Frisco | January 2023

EDUCATION

OTHER STORIES TO FOLLOW IN 2023

ADDITIONAL OFFERINGS In addition to increasing business partnerships, Frisco ISD is oering Personal Financial Literacy and Economics, and Dual Credit Calculus III/ Dierential Equations. Personal Financial Literacy and Economics will build on the nancial literacy classes FISD has had in place for more than a decade. These courses have been oered as electives, but this new class will satisfy the economics graduation requirement. Dual Credit Calculus III/ Dierential Equations is brand new and oered as a hybrid class, with both in person and online learning as well as online only. SOURCE: FRISCO ISDCOMMUNITY IMPACT

Frisco ISD sta 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. Sta 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. The board of trustees rst approved this measure in January 2019 to thank employees for their dedication to the district and community. 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 ling period for the May 6, 2023, school board election is Jan. 18-Feb. 17. See more about requirements and eligibility at www.friscoisd.org/about/ board-of-trustees/board-elections. 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 exibility, 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 rst intermediate school, in the fall. The school is being constructed in McKinney’s Craig Ranch community and will serve students in fth and sixth grades. The three-story campus design incorporates exible, open spaces, per a district news release.

The expanded Career & Technical Education Center will host several of the new programs that are being added to Frisco ISD, including Esports III. (Courtesy Frisco ISD)

Frisco ISD utilizes partnerships with new course oerings FRISCO ISD In the 2023-24 school year, Frisco ISD will have ve new advanced courses to choose from to further students’ academic experience. The district will debut Engineering courses for the upcoming school year is slightly higher than what is typical, however, Cunningham said. 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.” BY MIRANDA JAIMES “THEY ARE ADVANCED LEVEL COURSEWORK

The advanced level courses aim to get students plugged into pro- fessional spaces with internships and partnerships in the community, which students will complete along- side 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 oer 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 expe- rience of students taking the lower levels of video game programming classes, Cunningham said. Engineering Design and Develop- ment 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.

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.” WES CUNNINGHAM, FRISCO ISD

Design and Development Plus; Personal Financial Literacy and Economics; Esports III; Video Game Programming III; and Dual Credit Calculus III/Dierential Equations with Collin College. This builds on two courses that were added during the 2021-22 school year, Mexican American Studies and African American Studies. Three of the new classes aim to use district partnerships to enhance student learning through internships. FISD Associate Deputy Super- intendent 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 course- work 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,” Cunning- ham said. Two of the ve new courses build on classes that are available to students but allow them to take their learning to another level, Cunning- ham said. These are Esports III and Personal Financial Literacy Plus. The district normally adds a few courses each year. The number of

ASSOCIATE DEPUTY SUPERINTENDENT

The 2022-23 school year is the second year FISD has oered 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 oerings. Esports teacher Kenneth Hegmann said these classes touch on almost every technical class FISD oers, including health and wellness. “There’s a bit of entrepreneur- ship, but then there’s also a bit of coding. There’s a bit of computer programming, a bit of computer

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FRISCO EDITION • JANUARY 2023