Board approves textbooks for English courses and reviews world history adoption process

The Lane Township High School District board approved additions to its course materials for 2025–26, adding titles for English 1, English 2 and AP Literature & Composition and conducting a first reading for a world-history digital textbook. District staff said novels and single‑unit texts are typically purchased as hard copies by teachers using funds the board shifted into the English department budget to allow flexibility. For commonly used texts such as U.S. and world history, staff said the district purchases multi‑year subscriptions; staff stated a typical adoption cycle for a world-history textbook would be about five to six years and that digital subscriptions are updated continuously by publishers. Presenters explained that when a teacher selects a novel for a unit, the English department budget covers hard‑copy purchases for the number of students in a section; those purchases are generally less costly than multi‑year digital textbook subscriptions. Board members asked about lifecycle and whether the world-history resource is a subscription; staff confirmed multi‑year subscription arrangements are common. The board approved the textbook list for the English classes by roll-call vote. The transcript shows the board then discussed logistics for hard‑copy novel purchases and pedagogical rationales for using print when students are asked to annotate texts for analysis. The board’s curriculum actions were handled as part of the consent and regular agenda; the textbook approvals were presented as second- or final-reading items for English titles and as a first reading for the world-history digital resource.