by Madison Gates
Paris, Illinois. Population: just under 10,000. It’s safe to say that Paris isn’t exactly the biggest town you’ll travel through in Illinois, but hey it’s our town and it’s changing. It’s changing every single day. It’s becoming more modern. The restaurants and the stores are becoming up to date with today’s society, as are the people of the town. With iPads and Droids this world is becoming highly developed. Our town shouldn’t be deprived of the technology it deserves.
Our high school, however, is clearly not getting any younger. The current high school was built back in the early 1900’s. It’s 2011 people! The building is almost 103 years old! Sure when the high school was first built it was thriving for its day in age, but a little over 100 years later, and it’s starting to fall apart! It is in need of millions of dollars in repairs in the coming years to keep it operational.
For the past few months though, the little town of Paris has been campaigning for a new high school! More commonly known as “Yes2PCHS.” The town voted for it on April 5, 2011. It was a success! They did this because we had a remarkable and very rare opportunity to take advantage of state funding for construction of a new high school!
In other words, since the town voted “yes,” the state of Illinois is literally going to give us $20 million for construction of a new high school. The costs to keep the current one, but make it meet standards would cost the same, if not more as it will to build a new high school. So the answer was clear, that a new high school was necessary especially when the state is going to pay $20 million of the cost, that’s 65%!
“I’m excited to start learning in a new environment.” Randi Hays, a freshman stated. “I’m happy to be getting a new one,” stated Denver Brewer, also a freshman at PCHS.
Taxes, of course… Yes if the state is paying for 65% of the new high school that does mean that your property taxes will be slightly raised. For some home owners this could be an increase of $8 per year. However, if the referendum wouldn’t have of passed then the tax load might have been even LARGER, only because the local residents would be responsible for all 100% of the costs, rather than 35%.
The opportunity was here, and the time was now. Thank you for everyone who voted “yes” to the new high school. For those of you who haven’t been won over yet visit www.yes2pchs.com for more information or for a better understanding on the topic.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
New "addition" to math teacher's family
by Andreanna Smith
If you have ever walked through the main hall way of Paris High School, then you have probably been past the classroom of the math teacher, Mr. Roger Thomas. If you walk in and get to know the teacher, you will probably hear about his family which consists of him and his wife, and how they have been trying to adopt a child through open adoption for about three years now. Open adoption is a type of adoption that is becoming a part of every day lives for many people in the United States. It means that the birth parents of the child are included in the child’s life along with the adoptive parents. Tiger Tales is proud to announce that this March, Mr. Thomas and his wife were finally blessed with a baby to adopt.
Sloane Harper Gracie Thomas made way into the hearts of the Thomas family in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, March 7, 2011. Sloane is Mr. Thomas’ first child, and with the first child comes changes in ones life, “I don’t sleep anymore, busy from the time I get out of bed until the time I get back in. [My life] is also more awesome, if you can believe that!” laughs Mr. Thomas.
The most difficult thing about the adoption Mr. Thomas thinks was “Probably just waiting in Pennsylvania for two weeks before we could bring her home, but it was worth it.” Mr. Thomas was away from his students for two weeks , he jokes, “I didn’t until I came back, hahaha, just kidding. I think its really cool how all the kids were asking questions and being supportive through the whole process.”
If you have ever walked through the main hall way of Paris High School, then you have probably been past the classroom of the math teacher, Mr. Roger Thomas. If you walk in and get to know the teacher, you will probably hear about his family which consists of him and his wife, and how they have been trying to adopt a child through open adoption for about three years now. Open adoption is a type of adoption that is becoming a part of every day lives for many people in the United States. It means that the birth parents of the child are included in the child’s life along with the adoptive parents. Tiger Tales is proud to announce that this March, Mr. Thomas and his wife were finally blessed with a baby to adopt.
Sloane Harper Gracie Thomas made way into the hearts of the Thomas family in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, March 7, 2011. Sloane is Mr. Thomas’ first child, and with the first child comes changes in ones life, “I don’t sleep anymore, busy from the time I get out of bed until the time I get back in. [My life] is also more awesome, if you can believe that!” laughs Mr. Thomas.
The most difficult thing about the adoption Mr. Thomas thinks was “Probably just waiting in Pennsylvania for two weeks before we could bring her home, but it was worth it.” Mr. Thomas was away from his students for two weeks , he jokes, “I didn’t until I came back, hahaha, just kidding. I think its really cool how all the kids were asking questions and being supportive through the whole process.”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)