Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools Expands Multicultural Course Offerings

High School students in the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County School District will have some new class choices next year. The goal is to incorporate more multicultural offerings.

The school board recently made the curriculum changes. Those include offering full credit for electives in African American and Latin American Studies and adding a Native American Studies course beginning in 2020.

It's part of what superintendent Angela Hairston calls the Infusion program. She proposed this in place of requiring students to take a black history class to graduate, which some community members had wanted. Hairston says the issue could come up again, but for now, the Infusion program is moving forward.

“It gives us more time to talk more with parents and students, and it gives us time to participate in the revisions that are occurring right now for social studies standards to see where they are going to go before we make this kind of decision,” she says.

Hairston says the district will have an advisory group for the new program, which will also include adding multicultural units to grades K-8.

The school board approved additional Advanced Placement course offerings in local schools as well. Hairston says increasingly colleges are requiring AP classes for admission and she hopes it will encourage more qualified students to enroll.

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