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Taking it to the top

Student who is upset over cuts to spare blocks starts petition and appeals to school board
kinsale
January: Kinsale Philip started a petition calling on administration at New Westminster Secondary School to reverse its decision to make it mandatory for Grade 12 students to take a full course load in their final year of high school.

More than 1,300 people have signed an online petition urging New Westminster Secondary School administration to reconsider its decision to make it mandatory for Grade 12 students to take a full course load next year.

Last week, Grade 11 students received their 2018/19 course selection forms. To their surprise, the forms indicated that students going into Grade 12 next year would be required to take a full eight courses in order to graduate, including English 12, Graduation Transitions Planning, three Grade 12-level courses and three electives.

“The principal never told us about it. Our parents were never emailed; no notice was given about this,” Kinsale Philip told the Record.

Philip is the quarterback for the Hyacks football team, and next year, he’d planned on taking the required math course and English 12 in the first semester, leaving him lots of time to focus on football.

His goal was to have everything wrapped up by the end of first semester, making him available for early admission to Canadian universities.

“I’ll definitely have to stay until June unless I was able to dedicate a lot of time to just doing online courses, and that’s just a whole lot of work for first semester when we have football season, when we have practice every single day after school and pressure to perform on Fridays,” he said. “It will definitely affect me in a large way.”

The change also means a lot of students will be force to take electives they aren’t interested in just to fill their schedules, Philip said.

“We’re about to be 18, and we’re having to take eight courses in a year and not focus on our future. I think that kind of goes against what apprenticeship programs are trying to do. I think it goes against university admittance and making that easier. It’s just a negative effect all the way down,” he said.

Last week, Philip started an online petition to gather support for his cause. The petition had 1,312 signatures by press time on Wednesday. He hopes by doing the petition, the school’s administration will change its mind.

But a letter sent from principal John Tyler to students and parents on Friday, says the change was made to “support student success in achieving increased school engagement.”

“We have learned through experience that students enrolled in full course schedules remain more focused and engaged in their education programs,” read the letter.

Students will have the option of taking one study block during the year for Graduation Transitions Planning (GTP) independent study. If students enroll in the GTP independent course, they’ll have a study block every other day, according to administration.

For exceptional circumstances, the school will consider applications from students looking for an additional study block. The application forms for these requests will be available later this year, according to the letter.

“I think the application was implemented after everybody created a fuss about this, and also I think that letter should have come out probably weeks and weeks and maybe months before this course selection even came out,” Philip said, adding he shares Tyler’s concerns about students cutting classes in their final year.

“That does take away from the school atmosphere, but also I don’t think that’s an option for many students.”

On Tuesday, Philip went before the board of education to ask trustees to reinstate spare blocks for Grade 12 students next year.

Trustees, while receptive to his concerns, told him the decision was a school decision and not something they could intervene in at this time.

Associate superintendent Karim Hachlaf agreed, adding the situation is in flux right now and there could be adjustments made in the coming weeks.

But Philip worries students won’t be part of the conversation.

“The students should be given a voice for things that affect us the most,” he said.

The Record contacted principal John Tyler for comment but had not heard back by press time.