Yes on S Rally
Members of the community came together in the Media Center for the Yes on S rally on Sept. 9. The rally served to promote the
$128.8 million school bond that will be on the November ballot. City council members, the Board of Education and Principal Mary Jo
Fosselman King attended the meeting, which lasted from 6:30 P.M. to 7:30 P.M.
Las Tunas Parking Problems
The Temple City Council had a joint meeting with the Planning Commission and the Public Safety Commission at the Historical
Society Hall on Aug. 14 to discuss downtown parking on Las Tunas. They talked about overcrowding and time restrictions, as well as
employee parking.
Places such as Wells Fargo have employees park their cars where customers do, thus leading to complications between employee
and patron parking. Paul Martin of RBF Consulting, who presented the plan at the meeting, suggested creating designated employee
parking spaces. To induce parking efficiency, he suggested diagonal parking along the sides of the street and parking in the center of
the street.
The possibility of parking meters was pitched to revise time restrictions, however business owners argued that it would be
inconvenient for their customers.
Staff Updates
English 1 and 2 teacher Ms. Kendra Miller is taking this year off to take care of of her newly adopted twins, who were born in Aug.
22.
Newly wedded English 2 teacher Ms. Lisa Cook will be taking over for Ms. Miller’s class. In addition, Ms. Amy Cunningham, who
works in the Career Center, also got married over the summer and is now named Ms. Sisson.
English 3 and Humanities teacher Ms. Dawn Neufeld will give birth in November. English 1 and Drama teacher Ms. Michele
Zovak-Gaffney is pregnant as well, and is due at the beginning of February.
Aussies Come to Visit
Host families picked up their Sister Cities Program exchange students Chantelle Mares, Kristie Warren, Tom Holdsforth, Sally
Armsworth, Danni de Keizer, and Ian Hansen on Sept. 9 in the afternoon to start off the their one month stay in America.
Their host siblings are Juniors Betty Wang, Rachel Johnston, Kai Ito, Mackenzie Byers, Joy Huang and Haley Osborn,
respectively. The Australians are visiting the high school for the first time on Sept. 17 and their last day here is Oct. 8.
The Australians attended a welcome dinner at the Community Center on the evening of their first day, where they each made a
speech and sang two Australian songs to introduce themselves.
Mr. Chin Retires
Mr. Ken Chin retired this year after six years of teaching Algebra II at TCHS, and career of 36 1/2 years total. He originally
planned on teaching another year, however due to budget cuts, the school board reduced his hours to part-time both this year and last
year.
“It was a hardship to try to survive on a part-time income, so when the school board decided to cut the budget again, I decided
to retire,” Mr. Chin said. “The board continues to overload classes, and cut staffing, which I think will have a negative impact on
educating our students.”
Mr. Chin will be looking for employment somewhere else. He wants to continue teaching, and says he might start a tutoring
program for SAT preparation.
Lives Lost in Libya
A small group of militants attacked the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya that left four State Department employees dead on
September 11th.
These attacks coincided with an attack on the U.S. embassy in Cairo, Egypt. U.S. Ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens, was among
those killed. President Obama and the Secretary of State condemned the attacks and urged the Libyan and Egyptian governments to
prosecute those responsible. The governments of both countries have released statements reaffirming their commitment to maintaining
public order and promising to punish those responsible. Libyans have claimed that the attacks are in response to an inflammatory
video on YouTube that disparaged Islam.