School committee approves South Kingstown High School 2026–27 program of studies, greenlights student-proposed 'Skills for Life' pilot
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Summary
The committee approved the high school's 2026–27 program of studies, including accelerated two-course offerings for additional credit and signaled support for a student-proposed 'Skills for Life' senior project to teach practical independent-living skills; approval passed by voice vote.
The South Kingstown School Committee voted to approve the South Kingstown High School program of studies for the 2026–27 school year, after staff and board discussion about graduation requirements, new course offerings and a student-proposed pilot.
School staff presented core changes affecting the graduating class of 2028 and beyond: a requirement of two world-language credits (in the same language) with at least one taken at the high-school level; four math credits (adjusting earlier guidance about a three-course requirement plus one math-aligned option); a half-credit computer-science proficiency course introduced last year; and a financial-literacy unit embedded in health courses. Staff also noted that diploma-plus measures and postsecondary-success metrics contributed to recent accountability gains.
During the presentation staff introduced senior student Jeffrey (Jeff) Hill, who proposed a "Skills for Life" course as his senior project. Hill described practical units he hopes to include: cooking and meal planning, laundry and stain removal, basic sewing, automobile basics (changing a flat tire, checking oil), and optional student-driven units such as interview preparation. He suggested community engagement elements (cooking at school events, food-truck-style service at games) so students gain real-world experience and community service credit.
The committee discussed implementation details, including whether work-based learning credit would count toward graduation and how many class periods the accelerated two-course-in-one offerings (Algebra 2/Precalculus, accelerated Italian sequences) should occupy; staff said RIDE rubrics govern eligibility for credit-for-work and that accelerated courses would be offered as block-schedule yearlong classes for one block period. Board members praised student leadership and asked staff to confirm GPA weighting and scheduling constraints.
The motion to approve the program of studies passed by voice vote. Staff said the proposed Skills for Life pilot and other course changes will be monitored and revisited as needed.