MISSION SAN JOSE HIGH SCHOOL
VOL. 54 NO. 1
September 21, 2018
41717 PALM AVENUE, FREMONT, CA 94539
College Board to split AP World History into two courses in 2019 Complaints regarding scope and detail of current curriculum leads to official testing changes By Shreya Sridhar & Jennifer Xiang Staff Writers Starting in the 2019-20 school year, College Board will split the AP World History course into two courses, one focusing on ancient history and the other on modern history. The curriculum of the new AP
World History: Ancient course will focus on human history prior to 1200 CE, while AP World History: Modern will focus on history past then. MSJ’s current AP World History course and exam will transition into the Modern course, while the Ancient course could be offered if there is enough student interest.
news editor joelle chuang
The current AP World History textbook used by MSJ students.
According to College Board, the change comes in response to longstanding and widespread complaints from students and educators regarding the scope and level of detail of the course. Originally, the course covered material from all of human history. However, in June 2018, College Board first announced that the AP World History course would focus exclusively on history after 1450 CE, moving all material prior to that year to a new Pre-AP course. After concerns regarding this change and claims that it would increase Eurocentrism, high school students created an online petition against the changes, which gained more than 12,000 signatures. College Board announced the splitting of the course in July and released a timeline and details of the curriculum. College credit, often seen as a large benefit of AP exams or courses, has not yet been addressed in response to the change. While many other AP course have been restructured or introduced in recent years, this marks one of the rare times that an AP test was split in two. “We’ve gone through AP Physics changes ... ” Principal Zack Larsen said. AP Physics B was split into AP Physics 1 and AP Physics 2 in the 2014-15
school year, though MSJ currently only offers the former as a course and test. With the timeline provided by College Board, the new curriculum and corresponding changes to the exam and practice materials will go into effect immediately in the 2019-20 school year. AP World History Teacher Nancy Benton is prepared to transition the course and exam preparation to the Modern requirements accordingly. However, Benton does not believe the changes will greatly affect her students. “I don’t think students care about these changes [that] much,” she said. College Board is still developing the AP World History: Ancient course on an unknown timeline, affected by nationwide high school and college interest. The course will not be taught at MSJ unless there is enough student interest during course registration to create a class. After that interest is expressed, the course would go through a year-long approval process, during which administrators, teachers, parents, and students could all comment on the course. If approved, the registered AP teacher will have to go through training by College Board, and MSJ will then offer the respective exam as well. ▪
FUSD and teachers’ union salary negotiation updates 2018-19 school year salary negotiations still under way By Hannah Chou & Toshali Goel Sports Editor and Opinion Editor The 2017-18 school year came to an uneasy close as the negotiations between FUSD and the Fremont Unified District Teachers Association (FUDTA) remained unresolved. However, during the summer, FUDTA ratified the tentative agreement of a 1.05 percent increase on and off the scale in salary for the 2017-18 school year, which is a one percent increase in salary overall and a $1000 bonus for each teacher. The ratification ended last year’s work-to-rule situation and began the preparations for salary negotiations for the 2018-19 school year. According to Bargaining Committee member and AP Statistics Teacher Jan Frydendahl, FUDTA’s initial ask was a two percent increase in salary overall and a one percent bonus. FUSD did not offer any change in salary. After 13 consecutive months attempting to come to an agreement, FUDTA declared an impasse, which is when the conflict remains in deadlock, and members officially began work-to-rule. During work-to-rule, teachers only worked the specified hours outlined in their contracts. Teachers did not agree to write letters of recommendation, chaperone school trips, advise club activities, and host extra lunchtime and after school tutoring sessions. In addition, the state-run Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) sends a mediator to these negotiations to help the
two sides come to an agreement. At this point, the FUSD and FUDTA were on the brink of transitioning from impasse to “fact-finding.” This process is when a “fact-finder” from PERB — usually an accountant — analyzes FUSD’s budget and spending, issues a non-binding report, which in turn legalizes striking. Before this stage was reached, however, the tentative agreement that was proposed passed with about 90 percent of the 2017-18 FUDTA members in favor.
However, the tentative agreement that was proposed passed with about 90 percent of the FUDTA members in favor. The FUSD Board initially offered stipends to teachers as opposed to an increase in percentage for the salary schedule. Vice President of the FUSD Board of Education Michele Berke said that their limited funding from the state made it difficult to grant FUDTA’s demands for an overall salary increase. Berke said, “In the beginning of last year — prior to last school year — the state [could only provide] all the school districts one-time funds. So at that time, that is what the Board felt comfortable communicating – that we can only offer one-time money because we only got one-time funds.” Later in the school year, the Board received word that they would have access to some ongoing money from the state. “As
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the budget picture changed, negotiations changed,” Berke said. Funding for the raise will come from FUSD’s general and one-time funds from the state. At a total amount of $6.4 million dedicated to the raise, $4.5 million will be designated to FUDTA while the other $1.9 million will go toward other bargaining groups in FUSD, such as the California School Employees Association, Service Employees International Union, and Student Resource Officers. Additionally, Board members remarked on the lack of funding they receive from the state for various endeavors. Board of Education Student Member Pallas Chou said, “Everyone wants to give teachers a raise, but where do you get this money from? If we increase the salary for teachers, we would have to cut back on something else.” This lack of funding made the Board hesitant to grant FUDTA’s initial demands before a compromise was reached between the two parties. President of FUDTA Victoria Birbeck-Herrera commented on this argument by the district, and said “While we are sympathetic to that, we are hopeful that ... we should be able to recapture a bit of that loss from last year.” Herrera and several other teachers voiced their dissatisfaction with the current agreement, including Librarian and Secondary Director of FUDTA Maile Ferreira who said, “What is $1,000? You go to the grocery store and you see items that have gone up
NEW FACULTY SPOTLIGHT
Three new faculty and 12 new teachers joined the MSJ community this fall. Check out the Centerspread section and online to learn more about the supporting members of the MSJ campus.
maybe 30 percent, and we got $1,000. So no, I would say a majority of teachers are not happy.”
While the signed agreement for the 2017-18 school year may not have satisfied most teachers, both sides are looking to find a peaceful compromise this year. While the signed agreement for the 201718 school year may not have satisfied most teachers, both sides are looking to find a peaceful compromise this year. FUDTA has now proposed a four percent increase in overall salary, and FUSD has offered 0.5 percent. Both parties hope to find a resolution quickly. “We respect everybody’s right to protest, but we’re very hopeful that it doesn’t get to the point it did last year,” Berke said. “We know that teachers prefer to be in the classroom teaching –– they don’t want to go to Board meetings –– just as much as we want to have things run smoothly in the district. So we’re hoping that things can be resolved much sooner, for both FUDTA and all of the bargaining groups, and for the district.” The FUDTA negotiations team has already requested to bargain, according to Frydendahl. The first meeting, which was initially slated for August 21, was postponed due to conflicting schedules. As of now, meetings regarding salary will start soon, with the outcome of these negotiations still uncertain for the current school year. ▪
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