
CORRECTED: This article was updated at 9 a.m. Nov. 20 to correct a misinterpretation of the outcome of the Nov. 14 meeting regarding summer reading for Advanced Placement students. The Dragon Press apologizes for the error.
Ventura Unified School District officials, along with teachers from the Advanced Placement classes and principals, met Thursday, Nov. 14, to discuss whether to allow summer reading to continue to be assigned to AP students.
They decided to form a subcommittee to develop criteria that will be used to regulate assigned work over the summer. No final decision on summer reading was made, said Kathy Asher, assistant superintendent, in an email to the Dragon Press on Tuesday, Nov. 19.
“We are not determining whether we will have summer reading,” she wrote. “Just the criteria that summer reading will follow to ensure that students aren’t excluded from courses due to having to complete summer assignments.”
“It’s not that we’re looking to ban all summer assignments, but rather to ensure that no doors are closed to students who aren’t able to complete summer assignments,” she said. “What that means is as a group that involves AP/Honors teachers and administrators, we will determine a criteria that summer assignments must meet in order to guarantee access for any student who wants to take AP classes.”
Principals will share the final criteria after all teachers have had input, Asher said.Â
There is still no required summer reading for freshmen and sophomores.
Some Foothill teachers are in favor of summer reading continuing for AP students.
 Twelfth  grade AP English teacher Melanie âCaptainâ Lindsey said her focus is on preparing her students for the rigorous AP testing in the spring.
âSome people will say that we have 180 days of school, so we have 180 days to teach kids, but for AP, thatâs not true,â said Lindsey. âFor us to set [students] up for success in the AP test, we have to start ahead, so you have to come in having read the text that weâre going to start working with.â
She said she sees  the value of sustained learning.
âSome of them [opponents of summer reading] are saying that kids need to have 100 percent time off during the summer, but as teachers we see a significant decrease,â said Lindsey. âKids drop approximately an entire grade level in their reading if they donât read over the summer.â
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Some students also acknowledge the usefulness of assigned reading.
âI suppose I donât see anything wrong with it,â stated sophomore Matt De Santi. âItâs a good way to start the year with one book under your belt already, so English can just kind of get kicked off.â
Not all teachers are on board with the decision, however.
âI am not an advocate of summer work. I think families need a break,â said AP Government teacher Cherie Eulau.âItâs not that I donât think the book is valuable. Of course itâs valuable. I just think, particularly [with] AP kids, the whole family needs a break.”
Eulau did acknowledge the supporters of summer reading, saying, âWhat I said at the meeting was I completely sympathize with particularly the English teachers, who, if you donât assign that book, youâre saying weâre going to have one less piece of literature that we read a year.â
âItâs not that Iâm opposed to reading, itâs that Iâm opposed to this thing hanging over your head all summer long,â Eulau explained.
Lindsey offered a modification to the summer reading program, in which teachers would be given a limit to how many pages they could assign.
âAsking [some] kids to read two books that are 100 pages and 200 pages, but asking [other] kids to read two books that are each 500 pages, thatâs not fair or equitable,â said Lindsey.
Eulau also proposed a compromise to the system.
âIn my fantasy world, everyone would be given the summer work on August 1st. I mean, youâre doing it the last minute anyway, so it wouldnât be hanging over your head all summer,â Eulau justified. âIf Iâve got to make the decision, I would make the decision that less stress on the family is more important than the one piece of literature.â
For Lindsey, equality is driving the process.
âWe have to come up with something reasonable,â said Lindsey. âWe have to find some sort of district practice thatâs going to make it equitable for everyone.â
Anon • Nov 18, 2013 at 5:21 pm
Love Mrs. Eulau!