Madison curriculum committee advances multiple course adoptions and fields parent concerns about scheduling and related arts

The Madison School district Curriculum and Student Development Committee met to review and advance adoption of multiple revised and new courses across disciplines and to discuss related curriculum work and community concerns.

The committee considered a slate of items including a new Sports Performance and Nutrition career-and-technical elective, a renamed Acting Workshop to replace a prior dramatic workshop, a swap of the grade-9 core novel from To Kill a Mockingbird to Just Mercy, expansions to the middle-school math enrichment program, several performing-arts course adoptions and revisions (chorus, acting, musical theater, music theory), world-language updates (Latin II and American Sign Language II), and revisions tied to the Connecticut 2023 social-studies standards.

Why it matters: The committee’s work governs what students can take next school year and how some units will be taught; during public comment parents pressed the district about proposed schedule changes that could reduce time for related-arts classes and asked whether the board or administration holds final authority over instructional scheduling.

Michelle Horn, curriculum generalist and former literacy coach for the district, presented the courses on behalf of departments and teachers. She described Sports Performance and Nutrition, developed with Dan Grenier and Eric Becker, as "one of the courses that we'll be going through tonight," and said it is planned as a career-and-technical elective offered for one trimester that links practical nutrition and food-preparation skills to athletic performance and recovery. The committee heard that the course has gone through the district’s curriculum review process and is targeted for offering next fall.

On drama and theater, presenters asked the board to adopt a course under the title Acting Workshop to reflect a broader stage experience than the prior Dramatic Workshop. The course’s major changes…