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Board approves guitar, dance and 7th-grade dual-language math courses at Stimson Middle School
Summary
The board approved three new course offerings for Stimson Middle School — a guitar focus class, an 8th-grade introduction-to-dance course and a 7th-grade honors dual-language math course — to expand student choice and strengthen the district’s bilingual pathway.
The South Huntington Board of Education on Wednesday approved three new course additions at Stimson Middle School aimed at expanding student choice and strengthening the district’s bilingual pathway.
The board approved converting one general-music class into a guitar focus class that uses existing instruments, an introduction-to-dance course for eighth graders that would extend the high school dance pathway, and a 7th-grade honors dual-language math course intended as an early entry point for students on the district’s K–12 bilingual/dual-language pathway.
“Part of the plan this year has been to build in some more personalization and choice at Stimson,” said Ms. Kavanaugh, who presented the item. She credited staff and administrators for developing the proposals and said the guitar course requires no additional staffing and minimal material costs because the district already owns instruments.
The proposed dance course would borrow 0.2 of a high-school dance teacher to begin the middle-school offering; the board was told that could require backfilling the teacher’s high-school duties pending final staffing decisions. The 7th-grade dual-language honors math class would place Spanish- and English-proficient students together in an honors sequence to accelerate the dual-language pathway. Presenters said the district hopes students will eventually complete multiple content-area classes in a dual setting on the way to the New York State seal of biliteracy.
Board members asked about how the math course would interact with existing Spanish-language offerings; Ms. Kavanaugh said the goal is for students to have the option to take Spanish experience alongside dual-language content courses and that the district expects to pilot one section initially.
The motion to approve the new course catalog changes was made and seconded during the meeting and carried on a voice vote. Administrators said materials and staffing details will be finalized before the programs begin.
