More and more Cobleskill-Richmondville students are taking college credit courses--right in the high school.
And C-R is looking to add even more college courses, high school Principal Melissa Ausfeld told the school board last week.
SUNY Cobleskill must approve the course work for Environmental Science, Food Science and Ag classes for those to become new College in the High School entries, Ms. Ausfeld said.
Assuming they're approved, C-R would have about 20 college credit courses.
The high school already offers Composition I, French IV and V, Spanish V, Trigonometry, Accounting, Business Law, Compute Essentials, Calculus, Precalculus and Biology I. All are taught at the high school.
Also available are Statistics and Introduction to Sociology, taught via distance learning from Middleburgh and Schoharie, respectively.
Finally, there are Project Lead the Way classes, taught through the Rochester Institute of Technology, that carry college credit. These are mostly engineering and design classes.
Most of the classes cost $150; a few cost $200 or $225.
"And if you signed up to take a class in college, it would be a lot more," said Kristin Komarinski, a C-R guidance counselor.
In the 2013-14 school year, 45 of 135 juniors and 93 of 149 seniors took College in the High School classes.
Those numbers were up in 2014-15: 57 of 135 juniors and 109 of 135 seniors took the classes.
"The number of families purchasing credit courses is unbelievable," Ms. Komarinski said.
As the offerings have expanded, so has the interest, Ms. Ausfeld added.
"We've worked hard to add courses to give students more opportunities," she said.
Students can take many of the courses without opting for the college credit option. If those students go on to SUNY Cobleskill, however, the college may give credit for the courses if the students' grades are high enough.
While the College in the High School classes are popular, so are other relatively new courses. C-R offered 10 distance learning classes the first semester and another 10 the second semester this year.
Distance learning has an instructor in one school--Mohonasen, for instance--teaching a class, and students at C-R are watching the same class on video
Distance learning classes used to be limited to Capital Region BOCES schools, but now there's a broader range from schools around the state, Ms. Komarinski said.
Where C-R used to have just one classroom for distance learning courses, now there are three.
Among the distance learning courses are American Sign Language, Psychology, International Business, Statistics, Careers in Human Services and Fashion Industry, among others.
"These are another opportunity for classes we're not able to offer here in the high school," Ms. Ausfeld said.