Dexter High School Petitions School Board to Add AP Physics Class

Students at Dexter High School considering a career in engineering may soon have more class options before graduating.

The Dexter Community Schools Board of Education will consider the high school's request to add an AP Physics B class to the curriculum for the 2013-2014 school year at its meeting on Monday.

According to information provided to the board, the class will be offered to juniors and seniors who are looking for more math and science options.

"The addition of this course will appeal to university bound students interested in pursuing studies in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) and may garner them university level credit or advanced standing for their work at Dexter High School," Kim Lund, International Baccalaureate coordinator wrote in a letter to the board.

According to the AP website, AP Physics B is divided into nine different sections: Newtonian mechanics, electricity and magnetism, fluid mechanics and thermal physics, waves and optics, and atomic and nuclear physics. The course is equivalent to a one-year college course with a laboratory component. The course will be discontinued and replaced with AP Physics 1 and AP Physics 2 beginning in the 2014-2015 school year.

The decision to add an AP physics course is on tonight's Board of Education agenda as a discussion item only. No action will be taken. The cost of adding the class has not yet been determined, however Lund said on average, IB/AP science textbooks cost roughly $120 per book.

The board will meet tonight at 7 p.m. at Creekside Intermediate School. A copy of the board's agenda can be downloaded on the district's website.