High‑school program planning: nine new electives, schedule changes and a contested ninth‑grade science plan

The Academic Committee reviewed high‑school program planning updates, including course selection timelines, schedule building and program changes that will affect student course assignments for 2026–27.

Staff reported a well‑attended eighth‑grade parent night and said counselors were finishing student course requests ahead of sectioning next week. Nancy Bushier, the district’s master scheduler, will begin schedule building in March, with data entry and schedule loading planned for April and additional parent communications and wait‑list management later in the spring.

Speaker 8 (program staff) told the committee that nine new electives were added to the high‑school course catalog this year and highlighted financial literacy, forensics and anatomy/physiology among the new options. The district also plans a semester‑long project‑based learning elective for seventh and eighth graders as part of a budget request and expects that change to reduce the number of study halls.

Staff described changes to middle‑school band and orchestra scheduling — combining A/B day splits so full grade ensembles meet together — to improve ensemble size and concert preparation. Teams have toured Van Ancorp facilities to test configurations for 5‑6 transitions and formed four subcommittees (academic programs, scheduling, transitions and special education) to shape implementation.

Board members asked about a staff proposal to teach ninth‑grade Earth and Space Science at the Regents level with embedded honors rather than offering parallel honors sections. Staff said the curriculum is new and more rigorous than prior offerings and expressed concern about capacity and delivering the course with fidelity across many sections. "Any narrative that we are diminishing opportunities for students is just not proven out by the course of studies," one director said; staff recommended piloting the model for the upcoming cohort and revisiting placement and differentiation as the program matures.

Staff also noted the need to coordinate changes with teacher‑association contract language to preserve flexibility in day length, teaching load and master scheduling when staff roles are reorganized. The committee closed with a request for board members to suggest future topics and with staff noting plans to restructure the committee’s meeting frequency and agenda to better support ongoing work.