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The

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Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

voluMe xiv, no. 1

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septeMber 21, 2016

Its a new year:

Parking changes and PBIS

He aPPearaNCe Of THe
NeW school year
has come with the
arrival of two significant changes:
the transformation of the
parking system and the enactment of a new rewards
system entitled Positive Behavior Incentives and Supports (PBIS).
In previous years, students with their driver's license could purchase a
parking pass, limiting them
to an assigned space in the
student lot. This year, a new
system, known as free for
all parking has been imposed, allowing students
with a pass to park in any
spot not reserved for faculty.
The alteration has garnered
some mixed reviews.

Pride card to a student they


observe demonstrating respect, responsibility, or kindness. The cards can be
turned in to the dartmouth
Pride Boxes in the media
Center and main office in
order to be entered into a
weekly raffle. Winners will
be selected on fridays and
will receive prizes such as
tickets to football games or
gift cards. rather than just
material prizes, we want to
give students opportunities
like rallies and activities and
reward larger groups, said
school psychologist dr.
Kristin fortin. focus groups
are being created to give students opportunities to relay
their suggestions for incentives to faculty members
members of the PBIS
Team hope to eventually acknowledge all students making good decisions. We
dont want to rely on the
negative. We want to focus
on the positive, said associate
Principal
rachel

Personally, I think the


new parking system is terrible, said senior alison Silvia. I'm a creature of habit,
and I loved having my same
assigned spot every day.
Other students felt differently. I don't mind the
free for all system, said senior Victoria Cameron. I
think it's a good incentive to
get here early. Part of the
rationale behind forgoing assigned spots is to encourage
students to be punctual.
Since students are no longer
entitled to a specific parking
space, in order to secure one,
they will have to arrive earlier.
However, some believe
that the new system may
have the opposite effect.
Senior Serena Turner said,
Students who arrive to the
parking lot on-time but must
waste time trying to find a
spot will be considered late.
meanwhile, other students found that the system
runs smoothly and without
mayhem. I have had no
problems and have been able
to find a front parking spot
pulling into the lot at 7:25,
said senior Stacie Hartman.
another change implemented at dHS includes
Positive Behavior Incentives
and Supports (PBIS). While
the other dartmouth Public
Schools have had forms of
PBIS for the past six years,
this is its first year at dartmouth High.
The program gives any
staff member the ability to
distribute a dartmouth

Chavier. most of the time


students are doing good, but
we only focus on the 10 percent of the time theyre
doing the wrong thing.
dHS students have expressed a variety of opinions
on the new program.
Behavior at our high
school isnt the biggest issue
that we face, said sophomore Cory Olivera. However, increasing positive
behavior with the help of incentives will most likely
make the school a better
place.
many have linked PBIS
to programs such as Caught
In The act or dare to be
rare at dartmouth middle School or Quinn School
rockets at Quinn elementary, all of which entail students receiving rewards for
positive behavior. It's weird
for the high schoolers to do
a similar program that my
brother is doing in elementary school, said sophomore
rebecca Benoit. I like the
idea of it, but I think the way
they're approaching it is immature for our age.
Other students expect
that the system may do more
harm than good. In the real
world, people arent rewarded for making good,
kind decisions, said sophomore Sarah Sughrue. I
think all the PBIS system
does is make students believe that the only reason
you should be kind to others
is when you are rewarded or
if it ends up benefiting you
as well.

________________
By Co-Editor-in-ChiEf
MAry BAnCroft
AnAlysis
________________

T
Above photo by MArisA pArisi; top illustrAtion by Michelle sherMAn

new MediA club Advisor robert perrotti, who wAs A MediA teAcher in new bedford for the pAst 19 yeArs, is
excited to be working with All the AwesoMe And creAtive students here, And he Also hopes to upgrAde the tv lAb
so thAt students cAn work with the lAtest technologies. Along with this, he is stArting MediA club bAck up And
hopes to creAte A Monthly tAlkshow. his club will Meet on thursdAys in the tv lAb. for More inforMAtion, you
cAn join the MediA club google clAssrooM with the code: r78qd3d.

