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Home and School
Association
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We're here to support Central students, parents, and staff with our time, talents and dollars. Let's help each other make Central High School an even greater place for our students to learn and grow.
Click HERE to read more about the Association. Click HERE to download a membership form. Your student can take the completed form to the main office.
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Bring Your Photo ID Just a reminder:
When you come to visit Central High School, you must have a photo ID.
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Telephone
Main Office
215-276-5262
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Welcome to a Great Year  The new school year is starting, and we welcome all to Central High School, especially class 272. In case anyone missed it, Central High School, along with Masterman, achieved the top two rankings in 11th grade PSSA scores for math and reading in the state. That's right, not the best in the Philadelphia public schools, not the best of public schools statewide, we mean the best of all high schools in the state of Pennsylvania. Congratulations to the teachers, staff, parents and most of all the students of 269.
This newsletter is a volunteer effort brought to you by the Home and School Association with help from the Associated Alumni of Central High School. This newsletter will help Central tap into the talents and resources of the entire Central family -- students, parents, faculty, staff, alumni and friends. If you know a family with a great kid that wants to go to the best high school in Pennsylvania, have them sign up. We hope that you enjoy reading the newsletter and that you will never hesitate to send your comments, suggestions, stories and ideas to us any time at centralhighschoolnewsletter@yahoo.com.
Thank you and we are looking forward to the new school year
Dave Kalkstein - Editor
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An App-titude for iPhones As a youngster, Alex List, 270, was a semi-menace around computers, taking them apart and putting them back together. That led to an interest in programming, which he augmented in eighth grade with a class at Drexel University. He fit right in with the regular college students. "I was tall," he said. In his freshman year, Alex invented a Transpass-distribution system that might have worked if he had a way to produce it quickly and sell it to the school district. Alex also was an early participant in the development of this newsletter. His latest venture, in addition to his computer services company, List Consulting, is an iPhone App (or application for use on the iPhone) called PlaceBook. It's now on sale in Apple's App Store. "I want to make an online social community like Faceook, but for locations," Alex said. The user, Alex says, can record his current location or places he'd like to go and share the information with friends by email or text-message, but "most of the fun happens when users want to share their locations by Facebook or Twitter." His app also includes a mapping feature. Alex has already had his share of business angst, battling trademark infringement. Now he's hoping to find marketing help to get more attention for PlaceBook. "There are so many apps in the app store, it is impossible to get any visibility. It is so crowded by so much junk." You can click here to get a glimpse of his work, and here to read about PlaceBook. |
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Here Comes 272
With their intellectual capacity, many Central students could choose among a selection of decent schools (though none, of course, compares to Central!). So what brought the class of 272 to Central? We asked a few students and their parents to find out: Some follow in others' footsteps. Jonathan Benjamin Scott comes from General Louis Wagner Middle School, enjoys playing the guitar and has been thinking about coming to Central for about seven years. Jonathan's dad John attended Central back before there were girls. Alex Sklar has always wanted to go to Central. His grandfather, Adolph Caplan, taught at Central for many years and is in the Central High School Faculty Hall of Fame.
Some come to Central with serious interests. Faben Whitiker has an interest in exotic languages and likes Central's diverse student body. She has been thinking about Central for two years or so and comes from Laboratory Charter School of Communication and Languages. Rachel Meirson loves cool music and has heard a lot about Central from her cousin. Rachel comes from Girard Academy Music Program.
Some know that Central is just the best school. David Conrad has known Central ever since he was told by his grandfather (probably more than once) that Central "is where the smart kids go" every time they drove by the school. Alia William is coming from Conwell Middle School because her mom insisted that Central was the best place for her.
Dominique Sovani is coming to Central from Baldi Middle School because it's the "best school" and she can take courses in Forensics. Montel Little, who attended John Story Jenks, applied to five schools and was accepted by all. He chose Central after one visit.
