The Governing Board of the Benicia Unified School District unanimously voted to approve course outlines for new courses at Benicia High School and Liberty High School as well as updated course outlines for pre-existing courses at its regular meeting Thursday- the last such meeting of the 2015-16 school year.

The discussion was led by Marie Morgan, the outgoing assistant superintendent of educational services who will become the new superintendent of Walnut Creek School District in July. Morgan noted that when she started the job in 2013, she talked to then-Benicia High Principal Damon Wright about the need to increase the number of courses that meet the UC/CSU requirements as well as the number of graduation requirements.

“Over the past few years, we have made some dramatic shifts in the master schedule,” she said.

At the beginning of the 2013-14 school year, Benicia High offered 30 sections of 15 Advanced Placement courses. As of the 2015-16 school year, the number of sections has increased to 36 with an additional 180 students taking AP courses. There was also one additional AP course offered in that time: AP Studio Art.

For the 2016-17 school year, three new AP courses will be offered. The first is AP Capstone Seminar and Research, which is designed to prepare students for college and careers by investigating real-world issues from differing perspectives, collecting and analyzing information and developing arguments around them. The course would include presentations, a written exam and an academic thesis. Preparation for the course is being handled and will likely be taught by Kim Thompson.

Additional AP courses include AP Computer Science Principles to be taught by Andreas Kaiser and AP Studio Art Drawing to be taught by Dan Frazier.

Morgan also noted that the content of all English and math courses were realigned to meet Common Core standards and resubmitted to meet UC/CSU approval. As a result, the number of courses that meet the A-G requirements increased by 11 sections with an additional 330 students taking such courses from the 2013-2014 school year.

New A-G courses to be offered in the 2016-17 school year include Integrated Math 3 and Integrated Math 3 Honors, personal finance and a new speech and debate class. Superintendent Charles Young said that he met with a 2015 Benicia High graduate and current UCLA student who suggested that a speech and debate class would be useful preparation for colleges.

“I appreciate the high school and Ms. Morgan for being so responsive and getting that out there,” he said. “I think it will be a great addition for us.”

The class will likely be taught by English teacher Michele Gaines.

Benicia High, Morgan said, also made great strides in its Career Technical Education department, including an increase in 11 sections. Two new courses will be offered next year: a health Pathway for aspiring doctors and nurses, and iQuest, a seniors-only course in which students will be able to explore an area of interest and connect what they have learned in class to apply it to the real world.

Trustee Peter Morgan praised the inclusion of a personal finance class.

“I don’t think you can be a self-sufficient Benicia graduate who does not know how to manage their personal affairs,” he said.

Trustee Stacy Holguin requested clarification on which courses impacted Liberty.

“We still want to maintain that students who are enrolled in those traditional courses will meet those requirements for CSU/UC,” Marie Morgan said. “If we offer them at BHS, we also offer them at Liberty if there’s interest or room in the master schedule.”

In other business, Police Chief Erik Upson highlighted the district’s Student Resource Officers for the year, Marjonne Roberson and Jessica Woods, who had been assigned to do work at Benicia High and Benicia Middle School respectively. Additionally, Roberson led the DARE program at Mary Farmar Elementary and Matthew Turner Elementary.

The next school board meeting will be held Thursday, June 16.