College credit plus kerfuffle in Coldwater

COLDWATER - Parents at Wednesday night's strategic planning community forum claimed Coldwater High School staff have been deterring students from using the College Credit Plus program.

The forum, hosted by the district's strategic planning committee, allowed parents, staff and community members to discuss facilities, finances, curriculum and communication. About 50 people attended.

Twenty-five parents attended November's regular school board meeting to voice their concerns about the program. It allows high school students to earn college credits along with high school graduation credits by completing college courses with the district paying the cost.

Courses are offered online and at Wright State University-Lake Campus. However, parents at the meeting said they want the program offered in-house.

Parents in November accused high school guidance counselor Natalie Kanney of "scaring away" students and parents from the program and high school principal Jason Hemmelgarn of not promoting the program to parents.

Matt Muhlenkamp, who also attended the November meeting, said his wife, Lyn, had attended some College Credit Plus meetings and wasn't satisfied.

"It was downplayed by Mr. Hemmelgarn and Ms. Kanney as whether or not it was even beneficial," he said.

Other parents agreed with the sentiment, including Lyn Muhlenkamp, who suggested Kanney was discouraging students with both low and high GPAs from the program.

"If you were a 3.8 GPA kid, would you expect your guidance counselor to want you to take that opportunity or deter them from that opportunity?" she asked.

Superintendent Jason Wood was taken aback, saying he had never felt that Kanney had been negative about the program.

The program does not have a GPA requirement. However, incoming sophomores and juniors are suggested to have a 3.5 cumulative GPA, while seniors are suggested to have a 3.25 cumulative GPA, according to the 2020-2021 student/parents handbook on the district website.

Parents have said they and their kids were intimidated because the suggested GPA seemed high, and many students don't know yet what subject they want to study.

Kanney in November had said the suggestions are to help parents and students evaluate how successful they would be in the program as well as decide which classes would benefit them as they pursue a degree.

Parents at Wednesday's forum implied the district's Advanced Placement courses were not accessible for students who are "not in the top 20%" as one parent suggested.

Parent Jared Ebbing, who is also the Mercer County community and economic development director, said a student who's not interested in college could take a College Credit Plus class in-house and be inspired to attend college.

However, Miranda Franck, a St. Henry High School teacher, said the opposite could happen. Franck said she has seen students at her school take College Credit Plus courses in-house who do fine in the beginning, but when they reach the 200-level classes they realized they don't know how to complete the work.

Another forum attendee echoed the belief, saying some students may have a high GPA but may not be mature enough or emotionally ready for a college-level course. Students who aren't ready for a college courses could be disheartened instead of inspired and believe college isn't for them, they said. Other attendees noted almost all college students take courses online. A college professor in the audience said he teaches all his classes online.

Wood reminded the audience that students don't necessarily have to take college classes to be prepared for college. Coldwater High School was ranked No. 65 in state and No. 1 locally by U.S. News and World Report's 2019 Best High Schools, according to Hemmelgarn at Tuesday's board meeting.

The score was based on college readiness, college curriculum breadth, math and reading proficiency, math and reading performance and graduation rate, according to the website.

To offer the program in-house, teachers must be properly accredited. Woods said Rhodes State College is reviewing transcripts to assess which teachers would be eligible. If teachers are not accredited to teach in the program, they may have to earn up to 18 credit hours to earn credentials.

Moreover, district officials would need to negotiate a separate contract pertaining to College Credit Plus including teacher compensation and tuition assistance with the teacher's union, Wood explained. Stipends range anywhere from $250 to $1,000, he added.

Ebbing said he believes Wood might be pleasantly surprised at the number of teachers who are accredited. However, another attendee disagreed.

Kelly Welsch, a sophomore English teacher at the school, said in 2016 she reached out to Wright State University to see if she was accredited for the program.

While Welsch received numerous degrees and certificates from Wright State including several certificates in English, a Master's degree plus 30 credit hours and more, she still was not credentialed through the university.

"I would still have to take several classes," she said, adding the news was disheartening.

Near the end of the meeting, Hemmelgarn said officials plan to restructure the parents' College Credit Plus meetings during scheduling night to focused more on information rather than decision making. Wood said they are always looking to improve communication with parents.

Correction:

Miranda Franck is a freshman English teacher at Coldwater High School. The error was made in reporting.