What is and why have a freshman academy?
Post date: Jul 20, 2013 7:36:30 PM
The proposal for expanding Bartlesville High School includes a separate but attached freshman academy at the High School. This is based on feedback from other four-year high schools in Oklahoma, including the high-performing Edmond district, which reported success with this approach to transitioning students from middle school to high school. Research shows that the ninth grade year is a critical one in terms of student retention.
A separate area for ninth grade core classes, with its own administrative offices, guidance counselor, library, and computer labs, allows freshmen to spend most of their day in a smaller academic setting while efficiently sharing with older students large-scale school facilities such as the cafeteria, gymnasia, and fine arts center.
Freshmen would have their own separate lunch period in the new cafeteria, but would have access during the school day to the shared fine arts and athletics facilities and an option for advanced courses in the 10-12 grade classrooms.
The freshman academy would have its own exterior entrance and commons area and its own pick-up and drop-off zone on the east side of the campus. The existing parking lot east of the Bruin Field House would be converted into a freshman academy circle drive and parking area. Shawnee Avenue would be widened to provide a larger pick-up area for parents picking up students after school.
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