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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. |
MARK YOUR CALENDAR
College Fair at
Girls High:
Thursday, Nov. 3,
6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
College Fair at PA Convention Center:
Sunday, Nov. 6,
11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
School Closed, Staff Only: Tuesday, Nov. 8 HSA Meeting: Wednesday, Nov. 9 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. School Closed for Veterans Day: Friday, Nov. 11
Career Day: Tuesday, Nov. 22 Thanksgiving Break, School Closed:
Thursday & Friday,
Nov. 24 & 25
Thanksgiving Game, Central vs. Northeast: Saturday, Nov. 26
School Closed for Winter Break:
Monday, Dec. 26 - Monday, Jan. 2
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HELP WANTED
Newsletter staffers:
Interested in working
on the newsletter? Contact
Dave Kalkstein
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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!
This Halloween season we are glad to note real achievements by Central students in numerous areas. No disguises, just results of hard work by gifted young people and staff at Central.
Our eyes will be on Ramon Guzman, 271, who wants to become president of Central High School one day (he is president of his class now). And congratulations to our young playwrights for their recent creative victories. More congratulations to the Girls' Tennis Team for competitive victories this fall and to Coach Rich Drayton, 246 and Central's Football Team for beating Northeast (28-20) for the first time since 2004. Look for more of Coach Drayton's exciting Central family in an upcoming issue.
We also need to commend the alumni whose dedication to Central will take a very tangible and comforting form in the new seating in the auditorium - details to follow in a future issue.
This just in - Pennsylvania State Representative James Roebuck, 219, Democratic Chairman of the House, addressing the legislature about Central High School. The House unanimously adopted his resolution honoring Central's Blue Ribbon status.
 | | Roebuck Recognizes Central High School's Achievement |
Representative Roebuck addressed the Home and School Association last year and is an ardent supporter of public education.
Got news?? Tell us and it will reach more than a thousand families in the Central Community. Like writing? Join the newsletter team!!
We almost forgot - Happy Halloween!
Have a great year!
Dave Kalkstein and Jane Von Bergen, co-editors. |
Central's Tech-Savvy Model Just Clicks
Central's focus on making its technology initiatives student-centered, with an emphasis on boosting achievement, pays off in a number of ways. Just one is the school's being named e-School of the Month by eSchool Media & eSchool News. eSchool News recognizes the hard work that has helped schools or districts become models for others seeking to more effectively integrate technology into every aspect of the educational and administrative process.
Science teacher Mr. Brian Howland says the purpose of technology at Central is "to serve the school community, to break down communication barriers between home and school, and to get as much information to the right people in the right format at the right time." Central boasts five servers, five computer labs, several smaller clustered labs, all using iMacs. Among the school's applications are TurnItIn plagiarism detection software, subscription-based research databases and Follett Software's Destiny online card catalog.
 | | Central iMacs |
Edline allows administrators, teachers, students and parents to access grades, news and pertinent communications instantly, and students have access to a wide range of applications to advance their learning. By strengthening the home-school connection, Central is trying to enhance students' chances of success. It's easy for parents to set up an Edline account and take part. To learn how, view the tutorial.
Congratulations to Mr. Howland and the many students and staff that work every day to keep Central at the forefront of applied educational technology. |
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PSSA 2011 - Central First in Math
Central and Masterman always, and we mean always, lead in the Philadelphia area and state 11th grade PSSA scores. And, not to make too fine a point, the statewide leaders in academics are always public schools. This year Central was first in the city in Math with 98.4 percent advanced/proficient. In Reading, Central was second with "only" 98.5 percent. For perspective, the state's 2010-2011 targets were 67 percent proficient or advanced in math and 72 percent proficient or advanced in reading.
High scores like this do not come easy; they are the result of lots of hard work and dedication over time by students, teachers and staff. Congratulations to all hands!
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Math is His Motivation
Being a senior, Ramon Guzman, 271, remains in the time of life when his role is primarily student, but his community service work last year tutoring middle school students in mathematics gave him such a satisfying glimpse of a teacher's role that he has decided to make education his life's work. "The 'I got it' moment for his students," he said, "that's what made my day." Ramon, who plans to teach high school mathematics, won the Hispanic Heritage Youth Gold Medallion in the field of education. At Central, he is the senior class president, an editor on the Centralizer, a cross-country team member and he participates in other activities as well. He finds mathematics fascinating because it has right and wrong answers, unlike most of life. But his satisfaction in mathematics comes in teaching others. "When they say, 'Super, that's cool, I'm going to ace my test,' that fills me with joy," Ramon said. Ramon's goal? He wants to be the first Hispanic president of Central High School. "I keep telling Dr. Pavel to hold on a few more years until I get my doctorate."
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Alum "Occupies" Leadership Role
Central grads seem to lead everywhere! Take Stanley Joseph, 262, for instance. He can be found most days at Occupy Philly's Information/FAQ Tent at City Hall, pleasantly and intelligently answering a myriad of questions. When will the march begin? What time is yoga? Where can I find First Aid? Why are you here? Stanley has the answers to all of those questions - including the last one. At the moment, Stanley, who graduated from Penn State University, is without an IT job in his field, so he understands the complaints about joblessness. But his biggest issue is that "money is a corrupting influence on our politics." "In the long run, when politicians aren't making decisions to benefit corporations, they would be making decisions to benefit the rest of us," he said. "That alone would be a huge economic boost." The day his comments and photo appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Stanley was contacted by a job recruiter.
