Edison administration to review STEM Academy application criteria and move to double seats

During public comment Tarendra Lakankar urged the board to allow more students to apply to the district STEM Academy by removing geometry as a mandatory application criterion.

"Let's be inclusive. Let's not follow the pre colonized kind of era where you are geometry only you can come in," Lakankar said, urging the board to permit applications from students who may not yet have taken geometry.

Board and administration members said the curriculum committee discussed the concern and recommended reviewing the application criteria. Administration representatives said they will evaluate whether the geometry requirement can be removed while maintaining program standards and confirmed they will improve communications to families about prerequisites and pathways.

Dr. O’Reilly said the administration is planning a substantive capacity increase for the STEM Academy: "We're actually, we have a plan in place, which was presented yesterday, to open up, I believe it's 24 spots. We're changing that to 48 spots currently right now," he said, adding that the change is being developed with program supervisors and principals.

The board also described new academic elements coming to the program, including a summer hybrid biology course, a condensed engineering course and a freshman Java programming offering to better prepare incoming academy students. The administration said it will meet with concerned residents and circulate more detailed placement and application information before finalizing any change to admissions criteria.