AP CHERRY PICKING

College Board breaks students’ trust by manipulating their new AP African American Studies course for political agendas and lacking historical inclusion for other ethnicities

FOR: 11 AGAINST: 3

Cherries Left Unpicked

Items cut from the new AP African American Studies course

AFEW YEARS after the Black Lives Matter movement and an increase in accusations that standardized testing is inequitable or even racist, College Board slapped together a curriculum for AP African American Studies released on Feb. 1 — their first new course in eight years. The eyebrow-raising timing was overshadowed by the enticing opportunity to explore Black history in school. At first.

Then we watched the organization warp its course content, removing critical race theory, reparations and feminism from the “finalized” curriculum, following backlash from Florida and Oklahoma politicians. And we’re still supposed to believe that the lucrative College Board — with $887 million in revenue during 2021, charging $97 per course — has students’ best educational interests in mind. Spoiler: they don’t.

Students can’t trust that College Board genuinely cares about ethnic inclusion in the history that it teaches after its questionable actions with the AP African American Studies pilot program, so the organization must rethink its approach to diversity.

Because right now, College Board’s message is clear:

Students had to earn their right to learn about Black history by organizing a huge social justice movement.

Plus, the Black history that the organization has finally decided to start teaching is cherry-picked to please politicians. College Board’s mission, according to its website, is to provide

“excellence and equity in education” for students. Removing primary source documents regarding BLM that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis doesn’t like from the course doesn’t align with that mission. Conservative input should be included — but from professional historians instead.

Even mainstream Black historians and Ivy League professors who were originally supporters of the class have publicly renounced their support due to the changes, like a Yale history professor who originally published a written endorsement of the class and has since withdrawn it.

At the very least, the new course should provide the same information to each student. But College Board went so far as to add that course content “can be refined by local states and districts” to align with regional values. So mentions of the KKK or lynchings can be removed in conservative areas.

These areas where curriculum will be watered-down are the places where students could benefit the most from eye-opening lessons about Black history.

Cherry Picking

to select the best or most desirable options while leaving out less beneficial ones

Plus, no students will learn about Asian, Latino, Pacific Islander or Native American culture, since they aren’t trendy enough for College Board to pretend to care about. Currently, its only history courses are AP European, U.S. and World History.

Black Feminism

*info from College Board

Do we have to organize a national movement for Asian lives before College Board starts teaching us Asian history?

The AP African American Studies course is setting a precedent for the College Board to delay inclusion until after students have begged to be educated about a minority group for years.

If College Board truly prioritized cultural exposure, it’d curate courses for other ethnicities like Asians and Latinos — in addition to African Americans — with equal expert input from conservative and liberal historians. Not flashy politicians.

Queer Experience Blm Protests

level course. Close-minded students who would learn the most from Black history lessons likely won’t select the class.

So College Board should integrate diverse ideas into popular courses that are already offered, like AP U.S. History designed in the 1980s. Woven between textbook chapters on the 1918 flu pandemic should be lessons on the use of Black citizens as medical guinea pigs for testing vaccines.

BECAUSE RIGHT now, College Board’s message is clear: Students had to earn their right to learn about Black history by organizing a huge social justice movement.

Still, this new course is better than no attempt to teach Black history. At least College Board’s apparent trend-hopping will allow students to learn about redlining, Afrofuturism and Black heroes. It’s certainly necessary at hyper-white schools like East, which will likely add the course to its catalog that already covers 80% of available AP classes. Administration is waiting to discuss the addition until teachers express interest in teaching the course.

But only students who are already openminded, motivated and curious about other cultures will enroll in this rigorous, college-

We should learn about Hispanic segregation in schools, Filipino farm worker strikes and bans on Chinese immigration — all important parts of U.S. history.

This would allow for lessopen minded students who aren’t jumping at the chance to enroll in AP African American Studies to still gain exposure to Black history in their AP U.S. History class, widening their cultural perspective and potentially sparking interest in signing up for African Studies. And it’d prove that College Board genuinely cares about inclusion.

