Megan Taylor
Since Germantown High is now confirmed to be apart of the Shelby County Schools District, GHS is now on track to become an Optional School. Incoming students who are Germantown residents will now be zoned to Houston, so the spots of those students need to be filled.
“Instead of rezoning students to take those seats that Germantown students had previously, we would open up those seats as optional school seats,” Germantown High principal Ted Horrell explained.
The Shelby County School Optional School Handbook states, “Optional Schools offer a world of choices, so each students may explore and develop his/her own special talents, skills, and interests. Optional Schools offer hands-on learning experiences that encourage students to pursue possibilities and aspire to achieve higher levels of learning.”
The process for selecting students for the optional program will include reviewing academic, behavioral, and attendance requirements.
“The superintendant of Shelby County Schools has talked about giving priority to Germantown residents who would still like to send their kids to the schools in their neighborhood,” Horrell told.
With the optional program in place, this opens up opportunities for more AP classes. Horrell said that plans to add eight or nine AP courses to the ones already in place.
All of this talk of a new higher education program at GHS can bring up questions for parents and students involved in the International Baccalaureate program.
“IB will be part of the optional program; students would come in essentially as pre-IB students. Students would apply for a place in our IB/college prep program or the optional program,” Horrell said.
White Station High School is a well-known, successful optional school, which produces numerous National Merit Semi-Finalists and Finalists each year. Their incredible reputation attracts many high-achieving students each year.
“We are successful because we have amazing teachers, an outstanding, challenging curriculum, lots of programs, clubs, organizations, extracurricular activities, leadership opportunities, etc.,” WSHS optional coordinator Carrye Holland told.
Parents who have never had experience with optional may be skeptical, but mother Trish Taylor has had both her daughters in the optional program at Grahamwood Elementary, White Station Middle, and White Station High and one in the IB program at GHS.
“The optional program is a great way to bring more rigorous and content rich study to students that may not otherwise qualify for gifted programs. The IB program is also great for students that know specifically what they want to study in post secondary institutions. It doesn’t seem to fit well for students that want a variety of courses,” Taylor said.
Between optional and IB, Taylor prefers optional because she has seen first-hand the positive impact it has had on both her daughters. She has seen an increase in their ability to write, think, and problem solve at a higher degree starting in elementary school with the optional program at Grahamwood.
For Germantown, this change is predicted to be beneficial in a variety of ways.
“We have the opportunity to have students from all over Shelby County,” Horrell stated. “I think we’d be giving the opportunity to a lot of students who would like to attend our school.”
White Station has seen the positive outcome the optional program can bring.
“When you put a large number of motivated, highly qualified students into a challenging, rigorous environment together, many great things happen,” Holland said.
Since Germantown High is now confirmed to be apart of the Shelby County Schools District, GHS is now on track to become an Optional School. Incoming students who are Germantown residents will now be zoned to Houston, so the spots of those students need to be filled.
“Instead of rezoning students to take those seats that Germantown students had previously, we would open up those seats as optional school seats,” Germantown High principal Ted Horrell explained.
The Shelby County School Optional School Handbook states, “Optional Schools offer a world of choices, so each students may explore and develop his/her own special talents, skills, and interests. Optional Schools offer hands-on learning experiences that encourage students to pursue possibilities and aspire to achieve higher levels of learning.”
The process for selecting students for the optional program will include reviewing academic, behavioral, and attendance requirements.
“The superintendant of Shelby County Schools has talked about giving priority to Germantown residents who would still like to send their kids to the schools in their neighborhood,” Horrell told.
With the optional program in place, this opens up opportunities for more AP classes. Horrell said that plans to add eight or nine AP courses to the ones already in place.
All of this talk of a new higher education program at GHS can bring up questions for parents and students involved in the International Baccalaureate program.
“IB will be part of the optional program; students would come in essentially as pre-IB students. Students would apply for a place in our IB/college prep program or the optional program,” Horrell said.
White Station High School is a well-known, successful optional school, which produces numerous National Merit Semi-Finalists and Finalists each year. Their incredible reputation attracts many high-achieving students each year.
“We are successful because we have amazing teachers, an outstanding, challenging curriculum, lots of programs, clubs, organizations, extracurricular activities, leadership opportunities, etc.,” WSHS optional coordinator Carrye Holland told.
Parents who have never had experience with optional may be skeptical, but mother Trish Taylor has had both her daughters in the optional program at Grahamwood Elementary, White Station Middle, and White Station High and one in the IB program at GHS.
“The optional program is a great way to bring more rigorous and content rich study to students that may not otherwise qualify for gifted programs. The IB program is also great for students that know specifically what they want to study in post secondary institutions. It doesn’t seem to fit well for students that want a variety of courses,” Taylor said.
Between optional and IB, Taylor prefers optional because she has seen first-hand the positive impact it has had on both her daughters. She has seen an increase in their ability to write, think, and problem solve at a higher degree starting in elementary school with the optional program at Grahamwood.
For Germantown, this change is predicted to be beneficial in a variety of ways.
“We have the opportunity to have students from all over Shelby County,” Horrell stated. “I think we’d be giving the opportunity to a lot of students who would like to attend our school.”
White Station has seen the positive outcome the optional program can bring.
“When you put a large number of motivated, highly qualified students into a challenging, rigorous environment together, many great things happen,” Holland said.