Wyndham High proposes new electives and AP pathways, including AP Seminar and investing

Wyndham High School presented a slate of proposed new courses intended to expand elective options and create pathways to AP Capstone and career-oriented coursework.

Ryan Karen (speaker 11), the presenter, told the board the proposals respond to a student poll showing interest in business, sports medicine and other applied subjects. Proposed courses include AP Research and AP Seminar (courses that together can support an AP Capstone designation), criminology and statistics (to teach statistics through a criminology lens), entrepreneurship, introduction to investing, event planning (half-year elective), sports medicine/sports psychology and a "unified wellness" quarter-credit PE class taught by a special educator to pair identified and non-identified students.

Karen said AP Seminar could be offered to tenth graders as either a replacement for or supplement to English 10, and that AP Research could pair with other AP courses to create the capstone track. He noted that certain courses could carry different credit designations depending on which certified teacher delivers them (for example, an investing course could be a math credit if taught by a math-certified teacher, or an elective if taught by a social-studies teacher).

Board members suggested including local legal professionals and business leaders as guest speakers, and recommended that the entrepreneurship and investing curriculum include practical elements such as retirement-account basics and HR/legal matters relevant to running a business. Karen said some courses could be open to freshmen if space allows, but the priority is adding options for sophomores and juniors.

The board will vote on course approvals at the next meeting after administration places them on a consent or action agenda; the presenter said courses will be run only if sufficient student enrollment is available.