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NEWS
Appleton, Wisconsin Spring 2016 Volume XXI
Issue II Page 2
In the February issue of the
Noctiluca there were inaccu-
racies in the article regarding
AASD attendance and truancy
policies. All students have up
to ten unexcused absences.
To be absent for a full day
a student would have to miss
more than two thirds of a day
or have excused absences accu-
mulating to two thirds of a day.
If a student were to accu-
mulate a total of 10 excused
absences a medical note would
be sent home to the family and
the school would work with the
family and student to help them
with whatever their needs may
be, said Assistant Principal Mr.
Patrick Lee.
Even if the family would
have no medical reason for
the ten unexcused absence the
school would work with the
family, taking vacation and
conferences into hand as each
circumstance is unique, Mr.
Lee said.
An inaccuracy in the previ-
ous article referenced a shift
from minutes based recording
to periods based recording but
this does not affect students be-
cause their absences will still
be measured by periods.
Only in the system will the
minutes missed be recorded
and purely for the Department
of Public Instruction’s data col-
lection purposes.
After every unexcused ab-
sence (this could be all or part
of one day), the parents are
called and the student speaks
with the dean to try and work
through any problems causing
an unexcused absence.
After four unexcused ab-
sences, the student’s family
will receive a letter requesting
a meeting with Mr. Lee where
they will work to help the stu-
dent attend school and inform
them that if they have one more
unexcused absence they will
have to appear in truancy court.
In truancy court (which is
held at Appleton North every
three weeks) the student pleads
guilty, not guilty, or no contest
to truancy. The Judge then has
the ability to require students to
do community service to make
up for the missed school.
If the student continues to
miss school they would pay the
$200.50 fine.
Attendance policy change redefines full day of absence
Ms. Reed reflects on her career path
For North U.S. history
teacher Ms. Marlyce Reed
helping students solve global
problems is just as important
as teaching history. In an effort
to explore the story of a well-
respected and erudite faculty
member of Appleton North,
the Noctiluca conversed with
Ms. Reed.
The Noctiluca:
Describe
your collegiate pursuits.
Mrs. Reed:
I was a clari-
netist in college. I practiced so
much that I actually destroyed
my embouchure. To this day,
if I put a clarinet in my mouth,
my mouth, it just shakes and
quivers. So, I was forced to
find another passion… . That
was kind of a bad time. Then
I ended up here. It was really a
circuitous path.
When I obtained my mas-
ter’s at Northwestern, you
know, you have to sit in front
of a panel of professors. I’ll
never forget the music history
professor. See, I was a compo-
sition major at the time.
He just took my test book-
let, and he said, “I wish my
PhD history students could do
this.” And that’s all he said.
Which you know, planted this
little seed, like “Oh. I guess
I’m kind of good at history.”
It’s funny…all of the junc-
tures through life. So, my first
two degrees are in music, and
I have hundreds of extra cred-
its. I had gone back to school
to become certified in history,
and went back again to be-
come certified in broadfield
social studies. I’ve really never
stopped going to school.
So, I think I’ve found the
right field...I’m in the right
field.
The Noctiluca:
What are
you most proud of?
Mrs. Reed:
So, I coached
this program called Future
Problem solving. And the kids
got really good; they were just
really talented kids. They kept
winning, winning, winning.
They’d win state, and then
they’d win internationals. Well,
in the program, they’re given
topics of global significance,
and futurists, like people from
MIT, would prepare scenarios
with respect to predicted future
problems. And then the kids
would generate problems and
solve them. It occurred to me
after awhile, that it was all kind
of academic. They had all of
this talent here; why didn’t they
actually solve a real problem?
So I was keeping my eyes
and ears open for a circum-
stance where they could apply
these skills to the real world.
One night, I was at dinner at a
friend’s house, and they were
involved in the Sister City Proj-
ect in Russia. One of them was
the head of ThedaCare, one
was the head of Boldt, one was
a doctor, one was a big business
construction owner, one was
a hospital administrator; they
were people in the community
that had great influence. They
had definite, tangible things
they could provide, and I sat at
the table thinking, “What do I
have to contribute?”And then it
was like a lightning bolt. Future
Problem Solvers. The kids. But
I never expected even at that
level for it to end up as it did.