Summer film and TV recap


________________
By Co-Editor-in-ChiEf
AriAnnA rEBElo

rEviEw
________________

ummer 2016 feaTured an


endless number of new films and
new television shows, and its safe
to say that 99.9% of the films released were all consisting of CGI (computer-generated imagery) in some way,
shape or form, much to my dismay. There
were also a number of remakes and reboots of franchises, i.e. Ghostbusters, The
Legend of Tarzan, and Finding Dory among
the many. Thankfully in this mess of film
reboots, critically acclaimed television
shows such as the infamous Stranger
Things were introduced to Netflix, while
Game of Thrones and Mr. Robot made
epic returns to the TV screen.
Summer is a time where we
see Hollywood producing a wide
variety of films, from horror to romance, but its more so a monetary
issue than a let's produce a good
film issue. Though, comic book
film adaptations were at their peak
in the year of 2016 as a whole. Suicide Squad had its premiere, raking
in $640 million, but earned very
mixed reviews from those of The
New Yorker to Rotten Tomatoes, the
latter getting a petition against it
for its contenders indifferent ratings towards only comic book films.
from my own perspective, margot robbies Harley Quinn was the highlight of
the film, thanks to her dark humour, and
I hope to see more from her. But, talking
about Jared Letos Joker would require a
whole other article in its entirety. Letos
whole aesthetic (thanks to the genius that
thought the costume designer was doing
great work) and interpretation did not
cut it for the amount of anticipation director david ayer built up. It was like
watching Jesse eisenbergs Lex Luthor
from Batman v Superman, no thank you.
Kid-oriented films also dominated

the big screen this summer. Steven Spielbergs The BFG making $153 million, disneys Petes Dragon making an
underwhelming $76 million, and Illumination entertainments highly anticipated The Secret Life of Pets raked in a
grand $724 million. and moving onto the
horror film genre, The Purge returned with
its third installment The Purge: Election Year
(perfect timing with the uSa's upcoming
election) earning a total gross of $105 million, while The Conjuring returned with its
second installment, The Conjuring 2 that
made an impressive $319 million with a
budget of $40 million.
The talk of the summer, however,
was most definitely the Ghostbusters reboot. as someone who didnt see the film
and have only read horrid things about it,
I can concur that it wasnt as big of a success as intended. The film made $217 mil-

lion with a budget of $144 million and has


received nothing but negative attention,
even as far as one of its cast members, the
comedian Leslie Jones, being the recent
subject of death threats and computer
hacking. as a whole, we can gather that
summer 2016 was definitely a summer
filled with nothing but reboots and sequels, earning no good comments.
Sure, there were original films like
The Shallows and Me Before You, but if we
divulge into the actuality of what was released, youll find that what was put into
theatres was just sequels. There was Independence Day: Resurgence, Star Trek Be-

yond, Jason Bourne, Now You See Me 2, and


the list ridiculously goes on. We can
argue that some of these reboots were
good and gave us nostalgia, but is this
what were going to be seeing in the cinemas from now on? Is this what Hollywood is coming to? reboots and sequels?
When it comes down to it, as a consumer,
are you really going to want to see a remake of Harry Potter in several years?
Probably not.
On to the television spectrum,
Stranger Things has dominated all opinion
columns and has taken the internet by
storm with its great reception. The show,
which can be viewed on Netflix, features
everyones favorite leading lady from the
80s and 90s, Winona ryder, who stars
alongside young newcomers millie
Bobby Brown and Gaten matarazzo. Orange is the New Black returned for its fourth
season, Game of Thrones
returned for its sixth season, Mr. Robot returned
for its second season, and
most recently Fear the
Walking Dead returned for
its second season. Fear the
Walking Dead getting a
nod from myself, due to
British actor frank dillanes portrayal of a
strung out boy named
Nick Clark. Overall, television shows have gotten
nothing but generous
recognition, most being
signed on for their next season that is already highly anticipated.
as we look back on this past summer
and what it has offered us, we come to
terms with the fact that, yes, some of us
actually paid to see that God-awful Alice
Through the Looking Glass film. Or we find
that some of us sat through Finding Dory
crying and realizing we should appreciate our parents more. These films that
were part of our childhood shine light on
circumstances we dont understand in our
naivete, but now that were older can understand the symbolism behind, and for
that are grateful for.

