PMHS Seniors Stand To Save AP Science Courses

Several seniors stood up at Monday's Board of Education meeting at the high school when they found out that two AP science courses could be on the chopping block due to low enrollment.

"The juniors came back and were very upset that they had to change their schedules for next year, which upset us because the class has meant so much to us," Lindsey Dundas, 18, said after the meeting.

"They came back to our classes saying, our guidance counselors said there's not enough kids in these classes, we had to choose between bio and environmental instead," Rebecca Keogh, 17, said.

The students reacted to the news by getting 331 of their classmates to sign a letter in support of making sure the classes remain on the schedule. In addition around 15 of their classmates attended the meeting, all standing when trustee William Lavelle asked them to.

The two courses affected are AP Chemistry and AP Physics C which both need about five more students to register in order to fulfill a district policy. Superintendent Michael Locantore said that the policy usually requires a class to have 15 students in order to run.

The board and administration responded favorably to the students, noting that they are going to do everything they can to allow the courses to continue.

Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum Lori Cannetti said that the possibility of moving students in lower levels of AP Physics and Chemistry study into the higher levels is being explored, as long as they have a strong math background to handle the move.

"We have to possibly look into kids sitting in physics B and see if they have the math scores to possibly take physics C and skip over physics B but we have to make sure they have the strong math background to move into that level," Cannetti said.

Similarly Cannetti said that Chemistry Honors students are also being looked at as potential candidates to jump to AP Chemistry.

"We're not interested in cutting these classes," Cannetti said. "Our job right now is to recruit more students."

Locantore also said that if a few more students can be recruited into the program, that the classes may still run even if each have a little less than 15 students.

Regarding having the current juniors select other classes, Cannetti said that this is only a backup choice should AP Chemistry and AP Physics C not return to the schedule.

The seniors said they would also be willing to help boost recruitment.

"Personally I think the best kind of influence to inspire [younger students] is through their peers, so we would definitely take time out of our schedule to speak to the underclassmen," Keogh said.

Dundas, Keogh and seniors Hanna Lazio, 17, and Jake Felser, 17, also said they think a reason for the low enrollment is students being unwilling to challenge themselves upon hearing the difficulty of the courses. However they also said that they now feel significantly more prepared for college science classes as a result.