The start of the school year was a lesson in patience for students and staff at Southfield High.
The blackout of 2003 – the worst in the nation’s history – occurred six days before the start of school, cutting into time needed for student registration. As a result, hundreds of students started school without the essentials of books, class schedules, and lockers.
Hardest hit were freshmen because their registration was scheduled for the day the blackout hit.
“The plan was in place,” said Principal Marvin Youmans. “Uncontrollable events like the blackout caused us to change our plan, which complicated things, but given that, we did the best we could do.”
Locker woes
Senior Michael Beneson was among the inconvenienced. Beneson said, “I went six times to receive a locker. I still do not have a locker. The line is too long, and when I stand in it, I am late for class.” The frustrated student had no choice but to carry his textbooks with him throughout the school day.
Complicating matters was the lack of a work contract for Southfield Public School employees. Teachers, custodians and school secretaries have so far picketed two school board meetings since school started and continue to wear black on Mondays and Fridays to show their dismay with the fizzled contract talks.
I.D. cards were another thorny issue. Students are required to wear their ID cards at all times. But dozens and dozens of students were still not issued ID cards two weeks into the school year. Without student I.D.’s, students can not get textbooks or check out books from the library. Students caught not wearing their ID cards can be placed on “social probation,” which prevents them from attending school-sponsored events or leaving campus for lunch.
New schedules
And then there was the new schedule. After four years of block scheduling, the Board of Education voted in June to discontinue block scheduling as a cost-saving measure. This meant adjusting back to having six classes every day for students and teachers.
Senior Jennifer Weaver is among those who preferred block scheduling, where classes met three times a week for longer classes, instead of five times a week for shorter classes: “I feel cheated out of my education because there is not enough time for me to learn a lesson.” Weaver spent the last three years in 87-minute block classes, and now the school offers 55-minute daily classes.
Too hot to handle
But the high heat during the first three weeks of school was the roughest of all for sophomore Sherri Keaton. “With it being so hot it’s sometimes hard for me to stay focused in class,” Keaton said.
The football team had its own set of issues relating to the start of the school year. The school’s new $8,000 artificial turf football field was a construction zone when school opened. Construction workers were still scrambling to finish the field on the day of the first home football game, Sept. 5.
Senior Aaron Love said, “I could not even practice on the field for our first game, to get the feel of it.” The Blue Jays wound up losing 36-6 on the field’s opening night.
Not everyone liked the new Blue Jay logo on the center of the football field. Senior Melanie Troy said the jay looked more like “Toucan Sam.”
English teacher Jim Burger said, “We have had a rough beginning due to heat and humidity, a lack of forethought from the architects of the school for not installing air conditioning, and a school district that has an apparent lack of respect for its teachers and students, despite what they profess. Despite all this, still we’re here for our students and will continue to provide excellent education for those who wish to obtain it.”
Principal Youmans said that “even without a contract, the teachers were very professional.”