The S p e c T r u m 9.21.16 p layliST

by English Teacher Jessica Lassey


1. magic!

2. James bay

3. don mcclean

4. sublime

5. luke bRyan

"Red dRess

let it go

ameRican pie

what i got

all my fRiends say

6. Van moRRison

7. steVie nicks

8. idina menzel

9. the beatles

10. Rascal flatts

"someone like you"

"landslide

defying gRaVity

blackbiRd

bRoken Road

Various reactions to dHS Summer reading 2016


________________
By Co-Editor-in-ChiEf
MiChEllE shErMAn
AnAlysis
________________

HeN YOure ON VaCaTION, what is the last possible thing you want to be
doing? Work. after months
of slaving over textbooks and
essays, summer vacation is a breath of fresh air
that grants a much needed reprieve from stress.
However, with each end of a school year comes
the need to read an assigned book during the
treasured hiatus.
each grade levels english honors classes
were given a novel to read and analyze, guided
by a critical question to be answered in the
early fall. english 9 Honors read Fahrenheit 451
by ray Bradbury, english 10 Honors read Into
the Wild by Jon Krakauer, english 11 Honors
read a fiction book of their choice, and english
12 Honors read Animal Farm by George Orwell.
Fahrenheit 451 received mixed reviews. an
anonymous freshman thought the book was
overall boring and uninteresting, with the
plot and characters being particularly dull.
english Teacher Jessica Lassey dislikes
dedicating class time to discussing it due to the
disinterest in the students.
freshman Jonathan Bacdayan, however,
enjoyed the book. He said, It was provoking
and had some great dialogue.
Into the Wild sparked two general opinions:
absolute hatred or appreciation. Sophomore
Nina Lamarre was strongly opposed to the authors point of view. although he tried to be
impartial, she said, he was very opinionated
and self- centered. during the book the author
was often inserting his own thoughts on what

he claimed Chris was thinking, as well as discussing his own adventures in great detail.
Sophomore Charlotte Correiro agreed. It
took away from the flow of the story, she
claimed.
However, Lamarre thought the book, at the
very least, made her think. She said, There

Junior Caroline mello enjoyed the change of


summer reading choice. She said, Having a
book I liked made doing summer work so
much more enjoyable. for this reading option,
the students had the ability to choose a novel
that appealed to their reading preferences. If
the goal is to get students reading over the sum-

were themes regarding identity and transcendentalism (such as finding truth in nature),
which were interesting to think about.
english teacher marek Kulig found Into the
Wild to be of material worth, while also regarding the writing as an unbelievable example of journalism.
english 11 Honors had the opportunity to
choose their own book off The New York Times
fiction Bestseller list from the past three years.

mer, then this option is much better because it


makes reading something they want to do
rather than a task they are dreading, mello
said.
english Teacher ann fifield also approved
of this option. Students enjoy and need
choices in the curriculum, she said. Choice
equals engagement.
Animal Farm was received with a neutral reaction. unlike Into the Wild or Fahrenheit 451,

