Ballston Spa High School

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Ballston Spa High School
Location
220 Ballston Avenue
Ballston Spa, NY 12020
USA
Information
Principal Kristi Jensen
Enrollment

1,360
Type Public
Color(s) Purple and Gold
Information (518) 884-7150
Athletics BSHS Scotties
Homepage http://www.bscsd.org/

Ballston Spa High School (often referred to as simply BSHS) is a public high school located in Ballston Spa, New York. It is part of the Ballston Spa Central School District, which covers the towns of Ballston, Milton, and Malta in Saratoga County. The mascot is the Scottie dog, dedicated to long time football coach Coach Scott, a legend in Ballston Spa athletics. The school colors are Purple and Gold but the complementary (alternative) color of black is often used.[1]

The high school was shifted to a new, state of the art building in 1998; it remains on the same campus as the original building, which now functions as a middle school. One of the more innovative features of the building is a generator that helps to ease the school's electricity demands. Ballston Spa is considered an above average school, receiving high marks on standardized tests. Class sizes range from 300 to 400, resulting in a total student population of around 1400.

Contents

[edit] Courses

Ballston Spa offers a wide range of varied and well-taught courses in many fields. As a student there, one can take advanced courses in math, science or technology, focus more on the arts, or even pursue an interest in food preparation.[2]

[edit] Advisory Periods

Beginning in the 2007-2008 school year, each department was given an "advisory room" and each teacher advisory hours. Similar to a professor's office hours at college, these are provided so that students can seek help during their study halls.

[edit] Advancement

Beginning in the middle school, students have the opportunity to accelerate one year in math and/or science. This program continues into the high school, where all science classes have Core, Regents, and Honors levels to cater to each student's individual academic needs. Although other departments have yet to divide classes as thoroughly, many classes are also offered as Advanced Placement courses to students who wish to challenge themselves and earn college credit. In addition to AP courses, Ballston Spa offers special University in the High School classes, in which students are presented with college level material and may gain credit from local colleges. Although enrollment into the college is not required to take a UHS class, it is required to gain college credit for the class. Students are charged a reduced fee to enroll in the college course. Ballston Spa also offers many BOCES courses through the VoTech program.[2]

[edit] AP courses

Ballston Spa currently offers the following classes for AP credit:

Ballston Spa is also very open-minded in regards to independent studies, and students have, in the past, prepared for exams such as AP Government and Physics C exams.[2]

[edit] UHS Courses

UHS courses are offered in the business, foreign language, mathematics, science, social studies, and technology departments, through partnerships with SCCC, SUNY Albany, Syracuse University, and RIT/HVCC. Both upper levels of language (French/Spanish IV and V) are offered as UHS, as are many business classes and all technology classes relating to Project Lead the Way.[2]

[edit] VoTech

Students may, in their junior or senior year, choose from a wide variety of VoTech courses through the BOCES program. To earn a five-unit sequence in the BOCES program, students must take an additional 1/2 credit in a career-oriented course. Programs are offered in the areas of

[edit] Requirements

For more information about graduation requirements, see Regents Examinations .

Ballston Spa has several unique course requirements. First, every student is required to take a full year course in the business department their freshman year entitled Freshman Seminar. Previous to the 2005-2006 school year, this one credit requirement was met by two one semester courses, one taken freshman year and one sophomore year, entitled Career Pathways and Career Clusters, respectively. Recently, this requirement has been called into question, as parents have complained that it limits a student's ability to take electives that interest them.

As Ballston Spa lies under the jurisdiction of the New York State Board of Regents, all students are required to take 4 credits of english, the first three being basically prep courses for the English Regents that students take at the end of their junior year. For the fourth English credit, students create, in a sense, their own English curriculum - there are currently a dozen one semester classes open to seniors, covering everything from Mysteries and Best Sellers to Shakespeare and Public Speaking. Students are required to pick two, but may take more if motivated to do so. Also available to seniors is the second AP English course.

During the 2007 summer session, Ballston Spa made several one semester required courses available during the summer for motivated students. Currently offered are Health and Participation in Government.[2][3]

[edit] Electives

Ballston Spa students are offered many elective courses, in many areas. Students can take electives in the sciences, social sciences, family and consumer sciences, language arts, fine arts, industrial arts, and even the athletic department. Many of the electives are offered through the UHS program. An especially notable elective in the science department is Science Research, a three year course where students learn how to read and write for scientific journals before conducting their own two-year research project. With electives ranging from performance groups to food preparation, motivated Ballston Spa students can easily gain a well-rounded educational experience.

