By Tabitha Swiatek
Unfortunately, Williamsville East High School is no longer able to offer many of their AP classes. This is a tragic event, for Williamsville East has always been known for their academic excellence and wide range of AP offerings. This will have a great toll on student life here at East and will have a massive impact on student’s lives following graduation from East. However, to compensate for this loss, Williamsville East will be adding several new electives and other APs that hopefully (but probably not) make up for this drastic loss. These new electives and AP classes are rarely offered at other schools and will bring some new excitement to the lives of East students. But probably not.
What AP Classes are getting cut? Before we answer this question, let’s think about what classes would make the most sense to cut. For starters, one would think that the classes could be unpopular ones that are not really taken advantage of by many students. If an AP class is getting cut, it should be one that few students actually enjoy taking. However, this is not what the Williamsville Board of Education thought. Ultimately, they chose to get rid of the AP classes that most students actively choose to enroll in or enjoy taking. The AP classes that are getting cut are as follows: AP World History, AP United States History, AP Psychology, and AP Statistics. Cutting these classes delivers a massive blow to the schedule of sophomores and juniors, who fill their schedules with these APs. Also, for the extra cherry on top, East will not be offering AP Pre-Calculus as planned. Many students here at East were looking forward to taking this course, and this decision to cut AP Pre-Calculus will deliver even more disappointment to students’ lives. What can make this even worse? We have the answer to that. Williamsville East will also no longer be offering AP Physics C, a class that some seniors chose to take their senior year and is thoroughly enjoyed. What can compensate for this truly horrible loss? It almost seems like things cannot get any worse. Where is the light at the end of the tunnel? How can we maintain academic excellence at East? Is there any hope?
The Williamsville Board of Education did everything they could to compensate for this loss. To make things slightly better, WIlliamsville East will be offering an elective: the History of Knitting. This elective will fall in the Social Studies Department and which teacher is teaching this class is still being decided. East will also be offering AP Fashion History as well as AP Food Mechanics. The District Board of Education is hoping these classes will provide a decent alternative to what was previously offered here at East. AP Fashion History will be taught in the Social Studies wing on A days, and the Business Wing on B days. AP Food Mechanics will be taught in the Cafeteria on A days and in the Art Wing on B days. The cost of these classes are different from the other classes. AP Clothing History will cost $250 to enroll in, and AP Food Mechanics will be double the price at a staggering $500 (to cover the expenses for food, cooking materials, etc.).
Say Goodbye to AP World, AP United States History, AP Psychology, AP Statistics, AP Pre-Calculus, and AP Physics C. Say hello to the History of Knitting, AP Fashion History, and AP Food Mechanics. These changes will have a huge impact on the lives of East students, for better or for worse.