there wasnt a large following of distaste


around the book. Senior rachel Jorge found
the book relatively likable, especially compared
to the previously assigned books. She said, It
was more relatable, connecting to events in the
past through animals.
Senior maddie Pfirrman did not find the
characters relatable; however, she did enjoy the
book overall. I thought that it showed how
messed up society is, she said.
There have been different ideas as to how
the summer reading program could be altered.
freshman John Correiro and english Teacher
Will Higgins both think that it would be an improvement if the assigned book was recently
published. expanding on the subject, mr. Higgins said, a classic book needs a teachers help
and guidance. If the books are more recent,
the student would find the material interesting
enough to read. The challenging classics can be
better explained by their teachers who are
more experienced readers.
ms. Lassey finds the concept of students
being able to pick their own book to be a superior idea. as a potential project for the summer
reading, she thinks it would be interesting if
her students were to convince her to read their
book. She said, If theyre passionate about it,
then Ill want to read it. This way itll be a
more enjoyable experience for the students and
her.
Sophomore Nina Lamarre thinks the summer reading program could be improved if
there was a choice of a selected nonfiction and
fiction book to decide between. Lamarre believes that since not everyone likes the genre
chosen, more people would be pleased if they
could choose the one they prefer. She said,
using this method means that more people
can enjoy the reading while also meeting the
criteria.

Narcan now stocked in dHS Nurses Office

________________
By Co-Editor-in-ChiEf
MArisA PArisi
nEws
________________

PIOIdS, a medICaL PaIN


reLIeVer, have become a major
issue in communities across the
world, even within ours. Within the
first six months of 2016, massachusetts dealt with
488 confirmed cases of opioid overdose deaths, according to the massachusetts department of Public Health. dartmouths school system, along with
many others across New england, have taken
precautions and stocked up on Naloxone (more
commonly referred to as Narcan.)

each of the dartmouth Public Schools has


been supplied with two Narcan kits which they
are able spray into an overdose victims nostrils in
order to reverse the opioid effects and allow the
victim to breathe normally again. It has some severe side effects such as seizures, coma, or even
death. Therefore, it poses a fair amount of danger,
but could still save a life. as a result, our school
nurses are currently being taught how exactly they
should go about using Narcan.
during our most recent early release day, the
school nurses were trained on how to use Narcan,
according to dHS Nurse marisha Wildrick. a
physician has approved the order saying dPS was
able to carry the life-saving drug.
mrs. Wildrick said that carrying Narcan is
not only meant to possibly save the lives of stu-

dents, but also faculty, parents, and school visitors


who may have overdosed on opioids while on
school grounds.
mrs. Wildrick believes it is great that this
school system is taking the initiative to help addicts
and save lives, but that we definitely need to improve our way of handling the opioid problem.
This is a struggle touching many members of this
community. I think that along with the life-saving
drug, more resources need to be put in place to
conquer this epidemic, said mrs. Wildrick.
Nurse Julie Giordano, who is also the mother
of dHS junior felisha moniz and sophomore
Samantha moniz, has lost two of her previous
partners due to opioid overdoses. One of them was
a young nurse who thought, similar to many cases,
that she would never be one of those people you

hear about on the news who dies due to a drug


overdose. Her father had been addicted to opioids
and ended up dying because of them. Her first
time using drugs she died of an overdose.
Because of this, ms. Giordano thinks it is a
great idea for schools to be carrying Narcan. She
said, No ones parents want to be digging up
coffins when all their kid needed was a spray up
the nose.
There is such a stigma around addicts like
they are the worst people. Yes, some of them do
awful things while using, but without Narcan and
treatment, you are not giving people the chance to
turn their lives around and become better people,
said ms. Giordano.

Kettle Logic by eleanor rosen


co-editors-in-chief:
M A ry bA n c r o ft
M A r i s A pA r i s i
AriAnnA rebelo
Michelle sherMAn

The Spectrum is an open forum for the free exchange of


and ideas. We welcome any comments or suggestions. L
should be directed to The Spectrum in C?33. Unsigned
will not be published. Opinions expressed in The Spect
not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editorial
Dartmouth High School. Anyone interested in working w

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