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Souderton Area SD drafts game design, honors Spanish and other course changes for 2026–27
Summary
The district’s proposed 2026–27 program of studies adds a video game design course, an 'alternative materials' art class, converts the preschool lab to a semester course, and proposes an honors advanced Spanish course; changes also address Pennsylvania’s new financial‑literacy scheduling requirement.
Dr. Verano presented the high‑school program of studies changes that the board will review for the 2026–27 school year. He described a new game‑design course intended to complement existing coding classes by focusing on graphics and environment rather than programming alone; the move is meant to engage students who are interested in the creative side of games rather than solely in coding.
Other changes include converting the preschool lab in Family & Consumer Science from a quarter to a semester course (reducing turnover of teacher groups), adding an 'alternative materials' art course that exposes students to nontraditional materials, and deleting an older computer hardware and operating‑system course that administrators said no longer fits current instructional opportunities.
Dr. Verano also discussed an honors advanced Spanish course, designed to serve heritage/native speakers and advanced English‑speaking students; the board was told it would carry a 1.25 weighting (versus AP Spanish’s 1.5). The presentation noted a state financial‑literacy requirement that affects the class of 2030: if scheduling prevents North Montco students from taking the district’s personal‑finance course, alternatives such as financial algebra or scheduling adjustments will be used to meet the state requirement.
Board members praised the curriculum updates and asked about future topics such as AI, 3‑D printing and welding; administrators said they are tracking those interests and would coordinate with TechEd leads and partner districts as appropriate.
