At the District 99 Board of Education meeting Dec. 2, three new courses were introduced to be considered for the 2020-2021 school year. Although these classes have not yet been approved by the board for next school year, discussions are already underway for what they will cover. 

In conjunction with DGS, DGN science department chair Michael Heinz presented a new science course called ‘Human Body Systems’. The class follows Project Lead the Way (PLTW) guidelines, and is billed as a follow-up to Chem 400 Honors or the PLTW Biomedical Science class that was new to the curriculum this school year. The course primarily focuses on the anatomy of the human body in context, and is only available to students who have taken one of the two aforementioned classes. 

‘Sports Officiating’ is a semester-long class that may be offered next year as well. This class would count as half of a PE credit and would be offered exclusively to juniors and seniors. The aim is to teach students the rules of different sports such as flag football and basketball before offering them an exam at the end of the semester. If they pass for a specified sport, it will allow students to referee recreational or conference games with IHSA certification. Additionally, the PE department is in the process of forging partnerships with local park districts to allow students to use their newly-acquired skills. 

The CTE department also introduced a new course which they call Internship, and if approved it would allow students to take on a temporary unpaid position at several local businesses for half a semester. CTE department chair Melissa Damewood stated that she, along with her fellow DGS department chair, is looking to make connections with local businesses like hospitals and law firms for students to intern at. Both agree that the big goal is to give students real experience in a field they may be interested in as a career path.