“Haha, can’t tell me nothing,” Kanye West boasts in his 2007 single ‘Can’t tell me nothing’.
            Well, West certainly can’t heed his own words. On September 13, 2009 West waltzed onto main stage at the Music Television Video Music Awards and let his infamous mouth, known for its reckless abandon, loose.
West let it be known that he thought Beyonce Knowles had a better music video than country star Taylor Swift, the winner of the Best Female Video award. In front of thousands of viewers and hundreds of attendees,West mercilessly humiliated Swift. After his rant, he simply handed the mic to Swift and took his seat.
            West had done exactly what it was he had set out to accomplish: bring the spotlight back onto the self-acclaimed genius.
            West even managed to garner the attention of one Barack Obama. When asked what he thought of the rapper’s antics, President Obama had the perfect response ready: Jackass.
            Oddly enough, it was an elephant, not a jackass, who caused an uproar four days prior during President Obama’s address to Congress. During the speech, Obama mentioned that healthcare would not be available to illegal immigrants. That was when, just like West, Republican representative Joe Wilson from South Carolina, chose to take the spotlight and focus it on himself.
            “You lie,” Wilson shouted. Within minutes bloggers were uploading responses to the event, and within the next day or so major news channels like Fox News and Cable News Network featured stories covering the incident.
            As if both a disrespectful politician and musician weren’t enough to get the media riled up, tennis all-star Serena Williams pulled a stunt of her own.
During her semi-final match with Kim Clijsters on Sept. 12, 2009, Williams let loose a tirade that sent a line judge running. Along with the judge went the match, as Clijsters was awarded the win because of Williams’ outburst.
With Williams’ outburst came the trifecta; a sports star, musician, and politician all showing disregard for anyone but themselves, all in the span of a week. Impressive.
The message these public figures have sent is that it’s okay to disrespect other people. That it is okay to make a teenage country star cry. That it is good sport to send an official running for the hills. That it is okay to interrupt the highest authority in the United States while he addresses some of the most well-respected men and women in the country.
            Most high school students wouldn’t flat-out call their principals liars. Nor would they shout expletives at officials in the middle of a football game or take over someone’s act at the talent show. The penalty for a transgression on those levels would, in most cases, be suspension. But it seems as if a little bit of money and power put some figures above society’s moral barometer.
            A show of disrespect within the public eye does nothing but breed corruption and hate. We definitely don’t need anymore negatives, what with all these liars, near-sighted officials and not-nearly-perfect-enough music videos airing live for the whole world to see.

Eight months after the drought in the southeast gained the attention of national media, conditions, policies and public opinion in Athens-Clarke County have all changed.“I think the drought is still in the public’s mind and they are still concerned about water use. I think people are still conserving, although there are some that mistakenly think that because it has rained, the drought is over,” ACC Water Conservation Coordinator Stephen Dorsch said.

A new system of state mandated math courses will be implemented at Clarke Central High School for the 2008-09 school year to accompany the new Georgia Performance Standards geared towards student performance.CCHS’ math department will move from the current Quality Core Curriculum to Georgia Performance Standards with the start of the 2008-09 school year. The math courses that will be offered at CCHS are renamed as Math I, II, III and IV.

Next year, Clarke Central High School will undergo a change it has not experienced in nine years, since current CCHS principal Dr. Maxine Easom came to CCHS in 1999. Dr. Robbie Hooker will begin his tenure as the principal of CCHS starting in fall 2008.Hooker is currently the principal at Burney-Harris-Lyons Middle School and has worked as principal there for five years. Many students at CCHS know Hooker from past years at BHL and are familiar with his disciplinary tactics.

The Clarke Central High School media center will undergo a renovation in the summer of 2008.The remodeling will consist of a new color for the walls, new shelving for books, a new display system, reconstruction of the ceiling and the addition of a coffee shop.

On May 9, 2008, the Clarke County School District Board of Education will decide on a dress code for the upcoming 2008-09 school year. The proposed policies include a new student dress code Policy JCDB, with a mirrored version of employee Policy GBRL.“The Clarke County Board of Education recognizes that the manner in which students dress can have a disruptive effect on the educational environment in a school, adversely affect student learning, and present risks which threaten the health, safety, security, and well-being of students and faculty alike,” according to the proposed Policy JCDB.

“The caregivers of the cancer patients join the survivors in the Caregivers’ Lap, and everybody always claps for them,” Curriculum Assistnace Program for Students department teacher Meri Blackburn said.For the final part of Celebrate, all the relay teams, which consist of people from businesses, health centers, churches and schools, walk on the track for the Team Lap.

Clarke Central High School students, individually and through various clubs, worked to present a program highlighting the diversity of the student body.“The idea for International Day was to try and represent our countries. We tried to do it last year, but we couldn’t because we didn’t have that much support,” senior Erika La Rosa, a member of UNIDOS and the International Club, said.

Before every school year, Clarke Central High School teachers meet in the food court for a pre-planning day. Amidst the chatter over breakfast, eyes periodically glance towards the cafeteria entrance, waiting to see balloons and smiling Foundation for Excellence members.“I knew (the members of the Foundation) were going to come. I thought this is going to be really embarrassing because everyone’s going to know that I didn’t get it. I was really shocked,” ESOL teacher Jodi Bolgla said. “(The award gave me) validation that I was OK at what I do.”In 2007, Bolgla received the Martha Comer Award for Teachers of Languages. Her reception of this award marked the first time an ESOL teacher had won the award, originally established for foreign language teachers.

A new contract has been approved for principals who will fill the vacancies of the 2008-09 and 2009-10 academic year at both high schools in the Clarke County School District.“For positions such as (administrators), stability in the positions is very important,” Superintendent James H. Simms said. “In addition, it takes a little time to learn the nuances and demonstrate how well one can perform.”Simms requested a new contract for administrators in Athens-Clarke County. New principals will have to sign a two-year contract, rather than the previously used, which has been a one year contract. Simms hopes the contract length change will give administrators more time for possible improvement and the chance to work to the best of their ability.