School on Saturday? A New Disciplinary Session Proposal is Discussed During Monday Evening's Portsmouth School Board Meeting

A new disciplinary policy was motioned at the Portsmouth School Board meeting Monday evening. Tim Steele, a school board member proposed a new special Saturday morning session for high school students with disciplinary problems. The session would run from 8 a.m. until noon several weekends during the school year. Along with attending additional school on the weekends this proposal would require approximately $3,000 per year for staffing.
A concerned parent, Peggy Bacon did not support the new proposal.” “I work six days a week—including Saturday morning—and it’s hard enough to get my son off to school Monday through Friday. Why should I have to worry about Saturday as well? Bacon did not feel the new session would make much of a difference. “The parents are going to pay for it, in higher taxes as well as ruined Saturdays.”
The sessions are being proposed in an effort to eliminate the high number of in-house suspensions, which are given automatically to students caught smoking in our around Portsmouth High School. When a student has an in-house suspension they are not allowed to make up the work they missed that day. “I know that this isn’t good news for parents, but I hope the threat of Saturday classes will make the students think twice before breaking school rules.”
Lisa Gallagher, one of the five high school students that attended the meeting spoke up against the new proposal. “I think it’s just being done to make life easier for the faculty, so they don’t have to deal with detentions during the week. Anyway, what if someone skips the sessions? What are they going to do, make them stay all weekend?”
In response to Gallagher’s point, Steele said the consequences for a student skipping the Saturday session would result in them not being allowed to return to school until the detention had been served. Although smoking is not the only problem at the Portsmouth High School, it’s the worst. “I just want to keep kids from smoking in the high school bathrooms. There are other problems but smoking is by far the biggest one.”
The board voted 5-3, with one member abstaining, to table the issues until its next meeting March 7; the discussion took about 30 minutes before voting began. Steele was instructed to return on March 7, with the figures on in-school detentions so far this year.
Along with a possible new Saturday morning disciplinary session, the superintendent of School Nathan Greenberg also touched on the School Departments efforts at pushing forward a $21 million budget for the next school year. Greenberg explained that the budget represents a 5.5 percent increase over the current year’s spending. He also explained that he had formed a special citizens committee to review how other communities fund education with their tax dollars.
Before the meeting adjourned at 10:15 p.m. The following were also new business discussed at the meeting:

• four requests from teachers for leaves of absence in the coming year
• a retreat for administrators in June
• a financial report detailing the impact of federal budget cuts on the school lunch program
• an approval of the several school department
• food service bills amounting to $13,568

Compliants Received: Is the New York Times Favoring the Republican Party?

With the election a mere eight days away, The New York Times has an overload of both Democratic and Republican stories to cover with a neutral attitude. In Thursday, October 23, 2008 paper an article on the Times front page offers a pro and con overview of both Democratic Obama and Republican McCain. The article touches on both candidate and their past experiences which would aide them in the presidency. Obama’s view of poverty comes on a personal level as he lived on the back streets of Jakarta, while McCain was a prisoner of war and learned to stand up against his countries enemies.
The Thursday Times also hosts an article claiming Obama is not experienced enough to become America’s president (A16) with another article claiming McCain is not popular with the rising Hispanic community (A17) As the business week comes to a close and Friday October 24 paper gives two facing pages with Obama’s gaining of Bush voters on the left (A18) and McCain’s ability to defy national poles and win the presidency on the right (A19).
With a paper covering such a close election during our economies economic crisis it is easy to become biased to one political party versus another. The New York Times however has maintained a balanced outlook of both parties and offers fair optimistic and pessimistic accounts of both.

Rare Romanion Leopard Confirmed Missing from Durham Zoo

Durham, NH


A 146 pound, 10-year-old Romanian spotted leopard known as “Fluffy” has been confirmed missing from the Durham Zoo.

Gerry Durrell, director of the Durham Zoo explained that when the zoo was opened at 7:30 A.M. everything was normal about Fluffy’s cage besides the fact that she was not inside. “We have no idea what time Fluffy escaped or where she went. We are searching the grounds of the zoo but so far we haven’t got a clue.” Durrell said.

Kitty Smith, the zoo’s chief biologist explained that Fluffy’s cage is alarmed but no alarms were sounded during the night. Smith said “Fluffy is extremely dangerous.” “We urge anyone who encounters Fluffy to get slowly to the ground and lay still. Fluffy may do a lot of sniffing and licking, but unless she senses fear she’s not likely to react violently.” Smith also said that if encountering Fluffy be careful to avoid eye contact. The leopard was a gift the city of Durham from its sister city in Romania, Durhamvoska.

The New Hampshire State Police, the state wildlife department, and the National Guard have joined the state wide search for Fluffy. The National Guard has supplied five helicopters with infrared sensors. Police Chief William Blair is confident they will find Fluffy. “We will search every inch of this zoo. If possible, Fluffy will be shot with a tranquilizer gun.”

A local Newmarket man, James Petronkis visits Fluffy on a daily basis. When he arrived at the zoo at his regular time of 7:30 he knew something was wrong. “Fluffy usually draws the straw up into a nest when she sleeps, but there was no nest- there wasn’t even any straw. I told the guard and he said ‘mind your own business.’ I couldn’t believe it. So I pulled the fire alarm and that go their attention. They said Fluffy was inside her little house and not to worry.” Petronkis also explained that once Fluffy was discovered missing mayhem broke out. “Cops were drawing guns and people were screaming.”


Fluffy was a very special gift from Romania, Durhamvoska to the town of Durham and only five animals are left in existence; Fluffy is the only known female. Fluffy is a priceless animal and has been at the zoo for five years. These leopards were led to the brink of extinction in Romania and have a known appetite for young children. “We are concerned because this is a residential neighborhood with an elementary school and we don’t want Fluffy wandering around after the kids get out of school.”

The First Blog!

It's very exciting to be creating my own blog site. I have always thought about it but never knew how to get started. The newswriting class I am in here at the University has given me the ability to start one for the class, which I will be able to use from this point forward. On the topic of my newswriting class, I have had some struggles and some success. Writing a news worthy story that is both interesting to the reader and at the same time factual and to the point is a challenge in itself, nevermind coming up with an actual topic to write about. Going out and talking with people who I do not know is both exciting and nerve racking. I am a fairly confident speaker and consider myself a good listener, however in order to speak well I must be confident with the material being discussed. I found this out the hard way during an attempt to interview a small clothing boutique manager. As I went to approach the manager and speak with him, I became anxious and felt unprepared. Discouraged I simply browsed around the shop and left without any material. Thankfully after speaking with my professor Andrew Marsters he encouraged me to set up a meeting with the manager prior to visiting the store, as well as to write down my questions and even a mock story of what I would later write. Doing this has aided me in the interview process and given me more self confidence. Newswriting is certaintly much harder than I had originally expected. This past week I took on the task of writing a short 500 word story on families around my hometown with children in the military. This story was different than my previous ones which were more focused on the economy and the election. I look towards the new york times online for guidance with my stories.