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Racquets that Rule
Central has established itself as one of the top-tier girls' tennis programs in the region under the direction of Coach William Graham. The highly competitive team enjoyed another successful season with wins in the Cape May Tennis Club's Ninth Annual Girls' High School Round Robin held in September. Central joined Cape May Regional High School, Jenkintown High School and Neshaminy High School, the overall winner, in the tournament. Team co-captain Valerie Cherny, 271 and Lily Goldberg, 272, finished second and third, respectively, in the singles competition, and Natalie Fox, 272 and Laura Haak, 271, finished first in doubles.
Central's strong showing at the Cape May tournament was a harbinger of things to come this season: the team finished 17-2 overall and 10-0 in the Public League and captured the Public League Title again this year in a tightly contested battle with Washington High School. Valerie, Laura and Lily were selected for 2011 All City honors, as was co-captain Alex Lawall, 271. Unfortunately last year's defeat at the hands of Cardinal O'Hara in the District 12 finals also proved predictive, with a bitterly contested 3 - 2 loss to O'Hara ending this year's season. Nevertheless, and, with major contributions to this year's team by members of 272, 273, and 274, continuing success is anticipated next year as well.
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Top Young Playwrights
Princess Mosley, 272, was a first-prize winner in the Philadelphia Young Playwrights 2011 Annual Playwriting Festival for her one-act play, "Tuesday Downs." As part of teacher Christine MacArthur's drama class, all 30 students were required to author a short play. Ms. MacArthur's students all submitted their plays for consideration and of the hundreds of plays submitted by high school students from across the Delaware Valley, Central had four winners. Through the Young Playwrights program, during the school year teaching artists come to Ms. MacArthur's class and help students with directing, writing and producing. Students act out their fellow students' plays and Princess was inspired by the process. "Watching my play on stage made me want to write more," she said. In addition to Princess' first-place finish, Timishea Knox, 271, took a second finish for "Where the Grass is Greener" and Alixis Smith, 272, ("The Pain and Price of Beauty") and Amanda Cohen, 270, ("Do I or Don't I?") took third-place finishes. When asked how she works through the creative process, Princess, who has aspirations to be a director, said she "envisions everything as if it played out on a movie screen and then I write it down." Princess' play, which recounts the struggles of a high school student both at home and in school, will be performed by the New Voices Workshop in conjunction with Temple University next year. |
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Central Parent Heads OCD Study
While we mostly report on the accomplishments of students and teachers, we like from time to time to point out contributions made by our "extended family" of parents.
Dr. Martin Franklin, a frequent contributor to this newsletter and father of Gwen, 273, (who by the way, was the only freshman to make an All City softball spot - but more on this in a future issue) is a clinical psychology professor at Penn, where he recently headed a study to explore improving treatment for young people suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder. Improvements in treatment outcomes are extremely important because OCD affects one in 50 people and leads to substantial dysfunction. Marty and his colleagues established that treatment outcomes may be improved when therapy typically utilizing serotonin reuptake inhibitors is coupled with OCD-specific cognitive behavior therapy.
The study was published by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and an abstract is available here.
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Home & School Update
What better way to meet fellow Central parents and find out what's going on at our awesome school than to attend the monthly Central Home and School Association general meetings. Meet the Home and School Board here. And congratulations to Paula Musi, the new 274 class representative.
At our October meeting, special guest speakers were Art Department Chair Ben Walsh and Social Studies teacher Mr. Tom Quinn. Mr. Walsh maintains Central's Edline website. He and Mr. Quinn provide training to teachers and parents on how to use the program. Edline is a super-useful website that gives parents access to schedules, assignments, grades, upcoming events and communication with teachers. Students have access, which allows them to complete online assignments and quizzes. The school website has a simple-to-follow tutorial to help parents set up access to Edline.
Mr. Walsh talked briefly about SchoolNet and FamilyNet, school district websites for students and families that contain the District's curricula requirements, online academic help and also give parents access to their child's full school records, including grades, standardized test scores, attendance and more. Mr. Walsh encouraged parents to register on SchoolNet or FamilyNet because the more Central parents who register on the website, the better our rating as a school. For questions about Edline, Mr. Walsh can be reached at berwalsh@philasd.org. For questions about SchoolNet or FamilyNet you can contact Vice Principal Lori DeFields at ldefields@philasd.org. Central's president, Dr. Pavel, also asked that parents be sure to read the Daily Bulletin on Central's website regularly.
Join the Home and School Association! Dues help fund major events, such as graduation and International Day as well as classroom and club projects, this newsletter, and the Listserv to help parents keep in touch with one another. Print a membership form and send it in with your check or money order.
All Central parents, guardians and staff are encouraged to attend our monthly meetings; you do not need to be a member of the Association to attend. We hope to see you at the next meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 9 at 7 p.m.!
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Help Wanted
Newsletter staffers: Interested in working on the newsletter? Contact Dave Kalkstein.
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Thank You
Thanks for reading the Home and School Newsletter. The newsletter is brought to you by the Home and School Association, whose support is always appreciated, as is that of Dr. Pavel and Central staff who lend us a hand.
We have parents Nancy Winter, Marty Franklin and Pat Toy to thank for great stories, along with Jane Von Bergen, our founder, who also helps edit. As always, we look good thanks to Johnette Miller who goes over each story with a fine-toothed comb and Dan Cason who puts it all together for the final version you get in your inbox.
Write us and join the Home and School Association!
Thanks again, and enjoy your Halloween!
Dave Kalkstein and Jane M. Von Bergen, Newsletter Co-Editors
Central High School - Philadelphia |
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