The Examiner U-46 News Feed

Auto curriculum proposal set for District U-46 vote

By Seth Hancock
  The Board of Education in School District U-46 is set to vote on an automotive curriculum proposal as well as its board meeting schedule for next year at its upcoming meeting on Monday, Jan. 27. The items were presented on Jan. 13.
  The curriculum proposal is an update to the Advanced Automotive Technology course currently offered by the district.
  Kinasha Brown, director of educational pathways, called it a curricular revisions to extend the Advanced Automotive Technology course from a one-hour course to a two-hour course.”
  The course is the second in the sequence of Automotive Service Excellence certification courses under the automotive technology pathway. There are 807 students currently in that pathway according to Brown.
  U-46 will move to the career pathways model starting with the 2021-2022 freshman class.
  This revision will make the course four credits up from the current two credits, and the added time will qualify students to take the Maintenance and Light Repair Certification exam according to Brown.
  “By extending both theory and hands-on instructional time, students completing this pathway are positioned for success for any number of post-secondary choices including college and career,” Brown said.
  The total proposal cost presented was $163,375 including an initial cost of $95,875 which includes textbooks and digital licenses, professional development for seven teachers, exam fees and supplementary materials. There’s an estimated $13,500 annual cost through 2025-2026 with an exception in 2022-2023 which has a cost of $21,399 due to additional licensing costs.
  Board member Melissa Owens asked about the effects on current automotive students and if this will cause registration problems to which Brown said this will impact schedules but shouldn’t cause any problems.
  Owens asked about the high schools offering the program and Brown said its offered at Bartlett, Elgin and South Elgin high schools while Larkin and Streamwood high school students do have access to the program.
  The proposed board meeting schedule for 2020-2021 sets 24 dates, all Mondays, as regularly scheduled meetings with nine additional Mondays set as optional meeting dates. Also, it sets Saturday, Jan. 23 as a board self-evaluation date which is a closed-doors meeting.
  U-46 CEO Tony Sanders said “most of the time, board members hold Monday nights,” but suggested board members check their schedule before the vote. Board member John Devereux was absent from the Jan. 13 meeting while board member Veronica Noland left early.
  There are two months with only one meeting scheduled including July 20 and Dec. 14 while March (1, 8 and 15) and May (3, 10 and 17) both have three. The remaining months have two dates including Aug. 3 and 17, Sept. 14 and 28, Oct. 5 and 19, Nov. 2 and 16, Jan. 11 and 25, Feb. 8 and 22, April 12 and 26 and June 7 and 21.

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