Salisbury High School is proposing advanced placement courses in the field of technology. Sherry Wetherhold, a former programmer at Lucent/Agere and chair of the business and computer departments at SHS presented the proposal at the Dec. 7 curriculum and technology meeting.

According to Wetherhold, students at the school are requesting supplemental courses to the existing courses. The field of computer science is growing rapidly and there is a “need for students to get into the field,” Wetherhold said.

Two AP courses were suggested to the students, “AP Computer Science A” with a focus on JAVA programming and “Principles of Computer” which would focus on cyber security.

The survey was given to 269 students at SHS, and of the 129 respondents, 69 favored adding an AP course for programming while only 60 students preferred the principles course. After reviewing the results, the staff decided to offer the programming course to students first.

Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning Lynn Fuini-Hetten said the staff was examining all AP courses to “discover gaps and issues with dual enrollment” and the computer science field was identified as having a gap. An additional AP programming course would not require additional staffing or computers; however, there would be extra expenses for textbooks for the course and training for Wetherhold.

Fuini-Hetton said, “We would be excited to be able to offer this course to the students.”

If approved, the course would begin next year and be offered to any students who have completed JAVA I.

Superintendent Dr. Randy Ziegenfuss noted, “In the last couple of years, the board has endorsed a lot of the rotating electives and when you look at the course catalog, for a small district, we offer our kids a really large amount of variety and opportunities.” Ziegenfuss pointed out the opportunity for students to have a dual enrollment at Seton Hall.

The course will be added to the program of studies for approval by the board in January, 2017.

Regarding teaching and studies, Fuini-Hetton said Dec. 6 she was excited to be able to share Salisbury’s vision at a state conference and met with other school districts like Bermudian Springs, “who are looking to move forward in the way that we have moved forward.”