Students at Evanston Township High School might soon be able to explore wetlands, research forest plants and even study pond life without leaving the school grounds.
District 202 school board members voted 4-1 Monday night to pass an initiative to create a nature center at ETHS.
Craig Smith, an ETHS science teacher, said the center, to be built approximately two acres west of the football stadium, would give students more hands-on experiences.
“This is an outdoor classroom,” Smith said. “We’re trying to create an educational tool.”
Biology and environmental science students currently take field trips for outdoor lab experience, but not all students have that opportunity, Smith said.
“This school has not done so well in exposing kids who are lower achievers,” Superintendent Allan Alson said. “What this does is equalize opportunities so that all kids get hands-on experience.”
About $41,000 have already been raised for the project through fund-raising, although the total cost is estimated to be $261,000, Smith said.
The ETHS student council encouraged the board to pass the proposal, however some school board members did express concern about its cost.
“I just don’t think we can do everything we want,” said board member Steven Gilford, . “If I had a chance at buying $200,000 of computers or this, I’d buy $200,000 worth of laptops.”
The board also heard a report on a new application procedure for students entering the National Honor Society. Proponents said the new system will make the procedure more objective.
NHS recognizes students who excel in the areas of academics, leadership, character and community service.
Currently ETHS juniors and seniors with a grade point average of 3.0 or above are eligible to join NHS. After a student applies, teachers are asked to comment on their experiences with the student. The comments and the applications are then reviewed by a faculty committee, which makes the final decision about who is accepted. The system has received criticism for being too subjective.
“I believed it was important to review a way to build more objectivity into the process,” Alson said.
The proposed application procedure will include a numerical rating system. Teachers will be able to rate students’ leadership and character on a scale of one to five, in addition to providing comments.
Orchestra Director and NHS Sponsor Charles Abplanalp said the ratings would then be averaged together so that “no one individual number could sway (the results).”
The faculty can still reject students even if they receive acceptable ratings because of a previous “egregious act,” which can be anything from cheating to suspension from school, Abplanalp said.
“If someone gets rejected, there is a rehabilitation process — they can apply again,” Board Member Ross Friedman said.
According to the NHS constitution, chapters are not legally obligated to tell students why they were rejected, Abplanalp said.
“My experience with this is my own discomfort with parents who want to know why,” Alson said. “If we’re going to collect documentation, we should consider letting them know what has been problematic.”
