MBUSD Board of Trustees approves new AP policies

By Sabrina Pickett
Staff Writer

The Manhattan Beach Unified School District Board of Trustees approved Costa Principal Dr. Ben Dale’s revised Advanced Placement policies on Wednesday to make AP and Honors classes more accessible.
Before presenting to the Board, the Mira Costa Education Council gave a vote of confidence to the revised proposals on Jan. 15.

“The new AP policy is more convenient, and the end product is something the high school should be proud of,” MBUSD Board President Ida VanderPoorte said.

Though some teachers did not back the initial proposal, the Ed Council accepted a new program.

“It is to my understanding that the original proposal allowed students to enter an AP class with a GPA of 3.3 or higher,” AP English teacher Shawn Chen said. “The Ed Council eliminated this because it is not a sufficient prerequisite to ensure success.”

The revised AP policies also include a five-week add and drop period at the start of each year and eliminate commitment forms.

“The pre-requisite changes are not major and are less restrictive,” Dale said. “I want these policies to improve our AP system.”