Burke to offer new AP Academy

100 freshmen in Charleston County will get chance to be on special track

One of Charleston County's academically weakest schools plans to offer the most challenging and rigorous set of courses to its students this fall.

Burke High School will open an Advanced Placement Academy for 100 freshmen students, 60 percent of whom will come from the peninsula and 40 percent who live elsewhere in the county.

It will be a school within Burke High, meaning the academy students will take their core academic courses together but will be with the rest of the student body in elective classes. Students will take a slate of honors classes their freshman year and, in following years, would be required to take at least four Advanced Placement courses before they graduate. The academy will grow every year until it extends through the 12th grade.

Some fear the outcome of this newest improvement initiative because of the problems created by previous efforts, such as with the Academic Magnet High School formerly housed in Burke High.

Downtown constituent board Vice Chairman Marvin Stewart is a Burke High alumnus whose two daughters attended the school. He called the academy another gimmick that officials were trying with downtown schools.

"I'm truly sick and tired of the administration experimenting with our students," he said.

The best way to make Burke High better, he said, is to offer to all students the same challenging curriculum that other schools have. By focusing on the academy, the school will be effectively abandoning most of its other students who are academically behind, Stewart said. He questioned who would be taking these classes when many students are two or more grades behind their peers.

Forty percent of Burke High's students graduate on time, and 31 percent of the school's students passed end-of-course tests in all subjects, according to the school's state report card.

Downtown constituent board Chairwoman Pam Kusmider said she was optimistic about the proposal but shared some of Stewart's concerns.

Burke High needs more accelerated courses to keep students in downtown public schools, but she said many of Burke's students weren't ready for AP courses. She wanted to know what the district was planning to do to ensure those students would be able to take advantage of the classes.

But others felt confident that the academy will work. Arthur Lawrence, a Burke graduate and a founder of the Friends of Burke alumni group, said he had a long conversation with school Principal Charles Benton about ensuring that the academy would have what they promised: a coordinator, teachers and funding. Burke students need a challenging program that has support components for students having trouble, Lawrence said.

Lawrence feels comfortable with the idea, too, because Juanita Middleton will be running it. Middleton is a veteran county principal with a reputation for her ability to make schools successful.

"It's going to be well-planned," Middleton said. "It's going to be monitored and tested every step of the way."

The county school board committed to establishing the academy at Burke High in August of last year when it gave the Charleston Charter School for Math & Science the OK to open. Some community members feared that the charter school would hurt Burke High by taking its best and brightest students, but school officials promised to help downtown's existing public high school.

Benton hopes this new AP Academy will improve the school's overall academics as well as its reputation. Burke High was the first county school faced with the potential of state takeover last year.

Benton said it might be difficult to attract 100 students the first year, but if students enrolled in the academy have a good academic experience, others will find out about the good at Burke High, he said.

Benton became principal in the summer of 2006 and said he saw the need to offer more difficult and relevant courses to students. He proposed the AP Academy as a means of accomplishing that goal. Four additional AP certified teachers would need to be hired if the program's enrollment reached its maximum limit.

This isn't the first time a rigorous program of study will be offered on the campus of Burke High School. Academic Magnet used to be housed there but since has moved to North Charleston. Benton said the difference is that the AP Academy's students will be Burke High students; Academic Magnet students were kept separate.

"Make no mistake, it (the AP Academy) will be part of Burke, and it will be here," Benton said.

The program isn't necessarily designed for the top 1 percent of students, he said. Students will have to have a B average or better to be accepted into the academy, as well as teacher recommendations, writing samples and interviews.

Downtown schools have about 200 eighth-grade students enrolled this year.

"I think many of our students, with a little push, can achieve at these higher levels," he said.

Reach Diette Courrégé at dcourrege@postandcourier.com 937-5546.