After last season’s loss to Eleanor Roosevelt in the 4A Baseball State Championship game, which ended hopes of a perfect season, the Warriors dreamed of redemption. Nearly a year later they got exactly what they desired, a State Championship, by defeating the C. Milton Wright Mustangs 7-6 in extra innings to win the 4A championship.

      For years, Sherwood gymnastics didn’t have many requirements for students to participate. For example, gymnasts may not have necessarily competed in meets but were still part of the team. This season, it has been slightly different. Coach Gary Peters, who has been coaching gymnastics here at Sherwood for 25 years, decided to hold tryouts instead.

      The long-standing contention has been that, in god we trust. Today, it seems, more and more Americans beg to differ. No, this is neither a drawn out debate about coinage nor even one about the Pledge of Allegiance. Rather, these days, Americans question not only "What God?" but also "Which God?"

      Teacher turnover, in which teachers leave their jobs to find other venues to work or leave the profession entirely due to reasons other than marriage, job relocation or other personal matters, has been a problem in education for many years. Statistics show that 50 percent of all newly hired teachers leave within the first five years, mainly due to shortage of support and poor working conditions. Additionally, retiring teachers of the Baby Boomer generation have begun leaving the teaching ranks in droves.

      "I was a serious drug user all three years that I went to Sherwood, but I was never caught for any of the things I did in high school because my teachers wouldn’t notice. They actually found me a joy to be in class. The days I wasn’t high on drugs, my teachers would actually ask me what was wrong with me," says Zach,* a Class of 2007 graduate.

      This year, there have been seismic shifts in both the number of students applying to schools and the number of schools students are applying to. Effects at the college level have yet to be seen since schools will continue to accept the same number of students regardless of how many apply. For students, however, it is becoming strikingly apparent that as expectations are rising, admission rates are decreasing. This leaves many with much uncertainty as to their educational future. As if the admissions process is not grueling enough.

      Since Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett’s direction to all county government departments to save two percent of each of their respective operating budgets, MCPS has implemented several expenditure restrictions to save the required $37 million from its budget.

      The course selection cards for next year’s Freshman Class list only one course that fulfills the technical education requirement. The change is due, according to Career and Technology Education resource teacher Jason Daigle, to revision of the technology education requirements at the state level. To comply with these new conditions the county has audited every technology course currently offered. Only three met the new requirements, and of those three only Foundations of Technology is currently taught at Sherwood. 

Next year, Principal Gregory and other staff members will embark on the planning process for the implementation of small learning communities (SLC), also referred to as academies, at Sherwood during the 2009-10 school year.