Alex Carr's The Jaguars' Spot column for Wed., Nov. 11, 2009

Is this the end for VCHS?

Uh, duh .. of course not! Where would you get a crazy idea like that? Oh ... right ... that headline you just read.

Actually, kidding aside, in a recent conversation with Principal McCowan, I learned that a group called the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) came to VCHS a few weeks ago to evaluate our school and generally check out how well our teachers are teaching, and our administrators are administrating. A good WASC score can do a school a lot of good.

“Many teachers had activities and lessons planned to impress the people from WASC,” McCowan said. “Come January, we’ll see our scores and I am very hopeful we will be pleased -- after all, we’ve always received high scores from WASC in the past and I am confident they will like what they saw.”

Jags heed “Call of Duty”!

That’s Call of Duty as in “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2” -- one of the most anticipated video games ever. Ever. E-V-E-R! The game will go on sale Tuesday 12:01 a.m. so every parent of a kid with an Xbox 360 console who finds an empty bedroom can be completely comfortable in the knowledge that their kid is safe. He or she -- who am I kidding ... HE -- just pedaled his little bike down the grade by moonlight to be first in line to get a copy. And every teacher can relax knowing all those bloodshot eyes and general zombie-istic tendencies are merely the result of a Call of Duty overload.

You think I’m kidding? I know one guy (who would like his name withheld for reasons that will soon become clear) who is going to get the game the MILLISECOND it goes on sale, play it until 6:00 a.m., and then go to school!

“I’m so happy there’s no school Wednesday,” said Principal Ron McCowan, “because I’m planning on staying up ALL night drinking soda, eating Cheetos, and playing on-line with all my old buddies from Cellblock D!”

You think I’m kidding? Actually, that time I was!

Tell me about it!:

As I promised last week, I tracked down drama teacher John Ward (turns out it was surprisingly easy; he was right there in his classroom!) to find out why this year’s production of the anti-violence play, “Bang Bang. You’re Dead,” was cancelled.

Ward told me that every previous showing of Bang Bang has been done through the VCHS Drama Club but, this year, he decided to try producing it through drama class. “I simply bit off more than I could chew,” said Ward. “I’ve been so busy teaching kids all the elements of acting that putting on a show in addition was just more than I or many of the kids could handle.”

Ward told me that the show has been rescheduled for January and promised it will come back stronger than ever.

Got a great item for this column? Tell me about it! Catch me on campus or go to my web page and shoot me an e-mail (www.carrfamily.com/alex).