1985-Annual Report - Laserfiche WebLink

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Superintendent of Schools $13,136 in Federal PL 94 -482 funds to purchase the computer hardware and software for the course. Debate. The Lexington High School Debate Team won their seventh consecutive State Championship in 1984 -85; Lexington also won the New England District Championship for the third year in the last four. Suzie Delbanco and Sam Thernstrom represented New England at the National Forensic League Tournament. Varsity Debaters continued to reach the late elimi- nation rounds at prestigious national tournaments. For the second consecutive year novice debaters won the Eastern Novice Open in Keene, New Hampshire; this is considered the Novice Championship for the Eastern United States. At the annual fall Debat- athon, the team raised $2,500, double the amount raised in 1984. A new debate course, Non - Competitive Debate, was added for students who wish to learn debate skills but prefer not to engage in interscholastic competi- tion. Debate teacher and coach Les Phillips was named to the faculty of the National High School In- stitute for Forensics for the second consecutive year. The institute, held at Northwestern University each summer, accepts 100 high school debaters from around the country. Phillips is one of two high school coaches on the faculty. Drama. Bolstered by contributions, the Learning Through Drama Program has been expanded in the Junior High Schools and at Estabrook. The following donations were received during 1984 and through November 1985: $15,000 from Raytheon Company, $1,000 from Adams- Russell Company, $3,200 anonymous and a $2,000 Commonwealth In- Service Institute grant. Raytheon's gift for 1985 -86 enables Lexington Schools' drama not only to expand locally but also to begin an outreach program with nearby communi- ties. In 1985 -86, high school students performed in two major productions, "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying," and "Harvey ". The volunteer parent- teacher - student group, Arts Created Together (ACT) chaired in 1984 -85 by Nancy Gordon, raised $20,108 including $5,493 in grants to fund five artists -in- residence and 10 performances to support, complement and extend the curriculum. Artists -in- residence included author Steven Krensky and illustrator Marcia Sewall at Fiske; and Play- wright Don Cohen at Hastings. The Cultural Education Collaborative awarded three artist -in- residence grants to supplement ACT funds at Bowman for film animator Karen Aqua and at Diamond and Harrington for poet Elizabeth McKim. ACT funded performances by Victor Cockburn, song- writer; Ensemble Afrique, dancers; Bennington Puppets, marionette troupe; Spectrum, two teachers of sign language through song; Al Eaton's one -man show on Martin Luther King, Jr.; Jackie Torrence, storyteller; Ramos del Los Reyes, Spanish dancers; Jim Vetter, mime; Shirim Klezmer Orchestra; and Marcia Perlmutter, performing as Mother Goose. For the first time in 1985 -86, the school system made an 28 Education allocation to ACT to support residencies in seven school buildings; Jill Delbanco and Rudi Groblewski are current co- chairs. English. The English Department course "World Lit- erature" has been selected as a finalist in the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Centers of Excellence program. The course includes literature of Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East; in 1985 -86, it is taught by Mo Donovan, Priscilla Fullilove, Kevin Murray and Paul Steele. Senior Daniel Alexander won a NCTE 1985 achievement award in writing. Elementary schools' language arts coordinator Elizabeth Murray organized the annual Writing Smor- gasbord for teachers to display successful classroom writing projects. This year a record number of 40 teachers displayed student materials; visitors included local parents and educators from other communities. Two hundred children wrote and bound their own books of prose and poetry in the Third Annual Young Authors Program. Of these, 40 were prepared for use by teachers as models for further classroom use. A se- lection was entered in the Greater Boston Council's International Reading Association Contest for Bound Books. Foreign Language. The department hosted the area National French and Spanish contests for the American Association of French Teachers and American Association of Spanish Teachers. In French, Lexington's junior and senior high schools had 57 prize winners, three times more than in 1983 -84. Elementary students won 12 honorable mentions and a first and seventh place nationally. In Spanish 116 junior and senior high students took exams; 13 won state awards; one received a national award. Lexington also entered the CEEB Advanced Placement Tests in oral language for the first time; seven students participated. Artists -in- Residence program. Bowman School 4th graders Cindy Schwartz, Jani Groblewski, Chuck Doerr and Adam Maloof work on their film animation project. X r Y