Jersey Shore Area SD board hears proposal for new Business Communications course

Business education teacher David Bittner proposed a new half‑credit, one‑semester Business Communications course for Jersey Shore Area School District students, telling the board the class is designed to improve written, verbal and presentation skills through business applications.

Bittner said the course would be required for students in the district's three business CTE (career and technical education) tracks — entrepreneurship, accounting technology and marketing — and available as an open elective to other juniors and seniors. He described the course as covering professional documents such as emails, resumes, memos and presentations and said it is organized into seven instructional units that draw required tasks from existing CTE task lists.

The proposal notes enrollment is expected to be about 12 to 15 students in the first year. "We estimate a student enrollment of about 12 to 15 students a year," Bittner said. He told the board the district plans to offer one section taught by one teacher initially; if enrollment falls below projections, the course could be offered on an every‑other‑year basis to keep sections viable.

Bittner said the course will primarily use an online learning platform called Business University, which he described as the proposed districtwide business education resource. "Business University has 10 different courses that the business educators are going to be pulling content from. One of them is Business Communications as a course," he said. Bittner told the board there is no direct cost to run the single course beyond the district’s proposed purchase of the platform, which the administration plans to present during the budget discussion.

Board members asked how the course compares to FBLA and whether it would replace existing credits. Bittner said FBLA is an extracurricular activity while this would be a daytime, credit‑bearing course. He also confirmed the course would not replace English or other graduation credits — for CTE students it would count as a required business course within the CTE scope and sequence.

Bittner provided other course details included with the agenda: the curriculum pulls 14 required tasks from marketing, 12 from entrepreneurship and five from accounting to meet the business CTE requirements, and resources will align with the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s Standards Aligned System and FBLA materials. He also provided a tentative staffing plan and an enrollment contingency plan should course requests not meet initial projections.

The board received the proposal and asked clarifying questions; there was no vote on the course during the meeting. The administration indicated the platform purchase and any budget impacts will be included in the upcoming budget presentation.