[edit] Schedule

Ballston Spa Schedule Outline
Period Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4
1 Block 1 Block 4 Block 3 Block 2
2 Block 2 Block 1 Block 4 Block 3
3 Block 3 Block 2 Block 1 Block 4
4 Lunch 1 Block 8 Block 7 Block 6
Block 5 Lunch 2
Block 8 Lunch 3 Lunch 3
5 Block 6 Block 5 Block 8 Block 7
6 Block 7 Block 6 Block 5 Block 8

Ballston Spa operates on a rotating block schedule, where eight scheduling blocks (classes) are distributed over four six period days. Classes are divided between morning and afternoon classes, which rotate separately through the first three and last three periods, with fourth period having an extra half hour built in for lunches. Students are placed in one of three lunches, depending on which class is scheduled during that period. Although students report issues with schedule memorization, the schedule offers many benefits; days are more varied than in a simple A Day/B Day schedule, and not tying it directly to weekdays allows for more flexibility.

Previous to the 2007-2008 school year, Ballston Spa had been running on a 10-block schedule, which rotated over 5 days instead of 4. The switch caused a great deal of controversy, as motivated students felt cheated out of two classes, and most of the planning/implementation was completed behind closed doors. The BOE also made the decision before receiving the opinions of parents and the community. This caused some controversy as parents and students felt that the additional classes were advantageous in the highly competitive college application process. Although major teacher opposition to the schedule came from humanities teachers, whose students would most likely be the ones forced to drop classes, academic teachers mostly supported the 8-block schedule's increased instructional time with the greatest support coming from the sciences, allowing it to pass the teachers' vote. Additional effects of the new schedule include a sharp decrease in study halls and the total elimination of study halls in the cafeteria, a former classroom space saver. This drastic reduction in study halls has affectiely rendered the new advisory rooms pointless.The stated reason for the change was lack of space in the now 10-year old facility, which is still widely considered state-of-the-art. The lack of space was due to a failed concept in the design of the building. The original intent was to have the building designed to be structurally able to support a third floor, should the need arise. During construction, plans were changed due possibly to an additional cost for the support structure.

The 10-block schedule had had a long tenure at Ballston Spa, being introduced decades before the new high school had been built. There had been major shortages of teachers and classrooms at the old facilities, and one of the purposes of the 10-Block schedule was to better distribute these resources. Certain classes tried to gain back the time they had lost due to the switch as time went on; Global History, Math 3R, and Level II language all added one period per week, and sciences added two periods per week for lab. These extra periods began to cause scheduling conflicts for students and teachers alike, becoming one of the reasons the 10-block schedule was phased out. Other causes of the scheduling conflicts included lack of classroom space to affectively house the growing student population at BSHS.

[edit] Athletics

Ballston Spa has a large and well funded Athletic program. It recently moved, due to a growing population, from the Foothills Council to the Suburban Council. Since then, several of Ballston Spa's teams have gone to championships, including the Swim, Track, and Football Teams. Ballston Spa offers many sports at the Modified, Freshman, Junior Varsity, and Varsity level for both boys and girls. The currently offered Varsity sports are:

Varsity Boys' Teams

Varsity Girls' Teams

  • Outdoor Track and Field (Boys/Girls)
  • Softball
  • Lacrosse
  • Tennis
  • Soccer
  • Swimming/Diving
  • Volleyball
  • Cross Country
  • Indoor Track and Field
  • Bowling
  • Basketball
  • Cheerleading (Girls/Boys)

[edit] Arts

Although not as strong as some neighboring districts, Ballston Spa's arts program is extensive and has a large number of motivated student participants. In school students can choose from a wide range of art, music theory/history, and performance oriented classes, which take advantage of Ballston Spa's art facilities, including a dark room, several kilns, and a well-equipped auditorium/theatre.

[edit] Performing Groups

A number of musical performing groups are offered through the music department.

  • Tracy DeRagon directs the Symphonic Band along with an audition-only Wind Ensemble and Jazz Band.
  • Valerie Lord directs the Concert and Women's Choirs along with the audition-only Select Choir.
  • Charles Frahme directs the String Orchestra.

