District outlines secondary curriculum writing, new courses and resource purchases for special education and screening tools

Curriculum staff told the committee they will continue to write and revise secondary curricula this school year, including a full rewrite for high school English, revisions to middle-school ELA, a new general science course to cover state standards, and new courses such as Personal Finance 2, Multimedia 2 and an Education for All course for future educators.
Staff said Personal Finance 2 will build on the Personal Finance 1 course approved last year and that the district intends to collect classroom feedback to refine course plans after the first semester. The presenter said counselors will be included in planning for Personal Finance 2 to connect college planning and dual-enrollment options.
Multimedia 2 was described as a backward-designed course to prepare students to create content and operate the district’s new video scoreboards; the course uses prerequisites so students can enter with existing skills.
Staff also notified the committee about planned purchases and training: HMH training for intermediate school special-education ELA teachers (to be covered by the district training budget), additional elementary sections that required extra resources after class-size thresholds were met, and subscriptions for screening and instructional tools. The department said Acadience (the district’s ELA benchmark screener and successor to DIBELS) and 3P Learning subscriptions are in the budget but will exceed finance approval thresholds and therefore require finance committee review.
The committee approved advisory recommendations for consideration by the finance committee and the full board for the items discussed; the motion to forward the recommendations carried by voice vote.