The mandated AP testing policy, which has been the subject of much controversy over past weeks, will remain unchanged for this year’s seniors class.
A statement read by the chair of a committee formed to address the issues swirling around the policy did not please the majority of the crowd at Monday’s Board of Education meeting who were hoping for the policy to be amended. As it stands, the policy requires that any student enrolled in an AP course must take the AP exam or else fail the course. This means some students will take as many as six AP tests.
Patricia Raupers, the director of curriculum and instruction at Northern Valley and chairwoman of the committee, reviewed the committee’s reasons for not adopting any of the suggested amendments to the policy. These suggestions and grievances with the policy were raised by students and parents alike at previous meetings.
One suggested amendment was for students to take the AP course but offered honors credit if they choose not to sit for the exam. Raupers said the committee ruled this out because the change would mean the district was misrepresented on its profile that was sent to colleges the to which this year’s seniors applied.
"The district profile, which was sent to all of the colleges and universities applied to by the senior classes of Demarest and Old Tappan, stated that taking the AP exam is a requirement for Northern Valley students… To make such an alteration now would mean that we have fraudulently represented our students to those colleges and universities," said Raupers.
In addition, she said, the New Jersey Department of Education requires Board of Education approval for courses prior to the beginning of the school year, something it does not have for honors level courses in these areas.
Another problem the committee considered was the lack of honors alternatives, to which the committee largely attributed lack of enrollment to be the cause.
"Preliminary enrollment data from this year’s junior class seems to indicate that the juniors are replicating the choices made by this year’s senior class — choosing AP courses over honors level courses — even though more honors courses were added," Raupers said.
The committee recommended that students who want to maintain a competitive edge but not overburden themselves with AP courses instead strike a "healthy balance in their selections." Raupers said transcripts of past students who went to prestigious schools reveal such things as enrollment in music, art, honors world language courses, or electives in business, English or the social sciences.
However, parents like Gail Rubin, who has two juniors enrolled in AP courses, thinks the administration should have reached some type of compromise.
"[Our] solutions are not being met with open arms from the board we put into position, that’s what is outraging the community," she said. She faulted school board member Lenny Albanese for making a motion to close the meeting before the public had finished giving their comments.
"When [Susan] Hertzberg was giving statistics and factual reports… to close the meeting was just so disrespectful to the taxpayers who put them in the job."
When he made the motion to close, Albanese said it was because he did not feel new information was being given and added that parents in favor of the mandated policy were not represented but do exist.
"People talked to me and said … I hope the board sticks by its guns because it’s a fair thing," said Albanese.
In response to the desire raised by some parents for a financial compromise, Albanese said, "if a person taking it is financially strapped I am all in favor of paying for them."
He suggested that parents attend more meetings to have input in school board policy along the way, saying, "We’ve been working on this [for] six years."