These groups perform at least twice a year, with concerts in December and May, occasionally performing at a special concert in March. Members from the groups also use their musical talents in the community on a regular basis, organized mainly by Ballston Spa's chapter of the Tri-M Music Honor Society. Members of the band, for example, have performed on the street corners and Maplewood Manor, the local nursing home, around Christmas, while chorus members have gone caroling at the local respite home.

Some also consider Laurie Larson's Intro to Theatre and Intro to Acting classes as performing groups, as students in these classes put on a "Scene Night" for both their midterm and final exams. For Scene Night, students prepare scenes that they either wrote themselves or found in plays that they read, and then preform them live for an audience in January and again in June.[2]

[edit] Troupe

Ballston Spa's extra-curricular theatre club is known as Troupe, and is currently under the direction of Laurie Larson. Troupe puts on two shows a year, the fall show typically being a smaller show or drama and the spring show being a large musical. When required by the show, Val Lord has in the past been the music director and Tracy DeRagon organizes and directs the pit orchestra.

2007 marked the retirement of longtime director Pat Pacelli, with whom Larson would switch on and off with. Before Larson joined the district in 2002, Pacelli had been the sole director since the early 90's. She had acted as first choreographer and then producer for Dave Mottolla, the previous director, taking over the directing position when he retired. Pacelli herself had attended Ballston Spa, and had been involved in troupe as a student.

[edit] Supporters of the Fine Arts

Better known as SoFA, the group was founded as a fine arts "booster club" to combat the funding discrepancy between the athletics program and the fine arts program at Ballston Spa. SoFA has many programs designed to help the arts, including an Orphaned Instruments program where people can donate their old instruments to either be sold (proceeds going to the music department) or refurbished and given to students who otherwise would not be able to afford an instrument, and a very popular summer music lesson program.

[edit] Extra-Curricular

Ballston Spa offers a plethora of after-school clubs and activities. These include

Of note are several academic-related teams. Ballston Spa's Science Olympiad team, advised by the physics teachers James Poirier and Theresa Rousseau, placed fourth in regionals for the 2006 season, and has frequently gone to state competitions. Of more recent note, the team placed 3rd at regionals and a new school record of 23rd in states for the 2008 season. The Mock Trial team, advised by history teacher Rick Hengsterman, also has a good record, placing well in the 2006-2007 season. Biology teacher Georgiann Henderson runs the Envirothon team, which placed very well at states in the 2007 season. Ballston Spa also has an Odyssey of the Mind team, advised by Pat Barno.[4]

[edit] National Honor Society

The Ballston Spa Chapter of the National Honor Society contains over fifty members and is very active in the Ballston Spa community. Current officers are David Leavitt (Co-President), Kristie Gratto (Co-President), Matthew Pastore (Treasurer), Harrison Shore (Secretary), Kristen Kinstrey (Publicist), Maria Hetz (Service Officer), and Jennifer Williams (Service Officer).

[edit] Student Life

Although many students disparage Ballston Spa due to the village's small size and perceived overabundance of rural areas, most make the best of it and enjoy their time as a student. Throughout the year, student groups sponsor a wide variety of fundraisers and activities, such as the Homecoming Chicken BBQ, Pizza and Wings Night (Area pizza places are invited to send in samples, and students vote for their favorite), Amnesty International sponsored Coffeehouses, the Talent Show, a "Mr. Ballstonian" contest, and Ballstonian Idol (A parody of American Idol). These events have been known to gather large audiences and are popular among the students.

[edit] Dances

Three Dances are held yearly at Ballston Spa. The first two, Homecoming and Fire and Ice (held homecoming weekend and mid-February, respectively), are sponsored by the Congress of Student Legislators, while the Senior Prom is put on in mid-late may, typically at SPAC's Hall of Springs. Dances are strictly chaperoned by faculty, and due to recent problems all seniors and their dates may be breath checked before entering prom.

[edit] Gold Card Program

All students at Ballston Spa are supplied with ID cards each year after pictures are taken, and so the district incorporated a gold card system for responsible students. On their report cards, each teacher gives a student a "Responsibility Rating" between 1 and 4. All these ratings are then averaged, and if a student's responsibility index is higher than 3.6, they can get their ID card validated with a small gold or silver sticker, grants them an unlimited hall pass, discounts at school events, and discounts at local businesses.[5]

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ Ballston Spa Central School District home page
  2. ^ a b c d e f g High School course handbook (PDF)
  3. ^ NYS Board of Regents requirements for graduation
  4. ^ High School Clubs/Activities page
  5. ^ Gold card information