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Another Welcome - to New Central Staff
Along with the 678 new students of 272, Central's staff has 20 new members, or almost one sixth of the total staff of 118. The new staff members include 16 new teachers, a new Assistant Principal, 2 new counselors, and a new security officer. According to Dr. Pavel, the new folks are not only enthusiastic and hard working; they are also early to arrive at the school so staff parking can get pretty tight after 7:15 or so. Of the 16 new teachers, 11 are under 30 years old, and 7 are new to teaching. Three of the new teachers are graduates of Central, bringing the number of Central alumni teaching there to 19. Dr. Pavel finds Central's new teachers to be very purposeful, highly skilled, and challenging. They connect well with students and bring increased emphasis on new technologies that help keep the school up to date as befits the best in the state. Integrating new staff into Central is of course a major task, as it is for any institution. One major advantage Central has over some other schools are the great students that want to learn (not one of the 678 incoming class 272 was absent the day before this article was written, by the way). They will be very well served indeed by the highly skilled, dedicated and hard working teachers and staff joining the Central community this year.
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Library: Knowledge is Power
Central High School's Barnwell Library and Dr. William M. King Communication, Media and Research Center is rich with resources. Each newsletter we will bring you a tip on an available resource from Loretta Burton, the librarian. Today's tip: The library is open daily from 7:15 a.m. until 3:45 p.m. for research and for computer use. Additionally, the word processing program that is supported at Central is Microsoft Word (both Mac and PC platforms). Students can access the library's Destiny Online Card Catalog from home. Simply go to http://philasd.follettdestiny.com and click on the link for Central High School.
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A Rich History
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Mark Your Calendar-Back to School Night
On Wednesday, September 23 at 6:30 p.m.Central High School will be hosting Back to School Night. You won't want to miss this informative and enjoyable evening. This is an opportunity to run through your child's roster to meet their teachers and learn about the expectations and objectives of their classes. It helps if you get a copy of your student's roster, or at least get him or her to write down a homeroom/advisory number followed by his class locations in order, one through seven. At "lunch," you can visit the library and see its fabulous art collection, or stop by the guidance office. Visiting the counselor can be especially helpful if your child is a senior. Additionally, the Central Home and School Association will welcome you at its table in the front hall. The Association will be signing up members and selling baked goods, parent t-shirts, sweats, key chains and checkbook covers to raise funds for the many school projects they support. Please be sure to mark your calendar for this important event.
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Serving the City and the World
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Help Wanted
1. An assistant reporter/editor or two for the newsletter. Should be a 270, 270, 271 or 272 parent with good writing and reporting skills. We especially need someone who can come into school in the mornings about once a month, from about 7:45 a.m. to 9:00 a.m., to help report the news. (It's fun!) Contact Dave Kalkstein at c entralhighschoolnewsletter@yahoo.com2. The Home and School Association needs baked goods to sell at Back to School night on Wednesday, September 23. If you could contribute home-baked or store-bought goodies, individually wrapped and ready to sell, it would be appreciated. Just send the goodies into the office with your student in the morning. This is a big fundraiser for the Home and School Association, so thanks in advance for your help.
3.269 Class advisor Steve Kolman needs plenty of volunteers to chaperone the seniors on Museum Day, Wednesday, October 14. That's when seniors spend the morning in area museums or the zoo so the other classes have a quiet atmosphere for standardized test taking. The job involves going to a museum as assigned, helping the teacher in charge take role and monitoring the kids. You don't have to be a parent of a senior to volunteer. It may be possible for you to be where your student is, or you may choose to avoid that. The school will cover your admission and you will have a lot of fun. Hours are roughly 10 a.m. to noon, but Mr. Kolman will provide more information. Contact him at skolman@phila.k12.pa.us.
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Acme and Target Fundraisers
Acme will give us one percent of total receipts, so please have your student deposit Acme receipts in the Acme box in the office. Target will send us one percent of what you spend on a Target Visa Card or Target Guest Card. Apply online at Target.com or at your local store. Our ID number is 90781. Last year we raised $900 from Target. | |
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Thanks Thanks to all who helped with this newsletter. Editor Dave Kalkstein contributed the items Central's history and on why new students chose Central. Staffer Kate Spellissy contributed the item about back to school night and the library tip. Editor emeritus Jane Von Bergen added the items about Alex List and community service. Thanks as always to co-editor and parent Diane Luckman for making this issue look good. Marcella Brown and Tamar Magdovitz helped with the editing. Continuing thanks to Dr. Pavel and Mr. Walsh for their support and assistance.
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Sincerely,
Dave Kalkstein, Newsletter Editor
Central High School -- Philadelphia |
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