Piedmont Pulse

October 14, 2025

Dear PUSD Families & Staff:

Last Wednesday at our Regular Board Meeting the School Board voted to approve five new courses. These courses were brought to us in response to one of the primary concerns the Board has heard from parents and students for years--that students have access to advanced STEM courses earlier in high school than they do to comparable humanities courses. This imbalance deprives students who are stronger in humanities of the same opportunities while pushing them into advanced or accelerated STEM courses they may not otherwise choose. Our objective in approving these advanced courses was to provide balanced course offerings.

The administration researched comparable high schools and available AP courses to determine which ones may be most suitable for our students. PHS Principal Dr. Yoshihara sent around a survey to students asking which of the courses under consideration they would be most likely to take; he noted in his Friday newsletter to parents that this survey would be going out to ensure parents were engaged in the conversation. This survey data was important in our decision making process. The courses brought to the Board for consideration were:

• AP Cybersecurity: this course lacked sufficient student interest so we did not approve it;

• AP Business with Personal Finance: recommended for grades 10+ and has significant student interest, no pre-requisite;

• AP Research: recommended for grades 11+, AP Seminar is a prerequisite;

• Honors Art & Honors Ceramics: Although few students are eligible to take these courses, they would be third year art courses for grades 11+ embedded within existing sections; and

• Honors 10th grade English: see below.

We had initially discussed allowing AP Seminar, a class the Board approved last year, to fulfill the 10th grade English requirement as a number of other districts do. After hearing valid concerns from members of our English department, we instead approved a 10th grade honors English class designed by one of our esteemed English teachers. Similarly, after hearing concerns about the possibility of offering AP World History from members of our history department, we agreed to pause on that course to allow time for the history department to finalize the design of an honors world history course and hold a community meeting to discuss the merits of honors versus AP world history.

The approval of these courses has resurfaced a conversation that our community had in 2013, 2016, and again in December 2019 regarding honors and AP courses, student stress, and college admissions. The most recent December 2019 conversation was thorough and yielded some valuable insights. Unfortunately, the Covid pandemic occurred and thwarted the next steps that came out of that Board workshop. As we have reviewed the materials from the 2019 workshop it is apparent that many of the concerns and questions that were the premise for holding that workshop are the same ones that are resurfacing today. We believe that it is time for our community to once again come together to discuss these concerns.

In the coming weeks we will do the following:

• Organize a parent education night featuring mental health professionals to discuss student stress and effective techniques to address it;

• Solicit information from college admissions officers regarding how admissions decisions are made, including the importance of weighted or AP courses in admissions; and

• Research the policies and safeguards, if any, comparable districts put on weighted courses.

There is an incredible amount of knowledge in this community. We are committed to doing our research, bringing in experts, engaging in this conversation with open minds, and listening to our community members. As a Board we are confident in the ability of our community to come together, have difficult discussions, and reach conclusions that represent our community’s priorities.

Lindsay Thomasson

Board President

Michael Malione

Board Member

Susy Struble

Board Member