Starting this summer, CHS will no longer offer summer school options of AP Macroeconomics, AP Microeconomics or AP Government and Politics – all courses within the social studies department— through Indiana Online Academy (IOA). 

According to Justin Quick, social studies department chairperson, this decision was made to ensure more equitable course offering across all departments.

“(This decision) supports the curriculum and standard of Carmel High School with respect to Advanced Placement courses and teachers,” Quick said via email. “Furthermore, this decision does not prohibit students from taking their desired courses within a given school year. In fact, having these courses as senior-year options at CHS only amplifies the Transition to College Program (TCP).”
But the decision doesn’t come with challenges. According to junior Maya Seshan, this decision affects her senior year class plans. 

“(Many students) made a brief four-year plan of which classes we were going to take and planned all that out. I was (going to) take AP Government this upcoming summer because you can only take it after you take U.S. History,” Seshan said.

While students like Seshan have to make adjustments, according to Quick, this decision does not affect the typical student at this school nor does it put any students at a disadvantage. Instead, Quick said this policy decision enriches student learning and creates fair and equal GPA opportunities for all students here.

Still, Seshan said this decision puts students at a disadvantage.

“I know this (decision) applies (to students in) all grades, except for seniors, but especially for rising seniors,” she said. “Some people decide to go on senior (TCP) scheduling and take only four or five classes, but there are others that have seven classes, so all of a sudden if they see they can’t take AP Macroeconomics or AP Government over the summer they will then have to eliminate one of their classes that they plan to take during the school year to accommodate for these new classes.”

Despite the changes, students who are pursuing the IB Diploma are still able to take the majority of previously available summer courses, including AP Government and AP Macroeconomics.

Katie Overbeck, IB diploma department coordinator, said that discrepancy is mostly due to larger IB requirements outside of the school district’s control. 

“Summer courses are not to give (IB students) an advantage in any way, it’s simply to check off the requirement for one semester of government and economics since it is a state requirement that we can’t get rid of,” she said.

Inia Narayanan, a sophomore pursuing the IB diploma, said, “The thing about the IB Diploma is that there are specific classes you have to take your junior and senior years. There are six specific groups, with these six classes you still need to fit in government and economics in order to graduate and it’s extremely difficult for students (pursuing the IB Diploma) to fit in these requirements without having summer school as an option.”

Seshan said she believes students must actively fight for change.

“I was shocked to find out that I could no longer take AP Government (during the summer) and heard that a lot of my peers felt the same way about these classes being removed and so I decided to write a letter,” she said. “I received 56 signatures over the course of 24 hours.”