The MCPS Board of Education (BOE) voted on Jan. 13 to implement a new grading policy to make course grades more objective. The new policy specifically eliminates curves and homework graded for completeness, which for years have inflated course grades for students at Blair and across the county. If it is effective, the policy will make course grades a more accurate reflection of students' poor exam scores.
As threats to students at public schools escalate, security measures to protect students are more important than ever. MCPS' search and seizure policy is both necessary and effective in maintaining the safety of students at Blair and countywide.
Hidden in a gargantuan metal bureau in the attendance office are Blazers' dirty little secrets—literally hundreds of LC appeals, stacked and bound by super-size rubber bands. The sheer volume of LC appeals—the number of students that challenge the policy—should be a wake-up call to the administration that the system is flawed.
High Noon, Fred Zinnerman's classic fifties film, recently played at the Silver Spring AFI in all its spare, western glory. Clean direction, clean acting, and clean videography come together in this powerful, moving story of a man who stands alone for his beliefs.
Dressed in a black T-shirt, baggy shorts and beat-up shoes, senior Jack Samuel could be an average garage rocker. But Samuel's hands, adorned with black, permanent marker Xs, distinguish him from other teens. Samuel is part of Blair's growing "straight edge” movement, a group of teens unified in their rejection of drugs, alcohol and promiscuous sex.
Death by butcher knife. Or hatchet. Or club. Or the ever popular meat cleaver. In Gangs of New York, chances are you'll be both shocked at the abundance of murder and amazed at the myriad ways it can be committed. Director Martin Scoresece made this period drama spectacularly accurate in set design, slang, costume, and, of course, in the ever-present violence that permeated the life of the destitute in New York's slums in the civil war era.
The scores for last year's High School Assessment (HSA) exams were published on Dec 5. The results received a mixed response from teachers and administrators.
Former Magnet teacher and CoreModels project director Mary Ellen Verona passed away on Oct 7. Her death, caused by complications from cancer, is mourned by many Blair staff and students.
Every year in government class, Blazers learn one of the core principles of our legal system: every American is innocent until proven guilty. A recent Supreme Court decision, however, teaches a new lesson—that upstanding students can be forced to take humiliating tests to prove their innocence. Now it is up to MCPS officials to keep drug testing out of Montgomery County schools. Drug testing of students who participate in extracurricular activities is invasive and ineffective, and it violates students' basic constitutional rights.