By Abby Watkins
News Editor
After-school review sessions for Advanced Placement tests may not occur this year due to protracted discussions between Mira Costa AP teachers and the administration regarding payment for the extra time. Though teacher contracts have a set rate for extra work, AP teachers have been given various amounts of extra money to compensate
for the additional time that they spend in review sessions each year. This year, the Mira Costa administration is looking to keep the same rate that is outlined in the contract.
“As difficult as it is, I am constrained
by their contract to offer their hourly rate,” Principal Ben Dale said. “That hourly rate does not come close to quantifying the admiration and respect I have for AP teachers and their programs.”
Because AP exams take place in early May, many teachers use study sessions to review information
or go over material that they do not have time to teach in class. These sessions take place on weekends or in the evenings, and many classes meet multiple times for several hours.
“For some of the AP classes, such as the semester-long ones, these review sessions are instrumental,”
AP government teacher Glenn Marx said. “Students who have a class first semester need to review material that they’ve been away from, and some courses, like government and U.S. history, have more material than can be covered in a single year.”
It is unknown how the study sessions will be financed, if they will be at all. According to teachers and administrators, one proposition includes having students individually pay the difference between the contracted and expected rates. Another solution involves parent groups such as the Manhattan Beach Education Foundation and the Parent Teacher Student Association providing funding to pay teachers to conduct these sessions or to bring in outside tutors.
“If we have to pay for study sessions, I think I’d hesitate to sign up for them,” senior Selena Feliciano said. “I would rather sign up for a private tutor and split the price with other friends. That would be a better alternative to paying for a study session where the one-on-one attention is basically nonexistent.”
This is not the first time that the subject of additional payment for review sessions has been a topic of discussion and controversy.
In 2006, teachers stopped conducting review sessions due to contractual negotiations
between the administration and Manhattan Beach Unified Teachers Association that were going on at the time. The PTSA compensated for this by paying outside tutors to teach sessions instead, though many teachers eventually returned to teach the sessions themselves.
“There are very few people who would be qualified to take over in the middle of a session and continue the curriculum,” AP French teacher Marie-France Sam said. “It’s reassuring for students to be able to go to the review sessions and spend time with the teachers that they know.”
Mira Costa AP teachers and the MBUSD have yet to go into formal negotiations to change the rate for extra hours, but both sides are confident that they will be able to come to a favorable solution in time for study sessions to be held this year.
“At the end of the day, this cannot have an adverse effect on students’ academic performance, and it cannot have an adverse effect on staff morale,” Dale said. “Those two items are very important to me.”
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