College Board needs to earn our trust back by teaching diverse history for the purpose of making students more wellrounded world citizens — not because it’s a trend or political statement.

art by tallie scholz

story by gracie takacs

Catching Coyotes

Mission Hills City Council voted for the removal of coyotes on Feb. 14

AFTER A YEAR of complaints from Mission Hills residents regarding coyote traps, the city council voted for their removal on Feb. 14.

After a year and a half of complaints from Mission Hills residents regarding coyote traps, the City Council voted to remove them recently.

The city has been facing objections and backlash due to the traps for over a year. After two citizen’s dog’s were caught in the trap and sent to the vet with serious injuries, the traps were then removed from the park were the dogs were confined.

The council voted to remove the traps as a safety precaution and has since been working to decide their

POST-PANDEMIC PRICES

next steps on how to manage the stillprevalent coyote problem.

Since the traps were placed in the fall of 2022, Mission Hills resident and freshman Chloe Harmon has seen an decrease in the number of local coyotes.

“I think they should keep the traps because they are working,” Harmon said. “If they’re really working, there’s no point in removing them because then the coyotes might come back.”

Freshman Campbell Brinton also supports the use of these traps to protect her neighborhood.

“I support the traps as long as they are not [to] kill [animals],” Brinton said.

“I remember seeing coyotes in my yard and my dogs are half their size. Everyone in our neighborhood was very worried about

License To Kill

Seniors start the game of assassians on March 20

Prices have raised since the COVID-19 pandemic congress chose to juice consumer spending, which led to predictably high inflation,” Bickers said. “Without that governmental action, we would not see inflation rates as high as we have.”

DUE TO THE COVID-19 pandemic and a rise in job wages, economic inflation has increased at an unsteady incline, according to NPR.

The increase may be attributed to a rise in personal spending, which rose 1.8% in January, according to NPR. Though a drop in excess spending would help inflation settle, it could also result in a recession and potentially push the Federal Reserve System to increase interest rates to steady the prices.

Economics teacher Robert Bickers attributes the increased inflation to poor decision-making by the national government.

IT’S THE CORE topic in AP Economics right now. I also touch on it in government as the economy is the single largest consideration by voters in presidential elections.

However, Bickers hasn’t felt the surge in inflation affect his own spending, substituting cheaper goods in place of his usual preferences. Still, he sees importance in discussing the national influence with his students to educate them on current economic change.

ROBERT BICKERS

AP ECONOMICS TEACHER

“Due to fears of an induced recession, assassians game

THE SENIOR TRADITION of the “Assassins” water gun game will begin after spring break, and the first round of targets will be announced via text on March 20.

Game commissioner and senior Paige Zadoo started an Instagram account and released a Google Form for seniors to sign up to play. While 80 have signed up so far, Zadoo hopes for 100150 participants.

“It’s the core topic in AP Economics right now,” Bickers said. “I also touch on it in government as the economy is the single-largest consideration by voters in presidential elections, as it pertains to COVID.”

Each round of the game will last one week, starting on Monday mornings when the players will receive a target to “assassinate” with a water gun by the following Sunday. Failure to eliminate their target or being assassinated both result in disqualification from the game.

The participation fee is $10 and the game will last a month.

Senior Grace Knoff is planning to take the game seriously, buying her supplies a month in advance.

“I already bought my water guns, so I don’t have to worry

PAIGE ZADOO

SENIOR & about getting them when I get back from spring break,” Knoff said. “[I’m] not hanging out with any of my friends and [I’m] not trusting anyone.”

Knoff is looking forward to the adrenaline rush and challenge of the game.

“As of now, I’m going to try to be super involved with it but will definitely have to see how it plays out,” Knoff said. “If other people are crazy serious about it to the point where it’s nuts, then I’ll probably chill out about it.”

EVERYONE WILL GET their target for the week. That week is a round, Monday morning to Sunday night. They have the whole week to get their target out, and if they don’t, they don’t move on.

Students are concerned that teachers often ignore their 504 plans and IEPs unaccommodated.

story by caroline gould

For Sophomore Isabelle

Wilkinson, a 504 Plan is what keeps her in class. It’s what provides her a quiet testing space for her ADHD. It’s what excuses a five-minute tardy to first hour after waking up with high blood pressure due to her chronic autoimmune disorder. It’s what allows her to miss school for life-saving doctor’s appointments for her physical disabilities.

