{"id":7378,"date":"2024-06-27T14:13:14","date_gmt":"2024-06-27T18:13:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?p=7378"},"modified":"2024-06-27T14:13:16","modified_gmt":"2024-06-27T18:13:16","slug":"a-district-united","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?p=7378","title":{"rendered":"A District United"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

1st Place, News Story
<\/strong>2023-24, Division 3, News Writing<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Kennedy Thurlow & Leena Voneitzen
<\/strong>Focus
Midland HS<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 After 56 years of a \u201ccross-town rivalry\u201d, the healthy competition between Midland and H.H. Dow High School may be forced to dissolve in the near future. Soon, there may only be one high school in Midland- -a new, \u201ctrue community\u201d school. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The latest and most significant proposal for this scenario came on Dec. 18, at the Special School Board Meeting, with a presentation delivered by Midland Public Schools Associate Superintendent Brian Brutyn. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are several challenges that the district currently faces,\u201d Brutyn said. \u201cThe challenges include an expanding population in the northern section of our district, the need for space in our elementary schools, and the need to address aging facilities.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With many possible plans introduced at the meeting, each one had been carefully thought out as a way to solve these challenges. Though they were officially announced in December, these plans have been in the works for a year and a half. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have reviewed over nine scenarios,\u201d Brutyn told the board. \u201cWe did look at alternate grade configurations, the repurposing of buildings, and also studied programmatic impacts as well.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two possible plans were presented at the school board meeting: (1) Build a new elementary school and replace Northeast Middle School, or (2) Combine MHS and DHS into a \u201cCommunity High School\u201d. This plan would also reconfigure grade levels. The new high school would consist of grades 10-12, Midland High would be renovated and turn into a junior high with grades 7-9, and Dow High would be renovated to a new intermediate school with grades 5 and 6. This plan also included repurposing or demolishing the two existing middle schools and the Carpenter Pre-Primary building. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important to note that in this new high school, there are additional opportunities that\u2019d be considered,\u201d Brutyn told the board. \u201cThese opportunities could be an enhanced auditorium, a community pool, and also the chance for a new and revised stadium.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scenario 2 is a long-term plan, and would not affect any current high school students in the district; however, Brutyn believes that voting on this proposal could take place as soon as next school year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOnce voted on, it would be several years, likely 2-3, before construction would begin,\u201d Brutyn said. \u201cThere are many steps to complete [before building].\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the major challenges MPS faces, expanding populations in the northern part of the school district, is causing Dow High-feeding elementary schools to increase enrollment each year. However, Midland High-feeding elementary schools have seen a decrease in incoming students. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Principal Tiela Schurman believes redrawing attendance lines could help balance enrollment across the elementary schools. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no new homes going up in [the Midland High] attendance zone,\u201d Schurman said. \u201c[There\u2019s no space] for new families to come in. That\u2019s a problem.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Redistricting — redrawing boundary lines for individual school neighborhoods–has been discussed by the school board throughout this process, yet there is no date for this to occur.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While \u201cThe Community High School Plan\u201d would address the issues that are currently present in the district, Schurman knows there would also be issues that would emerge with building a community high school. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019re going to have to start cutting more students [on sports teams],\u201d Schurman said. \u201cSo fewer students would have access to compete athletically at this level, and I think that\u2019s a downfall.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With cutting down to one high school from two, the historic Midland-Dow rivalry would also be forced to disappear. Midland High was originally built in 1876, and for 96 years it was the only high school in MPS. H.H. Dow opened its doors in 1968. With the high school being such a historic part of Midland and the community as a whole, full of alumni, creating a new high school with a new mascot and colors would be a major change. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSome of those traditions that a lot of [community members] hold dear that help identify us would go away,\u201d Schurman said. \u201cThey have to, naturally, because now you\u2019re combining two different cultures.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though it\u2019s inevitable for problems to arise with a change so big, Brutyn believes that it\u2019s important to have an optimistic outlook on this proposal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is best to contextualize \u2018issues\u2019 as \u2018opportunities\u2019,\u201d Brutyn said. \u201cIt is obvious that there would be numerous items that would have to be addressed: staffing, curricular offerings, transportation. Each would present unique scenarios to be vetted as an opportunity on how to enhance those experiences for our students, staff, and stakeholders.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

NW-02. News Story<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

News stories should report but not interpret events that have news value and timeliness to the publication\u2019s readers. Advance stories may be included in this category; follow-up stories should be submitted in NW-03.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Judging Criteria<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  • Sharp, attention-getting lead that underscores news story importance<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • The most important, relevant and timely information is near the beginning of the story<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Emphasizes news elements, i.e. timeliness, nearness, impact, and prominence<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Shows thorough reporting skills; develops an understanding of the issues\/problems through interviews with varied and balanced sources<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Effective use of facts\/quotes gathered predominantly from primary sources. Secondary sources, if used, are cited appropriately.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Avoids opinion unless properly attributed<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Sentences, paragraphs of varied length; written clearly, concisely, and vividly<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Proper diction\/grammar; use of third person<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    1st Place, News Story2023-24, Division 3, News Writing By Kennedy Thurlow & Leena VoneitzenFocusMidland HS  After 56 years of a \u201ccross-town rivalry\u201d, the healthy competition between Midland and H.H. Dow High School may be forced to dissolve in the near future. Soon, there may only be one high school in Midland- -a new, \u201ctrue community\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[50,4],"tags":[207,22],"class_list":["post-7378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-newsstory","category-nw","tag-2023-24","tag-division3","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"PJ Pfeiffer","author_link":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?author=15"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6K0n6-1V0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7378\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}