BROKEN ARROW, Okla. — Changes are coming to Broken Arrow’s Vanguard Academy next school year.
“I felt very blindsided,” said Sofia Proano.
Sofia Proano is a senior at Vanguard Academy. She says when Broken Arrow’s superintendent emailed students at the school last week, she was worried for the future.
"I’m concerned first and foremost that this is going to be taking away opportunities from freshmen,” said Proano.
Starting next school year, BAPS says 9th-grade students will not move to the current Vanguard campus. They’ll take an introductory course at the Freshman Academy.
WATCH: Vanguard Academy families concerned about changes
Vanguard students will move to the same block schedule as Broken Arrow High School, and the district will pause the application process to Vanguard.
“I want students to be able to have the opportunity to be able to come onto our campus to experience the full four-year program,” said Proano.
Parents like Sarah Tortorici are also worried. Her son is a sophomore at Vanguard, and as a Broken Arrow business owner, she says she collaborates with Vanguard students a lot.
“By keeping it the way it is, you’re really allowing those kids to foster the relationships with businesses locally and really put in those roots early on to be able to keep our kids here after graduation,” said Sarah Tortorici.
She says the schedule changes, creating shorter class times for Vanguard students, will impact that collaboration.
“I think changing that is going to be a huge disadvantage for our kids,” said Tortorici.
Tara Thompson, Broken Arrow’s Chief Communications Officer, says the district wants to take a long-term look at not only the programs offered at Vanguard but the accessibility as well.
They also want to increase STEM offerings and student flexibility.
“If we can serve a larger number of students and give them a better foundation for success at Vanguard Academy, we think that’s a win,” said Tara Thompson.
Thompson says for many Vanguard students, it’s difficult to take an AP course or concurrent enrollment, two factors she says are impacting attrition at Vanguard.
“One of the things that we found with our data is that students who want to have more options either students at Vanguard Academy or outside Vanguard Academy right now they’re limited by those bell schedule structures,” said Thompson.
She says the district will have a committee to discuss further changes in the future.
Vanguard teachers will meet on Jan 22nd, then they’ll expand the committee to include other district staff, students, parents, and the community.
While the changes at Vanguard are not on the school board agenda for Jan 12, many families say they plan to attend the meeting to speak during the public comment section.
The changes for freshmen and the bell schedule will happen starting in the 26-27 school year.
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