AP courses fall victim to budget cuts

WESTERLY, R.I. - Thirty-one courses, many of them honors and advanced placement, are being eliminated at Westerly High School.

It was a budget-driven decision made reluctantly by school administrators, said Westerly assistant superintendent Sylvia Blanda.

“Even if a course that wasn’t highly subscribes affects a student who is passionate about that area or exploring as a potential place of study,“ she said. “The impact will be felt by family and students.“

Cranston schools haven’t eliminated any advanced placement courses, but they have lost ground providing challenging programs for the districts best and brightest students.

“We do a lot for special needs students, as we should. But one of things that were not doing is enough for our gifted and talented students. If we really want to get back, we need to develop our best and our brightest,“ said Cranston school superintendent M. Richard Scherza.

North Kingstown has been able to hang on to the dozen AP classes it offers, but did have to eliminate teachers. Since the state doesn’t provide any funding for gifted student programs, each district has to find a way to get the job done.

Westerly has been able to replace some of the classes being eliminated by expanding what they’re offering on line.

“Students sit in a virtual class,“ Blanda said. “So they might be in a class with a student from Fairbanks, Alaska and a student from Texas and they have an online teacher.“

There are several school districts in Rhode Island using virtual classes to expand what they offer students. However it’s not cheap. Each class costs about $400 per student.