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Mount Vernon board approves move to 8-block schedule and updates course catalog
Summary
Board approved updates to the high school course description book to implement an 8-block schedule next year, adjust midyear graduation requirements, change athletic eligibility thresholds, add and drop courses, and revise dual-credit and yearbook offerings.
The Mount Vernon Community School Corporation board approved updates to the high school course description book that support a shift from the current four-block daily schedule to an eight-block schedule for the 2026-27 year.
A presenter from the high school (speaker 10) outlined changes: the district will move the midyear (junior) graduation application window to May of the sophomore year, require students seeking midterm graduation to fit all classes into the first semester under the new block schedule and take the second part of English during summer school, and adjust athletic eligibility so students must be passing six credits at the end of each grading period instead of the current three to meet IHSAA requirements. "We're making a change to our midyear or junior graduation policy," the presenter said, and described steps intended to help planning and student support.
Course adjustments in the approved catalog include additions (environmental science, Photography II, World History Honors), elimination of some offerings (visual communications, lifetime fitness, certain dual-credit changes) and the removal of the JAG program due to the state's elimination of funding for that program. Journalism will be replaced by a yearbook club for the next year, with a long-term plan to restore yearbook as a full-credit course.
Officials said most dual-credit courses will continue to carry no cost to students; in rare cases where students take courses at outside universities, the students will pay those costs but must have prior approval. Hancock County Career Center offerings were added to the handbook, and some courses previously available from Anderson or Walker Career Centers were removed to encourage use of the local Hancock County Career Center.
The board unanimously approved the 2026-27 course description book and the suite of handbook changes (vote recorded 4-0). The changes are intended to align curriculum and scheduling with diploma and state requirements, but administrators noted some details (exact counts of midterm graduates and eventual course scheduling) will be clarified during the implementation and scheduling process.
