal was accepted just hours before tea- chers were expected to report to school on Monday, Aug. 26. Had the teachers voted against the contract, a strike would have been the most obvious result. Chief negotiator Chris Good- win revealed the final vote to accept the board ' s last offer was not a strong majority vote, but it wasn ' t extremely close, either. There was a lot of coopera- tive spirit, stated YCTA member Carolyn Jones. The community ISSUES

Page 9 text:

Not all the events of the year were happy ones as Yorktown suffered rebellion, controversy and disappoint- ments as this year took on unusual importance for... The teachers as they combined forces and threatened to delay the start of the school year when negotiat- ing teams on both sides bumped heads and found compromise almost un- attainable. • English teacher Jerry Russell when he was fired after the first two months of school for reading a controversial poem about incest to his Literature I and II students. Russell subsequently filed a federal lawsuit for his First Amendment rights, backed by the Indiana Civil Liberties Union. The varsity football team as their hopes for a second consecutive playoff berth in Class AA crumbled with their shattering defeat by the Shenandoah Raiders, 20-6, on the Tiger field. Giggle overcome Sophomore Heather Brinduse while she takes time out in the band room to have some fun. A good friend to lean on to for emotional support is essential to survive some of the school ' s more trying contests as Cross Country members Junior Mike Cooper and Senior Joe Dee listen for further instruc- tions during a key meet. a It was disappointing not going to football playoffs-we had high expectations. Dave Ambrosetti senior )) OPENING 5

Page 11 text:

and the school board learned to take teachers more seriously, she added. Something very good hap- pened out of a potentially ha- zardous situation, stated Nel- son, through working together for a cause, the teachers got closer and unified for the first time since I began teaching here 10 years ago. The end of the school board, - teacher dispute this summer did not, however, satisfy all teachers. Negotiations team member Chuck Newman felt that it (the time) was a lot of time and concen- trated effort that usually ended in frustration. Newman furthered his com- ment, admitting, We are still frustrated. - Lisa Huffman Was the school board justi- fied in the firing or were Jerry Russell ' s first amend- ment rights violated... ON THE SUBJECT OF INCEST C tober 30, 1984. It started out as any other Mt. Pleasant Community School Board meet- ing, with a call to order and the reading of last month ' s minutes, but when the meeting was ad- journed, English teacher Mr. Jerry Russell, was without a job. The issue began when first year Yorktown High School English teacher, Russell, 33, wanted to show his Literature students that poems could be current; that they could deal with pertinent issues, instead of dealing with just flowery subjects. The students said they were bored with poetry and complained that poets never talked about current events; that they always wrote about the past, stated Russell. Russell handed out a poem entitled, The Stepfather, by V. L. Reichow, to his second period Literature class, with the warn- ing that here was a poem that dealt with a controversial sub- ject, and the students could decline to study the poem if they objected. No one objected and the poem was read aloud. The poem did indeed deal with a serious subject- that of incest-and contained one bad word. This poem dealt with a cur- rent issue-one that is in the news, stated Russell, The lan- guage is shocking. It is offensive. But that was the poet ' s inten- tion. The dittoed copy of the poem went home in some students ' folders, and two parents com- plained to Superintendant David Hales about the poem being taught to their children. The following day, Russell met with Hales and Principal Jerry Secttor at which he was notified that his actions would be reported to the school board, while being suspended with pay for two weeks until the board could meet again. Two weeks later, Board mem- bers Hilbert Staton, Dick Hoch- stetler and Joe Winslow voted to cancel Russell ' s contract. One lone board member, J. Robert Taylor, voted against the cancel- lation proposal, making the final vote 3:1. Board member Betty Coulon was not present. The issue: Should Jerry Rus- sell, a first year English teacher, have been fired for reading a controversial poem to his stu- dents? Many students, teachers and community members did not think so, including the Indiana Civil Liberties Union (ICLU) who have agreed to press the issue, by financing Jerry Russell ' s fight for his first amendment rights. We think it was an awful sanction against Jerry Russell for his indiscretion, said Mi- chael Cradisson, the director of ICLU, what we have is the quietest, calmest guy you could ever have who just wants to teach at Yorktown High School. Russell ' s firing created quite a stir with local news publications, television and radio stations, all covering the hot issue in depth during the months of October and November. High school history teacher Pat Helms felt the firing threa- tened the rights of Yorktown teachers in general. If they can do it to him (firing of Russell) , they can do it to anybody. The students see worse stuff than that on H.B.O. (Home Box Office), and at home on TV all the time- Something About Amelia for instance. All the kids watched that, and were tell- ing me about it. That was no worse than this poem, continued Helms. Another teacher from a dif- ferent school system, offered his opinion on the subject in a Let- ter to the Editor in the Muncie Star newspaper. ISTA and the YCTA and the ICLU and the whole state of Indiana should applaud the firing, commented the teacher Ralph Locke, I can ' t see this case shoved under the rug because TV has programs with similar smut. That excuses TV-which needs considerable cleaning-not approval and to be condoned. However Russell ' s own Liter- ature students, such as Fresh- man Monte Masters, felt differ- ently, I don ' t think the poem was worth him losing his job, because he did prove his point. Junior Beth Johnson con- curred, Incest is something that is being talked about more and more-on the news, in magazines, on television shows and in the papers. ..it isn ' t something that should be hidden or covered up... I don ' t think the reasons why I was fired are justifiable, commented Russell, who is now currently employed as an assist- ant manager at Wendy ' s. I hope to be reinstated and to have my name sponged from the record to show that the action shouldn ' t have been taken. Russell added that he was anx- ious to return to the teaching career he once had. If we have to take it to the courts, we will. -Cindy Howe ' § W tA -A Purple Rain by Prince and the Revolution holds number one album for 24 weeks. ( t President Reagan enters his second term with a landslide win over Walter Mondale. uier Bernhard Goetz was dubbed a ' ' Subway Hero after he gunned down four youths in a New subway. Geraldine Ferraro broke through the barriers as she became the first woman to run for Vice-President. mjour ISSUES 7