more news from the Winchester Star

The Winchester Star had some interesting articles today.  Here are some excerpts.
--pws

Strolling along the dandelion-lined pathway to China

by Andy Parsons (WHS senior)
The event, called Journeys to the East: An Evening of Sharing, was a joint effort by both of the travel groups aimed at addressing confusion about the two programs by allowing students to describe their experiences.
"The cross-cultural experiences garnered by the Pathways program transcended anything that could be taught in the classroom," said participant Alexa Stern, a senior at the high school.

Yet another hateful incident

The Winchester A Better Chance program continues to be the target of attacks.
According to a police report filed last weekend, a chunk of asphalt was thrown through the rear window of a vehicle parked in the driveway of the 2 Dix St. residence where ABC students live.

No 'Miracle' on Main St. for McCall students

Winchester - Bowing to parental heat, the principal of McCall Middle School canceled a seventh-grade field trip to see a live performance of "Miracle on 34th Street.
In the wake of the decision, parents and administrators have clashed on both sides of a stormy holiday issue.

Here is a summary of the reader comments:

• Can we not celebrate many traditions in Winchester to include Chinese New Year, Ramadan, Hannukah and others which make our community so rich in diversity? What is wrong with exposing our children to our different cultures? That is the real world! Let's all work together, not against each other.
• I wish I had had the opportunity to stop my 7th grader at the McCall Middle School from seeing the film in social studies regarding overpopulation and how woman perform their own abortions with coat hangers. If that was to be considered a part of the social studies curriculum, I would have liked the opportunity to prepare my child for that discussion, as my child felt sick from the film but was too embarrassed to leave the classroom. I also wonder how many parents sat down with their child after their "7th grade survey" to discuss those questions.  I wish I had joined those parents that were able to get a copy of the survey in advance. How many times has your child had sexual intercourse this week? With how many partners? Did your child use a condom? The questions are truly outrageous, but definitely important to discuss with our teenagers
• Willett Elementary School has a ban on tag during recess.  Winchester should ban football, because Football is discriminatory (not just against women, but against the small, the meek, and the slow); it is exclusionary, and humiliates non-participants (e.g., through forced "pep rallies"); and, inherently, it promotes violence.
• As Jew from Winchester, I applaud Mr French for his brave decision to defend all nongentiles that are assaulted every year by the anti-Semitic messages Santa Claus venomously sends annually.
• My child is not involved in this "MIracle" dispute, however, I agree to the option preference. Those that object have the right to not attend - simple solution, say "No." We all had the right to say "No" in 5th grade to our child viewing "THE MOVIE."   My daughter was given no homework due to the observence of Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur - will she (since she is of Irish heritage) be given none on St. Patrick's Day?
• Anything Goes" is replete with "objectionable content" (indeed, it's main concept is that, well, ANYTHING GOES). I am concerned, nay, UNCOMFORTABLE that Principal French would allow MIDDLE SCHOOLERS to sing about, e.g., champagne (encouraging underage drinking, a perennial Winchester problem), cocaine (from I Get No Kick), and fascism (as any educated person knows, the original lyrics to You're the Top contain positive reference to Mussolini), among others.
• What happened to this town? My children have come home from school after viewing Full Metal Jacket (the F-word, suicide on camera, extreme violence)...amongst other objectionable political movies that are NEVER balanced by other viewpoints. The sex surveys are outrageous
• I think that Mr. French should be removed from his position. He has made an embarassment for the entire town. I wait until Fox News picks up on the story and it becomes national.   By the way, I wish I had known that my children were going to be shown Al Gore's fairy tale 'An Inconvenient Truth". I guess showing that make-believe science presented as fact is OK with Mr. French.

'Anything Goes' takes sail

By Carol Savage
Sixty-five McCall Middle School performers have traveled back to the "Roaring 20's," learned how to tap dance and do the Charleston, or as Cole Porter would say it, they've "rewound the clock."
"Anything Goes" is considered one of Cole Porter's greatest musicals, containing one show-stopping tune after another that hit the top of the charts in their day. Songs like "You're the Top", "It's DeLovely", "Take Me Back to Manhattan", "Blow Gabriel Blow", "I Get a Kick Out of You" and the title song, "Anything Goes" were recorded by bands like the Dorsey Brothers and top vocalists of the big band era.
"Anything Goes" Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 16 and Saturday, Nov. 17, and at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 18 at the McCall Middle School Auditorium