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Board hears proposed course registration changes, new classes including ASL and co-taught health course
Summary
District staff previewed additions and adjustments to the 2026–27 course registration guide — including a co-taught health and physical-education course, comparative politics, an introduction to family and consumer sciences at Century, life-transitions special-education coursework, and the possible NCAA approval of sports-biology.
District academic leaders presented proposed changes to the Rochester Public Schools course registration guide and described improvements to the registration process at the Oct. 21 meeting.
Heather Wilman, Director of Secondary Education, and Heather Hogan, Director of Academic Supports, outlined new course proposals for 2026–27: a co-taught course titled "Health and Physical Skills for Life" (co-taught by health and physical-education staff), a comparative politics and government course proposed for John Marshall, an "intro to family and consumer sciences" sampler at Century, a special-education life-transitions course focused on transition skills, and an interpretation-and-translation course for multilingual students. Staff also reported that sports-biology has received NCAA approval documentation for counting as a science course for student-athletes.
Staff described registration improvements: counselors are using Xello profiles for targeted outreach (for example, encouraging female students who indicated interest in computer science to enroll in introductory CS courses), online sessions and family-facing materials to explain registration, on-site college fairs, and a parent-student survey used to refine the process.
Board members asked operational questions including whether the district allows students to exceed seven in-person classes by taking online courses (staff said students cannot exceed the district—s cap by adding additional online courses for credit beyond the normal schedule). The board also discussed whether summer or paid online courses could be expanded to provide scheduling flexibility; staff said the district does not currently provide a paid summer option for credit-bearing courses in the same way some other districts do.
Staff said most substantive changes to the registration guide will return next year as the district aligns course offerings with the new strategic plan; the board will be asked to formally approve the registration guide in a subsequent meeting.
