AP Exam Cost Concerns Kinnelon Students
Tests cost $89 each as student representative said her peers feel 'undermined.'
Being successful sometimes come with a price and for some Kinnelon High School students, that price may be too high.
Kinnelon Board of Education Student Representative Anthe Stylianou was unable to make it to the Jan. 31 board meeting, but asked that her report be read aloud. In it, as read by Board Member Mike Petruccelli, she said that the high cost of AP exams discourages her peers from wanting to take them.
"Students want to be challenged but they're feeling undermined and stressed," Stylianou wrote.
Many students who are enrolled in AP courses take several AP exams per year. Board Member Brian Davin said he could sympathize with Stylianou's concerns and noted that his two high school-aged kids are planning to take the exams.
"Between the two of them, it's going to be over $700," he said.
According to the College Board's website, $8 of the $89 fee is retained by the school to cover administrative costs. Kinnelon Public Schools Interim Superintendent Diane DiGiuseppe said that the cost of the exam is determined by the College Board, the maker of the exam, and that it is unlikely the fee could be changed. More than 375 exams were taken by Kinnelon High School students last year, she said.
As board members discussed the cost burden, Denise Hatch recommended some sort of fundraiser that could be done to help cover some of the cost of the exam.
"The fundraiser sounds like a good idea, but it has to come from the kids," she said.
The board agreed to revisit the issue after looking into the feasibility of conducting a fundraiser to help pay for the tests.
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Kinnelon Board of Education
109 Kiel Ave, Kinnelon, NJ -
Kinnelon High School
121 Kinnelon Rd, Kinnelon, NJ
Academics and Arts are missing at KHS
5:23 am on Thursday, February 7, 2013
The BOE made taking the AP exam mandatory if you take an AP class so the school would rank better in some magazine a while back. If its mandated by the BOE they should pay for it. The Boe is mostly interested in sports anyway. That is all they promote. Does anyone ever see any press releases on anything other than sports. No. In fact they spend a $1,000,000 on sports a year. Seems like the focus should be academics.
Ktown
6:57 am on Thursday, February 7, 2013
I disagree with your comment recently some band members were recognised for the their achievements. Last year over 30 High School Honor Roll recipients were honored by the town council and the BOE. Both stories were well published online and in the newspaper so please stop saying that and read the articles. Both of my kids are HONOR ROLL students and both are two sport athletes for the high school. I do agree with you that the BOE should pay for the AP exams only because they are mandatory if a stundent wants to take an AP class.
Peterman
1:56 pm on Thursday, February 7, 2013
Well K town, you are blessed but that's a typical blinder wearing Kinnelonian response-only seeing things that pertain to yourself. What do you do if you have an athletic child AND a child geared toward academics and the school flaunts the sports successes but not the academic? The athletic child gets a ring, varsity jacket, name/picture in the paper but the academic gets a blanket congratulations in the colts roundup or newspaper. There are a lot of other successes in the Kinnelon schools but none are promoted to the public. It seems the schools pick and choose what they want to publish, which 9 out of 10 times are sports. I wish someone could explain why? As for the AP exams if the BOE made it mandatory to take the tests then they shouldn't force you to pay too, what happened to all the pay to play money?
IC
11:27 am on Thursday, February 7, 2013
We all know sports are paramount in Kinnelon. Until I see the school board pay for busing musicians to and from region and state bands and choirs as they do sports teams back and forth from their games, it will not be equitable. These region and state musical groups only last for a week or two. They are not full season events as sports are. Honor our successful musicians, singers and scholar students the same way as we do successful athletes and then come back and talk about equity for academics. Until then, we all know its not equal in the eyes of our town government.
Fredduh
8:07 pm on Thursday, February 7, 2013
Maybe if we had a council person who's kid was in to the art or music the focus would not be a turf field. But hey its about the kids, Only not all of them.
IC
8:31 pm on Thursday, February 7, 2013
Here's a great example. This is on the Kinnelon Public School website. I hope the town council honors these kids as this was an incredible achievement:
KHS Academic Decathlon Team placed 1st in the Region 2 Competition:
On Saturday, February 2, 2013, the Kinnelon High School Academic Decathlon Team placed first in the Region Two Competition. They will be competing in the State Finals on March 2, 2013. The team high scorer at the Varsity Level was Alex Graham; at the Scholastic Level, JonJulian Minervini; and at the Honors Level, Sudheesha Perera. The Team Most Valuable Player was Alex Graham. Alex Graham earned the Silver Overall Decathlete Award at the Varsity Level. Eric Bloomfield earned the Bronze Overall Decathlete Award at the Scholastic Level. JonJulian Minervini earned the Silver Overall Decathlete Award at the Scholastic Level. Connor Horton earned the Bronze Overall Decathlete Award at the Honors Level. Sudheesha Perera earned the Gold Overall Decathlete Award at the Honors Level and was awarded a $500 scholarship by the Academic Decathlon of New Jersey for this accomplishment. The coach of the team is Ms. Linda Johnson.
Kinnelon Native
9:08 am on Friday, February 8, 2013
Wow! Congrats to these high achievers! I had no idea! My kids are out of the school system so I have no need to go to their website! But I would enjoy reading about all the children's accomplishments in the tri-boro area, especially Kinnelon because it is my hometown.
Janet Arendacs
8:20 pm on Friday, February 8, 2013
Compare the $89 vs. College course they may get credit for it's a bargain.