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Show Free Press - Thursday, April 7, 1983 - Page 2 More students at Lehi will benefit school and district The question of school boundary line changes in Highland and Alpine will be considered at the next school board meeting scheduled for Tuesday, April 12, at p.m. in the Alpine School District Office. It is important that Lehi citizens interested in their children's education now and in the future be present at the meeting. An ailing Lehi High School curriculum cannot be improved until the school has enough students to warrant a change. Lehi High School has room for at least 200 more students according to Principal Neal Christensen. It is imperative that Lehi High School's academic curriculum be upgraded to meet new college entrance requirements. Lehi citizens have asked Alpine School District administrators and board members to change boundary lines so that students from Highland and Alpine can attend Lehi High School. The change would alleviate the crowded conditions at American Fork Junior High while transportation costs would stay virtually the same. Lehi High School administrators and teachers would like to offer classes such as physics, calculus and more language classes. The only language being taught at Lehi High at the present time is Beginning Spanish. It doesn't make sense to keep spending school district d dollars for portable funds and taxpayers classrooms at American Fork Junior High when there are empty rooms at Lehi High School. Lehi citizens are paying the same amount of taxes for education but their children are not receiving the same educational opportunities as other schools in the district. Funds are allocated according to student population. Because Lehi has fewer students, they receive fewer dollars for educational needs. That situation won't change until more students are funneled into Lehi schools. will get a new junior high school within the next five years, but in the meantime Lehi students, especially junior high students, are not receiving the educational opportunities that Lehi citizens' tax dollars should warrant. Why wait until 1986 or 1987 for the new junior high when the transition could begin now? Lehi citizens can sit back and accept the usual allocation: a condemned Junior High School and a long list of other inequities, or they can come forth now as a united community to ask for a few changes that would make a world of difference to their children. The school district administrators and board should not have the power to arbitrate boundaries that result in one of its high schools functioning under capacity to its definite schools in communities two miles away disadvantage-whil- e hard-earne- Lehi-Highla- C,t. are overcrolyf- m Boundary lines m Alpine District are close enough in the total district area that there should be minimal disparity in the size of the schools. We recognize that there is faster growth in some areas, but the school age populus in these areas is as easily accessible to Lehi High as to American Fork. The faculty and student numbers to upgrade academic and extra curricular opportunities in the local school. The faculty and studentbody of Lehi High School have enjoyed uncrowded conditions, but it is imperative now to have the student numbers to upgrade academic and extra curricular opportunities in the local school.- We encourage citizens and school board members to put away bias and personal ax grinding to make a better overall educational system in the North Utah County area. Changes can be achieved if enough citizens have the courage to stand up and let their voices be heard. Perhaps many of you have never expressed an opinion about these issues: now is the time to speak up, your input may have a effect on your children's future. - - " far-reachi- c letters to the editor By BETTY POWLfJt beUnewe It 'Lady' and 'gent' hospitalized, basketball over? ornery. She has a deep faith and expresses it often. She is a wonderful mother who was a true helpmate and partner to her husband. She's a hard worker, and always looks just like she's stepped out of a bandbox. She could be a model for Vogue, and I often like to remember her chuckle, her smile and her concern for her friends and neighbors. I hope she's feeling better now. I remember when I fell down a flight of steps: I was bruised and broken for weeks, but knowing Mrs. Ash's indomitable spirit she'll be up and at 'em before you know it But when anyone describes a "lady" I always think of Mrs. Ash. Now, the gentlemen part Who, in your opinion exemplifies your of a gentleman? description Someone who opens doors for ladies, someone who is mindful of his manners, someone who is dignified, yet has a quiet strength that somehow inspires others to be strong too. Armond Webb fits this description of a gentleman, and at the when, beginning of a program or meeting, the salutation goes something like this: "ladies and gentlemen, Remember welcome" Did it occur to you that the speaker was paying you a compliment Ladies and gentlemen denotes someone of gentle demeanor, someone with excellent manners and appearance and someone who you admire and respect One of my neighbors answers the description of a "lady" in every Alta Ash. possible category. Always pleasant, always and an inspiring thoughtful, personality. Mrs. Ash had an accident at her home Monday and is in the American Fork Hospital. When I heard of her accident I immediately thought of all the ways she has made a deep impression on me her sense of humor, her ability to laugh at incidents in her own life that would make lesser folks frustrated and y the edntmr's column By MARC HADDOCK I went to Montpelier High School. "They" recovering. We usually forget to tell folks that we admire them, I know I do. Ill bet Armond would appreciate hearing a tribute or two. He was a wonderful teacher. People would quietly, leave his classroom thoughtful and thankful for his preparation and presentation ofthe lesson material. Besides all that, he always looked so nice, always very dignified, "classy," yet kind and considerate. I hope he is feeling better. Why don't we all send Armond and Alta get well cards along with a personal wish for health and happiness. Everyone I talk to is in a kind of withdrawal stage. So much for Valentines, St Patricks Day and Easter. What really worries me is, what will we do now that basketball is over. I mean the NCAAs. All those games must have taken something out of me. I feel so depleted, so rested, and so restless! Well, baseball and Softball season is here. Many of the softball fans will be going to St George this weekend for the Earlybird Softball Tourney, and high school baseball is underway. There is hope for us after alL And I know a few rugged track and field diehards like Fay and Keith Dubois who will be haunting the track meets. I imagine the Tripps will be on hand to see their star perform, and I noticed that several of our track personalities performed well at the recent Utah Valley Track Meet Lehi placed before Orem, Wasatch, Springville, Pleasant Grove and American Fork in the boys division, and the before placed Payson, girls Spanish Fork and