Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Career Education topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Board hears proposal for new Business Communications course at high school
Summary
David Bittner, a member of the high school business education staff, presented a proposal at the board meeting for a new half‑credit, one‑semester Business Communications course that would be required for students in the high school's business CTE tracks and available as an elective to other juniors and seniors.
David Bittner, a member of the high school business education staff, proposed a new half‑credit, one‑semester course called Business Communications and asked the board to review the course outline attached to the meeting packet.
"We're proposing out of the high school, business education department, a new half credit 1 semester course, called Business Communications," Bittner said. He said the course would be required for students in the entrepreneurship, accounting‑technology and marketing career and technical education (CTE) programs and would also be open as an elective to juniors and seniors.
Bittner told the board the course focuses on career‑readiness skills taught through business applications and would have students produce professional documents—emails, resumes, memos, presentations, briefings and speeches—across seven instructional units. He said the curriculum pulls tasks from existing CTE task lists: 14 tasks from marketing, 12 from entrepreneurship and five from accounting.
The staff estimate for first‑year enrollment is about 12–15 students. Bittner said the district plans to offer one section taught by one teacher in year one; if enrollment falls below the projected range the course could be offered on an every‑other‑year basis so required CTE students still meet program requirements.
Bittner described the primary resource as an online learning platform he called Business University and said the district currently has a free 30‑day trial for board members to review. "This is a new, online business learning education platform," he said, and added the platform contains multiple business courses from which the district would pull Business Communications content. He also cited FBLA curriculum as a supplementary resource and noted accounting will continue to use an existing textbook.
Board members asked whether the course duplicates FBLA extracurricular activities and whether it replaces other credits. In response, Bittner said the skills taught would overlap with FBLA practice but that FBLA is extracurricular while the proposed course would be an accredited in‑day offering; he also said the course is a free elective except that it would be required for students following the business CTE pathways.
Bittner and board members discussed scheduling and staffing. He repeated the district plan to offer a single section initially and to expand if course requests justify additional sections. He said the course's costs are tied to the online platform purchase being presented separately during the budget discussion and that there is no direct incremental cost associated solely with adding the course.
The board did not take formal action on the course at this meeting; the proposal was presented for review and questions.