It’s access to education for her.

A 504 Plan allows disabled students to receive learning accommodations and benefits in SMSD’s programs and activities without discrimination enforced by federal law. However, some East students believe these accommodations aren’t always respected or acknowledged by East’s staff.

A student’s 504 Plan is requested by a parent and drafted by medical professionals to tailor to a student’s needs. In Wilkinson’s case, it was a cardiologist, gastroenterologist, psychiatrist and therapist who together decided she should receive testing accommodations and extra time to walk in the hallways.

“The hope is that the 504 accommodates a student’s learning so they can have equal access to education,” Principal Jason Peres said.

Although Wilkinson has expressed her concerns to her 504 Plan manager and an associate principal twice this year, she doesn’t attribute the lack of respect toward her 504 Plan entirely to higherlevel administration, but also a lack of consistency amongst teachers.

“I had told my doctors what school I went to, and they all sighed and apologized,” Wilkinson said.

And she isn’t alone in this trend, even though teachers are reminded of these plans by 504 Plan managers and special education teachers at the beginning of each course and can access them in Skyward. In an Instagram poll of 59 students with 504 Plans or learning accommodations, 71% said that they felt that their needs were being ignored — whether that be a lack of modifications on assignments or extra time on exams.

Senior Anna Galvin’s learning disabilities in math and reading have been accommodated with an IEP — Individualized Education Program — since fourth grade through amended assignments and extended deadlines. In both district elementary schools and East, she has noticed inconsistencies in how teachers approach her IEP.

“I know some of the teachers at East who I have had are really good at managing [students with] IEPs, and I know some who haven’t been,” she said. “I feel like teachers should be trained more with IEPs and disabilities.”

At least once a month she recalls reminding her teachers that she can benefit from the modified assignments and lengthened deadlines that her IEP entails when they expect her to meet the same requirements as her other classmates.

“Sometimes I do get scared to go up to my teacher and ask if I can get an assignment shortened or a deadline lengthened, and that kind of makes me upset,” Galvin said.

Both Galvin and Wilksonson see mixed reactions when reminding their teachers about their differing needs. For Wilkinson, it may be her math teacher begrudgingly moving her to another room for a test. For Galvin, it’s her teachers discouraging her from using the accommodations her IEP grants her and reluctance around asking for help.

“When my expectations aren’t being met with my IEP, I feel like it’s kind of being pushed aside, and they want me to try harder to not advocate on IEP, which I always try my best not to,” Galvin said.

Although reactions differ, teachers with students who benefit from 504s or IEPs are informed at the beginning of each course by school administrators and expected to execute it, according to Peres.

“If students don’t feel as though their accommodations are being met, I expect them to come to a case manager,” he said. “I wouldn’t like that, I would want them to tell us.”

However, Wilkinson feels that she has communicated the issue to her case manager — twice this school year.

Psychology teacher Brett Kramer believes the issue is associated with forgetfulness more than harmful intentions. Although learning modifications for students with 504s and IEPs are clearly communicated to teachers at the beginning of each course, some teachers without many disabled students in their classes may forget to prioritize those needs.

“I’d rather believe that if kids fail to get the support they need that it’s because of something a little bit less sinister [than ignoring learning accommodations],” Kramer said. “It’s wildly unprofessional to ignore those things.”

But to Wilkinson, that forgetfulness can be harmful, and not just at the high school level. After her sixth-grade teacher ripped up doctor’s notes detailing her absence due to her disabilities directly in front of her, she sees this lack of respect toward students with disabilities as a districtwide issue. The district’s department of Student and Family Services said that instances like these should be met with informing an administrator, but declined further comment.

$4000$10,000 schools receive annually for special education services for students without physical disabilities

“I don’t think our school doesn’t care about people with special needs, it’s the whole district,” she said.

And with that, Wilkinson does believe there’s a solution. Providing updated training for teachers on how to teach students with disabilities would make her feel more accepted and comfortable at school.

“[Having my 504 plan respected] and

The difference between a 504 plan and an IEP

10% of special eduation funding comes from the federal gov’t

40% of special eduation funding comes from IDEA funds