Petition Calls for Pre-AP Classes in West Bloomfield Schools

When Elizabeth Cannella felt the wasn't giving her children the best education, she didn't leave for another school: She looked for ways to fix the problem. 

The 40-year-old mother of four felt that her children and others were being held back at the middle school level. The children had taken advantage of an elementary magnet program and advanced placement (AP) classes, but they took a standard curriculum in middle school. 

"We came to the point where high-achieving kids weren't being challenged and not performing as high at the middle school level," Cannella said. "We've been teaching down to the lower-level kids but haven't done anything to help those high-level learners succeed."

Cannella announced at the June 14 school board meeting that she had begun circulating a petition requesting that the district begin implementing pre-AP classes at the middle school level, an effort that's been met with a mostly warm response. 

"Other than the question about money, everybody seems on board," Cannella said. "We've got parents, teachers and even other community members who don't have children saying that this is a good idea."

According to the district, the magnet program serves high-achieving students in Grades 3-5, and the high school offers 46 advanced placement classes.

The district's two middle schools offer advanced math — algebra, which the district recognizes as a "gatekeeper to future academic success" — but the petition calls for more courses to fill the gap. 

According to Cannella, other districts in the area have been passing West Bloomfield by: Farmington Public Schools, Bloomfield Hills and Walled Lake Consolidated Schools all have some sort of higher-learning option at the middle school level, she said.

In some extreme cases, according to Cannella, parents have considered taking their children to another district or enrolling them in private school due to the lack of higher-learning options in middle school.

"We want parents to be able to look at the district from kindergarten to high school as the best option for their child," Cannella said. "People have been getting behind that idea, and we have growing support."

The petition was filled with 169 signatures as of the meeting with many signees voicing their opinions in space provided, according to Cannella.

"I am fully in support of this. The middle school should offer the opportunity for advanced class just as many other districts. Concerned parent will continue to send their children elsewhere in this is not addressed," signee Dana Stickley wrote. 

"It is a major gap in the school district not to have an honors curriculum from 6th-9th grade," Robin Berkowitz wrote. 

"I think it is vital to provide advanced classes at the middle school level to prepare our students for the high school's AP classes. This ensures that we are challenging our best students. It is a win for everyone involved," Teri Weingarden wrote.

The district has taken notice, said Pamela Zajac, the district's public relations and marketing coordinator. She said it will begin training teachers for possible pre-AP classes in time for fall 2012. 

The petition calls for a program that would work in cooperation with the College Board, which supports AP classes, and that would offer a curriculum in "sciences, math, English, humanities, languages, technology and arts for middle school students."

The training is the first step; for some teachers, it will be just a refresher course, according to Zajac.

Cannella plans to continue circulating the petition until the day the district officially implements a pre-AP program in the middle schools.