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On Monday night, during its meeting, the Austin Public Schools Board heard an update on the district’s new science curriculum.

The change isn’t new and is part of the district’s curriculum cycle which is reviewed by subject and altered as required to meet the needs of the district and guides curriculum purchases.

What is new is that this year’s review of the science curriculum, aligns with changes in science standards by the state a few years ago.

“They’ve given us time, as districts, to integrate the new standards and for us it aligned nicely,” Director of Teaching and Learning Katie Baskin said. “It doesn’t always happen where a curriculum purchase aligns with a standards implementation. So, for us it made sense to purchase curriculum as well as the implementation of standards at the same time because the model is changing so much.”

Baskin said the review process itself of curriculum throughout the district is an important one on two fronts.

“For us it keeps us continually looking at the curriculum we have for students and that it is appropriate. We’re assessing and evaluating and obviously being really fiscally responsible, because it’s a large purchase to make for the curriculum,” Baskin said. “It’s making sure we have what we need for our kids, but that we’re also being financially responsible in purchasing that in a manner that we can afford.”

Gifted Services for Talent Development / Mentorship Coordinator Andrea Malo and K-4 Curriculum and EL Coordinator Sheila Berger provided the board with the update Monday night breaking down the current status of the curriculum process at the secondary level and K-5 levels respectively.

Currently, the district is in the second year of a three year process that is looking at laying the groundwork for the change in curriculum with next school year being the implementation year.

Playground update

Later in the meeting, the board approved accepting a bid from Finnegan Playground Adventures to ensure the playground at Neveln Elementary School meets Americans with Disabilities Act requirements.

The bid was $147683 with another incurred expense of $10,000 for redone concrete around the playground.

Monday’s move is part of a review process by the Building and Grounds Department ahead of the move to the districts K-4 structure next school year, which will split kindergarten students up among the elementary schools.