EAST LONGMEADOW –  At the Jan. 22 East Longmeadow School Committee meeting the School Committee discussed seven new courses the High School is hoping to implement along with a unique grant that the district has applied for.

East Longmeadow High School Principal Dr. Gina Flanagan shared with the School Committee seven new courses the High School is hoping to take on in the 2018 to 2019 school year.

“We’re really excited about the courses we’re offering this year, they’re very much in line to the high school’s mission to incorporate more STEAM-related courses into our courses of study, areas including science, technology, engineering, art and design and of course mathematics,” Flanagan said.

In addition to the regular drama class the high school offers, they’re hoping to offer classical drama next year, which would focus on Greek tragedies.  Also in the “arts” category of STEAM, the school is planning to add a literary circle course.

“I think the best way to describe that is it’s like a book club on steroids in the sense that it’s basically having students enjoy various works of literature but then using their analytical, critical thinking, communication, to kind of discuss how the reading affects their daily lives and how it relates to some of the discussions that is generated by the teachers,” she said.

Flanagan explained that there will also be self-evaluation involved, meaning students would grade themselves against the school’s learning expectations as well as teacher evaluations.

“That’s going to be taught by Ms. [Elizabeth] Supranovich. I’ve actually visited her and she’s incorporated this into her regular classes and now she wants to make it a full-blown class. If you ever get to see it, it’s really exciting, the kids all have a role when it comes to the literary discussion so it keeps everyone engaged,” Flanagan explained.

In the area of science, the school has changed their environmental science course to focus on issues of sustainability, biodiversity and more.  Flanagan noted that there would be an honors version of that course as well for students who excel in the topic.

Flanagan shared that while the school has a full array of courses in their mathematics department, they’re adding an AP statistics course so students are able to have more choices.

Currently, the high school offers a tech-app course, which they’ve been boosting with more funding to update current systems and stations in the class.

“That is a big thank you to Ryan Quimby as he and the technology department have really cut apart some of their budget money to replace some of the old systems that are in the high schools.  As a matter of fact, one of the things that motivated Ryan Quimby was he said, ‘Wow, this machine was here when I went to school here ten years ago!’”

The school chose to change the name of tech-app, as they felt the name “the idea shop” would better reflect what they’re hoping to generate out of their students.  The “idea” specifically stands for innovation, design and engineering for all.

Before handing her announcements over to Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum Valerie Annear, Flanagan announced the last course addition, being honors forensics two.  

“It’s basically a continuation of the forensic science program that we have, because we do have a great interest in that from some of our students, it’s one of our most popular science classes at the high school,” she explained.

Annear shared with the Board that recently she’s collaborated along with science teacher Peter Van Buren and Mapleshade Elementary School Principal Michael Fredette to apply for the “Project Lead the Way” grant.  This grant funds STEAM initiative programming.  Annear explained that in Massachusetts there are 89 schools that implement Project Lead the Way in some form.

“They have high school pathways in engineering, environmental studies and in bioengineering, and then they do a launch program at the elementary level, and it’s all around exploring hands-on science and really letting them into the pathways,” she explained.

Annear expects to hear whether or not the district will receive the grants by the end of February.  Mapleshade and the High School submitted two separate grants, however they’re written in a way that shows the cohesion between the grades.

She continued to explain that most schools who have received this grant and are implementing this programming are primarily in Central and Eastern Massachusetts.

“Just to give you a little bit of information around what their engineering pathway curriculum looks like, their whole focus is around learning by doing, which is exactly what we want in any kind of science program.  The students are engaged both individually and in teams to do things like design affordable housing, biofuel production, they do app development.  It’s not just an engineering course, they incorporate a public service to it so they’re working on real-world problems,” Annear said.

If the high school receives the grant, Annear is hopeful that this would be the first course in a three-course pathway for students to further go into engineering courses and content.  This course would be named introduction to engineering and design. The grant is $34,000 over two years.  During the first year the school would receive $9,000, and the second year $25,000.

“It provides hardware and materials needed to run the course as well as extensive training specifically at the high-school level,” she said.

“Adding courses like this as well as possibly funding through the grant will be both helpful for professional development but also having equipment and a course that starts to get at giving students the opportunity to master some of these standards.” Superintendent Gordon Smith said.

At the close of the discussion it was questioned whether or not staffing for the extra courses would be an issue.  Flanagan said no, as the students ultimately decide which courses will run and which courses won’t based on their class enrollments.