The District 233 school board agreed to move forward with new course options that are designed to give Homewood-Flossmoor High students opportunities for certificate programs and to earn dual credit for both H-F and college work.

Superintendent Jennifer Norrell told board members at the Nov. 18 meeting that the district is following national trends and the changes are being put in place to satisfy new state requirements geared to college and career readiness. The changes will begin in August 2026 and will directly impact juniors and seniors. 

Norrell, who stepped in to the superintendent’s role in July, acknowledged that changes are coming fast, but she stressed that H-F “is making sure the rigor of the courses aligns with the student’s interests.” Board member Tamekia Smith called it “providing more opportunities and more options for our students.”

The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) has outlined 19 pathways students can choose from. The pathways also call for students to complete unpaid internships in their selected field. Pathways include:

• Plant and animal systems.
• Journalism and radio & broadcasting production.
• Accounting.
• Business administration and management.
• Entrepreneurship.
• Sports, exercise & health.
• Apparel and textile: fashion.
• Fine arts.
• Theatre.
• Criminal justice.
• Culinary arts.
• Early childhood education and training; education.
• Government and public administration.
• Work and family studies.
• Cybersecurity.
• Automotive technology.
• Engineering.
• Machine tool technology.
• Welding technology.

Students will still need a specific number of courses to graduate from H-F, Norrell said. Courses offered under each pathway are approved by ISBE. Courses offer students the opportunity for college-level credit, hands-on work experience and real-world application of classroom learning. 

The new curriculum will give students the chance to earn IB career-related or ISBE pathway endorsements on their H-F diploma. Some are dual-credit courses and Advanced Placement (AP) courses allow a student to test to earn college credit.

Norrell said the changes address the question of “How can we prove that we are preparing kids for college and careers? And we have to prove that with some kind of structure,” which the pathways can provide.

The district’s waiting for approval on a redesign of the International Baccalaureate (IB) Programme. IB classes have been offered to the top students through a selective process. The change would make the program available to more students. H-F is in “candidacy” status and expects a final approval from the IB governing board in spring.

At H-F, 89 staff members have been involved on the proposals “and have been working really hard” through trainings and meetings and writing course syllabi for ISBE approval, she said. The nine new courses are:

• Personal and Professional Skills.
• IB Sports, Exercise and Health Science.
• IB Mathematics Applications and Interpretation in Sports.
• IB Dance.
• Advanced Placement (AP) Networking.
• AP Cybersecurity.
• AP Business and Personal Finance.
• Restaurant Management 1.
• Restaurant Management 2.

Another nine courses are taking coursework that has been taught at H-F and redesigning those for IB course approval. 

Norrell said the proposal for the coursework redesign had been before the board’s Planning Committee for review, but she held off sharing the changes with teachers, students and parents until the board approved the plans. 

A suggestion was made to delay a board vote to give more time for feedback, but Norrell said that could delay students selecting courses starting in January for the 2026-27 school year. She planned a three-hour meeting with counselors to share the plan. Some of the new course information is online for students to review.

Board members Ariana Leonard and Chris Reidel asked about the impact on teachers who will be asked to teach new courses.

“I want to make sure that we know that we have qualified teachers to teach these courses,” Reidel said. Norrell said the administration “combed through” H-F teacher credentials, especially for business and engineering courses. Their expertise needs to match core requirements set out by the Illinois State Board of Education.

Reidel also stressed that the board gave administrators the ability to offer the courses, but they may not all be offered, depending on enrollment.

Norrell said she will be having meetings for parents to explain the changes.