New Courses Likely Coming to RHS in 2012-2013

The Ridgewood school board is expected to approve changes to the Ridgewood High School curriculum when it next meets on Dec. 5, including the introduction of technology and arts classes educators say will be the standard soon enough.

Principal Jack Lorenz, by the board, and Assistant Principal Jeff Nyhuis presented the list of proposed new courses to the board on Monday, Nov. 21.

"We set out early in the year an objective to try to create some courses for our college prep students who often times don't get the most exciting, dynamic AP-Honors-level courses they deserve and want," Lorenz said. "We really tried to create courses that will engage them in exciting, dynamic learning environments."

Lorenz said the high school administrators and staff have "really tried to listen to the student voice in terms of what they want," which he said will likely lead to some enrollment drops in other courses given the "more exciting opportunities."

In their comments, school board members sounded optimistic for the new courses and are likely to approve them at the Dec. 5 meeting.

Here are some of the proposed changes:

** There will be a weighting and title change to Accounting I and II slated for 2012-2013. There's now a new software program, which will now be at a higher level to boost enrollment, Lorenz said.

** Non-Fiction Creative Writing will be offered in honors and college prep levels should the board approve the plans. According to plans, students will be investigating the "value of reading and analyzing." The first portion will be on biographies and conclude with a college portolio project. The course will aid in writing college essays, Lorenz said, and there will be E-Readers used.

** Consumerism is a bit different than the usual home-economics this go around. Lorenz said this prospective course is more about exploring the entrepreneurship side of the food industry than baking cookies and searching out recipes.

** Digital Technology, a computer building course, will potentially be added. "We're going to have them build computers from scratch...and in the second half of the course actually build a computer network," Lorenz said. The resigning principal hopes the students could eventually form an "RHS Geek Squad" to aid the building with computer work.

** Probability and Statistics is getting a bit of a facelift, Lorenz said. "This is project-based...and our students will define problems that they have to solve using statistical techniques and they'll also be involved in the Six Sigma project program" adopted by Motorolla to create more efficiencies in manufacturing, Lorenz said.

** RHS is also adding a new level to the computer arena with a flash animation course, just a step below the AP course already in existence. "I believe in three-to-five years most high schools are going to require" this type of course, Lorenz said. "We're going to have our own Pixar Corporation," he joked.

** Many students are interested in composing and creating music, so with it comes a new course idea. "So what we're going to do is offer a semester course in what we're calling 'Music Rewind,' Lorenz said. Centered on "Rock to Bach," students will be going through theory in an interdisciplinary method, Lorenz said.

** Similar to Rock to Bach, there may also be a 21st Century Music Production class, also a college prep course. "This will give kids the opportunity to study production software, composition software, sound reinforcement technology, the song production process, copywriting," Lorenz said.

A parent donated a signfifcant amount of money to design a "jam studio" so students can go during lunch and free periods to rock out, Lorenz said. The school is not sure where that studio could be held, given space constraints.

** The high school administration is hopeful a Forensic Science course at the college prep level can be offered to RHS students; it's the same one currently offered at Syracuse University to college freshmen and sophomores. The four-credit course "helps them understand the science behind crime detection and analysis," including toxicology, fiber comparisons, fingerprints, soil comparisons and others, Lorenz said. The students will also do arson investigations and others, he added said.

** Spanish is "kind of a groundbreaking" course at RHS, according to the principal, and as a result, changes are needed to help advance students at the appropriate levels.

"I get the phone calls from parents with concern about where kids fall in the advance language courses in Ridgewood High School," he said. Per Lorenz, there haven't been third and fourth level college prep courses implemented, which puts some students in the position of wanting to continue with the language but not being ready for the AP courses. There may soon be a Spanish 3 college prep and Spanish 4 college prep level that is "appropriate for them," Lorenz said.