The Story
There’s a new sheriff in town. Last week, the Runaway sat down with him.
Excusez-moi?
You didn’t think we meant a real sheriff, did you? This past summer, Mike Fournier, principal of Mckelvie, replaced Chip McGee as superintendent. Wait, sorry, interim superintendent. He hasn’t gotten the dragon scroll yet (if you don’t get our Kung Fu Panda reference, get out).
Inter-what?
Interim, which, in this case, does not necessarily mean temporary, at least, Mr. Fournier hopes not. The school board is getting a feel for him, and he for the job. Mr. Fournier likes the position, and is happy with the change in scenery. Apparently, those five feet of County Road make all the difference.
So why him?
A valid question. We had it too. Long story short, Mr. Fournier is psychic. He was principal of Riddle Brook for three years, and principal of McKelvie for eleven years. He went to school to get a superintendent’s license in 2015, knowing he’d been in the community a long time, and hoping for the opportunity to do something new. And, what do you know, three years later, the position fell in his lap, like magic. And, while he’s happy with the new position, he’s not so thrilled with what he’s been dealing with. We can’t say we blame him.
And what has he been dealing with?
Been living under a rock? The counselor issue! Mr. Fournier had to step up and be the decision maker, at a time when whatever decision made was going to be wrong. As a long time community member, he understood the strong emotion in the town. So his first move was to ask the board to hire a lawyer, an unbiased third party, who could look at the situation fairly.
So what now?
Mr. Fournier is dealing with the last of the counselor issue. We think there’s an end of the tunnel－jury’s out on whether there’s any light. He is also working with a 90-day bullying task force, and hopes to get started on a sexual assault task force.
The Runaway
Mr. Fournier is really focused on good communication. Hopefully this means lots of snow days, called early and often.
What to do…
When you can’t decide whether to buy frozen yogurt or ice cream…
Get both. That’s what BHS is doing with IB and AP. We know decisions are hard; we’d be open to a coin flip. In parents’ feedback to the school board, many said that the school needed to decide on one program, rather than “fragmenting” the curriculum trying to do both. There is some merit to that; why is the school teaching AP psychology when IB offers a psychology course as well? The next complaint? No one seems to care about the middle child, but isn’t that to be expected? Numerous parents commented that there was the IB level for the gifted, the PSP level for the not so gifted, but no middle level for the somewhat gifted. What’s the consensus? Basically, a lot of parents think there’s something wrong with IB, whether it’s because it’s inferior to AP or the school isn’t doing it right. Last school board meeting, school board chairman, Jay Nash, asserted that IB doesn’t equal AP. In terms of college prep programs, he may be on to something. Most colleges will only give credit for IB HL exams, making the SL ones pointless, but all colleges give credit for AP. Let’s just say something’s not right…
When you can’t decide who to vote for on The Voice…
Ask RBD. We’re four games into the season and undefeated. Let’s take a look at our top scorers. Wanna guess who’s “in the lead?” Yep, Ryan Toscano with a total of 8 TDs, followed by Lucien Mumpini with 4. We have 10 players who have contributed TDs. Do you think any other team has such a wide range of scorers? To be fair, all of our games have been blowouts, so we’ll see if the range of scorers decreases with better teams. Though, we do have a pretty awesome kicker. Maddy Lucontoni is actually the second highest scorer on the team (in total). In the past four games, she has scored a total of 28 points, behind Toscano’s 8 TDs (48 points), and once again, followed by Mumpini’s 4 TDs (24 points). Damn, can we say girl power? Bet you thought you’d never see that when reading about football. As far as your fantasy football draft, we’re going to go with Ryan Toscano, who is by far at the head of the pack.
When you’re near the end of Crazy Rich Asians…
Sigh with relief because it’s almost over. After receiving the lawyer’s report, Mr. Fournier announced that counselors Mulcahey and Mattson will not be fired. The two wrote character witness letters for Kristie Torbick, a convicted child-molester and a former BHS counselor. It was decided that they wrote the letters in their capacity as individuals, not as representatives of the school district. And guess what? That’s free speech! While the counselors legally did nothing wrong, many, including Mr. Fournier, do not think that they made a good decision. Mr. Fournier told the Runaway that he hopes, if faced with the same situation again, they would make a different decision.
Things to know…
For All of the Lost and Clueless
Yes, we’re talking about you, freshmen. The club fair is this Friday during advisory A in the commons. As an FYI, the Runaway won’t have a table there, but we have a permanent table always open－the contact us page on our website. We’d love to have you.
The Bearer of Bad News
Sorry, we hate to do it, but IB info night is this Tuesday for Juniors. Let the mental breakdowns begin!