New course curricula and revisions to the Programs of Studies for 2026-2027 were presented to the board Oct. 27 by Emmaus High School Principal Beth Guarriello, along with Curriculum Supervisors Mike Mihalik and Tricia Gutman. While not a presenter, Assistant Principal Lorie Gamble was acknowledged for her contributions.

Each took turns explaining how the curricular and course sequence changes are a result of the adoption of Act 35, the new Pennsylvania requirement stating all students must complete a course in personal finance. This requirement goes into effect in 2026-2027 with the Class of 2030.

Next year’s freshman class will be required to take a personal finance course for graduation purposes. A half-credit personal financial management class will be offered. The Emmaus graduation requirement total will increase from 21 to 21.5 credits starting with this cohort.

A full-credit Advanced Placement Business with Personal Finance course will also be available to interested students in grades 9-12.

With PFM as its own course, a new course for family and consumer sciences will be skills for independence and food fundamentals.

In technology education, graphic design will collapse from a 1.0-credit, full-year class to a 0.5-credit semester class to allow for more student flexibility. Photography 2 will be offered, as well as drafting and design where two courses are to be condensed into one single class.

The district proposes to adopt Lehigh Carbon Community College’s environmental science, retail management 2, marketing 2 and business law curriculum so courses at EHS can be offered for dual credit.

A new modern music course is designed for students interested in exploring popular music styles such as pop, rock, funk, ska and hip-hop. Students may form ensembles to rehearse and perform covers or compose original songs, or they may focus on studio recording, live sound or the business side of music.

It was mentioned there are no additional budgetary needs for these changes outside of office of teaching and learning, department and building budgets.

In personnel matters the board approved hiring Christina Cope as a special education, learning support teacher at Wescosville Elementary effective in December.

After discussion during a third reading, updates to existing policies regarding federal fiscal compliance, travel reimbursement – federal programs, conflict of interest, conduct/disciplinary procedures, educator misconduct, freedom of speech in non-school settings and service animals in schools were adopted.

In a 4-5 vote, changes to the freedom of speech policies were rejected. Although School Solicitor Marc Fisher explained the updates would not infringe on an employee’s right to express an opinion, those voting “nay” cited concerns about the “ambiguity” in the wording of the policy.

Jeffrey Jankowski provided a legislative news report centered around the budget impasse. Legislation prohibiting student cell phone use and weapon incident notification were receiving bipartisan support.