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Board reviews proposed course additions including drum line, health-care electives and advanced manufacturing
Summary
A curriculum committee recommended seven new elective courses (drum line; Exploring Health/Health Care Careers; Advanced Manufacturing 1–2; Dual-credit Anatomy & Physiology A/B; Spanish for Native Heritage speakers) and the deletion/retitle of robotics; the board heard questions about staffing, rooming and cost-neutrality and will vote course-by-course at the next meeting.
The Grand Forks Public Schools curriculum review committee presented recommendations for seven course additions and one deletion, emphasizing that the proposals are intended to be cost neutral and delivered with existing staff when possible.
Dr. Brenner presented the committee’s work: adding drum line as a for-credit co-curricular course (half credit, grades 9–12), Exploring Health/Health Care Careers (semester elective), Advanced Manufacturing 1 and 2 (prerequisite structure and hands-on projects), dual-credit Anatomy & Physiology A and B, and Spanish for Native Heritage Speakers (two-course sequence to support bilingual literacy). The committee recommended deleting an under-enrolled robotics course and replacing it with Advanced Manufacturing 1 to create a clearer pathway.
Board members asked detailed questions about implementation. Topics included whether available staff are qualified to teach new courses, classroom and technology needs, contract impacts of converting an extracurricular activity (drum line) into a curricular class, and how changes may affect course loads or require additional sections of science classes (e.g., biology, chemistry). Dr. Brenner said committee members confirmed there would be no net increase in staffing costs in the committee’s view and that each course will be considered individually for approval at the next board meeting.
Several members asked for written follow-up addressing classroom space, teacher qualifications, potential schedule impacts, and whether offerings are truly cost neutral during the district’s budget realignment. Dr. Brenner and administration committed to providing those clarifications before the December meeting so the board can vote course-by-course.
The board did not take action on the courses at this meeting; members requested additional implementation details and a plan for how the proposals would fit into the master schedule and teacher contracts.
Next steps: administration will supply the requested staffing, scheduling and classroom-technology clarifications for each proposed course ahead of the December action item.
