Student websites censore

This is symptomatic of a greater issue affecting the students, faculty and administration: the proliferation of student created, school-oriented web pages and the administration’s role in monitoring their content.

Student Council to restructure
To promote efficiency and better communication within the Student Council and with the student body at large, as well as to provide middle school students with more leadership opportunities, the Student Council is discussing restructuring itself for next year.

Director of the Middle School Joan Vander Walde would like the Student Council to split into separate middle school and high school councils with the hopes

Search goes on despite withdrawls
After a second year of seeking out a candidate to be the Head of School, the Search Committee announced that the position will continue to be vacant for the 2001-2 academic year, according to a letter to the JDS community dated March 23.

The Search Committee had undergone discussions with two candidates this year, both of whom ultimately withdrew from consideration for the position, according to the letter.

The 16 member Search Committee, together with Isaacson Miller, the search firm that the committee has been working with since the beginning of this school year, had developed a list of six candidates for the position and had then selected the two candidates that would be ideal for the position, the letter stated.

Eighth grade to travel South, to Atlanta
The eighth grade will take an optional four day trip to Atlanta, Georgia, to celebrate the end of middle school in a fun atmosphere, as well as to wrap up and connect all of the main topics discussed in the eighth grade classes. From May 16 to May 20, the eighth graders will visit the Atlanta History Museum and the Jewish History Museum of Atlanta along with other sites.

These places will offer an exciting end-of-the-year trip that will be an interactive way to learn about many of the themes that are carried out through middle school, according to School Life Coordinator Navah Kelman.

Students, faculty plan ‘yoms’ ceremonies
The Junior class is planning the commemoration of Yom HaShoah, the day when those who perished in the Holocaust are remembered, on April 19.

Juniors are planning to create a somber environment throughout the school using objects reminiscent of war and the Holocaust.

Upon entering the school, students will see chicken wire along the railings to represent the barbed wire that surrounded the concentration camps, according to junior Diana Schonfeld.

Mock trial team gains learning experience

After losing to the Winston Churchill High School team by one point, 52 to 53, the mock trial team ended its season on Feb. 24 with 1-3 record and no playoff berth.

Although in each trial the judge dispenses a guilty or not guilty verdict, the actual winner is determined by a points system scoring student lawyers and witnesses on presentation and argumentation. The team with the most points, but not necessarily the favored verdict, wins the meet.

The mock trial team is split into a defense side and a prosecution side, each of which argues the same case from its respective side twice during the season.

Debate sends 5 to finals, record number
Having previously sent a maximum of two students to the Montgomery County debate finals, this year’s team surpassed its record by sending five members to the finals on March 7.

While the team had moderate success this year, as demonstrated by the high number of students in the finals, it had more difficulty with the most recent resolution debated in the finals: “The public’s right to know ought to valued above the right to privacy of candidates for public office.”

Despite the team’s efforts, no members were able to make it to the competitions beyond the county finals. According to third year debate advisor and history teacher Natalie Begin, to go beyond the finals, one must have an individual record of ten wins and no losses.