District To Keep AP Program After Public Outcry

Public outcry has caused Hauppauge school officials to reconsider their academic plans for the 2011-2012 school year. 

James Stucchio, assistant superintendent for Business and Operations, announced the district will  keep its Advanced Placement classes while implementing the International Baccalaureate program at the Tuesday night board meeting. 

Stucchio read a letter written by Superintendent Patricia Sullivan-Kriss to the district parents, who missed the meeting due to illness: 

My further research of local Long Island districts that have IB programs at the high school level has shown that most of them run a simultaneous program of IB and AP. Additionally, it is apparent those that do not, began small and kept AP during the initial years of IB implementation. 

I would like to publicly state that, based upon staff and community input and further research, I will be recommending to the Board of Education that we maintain our AP program while implementing IB.

This decision comes two week after the district held . An about the IB program's costs and curriculum. 

Sullivan-Kriss said the flyer forced the district's hand, causing it to hold a public meeting about its two-year application to the International Baccalaureate program before the time line prescribed. Yet, she said the flyer opened lines of communication between school officials and the community. 

Initially, the district planned to eliminate of 12 out of the 18 Advanced Placement classes offered at Hauppauge High School, eliminating those with similar counterparts under IB. High school students will now have the choice of which class they enroll in.

"I am very happy to hear the district is maintaining the AP program while implementing the IB program," said one woman, who did not identify herself, at Tuesday's board meeting. 

Stucchio said keeping the AP classes will not cost the district anything add money. Teachers are already trained to teach the AP classes, he said, and the overall number of students enrolling in advanced courses will remain the same, just split between the two programs. 

Keeping both academic programs will allow the district the benefit of experiencing and testing both educational models side-by-side, the superintendent said. 

"It allows us time to have our own cohort group of students going through the program, to be able to make the decision with our own students' and parents' input," Sullivan-Kriss said. 

The district said if there is further talk of eliminating or  phase out the AP classes, it will be an open discussion. 

"If it comes to that point, there will be a substantial discussion with the board of education, at which point its public," Stucchio said. 

To read the superintendent's full letter to Hauppauge residents on her recommendation to keep Ap classes, read on here.