Northeast Michigan Oral History and Historic Photograph Archive

The Polemic Vol.3, No.6, 1972, p. 4

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Page Two THE PO LEMIC DETAILS OF ALPENA PUBLIC SCHOOLS BALLOT PROPOSALS More junior and senior high kids .. . not enough room .. . big holes in driveways ... insufficient facilities for vacational ed courses ... special elementary classes meeting in halls and closets ... inadequate and temporary elementary classrooms ... these are some of the problems of Alpena Public Schools that will be solved if voters approve the school proposals at the May 16 presidential primary, according to Larry McConnell, Superinten- dent of Alpena Public Schools . The Board of Education is asking voter approval of the school district's ' borrowing money for a building program that the board feels is vitally necessary to maintain the pre- sent level of educational programs for all students . Any registered voter who lives in the school idstrict is eligible to vote. 'Superintendent McConnell points out that formerly only property owners could vote on this sort of proposal (this debt would be paid off by levying a maximum of 1 .3 mills on property owners over a period of 19. years) but because of a June 1970 ruling of the Supreme Court of Michigan, all registered voters can vote on all issues. The Supreme Court reason- ing was that any other procedure would be unconstitutional because it would deny rights granted by the 14th Amendment . A major reason for the building program is that more space is needed because of the increasing number of students at the secondary level. A bulge of students, now in si xth grade, will enter junior high school next fall and there are not enough rooms and facilities for them. In addition, the senior high school, built for 1800 students, will have 2310 stu- dents next year . More space is needed, as well as increased facilities for the vocational ed- ucation courses . Approval of the first ballot proposal would mean that the school district would borrow money to buy the former Catholic Central High School (for conversion to a 600-student junior high school), build a structure at Alpena High School for vocational THE WAY IT WILL BE, AT A.C.C. classes, buy relocatable classrooms for secondary students and make minor renovations Washington (CPS) -- Freshman and in junior and senior high schools . sophomores attending four-year colleges At the elementary level many students now attend class in temporary buildings and in and those going to one of the increasing old buildings . Approval of the second ballot proposal would provide adequate permanent number of two-year colleges may look classrooms for these children as well as a multi-use classroom in each school .. . needed alike as they go to and from class -- but for special programs such as speech therapy, pre-school programs , diagnostic services and a report issued recently by the Census Title I and performance contracting (programs to overcome deficiencies in reading and Bureau shows that they differ in many basic skills). Other plans include system-wide building maintenance and renovations, and respects. improvements in playgrounds, drives and parking lots. In the report , ,"Undergraduate Enroll- Projections indicate that elementary student enrollments will decline; as they do, tern- .ment in Two- Year and Four-Year Col- porary classrooms presently in use will be sold, McPhee and Baldwin Schools will no leges ": October 1970, students at two- longer be used and space will be available for the much-needed multi-use rooms. year colleges are noted as being twice as The total added cost to the taxpayer would be 1.3 mills of $1.30 tax on each thousand likely to be 20 years old or over; twice dollars of state equalized valuation of a person's property. On an average home in the city as likely to be married; almost three of Alpena (assessed at $5600) the added yearly tax would be $7 .30 per year, or 2 cents a times as likely to be attending classes on a day. Approval of the ballot issues would allow the school district to borrow a total of part-time basis; and more than twice as $2,700,000 for a building program. likely to live in the West . "We need passage of the bond issue\proposals," states Superintendent McConnell, "so Based on a national survey, the report that our students will have enough space, sufficient vocational facilities, adequate per- says 6.3 million students were under- manent classrooms at the elementary level and imprci'vements in drives, parking lots and graduates in October, 1970 -- 1.7 million playground areas. The Board of Education has studied many different proposals, includ- (27 percent) were enrolled in two-year ing two-shift days, year-round school , more extensive busing. The proposed plan seems to colleges, and, 2.2 mil lion (36 perce nt ) be the best way to maintain present programs at minimum building costs." were in their freshman or sophomore •·•••••••••••_ ••••••••••••••••, years at four -year schools . The report Vernie Nethercut compares social and economic character- School News Coordinator istics of these two groups of students and Ass't Editor . Neal Bannon Secretary Mary Ann Kaschner Sports . Ken Stohs Sports .Randy Kruse Advisor . JamesMiesen Staff: Debbie Skiba, Sheryl Smith, Dave I Glomski, Lo is Kelly, Colleen Townsend, 1• Mary Lynn Roeske, Doug Weinkauf, Ken ·1 VV;li'ace, Patrice Muneio.Tom Glazie.r .L..-............... ,. ......... , AeHE& '° AS111: flitfJ,? !S 11 /JY CIC:tA~€tT6 t3f>EATH ~· t IT'S A MATTER OF LIFE AND BREATH 356-0353 arrives at these findings: April 24, 1972 *30 percent attended classes part-time, Ile1. /1968 Half again more air pollution in two years means more and more costly damage every year 1 Do more to fight air t pollution ... Give more to Christmas Seals. It's a matter of life and "' breath! i compared with 11 percent in fou-r-year schools. •·23 percent were married, compared with 11 percent in four-year programs. * 45 percent were from suburbs of metropolitan areas, compared with 37 percent of students at four year colleges . *34 percent lived in the West, com- pared with only 14 percent of the four- year students . *92 percent attended public supported schools compared with 73 percent of four- year college students. * 15 percent of the two-year students came from families in which the head of the family had completed college, com- pared with 26 percent of the students in the first two years of a four-year col- lege. *47 percent of the two-year college ' students were 20 years old or over, com- I pared with 23 percent of freshmen and I sophomores at four-year colleges. CONTROVERSIAL CHINESE MEDIC INE Our awakened interest in China is making us confront Chinese medicine. Including an ancient and highly contro- versial procedure, acupuncture . Acupuncture involves inserting needles at precise spots in the human body so that sensations are deadened. A recent article in the New York Times -- written by Dr. Samuel Rosen of Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in New York -- described how the procedure was sed in th e sur- gica l remova l of a lung from a patient who had pulmonary tuberculosis. The patient was himself a surgeon. The acupuncturist began by inserting a fine needle about an inch into the arm of the patient, midway between the wrist and elbow. After slowly twirling the needle for twenty minutes, she gave- th e signal that the operation begin without pain. The surgeon immediately took the scapel, made a deep incision near the spine, across the left side of the chest wall, to the 1breasti bone . Then he care- fully cut away each rib. During the operation, the acupunc- turist twirled the needle. An anesthesiol- ogist stood by, just in case. But the pa- tient felt no pain and talked to the oper- a!ing surgeon throughout the operation. "I have no explanation for th is phen- omenon," says Dr. Rosen, "but science has no explanation for many observa- tions that still elude investigation. Nei- ther have Chinese medical men, as they frankly concede." Acupuncture is being 'scrutinized by American medical men, but with pro- found reservations thus far. Medicine in the two cultures is as different as East from West . Surgery to remove a tuber- culous lung, for instance, is still per- formed in this country but rarely and only in extreme situations. Drugs' are are used instead to prevent the pro- gress of the disease and to salvage the lung. To find out more about the treatment of TB in this country check with thet Michigan Tuberculosis and Respiratory Disease Association, 403 Seymour Ave- nue, Lansing, 48914 . Only a visit to China can verify reports of the wonders of acupuncture. 7 I

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