Category Archives: News

Online registration to take effect today as students register for next year

By Eli Bolus and Meghan Poff 

Class registration for next year’s courses will be an online ordeal.  The change is not only to cut down on paperwork, but to prepare students for online college class registration.

The registration will be done through INOW and information will be given at a presentation in English classes over the next several days depending on grade.

At the presentation, students will receive a packet with their INOW login information and a set of step-by-step instructions showing students how to register for classes.

Once students have made their class decisions, they can log onto INOW anytime and register for their classes.

Counselor Mark Clark said that it would be preferable if students could register within a week of receiving their information since the counselors have so many schedules to approve.

Clark said the online registration will greatly cut down on work students have to do, but will actually increase the work of counselors because of the “double-checking” they will have to do.

Clark also said as long as students put course numbers in correctly, the transition will be smooth and will cut down on the number of schedule changes.

With the new registration system, students will be able to identify and correct schedule mistakes earlier than in recent years, he said.

Counselors will be available in the spine at lunch next week to answer questions that students have.

Readers who have something to say about the online registration process can post comments below.

Cyberbullying laws slow to catch up with growing social media

By: Eli Bolus

Bullying, and more specifically cyberbullying, has gotten a lot of media publicity lately.  Stories have been written and news programs like Fox News have done video specials.  However, cyberbullying is still a rather new concept, and school systems are still trying to keep up.

Principal Janie Whaley said the first time she heard the term “cyberbullying” was only three or four years ago, and with the rise of technology and social media it has become more of a problem within schools.

The only set guidelines against cyberbullying are those that fall under the basic anti-bullying rules the school has. Assistant principal Rob Willman said that the district only defines what “cyber harassment” is.  The same is true for state law, as Indiana Code defines harassment and obscene messages as “ [someone who] uses a computer network or other form of electronic communication to:
(A) communicate with a person; or
(B) transmit an obscene message or indecent or profane words to a person.”

Whaley said the main task is determining if the cyberbullying is an issue within the school day and “nine out of 10 times it is.”

Willman said students are sometimes reluctant to bring in evidence of cyberbullying because of the exchange that goes on between both parties.  If it is clear that both parties were harassing or insulting the other, then it is a conflict and not an act of bullying and must be dealt with differently.

Willman said the key is for students to be comfortable to come forward and to trust the staff enough to tell them when this happens.  Whaley said cyberbullying will continue to be a problem with more and more kids getting phones with internet access.  

FC to host Poetry Out Loud this Friday

By Grey Peterson

FC poets have an opportunity to share their talents in this Friday’s Poetry Out Loud competition.

Poetry Out Loud is a school-wide competition in which students will recite two poems for judges to evaluate.  This competition offers students an opportunity to learn to appreciate poetry and to get their pieces heard. After all, “Poetry is meant to be read aloud,” said English teacher Wallace Austin, who is coordinating the event.

In order to compete in Poetry Out Loud, students must be in grades 9-12, U.S. citizens, and must compete in the school competition before progressing to the state finals.

When asked about what judges are looking for in the students, Austin said,”We look for how students are able to capture the meaning in their poems.” Along with mastering the tone of their poems, students competing will want to be sure that their poems are selected from the Poetry Out Loud online anthology at poetryoutloud.org. One poem must be memorized while the other may be read. 

Entry forms are to be submitted to Austin’s room C109 this Friday, Jan. 27 when they compete.

Tonight’s basketball game helps community fight cancer

By Luke Geraghty and Blake Dykes

Tonight’s boys’ basketball game against Jennings County will be a Coaches vs. Cancer theme. Every student who dresses up in formal attire and wears tennis shoes will get into the game for free. Boice.net will donate $5 to every student who dresses accordingly. There will also be auction items donated by Coca-Cola, the Hartog family, and Todd Sharp from University of Louisville. The money will go to the American Cancer Society.

Athletic director Jeff Cerqueira said tonight’s game really emphasizes community involvement.

“We will be passing buckets around during the third quarter,” he said. “Anyone who wants to write a check can go online to cancer.org/coaches.”

Coaches vs. Cancer has been popular among the college level. Some of the most premiere teams square off at Madison Square Garden during the invitational.

“It started at college and it has trickled down to the high school level,” Cerqueira said.

Although this is the first year Coaches vs. Cancer is being held, the plan to Cerqueira is to make it every year.

“The plan is to have it every year and hopefully build on it so it can become a school/community project.”