First semester has officially reached its end and it consisted of many things, both positives and negatives. Students and staff all had similar thoughts about how it went. Many said it was pretty smooth but its pace was quite fast.
“It was easy for me because I payed attention and turned in all my work”, freshman Juan Martinez expressed his words towards his very first semester of highschool. Juan was very proud of himself because he was able to maintain straight A’s. Another student is Mirna Alcala. She said her first semester of junior year was also really good because she felt she was on point with her work, therefore making her really proud of her grades.
When asked about how first semester went Physical Education teacher said, Kyle Cieply, also shared his words towards this semester. He said, “It was pretty smooth overall, I actually came up with a new lesson plan and I really liked it so I’m going to keep it”. For Cieply this semester consisted of new improved changes that helped the students learn the material easier and made it more enjoyable for them. Another is English teacher, Madeline Edelman, who said she really enjoyed teaching her students and that it was not stressful at all. When asked if this semester was either easier or difficult compared to her last semester she said it was a whole new experience for her. She is really proud as a teacher herself because as she mentioned, she saw a lot of improvement in her students writing skills.
As journalists, we decided to go more in depth about this semester’s statistics. We decided to get data about the attendance, grades, and detention rates. In terms of grades, in APB the 9th grade class has a 16.5% of students failing a class or two, in 10th 13.7%, 11th 16%, and in 12th grade a 15.6%. As a school the goal is that every student passes, but although the numbers still show some failing going on, APB has more students passing than failing which is really good. In terms of attendance APB shows a higher rate in attendance when compared to another greendot school. In the month of August APB was at a 96.3% while the other school was on a 91.9%, September 96% the other at 92.2%, October 95.3% the other at 92.9%, November 95.1% the other at 91.7%, and in December APB was at 94.9% while the other school was at 91.7%. The numbers show a short decline but APB as a school continues to show higher rates. Having high attendance rates helps students not fall behind with work, and helps the school gain money to provide back to what students need.
Lastly, gathering detention rates was a bit difficult, but Campus Security Officer, Chris Garcia shared with us that this year there has been less detentions. This too is a great thing for APB. Overall, this first semester has been really smooth and successful for APB students, staff, and as a school. Now lets see what second semester has in hold for APB.