Pleasant Grove tracksters. See ya at the ball games and at the track meets . . . won't I? co-cit- y Tale of two schools remember it. Of course "they" were a lot smaller than we were. "They" went to Fielding High important part of basketball: Bantam, high school, college and Armond fell at his home this week and is also in' the hospital even competed in a different class. School. But "they" were only 10 miles away. I hated them and they hated me. Everyone else was 30 to over 100 came from miles away. My friends normal-soundin- g enlightened, So the rivalries were intense. municipalities like Montpelier, My older brothers taught me to Bennington, Georgetown, Geneva, hate Fielding. Kerry, who was five Wardboro and (believe it or not) years older than me, was caught Dingle. painting the Fielding High School "They" came from prehistoric front door a bright red the night villages with foreign-soundin- g before a game. He was quarterback names like Paris, Bern, Ovid of the football team, and a force to (named, no doubt, after the early be reckoned with. (At least, I Liberty (that thought so. His opinion mattered to pornographer), doesn't sound foreign, just odd), w.i.,.,.. me.) . Bloomington,- - St. Charles (that. The way he saw it we were doesn't sound foreign eitherJust sophisticated, "the y" were hicks .So strange for a Mormon settlement I saw it that way too. (Really, we it should have been named Latter-da- y were all hicks.) St. Charles) and (believe it or The boundaries transcended not) Fish Haven. schools. We were in one LDS stake We hated them and "they" hated social unit of the the us. were in communities. "They" Our girls were, for the most part, ( another split almost along the attractive. Some were even good school boundaries. looking. One or two were knockouts. So it was easy for us to hate "Their" girls were homely, with Fielding. It was easy for Fielding to only one or two exceptions. hate us. We were so close. We didn't date "them," and "they r We were too close. didn't date us. And if we did, or And when I was a freshman (there were four grades in both high "they" did, it meant a fight. We were the mighty Montpelier schools), after several unsuccessful Bears, with the marvelous and attempts, a resolution was finally unique school colors of maroon and passed to consolidate the schools. One junior high was increased to gray (honest!). were the three grades, including the 9th. Our "They" laughable Fielding Spartans (or Trojans, I 9th graders were bused to Paris. The really can't remember), with the high school kids were bused to blase school colors of blue and white Montpelier. And Montpelier High School just like half of the other schools in that corner of Idaho. became Bear Lake High School. And we would always beat "them" How we dreaded that change. at least that's the way I We were still the bears. ! But our school colors were blue and white. We were sophomores. But we were still the youngest class in the school. We got some new teachers with fresh ideas and a different outlook. We still had the same sour principal who walked around as if he hated every high school student there ever was. (I think my brothers had a lot to do with his feeling that way.) Our class ring, we were told, would sport a fierce bear, with a Spartan (or a Trojan, I could never tell) in the background. ,,, There were other concessions. High School graduation was held in the Montpeiier Tabernacle, the only building in the town that could hold that many people. Seminary graduation was held in the Bear Lake Tabernacle in Paris, the only building in the town that could hold that many people. The way we looked at it, we lost at least that's more than we won how it looked at first. But kids are resilient, and much more flexible than their parents. It wasn't long (weeks) before new friendships .began to form and new romances blossomed. It was a school of compromises. And we found that compromises of that type aren't necessarily bad. The communities resisted, but they were drawn closer together as well. We flexed a new, stronger muscle in contests of athletic prowess, moving from near the bottom to the top of the district in football in two seasons. (But the coach was careful. He alternated quarterbacks one from Montpelier, the other from Ovid.) And its harder to hold a grudge against someone when your kids both play on the same winning team, instead of competing against each other. Before long, we saw that the result of the change was a better school, with better classes, more opportunities, and an improved social climate. At least, that's what I saw. Others might not have felt that. The change also helped me to rediscover my roots. I started dating a girl from Bloomington, where my father was born and reared. To get to where she lived, I had to go through Paris. where my mother was born and reared. It helped me realize that I owed a whole lot to that other side of the valley. (Most of my friends started dating girls from "the west side." We'd known the girls from our side all our lives, and we were ready for a change. So were the girls.) And it helped us to see how destructive that earlier rivalry had been, tearing our communities apart. I'm not saying it was easy.J3ut it was worth it. By my senior year, we'd pretty much forgotten about Fielding and Montpelier Highs. We were united. We were proud of our schools. (We were even proud of the school colors.) We were also the last class that had attended both schools. We had a new, and a better rivalry Preston. And when I look back, it's Bear Lake High I remember, not Montpelier. Because it was what we made it. And we made it better. Thanks to Nat'l Guard Editor: Now that the Bantam Basketball season has come to an end, I think it appropriate that a word of appreciation be given to the Utah National Guard for making this program possible and to the many people who devote their time in either coaching, directing the program, keeping score or refereeing the games. As you may know, the program was directed this year by Marlin and Steve Peterson from the guard, and they should be congratulated for a great job. In addition, the coaches deserve a hearty thank you for their time and effort. This year there were eight teams and each team played. on Wednesday night with a minimum of one night per week practice. The regular season ran from December 9 to March 9, with an All Star game thrown in and a week long tournament at the end of the regular season. As a parent, I'm grateful for this program and the positive effect it has had on my son. -- Julian MErcer Lehi 53) Carpet and Pad Seminar Reg.JW $6.89 yard Milt No Wax Register at the door for a learning from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. on experience Flooring ur Reg.A Check with State Farm '3.99 Competitive Rates. Guaranteed Lifetime Income. Waiver of Premium for Disability Option GoodjNeighbor" Service. yard Hurry in while supply lasts; business computer 100 East American fork 756 3518 ifATI fM 1 learn what is necessary to make a rational choice in selecting a personal or small I. RALPH BINNALL N ' at the April 11th, 12th or 13th Am. 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