Jackson, Harper, and Sofia are all seniors at Vanguard High School, and they share a deep love for the school that has been a part of their lives since their freshman year.
"I really love the community; it’s a gorgeous community of people that I’ve known all since my freshman year," said Sofia.
"What I like most about Vanguard is definitely the project-based learning and being able to see the value in my work and what I’m learning," said Jackson McCaslin.
"We really pride ourselves on helping our community," said Harper Antoshkiw-Brown.
This sense of community and belonging was shaken this week when the school district sent out an email announcing changes to Vanguard.
"We were sent out an email on Tuesday night, the parents of Vanguard students were given an email that was basically saying these are the changes happening to Vanguard," said Sofia.
The district claims the changes are aimed at increasing STEM offerings, schedule flexibility, and enrollment. To achieve this, there will be two major changes next year. The first is that freshmen will no longer physically attend the Vanguard campus. Instead, they will be served at the Broken Arrow Freshman Academy (BAFA) because "it makes sense to serve these students at BAFA rather than bringing them into an ecosystem that will change."
"It kind of is a snowball effect," said Harper.
Harper, Sofia, and Jackson believe having freshmen on campus is critical.
"It will not succeed the way it’s been succeeding in the past if it is not a four-year program that is application-based from their freshman year to their senior year because students need to learn these skills to build upon them for their senior capstone," said Sofia.
The district will also change the bell schedule to align with that of Broken Arrow High School, providing greater flexibility between the two schools. However, the students don’t think this is a good idea.
"Our classes are about one hour to one and a half hours long. The bell schedule that they are proposing to change is 45 minutes long. That’s not enough time for us to get the lessons and information we need," said Sofia.
One of the motivations for the changes is to increase retention rates, but Harper, Sofia, and Jackson are worried that the current retention strategies will actually end up losing the essence of Vanguard.
"At Vanguard, we’re told every single day that we have a voice and choice in decisions made for us, and I believe that if Broken Arrow continues with the plans that they’re going on, that that voice and choice will be lost by the Vanguard community," said Jackson.
Here is the full statement from the BA School District:
Thanks for reaching out with a chance to comment. It seems there is a great deal of misinformation being circulated on social media, so please allow me to summarize what has been communicated:
First, the overarching changes being proposed to Vanguard are to:
- Increase the amount of STEM offerings and technology so students have MORE access to resources that will prepare them for existing and emerging career pathways.
- Increase schedule flexibility so students have MORE options when it comes to customizing their learning.
- Increase enrollment so MORE students have the opportunity to experience the Vanguard learning environment.
Second, there are only two things that will change about the Vanguard experience next year:
- Freshmen will not physically attend the campus. Why? Because if we are making long-term changes to the structure and programming at Vanguard, it makes sense to serve these students at the Broken Arrow Freshman Academy (BAFA) rather than bringing them into an ecosystem that will change. This pause in freshman enrollment gives staff (and the committee) the space they need to participate in developing a detailed plan.
- The bell schedule will change to align with the schedule of Broken Arrow High School. Why? Because doing so will allow more 10-12 grade students to attend, AND it will allow existing Vanguard students more flexibility to take AP courses or concurrent enrollment. Current Vanguard students will have the same experience, but with more options and adjusted bell times.
Finally, I wanted to share some of the data we’ve collected that has led us to this conversation:
- Declining retention rate:
- Class of 2025 retention rate: 75%
- Class of 2026 retention rate: 51%
- Class of 2027 retention rate: trending toward 65%
- Reasons students leave Vanguard for one of the other high school options in BA:
- 52% want AP coursework
- 34% want concurrent enrollment
- Capacity: Conservatively, we have space for 350 students in the current Vanguard program. Of those 350 spaces for full-time VGA students, we have only 249 currently enrolled. In other words, we could serve 100 more students there, but our own enrollment restrictions create this barrier.
There is a committee tasked with developing the detailed plan that does include staff and will – once we’re ready – include students. We only began this conversation on Tuesday, so we are not yet ready to start with the committee work. We’ve also offered to host a Q&A forum for parents once the committee has had some time to begin developing the plan. More information about both of those activities will be forthcoming.