Stuyvesant hosted health classes for rising juniors this summer to spend less of the school budget.
According to Principal Stanley Teitel, the school is saving money because by accommodating students during the summer, a third health teacher does not have to be hired for the school year
Students are not permitted to take an extra elective to fill the free period they have by taking summer health classes.
“The savings is that I didn’t have to hire a teacher,” said Teitel. “If I then have to hire another teacher to fill the elective, then I might as well let you [take health] when you do it.”
Students were notified of the program in June via a posting on the school Web site. Junior Lily Liang, who opted to take the class, said “[getting] the class over with in the summer will help open the heavy schedule she has during the school year.”
Approximately 100 students attended the program, which ran from July 5 through August 19.
Ann Branca, a teacher at the High School for Environmental Science, taught three 90-minute classes per day. Branca has 12 years of experience teaching health.
“I applied to work summer school with the Department of Education (DOE) and I received a phone call from [Assistant Principal Pupil Services Eleanor] Archie asking if I would be interested,” said Branca. “Teaching at Stuy has always been a dream to me and I do hope one day to work alongside the excellent staff and students again soon.”
Juniors enjoyed the classes offered at Stuyvesant . “I liked the class,” said Liang. “Branca was a fun teacher. She didn’t make us run through textbooks and answer questions like in a regular class. She told us real stories we could relate to.”
Junior Lerie Palmaira agreed. She said, “[The classes] were fun and the teacher taught so that you would actually remember what she was teaching us.”
Classes were held on the fifth floor. Liang said, “In my class, there were like 40 people. We had to drag chairs from the other rooms into our classroom, but somehow it didn’t feel that crowded.”
Summer health students were primarily from Stuyvesant. There were also students from the High School of Art and Design and the Humanities High School. However, they used Stuyvesant books and followed our school health curriculum.
At the end of the program, students took a 50-question departmental final administered previously.
According to Teitel, Stuyvesant may or may not host summer health classes next year depending on the school budget and how many health classes there are.
Other schools hold classes during the summer on a regular basis. Bronx High School of Science, for example, offers freshman optional art and music classes during the summer to lighten their workload.