School Committee approves pilot of every‑other‑day (AB) electives and program‑of‑studies updates

The School Committee approved changes to the 2026–27 Program of Studies and voted to pilot a modest set of every‑other‑day (AB) elective courses at Northampton High School.

A principal who has been developing the pilot described it as an incremental step that starts with elective courses next year to test demand and scheduling logistics; the intention is to maintain core courses in their current formats at first and to avoid immediately expanding to year‑long math or language offerings until the pilot is evaluated. The principal emphasized the pilot is a proof‑of‑concept: students will enroll as general‑education students (the AB strategies class will not be in IEPs at rollout) and two half‑credit AB classes can be combined to satisfy an academic elective requirement.

Committee discussion focused on access (avoiding “warehousing” students into electives because they have IEPs), operational complexity (scheduling and balancing fall/spring pairings), and outreach (student and caregiver communication prior to registration). The administration said there should be minimal budget impact for the initial pilot and that additional evaluation would occur after one year of implementation.

The committee voted to approve the program‑of‑studies changes and the AB pilot. The principal and guidance staff will present the pilot details to students in class meetings prior to course registration (planned early March), collect enrollment data, and return to the committee with lessons learned and recommendations for expansion or modification.