the little hawk Iowa City, IA
Vol. 82
February 11, 2022
Issue 3
thelittlehawk.com
Teachers Overworked As teacher absences increase while sub-options are exhausted, the Iowa City Community School District makes strides to compensate teachers for covering during personal prep periods By Haileigh Steffen & Lulu Roarick
CUTEST COUPLE CONTEST: Voting ends Friday the 11th at noon. The most liked @instalittlehawk on Instagram wins $50 to Basta, Iowa City. Top left: Gina Flores-Santos ‘22 + Jacob Calix ‘22. Bottom left: Abi Lockhart ‘23 + Owen VanderLinden ‘23. Middle: Nabi Emmanuel ‘23 + Valencia Rukakiza ‘23. Top right: Cory Frauenkron ‘24 + Brianna Bourget. Bottom right: Tom Braverman + Anna Braverman.
Students Host Voter Registration Student volunteers register 32 new voters at the City High vs Liberty High basketball game
By Rebecca Michaeli On January 28, 2022 students held a voter registration at the City High basketball doubleheader against Liberty High. Adam Zabner and Andrew Dunn attended to help register students and community members to vote. Zabner and Dunn are both running for the Iowa House of Representatives seat in District 90, City High’s district. In total, 32 new voters were registered.
ABOVE: New voter Kimberly Marquez ‘22 receives ABOVE: Ella Sherlock ‘23 and Matisse Arnone ‘23 register new voters at the City vs Liberty basketball game. assistance in the voter registration process from peers. PHOTO BY REBECCA MICHAELI PHOTO BY REBECCA MICHAELI
Coming back from winter break, teachers faced the Omicron COVID-19 surge. Between juggling student absences, managing personal health, and covering for colleagues, there is a notable shortage of available teachers in City High’s classrooms. To respond to increasingly overworked staff, Iowa City Community School District (ICCSD) will now compensate teachers who use their prep periods for substitute teaching. “The hardest thing from my standpoint has been the staffing of the building. I mean that is not easy. I give our teachers a great deal of credit for doing everything they can to be here each day for kids, our secretaries, and Carla and Shelley in the main office are heroes as far as I’m concerned. Our building could not be functioning without them,” Principal John Bacon said. “Every morning, they piece together a jigsaw puzzle of sub-sub coverage that is just remarkable to watch, if they are working with a limited number of substitute teachers.” continued on A7
Composting Program Takes Root at Lunch Environmental and Gardening Club starts daily composting program in all three lunches By Matisse Arnone After months of planning and anticipation, the City High Environmental and Gardening Club has officially launched a lunchroom composting program. The program began at the end of January as a pilot project, however it continues to expand as the Iowa City Community School District (ICCSD) is sending a truck bi@instalittlehawk
weekly to pick up the new compost bins. Nora Gibson ‘23 is a co-president of the Environmental and Gardening Club and has been one of the main contributors to planning the new composting program. She says that it has taken immense work and planning to achieve approval, but she is happy to see how far they have come. continued on A5 @thelittlehawk
ABOVE: Nora Gibson ‘23 transfers lunchroom waste into compost bin for Iowa City compost collection. PHOTO BY MATISSE ARNONE Facebook.com/thelittlehawk
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ABOVE: Members of Environmental and Gardening Club prepare school vegetable garden. PHOTO BY MATISSE ARNONE The Little Hawk - Pinterest