The district will debut:
- Engineering Design and Development Plus (internship opportunity)
- Personal Financial Literacy and Economics
- Esports III (internship opportunity)
- Video Game Programming III (internship opportunity)
- Dual Credit Calculus III/Differential Equations with Collin College
FISD Associate Deputy Superintendent Wes Cunningham said the new courses demonstrate the district’s commitment to responding to what the community has said it wants students to have access to.
“They are advanced level coursework where students are going to get some experiential opportunities in the real world and get a chance to really exhibit what a future-ready learner in Frisco ISD is,” Cunningham said.
Two of the five new courses build on classes that are available to students but allow them to take their learning to another level, Cunningham said. These are Esports III and Personal Financial Literacy Plus. The district normally adds a few courses each year. The number of courses for the upcoming school year is slightly higher than what is typical, however, Cunningham said.
Personal Financial Literacy and Economics will build on the financial literacy classes FISD has had in place for more than a decade, and the elective will satisfy the economics graduation requirement.
The 2022-23 school year is the second year FISD has offered esports classes. When Esports III debuts next school year, it will have its own custom space as part of FISD’s work to renovate its Career & Technical Education Center. The center will be the home of advanced esports courses and will be home to Esports IV when that is eventually added to the district’s course offerings. Esports teacher Kenneth Hegmann said these classes touch on almost every technical class FISD offers, including health and wellness.
“There’s a bit of entrepreneurship, but then there’s also a bit of coding. There’s a bit of computer programming, a bit of computer maintenance, a bit of digital media,” Hegmann said. “We work with a lot of graphic design and video editing as well as, right now, we’re working on ... a video podcast.”
The advanced level courses aim to get students plugged into professional spaces with internships and partnerships in the community, which students will complete alongside their regular class schedule, Hegmann said.
“We’re really working towards developing partnerships,” he said.
This is also the case with the addition to the new video game programming and engineering courses FISD will offer next year, Cunningham said. The goal is to give students opportunities to interact with business partnerships, he said. Video Game Programming III will be an advanced program that seeks to help students learn about coding through creating video games. The class will extend the learning experience of students taking the lower levels of video game programming classes, Cunningham said.
Dual Credit Calculus III/Differential Equations is brand new and offered as a hybrid class, with an option for both in person and online learning or online only.
Engineering Design and Development Plus will add onto the district’s engineering course but will add on an internship for students to take advantage of, said Jamie Altman, the upcoming course’s planned teacher.
When adding new courses, the district takes a hard look at what is proposed, Cunningham said.
“We want to make certain that there are standards to them but that also it’s going to have a deep meaning for our students,” he said.
In addition to FISD's upcoming courses for the 2023-24 school year, here are three stories to keep an eye on in 2023.
1. Frisco ISD staff receives retention incentive in January
The Frisco ISD board of trustees approved a resolution to pay a retention incentive for all eligible employees in January 2023. Staff who have been with the district for more than one year are eligible to receive a bonus in their January paycheck.
With the bonus, eligible employees received:
- an incentive equal to $50 for each year of service they have been employed at FISD, plus
- the greater of 1% of their base salary, or $250.
2. Frisco ISD voters to cast ballots for two board seats
Frisco ISD is scheduled to hold a vote for two board seats in 2023. Voters will have the opportunity cast ballots on representatives for places 4 and 5 on the board. Dynette Davis occupies Place 4, and Debbie Gillespie occupies Place 5. Board members are elected to at-large, three-year staggered terms and represent the entire FISD community.
- The filing period for the May 6, 2023.
- The school board election is Jan. 18-Feb. 17.
3. District to open two new schools in 2023
This fall, Wilkinson Middle School will open and serve students in the Frisco Hills, Estates of Rockhill, Villas at Doe Creek, Travis, Hollyhock and Somerset Park neighborhoods. Collaboration and outdoor learning were driving factors of the campus design, along with providing flexibility, variety and choice for educators and students, according to a Frisco ISD news release. In addition, the district will open Wortham Intermediate School, the district’s first intermediate school, in the fall. The school is being constructed in McKinney’s Craig Ranch community and will serve students in fifth and sixth grades. The three-story campus design incorporates flexible, open spaces, per a district news release.
