By: Novepreet Kaur
This year at William L Dickinson High School, a lot of AP classes have been cut. AP Chemistry and AP Physics were the two major classes that were taken away from our students. Questions were raised about the cuts while students and parents became outraged with the announcement. When students began asking their teachers why AP classes were being cut, the response given was that the number of students in each class didn’t meet the required enrollment. AP classes needed eight students per class in order to keep the class. AP World History ran by Mr. Pfeffer came in luck when he received a list of eight students interested in his class when the word about cuts started going around.
However, the science classes didn’t receive the same amount of luck. Physics teacher, Mr. Weimmer had only four kids in his class and Chemistry teacher, Mrs. Rana had five students. Therefore, since they didn’t meet the requirements of the number of students their classes were pulled.
Teachers were also frustrated with the news, since teachers like Mrs. Rana spent her entire summer getting prepared for the class, creating lesson plans, and familiarizing herself with the textbook for her students. Mr. Weimmer has been teaching AP Physics for a while now and he was let down by the news.
There also appears to be a lack of teachers available for regular Chemistry and honors. Since there were only five students in AP Chemistry, it made it easier to just pull the class all together and let Mrs. Rana teach regular Chemistry.
Many students actually were interested in the course so they reached out to the Board of Education President, Mussab Ali. His response was “I can’t dictate student demand for the course” and that students can “self study”. In other words, he really couldn’t do anything about the current situation. An important board member like Mussab handled the situation unprofessionally. A student came to him concerned about a course they needed for college and instead of assisting them he quickly dismissed them.
Students at Dickinson are hoping that these AP science courses come back next year since there’s no hope for this year. The teachers as well as the students deserve justice for these classes being stripped away from them. Some students need AP classes to receive college credits so it’s crucial we continue to program. There’s still hope for next year, if enough students sign up for these classes and they stay for good.
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