The West Chester Area School District committee approved a redesigned career education program that will be offered to seniors at all three district high schools and included multiple course proposals.

District staff described three program arms. The internship program, primarily for college‑bound seniors, will involve roughly 80 hours per semester (two to three hours, two days per week) and include an asynchronous one‑semester career‑readiness class. The cooperative education program is aimed at seniors preparing to enter the workforce, will involve paid work (minimum 15 hours per week) and in‑person coursework once per week; credit will scale with weekly hours, up to 1.5 credits per semester. A third “Launch” arm is geared toward students needing graduation support (students with IEPs or in alternate pathways) and will include paid work hours and an SEL component.

Presenters said internship coordinators — two named staff and a yet‑to‑be‑named third coordinator — will be located at each high school to coordinate placements. Staff are building a bank of employer partners across sectors (hospitality, medical, veterinary, education) and already reported about 20 businesses have signed agreements. Students may bring existing jobs that will be vetted; coordinators will support matching based on career interests and coaching.

Committee members also heard proposals for new and revised courses. Staff noted the state’s forthcoming graduation requirement for personal finance and outlined plans to continue a semester personal‑finance course while adding AP business with personal finance and AP cybersecurity among proposed AP offerings. Several middle‑school computer science courses would be updated (Internet and web design → Internet and cybersecurity; Innovative Coding → Innovative Coding and AI) and a human anatomy and infectious disease course will be renamed to human anatomy and physiology to better align with postsecondary study.

Committee approved the career education presentation and curriculum updates by voice vote, 3–0. Staff said the launch arm of the program will roll out after the internship and cooperative education arms and that student site visits and employer vetting will be part of the program implementation.