In a now familiar pattern, the 2025 school year brought another schedule change to Highland Park High School, with the Science Department bearing the brunt of the impact. The first day of school marked a shift in the majority of science classes from a double-period to a single-period structure.
On February 20, 2025, during a Township High School District 113 School Board meeting, more than a dozen District 113 educators gathered to protest the prospect of altering the structure of science courses as they felt the decision lacked not only effective communication, but also adequate stakeholder feedback.
In the article “Science Teachers Rip District 113’s Idea to Condense Lab Time,” published by The Record North Shore, Highland Park High School teacher Kunal Pujara voiced strong opposition to the decision for single-period science classes, saying it “disenfranchises the majority of students, and our marginalized students will be negatively impacted the most”.
He emphasized that lab experiences are essential for all science students, not just those in AP courses saying, “the majority of science students should not be left behind without lab experiences to enhance critical thinking and problem-solving skills that are important in all areas of life beyond high school”. Pujara added that limiting extended lab time to AP classes “creates more inequity that diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives are trying to remedy”.
In an interview, Pujara provided a thoughtful perspective on the current situation.
In what ways have the schedule changes affected the science curriculum and your ability to teach effectively?
They’ve impacted all of the classes, not just for me, but for all my colleagues in biology, chemistry, physics. Ultimately, reducing the amount of time for each science class means a lot less time in the lab, a lot less time with hands-on learning, and a lot less time with engagement with real data. Now, oftentimes, students get fabricated data instead of taking it themselves. Students need to get their hands on equipment in chemistry, biology and in physics to understand the key concepts. This change impacts the entire school, not just AP classes.
How have the schedule changes affected students’ pacing for the AP exam? How do you think this might affect students’ scores?
I have data that shows that scores are getting lower and lower. Part of this is because I’ve had to eliminate labs. I know for a fact that students feel a little overwhelmed because we’re definitely going faster. Going from 400 minutes a week to 280 minutes a week is a loss of two hours a week. As a result, I have to cut two hours a week of problems and labs and other content.
Is there anything you wish administrators or the school board understood better about the needs for all science classes?
All science classes, if you go to a college or if you go anywhere, require labs. And labs are where students engage with materials, whether it is physics, chemistry, biology, anatomy, or environmental science; they need to engage in labs. When you take away time from science classes, you take away lab time, you take away content, and you take away understanding. A way of understanding for the majority of students comes from labs. There’s only a very small elite minority that can do these classes without labs. And that’s not engaging, it’s not fun, and it would turn people away from science. At a time where we need more people going into STEM, we should not be turning students away by reducing lab time.
Back in 1994, Pujara’s first year teaching at Highland Park High School, he taught classes with nine periods a week, all 42 minutes long. Every week he was able to teach each of his classes for 294 minutes, whether that pertained to regular, survey, or advanced classes. Throughout the course of his career, survey and dual language physics classes, serving students with diverse needs, have lost almost 90 minutes of class time.
Before 2025, the AP Physics exams were divided into two separate 1.5-hour tests – one for Mechanics and one for Electricity and Magnetism – each counting for a semester of credit. Now, however, each test has been expanded to three hours, with increased content expectations. Despite having less instructional time due to schedule changes, students are required to demonstrate a broader range of knowledge over a longer exam.
The reduction of lab time isn’t just a scheduling inconvenience — it’s a setback for scientific learning. At a time when students are expected to grasp concepts faster, demonstrate more, and perform longer on high-stakes exams, they’re being given less of what truly fosters understanding: hands-on experience.