Future uncertain for International Baccalaureate program at Buhach Colony High

Atwater students involved in Merced County’s only International Baccalaureate program and their parents are angered and disappointed that Buhach Colony High School is moving to end the set of rigorous coursework and activities after only two years of existence.

International Baccalaureate, or IB, is a challenging two-year program in which advanced students take a set of high-level courses and assessments. Students are exposed to college-level work and are required to participate in a range of activities, including community service. While the program is designed for juniors and seniors, underclassmen who are interested in joining IB also take advanced coursework in preparation. They are referred to as pre-IB students.

Students who fulfill the program’s requirements can check a special “IB designation” on their college applications and use their coursework to apply to foreign universities. Buhach is the only high school in Merced County that offers such a program.

Earlier this month, parents and students were notified that the Merced Union High School District was considering nixing the program for financial reasons.

According to Buhach High Principal Steve Hobbs, the IB program, which is funded through the district’s general fund, costs $300,000 to $350,000 per year to maintain. This includes training, material and staffing costs.

When crunching numbers, Hobbs estimates that’s about 35 percent of the budget the district allocates for Buhach High.

“It’s not an easy decision and it’s not something that I want, but the numbers tell the story,” Hobbs said.

There are 17 juniors and seniors enrolled in the IB program, while the school overall has about 1,725 students, according to the California Department of Education. An additional 75 sophomores and freshmen are taking pre-IB coursework.

District Superintendent Alan Peterson said the problem becomes that not all students who are on the pre-IB track will continue into the IB program. Taking as an example the current senior and junior classes, numbers and interest in the IB program dropped as students entered the upper grade levels.

“All education is a balancing act,” Peterson said. “The district has invested a lot of money in IB. If it has to be disbanded, we need to do it in a logical way.”

The IB program already was in place when Hobbs took charge of the school in early 2014.

“The people that brought the program to Buhach put a lot of work into it, they had a great plan, but the plan was not created to be sustained at these numbers,” Hobbs said.

As of now, administrators have decided to allow the junior and senior classes to finish the IB program. The future of the program for the freshmen and sophomores is yet to be decided.

Helia Naderi Samani, a sophomore at Buhach High and pre-IB student, said she has become a “ball of stress” since first learning about the possible elimination of the program. She and her classmates have invested too much time and effort into obtaining IB status, she said.

The 15-year-old has very clear education and career goals. She plans to complete her undergraduate work at UC Berkeley and attend Johns Hopkins University for medical school. Being an IB graduate, she believes, will better prepare her for those institutions.

Samani said the IB program has not been given the opportunity to prove itself. “There was no effort by administration to promote or cultivate the program,” she said. “Every school program takes time to develop.”

Samani said she understands the program is challenging and not meant for everyone, but added that a boost in recruitment efforts could make the difference.

The sophomores, she said, are getting the short end of the stick because they have already invested half of their high school careers to a program that may no longer exist. She is taking college-level classes typically assigned to seniors.

She notes constantly having to be up until 2 a.m. to finish assignments. “But we do it because we know it will be worth it when we graduate,” she said.

Samani said she and her parents have discussed possibly transferring to Modesto High School, where the IB program has existed since 1994. In Modesto, the program graduates about 90 students as IB students, according to Leilani Johnson, IB coordinator at Modesto High. This is an increase from when the program started. In 1998, 44 students graduated with an IB diploma.

Concerned parents also addressed the Merced Union High School District board Wednesday.

Brandt Kreuscher of Atwater, father of a pre-IB student, told the school board he found it troubling that parents were not notified sooner given that talks about the possible disruption of the program had been going on for at least a few months.

“Parents and students were intentionally kept in the dark,” he told the board.

Kreuscher also said it was not clear why the administration had not sought grants or some other type of outside funding to try to keep the program alive.

“You have highly motivated students and parents willing to help the IB program any way possible,” he added.

Hobbs said he and Peterson will meet again with parents, although no date has been set. Hobbs said the administration will look at different possibilities to try to keep the IB program at least for the current freshmen to complete the program.

“Making these decisions is tough,” Hobbs said. “But we have to look at what’s best for our school.”

This story was originally published December 11, 2015 at 7:35 PM with the headline "Future uncertain for International Baccalaureate program at Buhach Colony High."