I still can’t believe their par-
ents let me take them all of the
way to Siberia, near a chemical
weapons depot. But they did.
They were awesome. And this
small village of Chuchee, it
was just two kilometers away
from town.
There was this huge weap-
ons depot. It was full of Cold
War chemical gas canisters.
And my friend Mosha that I
met on an exchange; she was
from this village. Her father
was in charge of the railroad in
the village. And for all of these
years during the Cold War,
train load after train load of
these chemical weapons were
coming in. And even Mosha’s
mother didn’t know. Nobody
knew what was on those train
cars. But it was all chemical
weapons...and they were being
stored two kilometers from the
town. So the Soviet Union dis-
solved, and all of a sudden, no-
body was guarding the chemi-
cal weapons anymore. This
old, run-down, barn-like build-
ing from the 1940s or 1950s
had a wire fence around it, and
you could walk around it and
see places where it had been
cut. People had been in and
out. The lock on the front was
a padlock sealed by a wax-like
stamp, similar to stamps used
to seal legal documents in the
Middle Ages. They put a piece
of wire through it and melted
wax. That was how they knew
if someone had broke in. The
guard didn’t carry a weapon.
And inside, there was enough
serine gas in this one place to
kill every human being on the
planet three times. In other
words...no security.
So, these two American
senators, Nunn and Lugar, got
a bill passed in the Congress
where the United States donat-
ed 248 million dollars to build
a weapons deconstruction plant
there. But the people who lived
in Chuchee who had just, for
the first time, found out those
weapons were there--which is
mind boggling--were just ter-
rified. Because they [the weap-
ons] were going to be handled,
and there was the threat of po-
tential accidents, and so forth.
So, the kids’ project was to con-
vince the village that this was a
good idea. And to do that, they
set up a program called SASY,
Save a Siberian Youth, where
people could buy any student at
the school or anyone in the vil-
lage a gas mask. They used to
tell the kids to put a scarf over
their faces. Which is like tell-
ing us to dive under the desk. It
wasn’t going to save anybody.
So the kids constructed an
evacuation plan for them. They
worked with the city council
in Appleton to get the city to
donate old sirens--there were
no warning sirens. This village
was so backwards, they didn’t
even have a telephone, half
of the time there was no run-
ning water, there’s no electric-
ity. No internet. So, an archaic
city. Maybe the United States
in 1885...and then chemical
weapons, right next to each
other. But they took us to the
weapons deconstruction plant;
we were able to get the whole
tour. The kids got maps to try to
figure out an evacuation plan,
and my friend Mosha asked,
“Where did you get those? We
can’t get those.” It was weird.
And then we trained a team
of Future Problem Solvers in
Chuchee so that they knew how
to do this too. That was part of
it as well, education, training,
and safety. They [the Chuchee
locals] had to feel safe enough
to accept that. Then there was
the International Conference,
and all of the Russians came
here.
That’s when we met Gor-
bachev. And last March, the
last chemical weapon from the
depot was destroyed. But, be-
fore we left Chuchee, we went
to Mosha’s flat to eat, because
there was no place to stay that
had running water. We came in,
and her father had just picked
wild strawberries.
I mean, they lived like it was
fifty years ago. And he had just
milked the cow. So we had this
warm, fizzy milk and strawber-
ries. And people were toasting
to each other. Mosha’s mother,
she went to toast and said, “If
you had told me anytime in my
life, that I would have Ameri-
cans, sitting at my table in my
home, I would have never be-
lieved it.” That was profound.
If you lived through the Cold
War...that was so powerful.
By Maeve Salm
By Nora Ptacek
correction
On northnoct.com
Read the letter AASD
sent to families regarding
policy changes.
North history teacher leads
effort to help Siberian youth
deal with chemical weapons
Ms. Reed, left, stands with members of Future Prob-
lem Solvers near the chemical weapons stockpile in
Chuchee, Siberia. This image is a part of a series of
infographics detailing the team’s efforts to help villag-
ers. See all the infographics at northnoct.com.
Graphic
courtesy of Ms. Reed
H
umans of
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