The Examiner U-46 News Feed

Course proposal ratified for Streamwood High

By Seth Hancock
  A new course, ACCELeratoredu, will be offered at Streamwood High School’s magnet academy in 2022-2023.
  The curriculum proposal was approved by the School District U-46 Board of Education in March by a 5-0 vote, board members John Devereux and Veronica Noland were absent.
  The cost over six years for the curriculum, through Uncharted Learning, is $15,000. It includes access to online resources and materials.
  The course, which is senior-level, follows the current junior-level course INCubatorEDU. The senior-level course “provides students with the opportunity to take a business from startup to launched.”
  The course description states: “As a complement to the INCubatoredu course, ACCELeratoredu™ fosters startup development to transition the business founded in INCubatoredu into a sustainable, functioning business. This includes growing a customer pipeline and customer processing, submitting legal documents to become a recognized entity at the state and federal level, creating contracts or terms and agreements for customers, developing the typical operating systems for the business, and continuing to build, test, and iterate the product or service. Throughout the program the students work through four major areas of content: legal and banking, customer acquisition, business processes, and solution development. Students leave the course having gained traction in the marketplace to successfully launch their company.”
  Prior to the meeting, board member Dawn Martin inquired about a planned summer camp for students who would enter the course would take part in expressing concerns for students who may have summer jobs or family trips. A district memo stated the “summer portion of the course is not required,” and added it’s “investigating” other options.
  Martin also expressed concerns because some families might be hesitant with their children starting businesses that includes maintaining legal documents after the course is over.
  The memo stated students “have the option of dissolving their businesses completely or transferring their portion of the business to a team member who would like to continue. If a student or a family was uncomfortable with the legal aspects of starting a business, they could still participate in the course as ‘interns’ for another business. Utilizing a school-based business like a school store is also an option.”