School Committee member James Harrington said he would like to see the issue studied.
LUDLOW — The new student representative to the School Committee, Alyssa Fialho, recently told the committee too many students may be enrolling in Advanced Placement classes at Ludlow High School.
Admitting students to the AP classes who are not really serious about doing the amount of work required brings down the level of the class for all students, Fialho said.
She suggested that a rule that students be accepted into AP classes only with a teacher’s recommendation should be reinstated to improve the quality of the classes.
“All students are not qualified for AP classes, and they don’t do the work,” she said. She said such students can keep the rest of the class behind.
Students take AP classes to demonstrate that they can do college level work. If they get an acceptable score on an AP exam, they may be given college credit for the course, once they enroll in a college. Some students are declining to take the exam at the end of the course, Fialho said.
School Committee member James Harrington said he was unaware that teacher recommendations no longer are being required for admission into AP classes.
“It was news to me,” he said.
He said it sounded like Fialho has “a valid point,” that should be studied by the new school superintendent. A new superintendent, Todd Gazda, started working in the district on July 1.
The prior interim school superintendent, Donna Hogan, said she considered Fialho’s comments “very thoughtful.”
Harrington said he would like to see Fialho and other members of the Student Council meet with Ludlow High School Principal Lisa Nemeth and Gazda about the process by which students are being admitted into AP classes.
“I think she had a valid point,” Harrington said. He said it is possible that too many students are being encouraged to take AP courses.
Harrington said he was pleased to see Fialho, who is a new student representative to the School Committee, bring academic issues before the School Committee. Sometimes students bring something before the School Committee that members are not been aware of, Harrington said.
The student representative to the School Committee is elected by the Student Council.