Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Program Of Studies topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Freeport High revises Program of Studies; adds AP human geography, new electives and alternates AP biology/physics
Summary
Freeport High School presented an updated Program of Studies that clarifies honor-roll thresholds, adds new electives and a dual-enrollment marine course, and will alternate in-person offerings of AP Biology and AP Physics to match student enrollment.
Freeport High School principal Jen Gokko told the RSU 5 school board that the high school’s Program of Studies has been revised to clarify grading thresholds, add electives and change how some Advanced Placement courses are offered.
Gokko said the district corrected inconsistent language about honor-roll thresholds so documents match: an 83 is the baseline used in rubrics but 85 is the threshold for honor roll and for honors recognition at graduation. “So 85 in all classes and above would be honor roll, 93 and higher would be high honor roll,” Gokko said.
The Program of Studies removes a low-enrolled entrepreneurship course and replaces it with a business finance course that can also be used as a fourth-year math elective. Gokko said the school will allow certain electives to count as a student’s fourth year of math when appropriate. She also described a change to make a computer programming course multilevel so students can retake it and accumulate experience on their transcripts.
In science, the school will alternate in-person offerings of AP Biology and AP Physics because enrollment in those courses has been low. Gokko gave the board enrollment counts: AP Biology had seven students in 2022–23 and nine this year; AP Physics had eight in 2022–23 and 11 this year. By contrast, AP Calculus had 21 students, AP Environmental 25 and AP Literature 45. The plan is to offer AP Physics in person next year and AP Biology in person the following year, with online options available so students can still take both if they choose.
Gokko also announced two field-based science electives: Gulf of Maine Field Studies, already running as the district’s only dual-enrollment course with the University of New England, and a renamed Maine Field Studies (formerly coastal field studies) that will broaden the focus to field ecology and biology. In social studies, the school will remove sociology, add a History of the Dark Ages elective and add AP Human Geography, which the principal said may be offered to grades 9–12 and will likely be a semester course.
On music, the Program of Studies restores an auditioned honors chamber choir, adds a voice course separate from choir performance requirements, and creates a cover-band elective and a music-technology option using software such as GarageBand.
Gokko said the Program of Studies document is a living Google Doc; she can update the board as Region 10 finalizes course descriptions for its programs. She asked families and students to use the document and attend the February curriculum fair where students and families can discuss four-year plans.
Board members asked whether alternating AP Biology and Physics would harm students aiming for college-preparatory STEM curricula; Gokko said students and counselors can plan four-year sequences and that some students take online AP options or double up in earlier years to access both AP courses in person.
The board did not take a formal vote on the Program of Studies at the meeting; the presentation was informational and intended to guide course selection for the coming year.
