The discussion of the Warren County School District's dual enrollment programs didn't come up without some opposition during Monday night's board of director's Curriculum, Instruction and Technology committee meeting at the Warren County Career Center.
"I supported this when it first came to the board," board President Arthur Stewart said. Dual enrollment requires that students pay for credit and Advanced Placement courses are offered in district buildings. "When we have those two programs running simultaneously and the one is a pay for program, is there any loss of experiences?"
"If you're talking about AP credit going into college versus dual enrollment, it's university preference," Superintendent Brandon Hufnagel said. "Some universities are not taking AP," he explained, indicating that not all schools accept dual enrollment either.
Stewart then rephrased his question. "If you can't afford payment to St. Bonaventure, are there options in the classroom that are gone because the district is meeting the need at Bonaventure and not in AP. We haven't reduced the course list," Stewart said, inquiring whether the district has "restrict(ed) the offerings that are available who elect or can't afford St. Bonaventure."
"It depends on the year and the number of students enrolled in each school," Director of Secondary Education Amanda Hetrick said.
"Do we have those examples when students can't sign up for a calc(ulus) class because all their peers went to St. Bonaventure? Are we taking a good look at the snapshot? Just because it doesn't cost the school district to run the St. Bonaventure program, maybe we're reducing opportunities," Stewart said. "I just don't know what the quantitative analysis is."
"What I can say is I think we are providing opportunities for students that are well beyond the traditional classroom," Hetrick said. "Distance learning options, online learning options, (it's) important to let students learn in different modalities...we're giving students credits to take with them in their pockets. More students have been positively affected by dual enrollment than the few that have been affected by the situation in the high schools."
While indicating that "I seem like the Grinch on dual enrollment," Stewart questioned whether the time spent facilitating these agreements is time well spent. "Is this a good use of administrative time given other restraints and serving such a small minority of the (student) population?" Stewart asked.