THE ECHO

by Edward Crowe

As a co-runner of the AP Calculus program at Avon High School, math teacher Kyle Meunier makes sure that the AP Calculus classes are running smoothly, helping to prepare materials and keep them on track with each other. Working with him to do this is math teacher Anthony Record, the other co-runner of the AP Calculus program. 

“We work together to make sure our sequence, our timelines, are good,” said Meunier. “We make sure the exams and the quizzes are correct, the homework is good, and we’ll help each other on solution guides and presentation of materials.”  

While today they work together as teachers of AP Calculus, their initial relationship with each other was different and goes back decades. Back in 1999, Mr. Meunier knew Mr. Record, not as a colleague, but as a teacher. 

“I had Mr. Record in Algebra Two as a sophomore in the old high school, long before this high school was built,” said Meunier. “Then I had Mr. Record as a senior in calculus in this building.”  

As a teacher, Meunier noted that Record was one that was reliable, having a set idea for what he wanted to teach, and staying on track with it. 

“There wasn’t any chaos, or things up in the air. He was pretty on point all the time,” said Meunier.  

Along with remembering how he taught, Meunier also remembered other things about Record, such as how he would talk to students about his KISS memorabilia or his involvement with school athletics.  

“He coached track at the time, so he would talk about the track team and running,” said Meunier. “He helped out with basketball and soccer and, you know, little things like that.”  

As for Meunier as a student, Record remembered him as a quiet and hardworking student with an interest in mathematics.  

“I believe he was our salutatorian that year, which not a lot of people know about,” said Record.  

After graduating from Avon High School, Meunier would then go to school at Purdue for four years, before returning to Avon as a math teacher. But when Meunier first started working at Avon, he and Record were far from frequent collaborators. 

“We were fairly distant and didn’t collaborate much at all for about the first 10 years that he worked here,” said Record. “It wasn’t until he got involved in calculus, which was in the 2017-2018 school year, that we started to work together more.”  

The reason for this was due to Meunier and Record teaching different subjects at this time.  

“He was teaching some calculus and some other stuff, I was teaching freshman algebra classes,” said Meunier.  

However, Meunier would begin teaching calculus prerequisites, and to make sure he was sufficiently preparing his students for their time in calculus, he would start to work with Record more often.  

“I started teaching some of the prerequisite classes to his calculus class, so we’d have to work together there to make sure I would have a kid that he was going to have the next school year, ready for his class,” said Meunier.

Meunier would then start teaching AP Calculus in 2017, which led to him and Record cooperating further. Record felt positive about their collaboration and what Meunier brought with him to the class.  

Moving into his calculus role has put him in a position where he and I will collaborate a great deal, and it’s been fantastic,” said Record. “He’s a very good mathematician, and it’s great that, even though he hasn’t taught AP Calculus very long, he brings some very good ideas into our program.”  

One thing Record noted was how close his and Meunier’s classrooms are, which helps to make communication between them much easier.  

“It’s extremely convenient that our rooms are this close together because it makes it just so easy to share ideas and nothing ever gets overlooked,” said Record. “If we find an error in some of our materials, we can communicate it to each other in a heartbeat because of our proximity to each other.” 

For Meunier, he appreciated how open Record is to sharing his materials and information to those who might need it.  

“He’s very giving with materials and insights,” said Meunier. “You know, some people want to hold their stuff and not share what they’ve learned, but he’s willing to give his materials out and help you be better.”