The Bismarck School Board approved purchasing a language arts curriculum for middle school and high school.

It will purchase the curriculum from Kaplan K12 Learning Services. The board approved the purchase at its meeting Monday night.

It uses the North Dakota curriculum standards as a basis for what needs to be taught, and it accomplishes that by using the district's textbooks and other resources. But it packages it into a set of teacher's guides and recommendations of what classes a district should offer to meet the standard.

"We have 24 courses in English language arts. In 1986-87, we had 13 course offerings," Assistant Superintendent John Salwei said. "Most of those requests are from teachers."

The evaluation of language arts course offerings by Kaplan would show which would teach the standards for students to meet and exceed proficiency on tests, but the district could also keep some as electives, Salwei said.

The district is buying the reading curriculum for seventh through 12th grade to start, at a cost of $360,000. Kaplan charges a minimum of $240,000 per subject, which covers three grade levels, plus $40,000 per additional grade. The teacher's guide tells teachers what to teach and when, although Salwei said that the timelines are suggestions. The Kaplan K12 curriculum is meant to provide consistency in what is taught. The district also wants to use it to provide a more rigorous curriculum by including ideas for moving students into higher levels of learning.

Besides the curriculum contract, the board also approved beverage contracts with Coca-Cola and Pepsi. The district put off renewing the contracts until it completed its nutrition and activity policy, Superintendent Paul Johnson said.

The contract gives each company an equal number of machines, and there must be unlimited access to the machines.

Juices and water will not cost less than $1, and a 20 percent commission is paid on gross dollars collected from the machines. The rebates received are $1.10 per case on 10- or 12-ounce water and juice, and $5.50 per case on 20- ounce water. The commissions and rebates are paid to the Bismarck Public Schools Foundation.

The nutrition policy that goes into effect this school year bans carbonated and sugared drinks from being sold in beverage vending machines. This leaves only juices and water.

The foundation is expecting its revenue from vending machines to be about half of what is has been in past years. The contract is for a five-year term, which will be evaluated yearly and can be terminated before five years.

In other news:

3 The new classroom spaces in Miller and Murphy elementary schools will be ready for the beginning of school. Students will be given sack lunches until the new kitchens are finished, and they will continue to eat in the gym instead of the new cafeterias, said Darin Scherr, director of facilities.

3 Construction is ahead of the October completion date, with full occupancy of all the new spaces expected by mid-September.

3 Preliminary enrollment is looking up in the district. As of Aug. 14, the district is up about 114 elementary school students. This caused the board to approve money for five teaching positions to give district administrators flexibility in hiring up to five teachers or a combination to teachers and teacher aides.

Some of the larger elementary schools are up in enrollment.

ssistant Superintendent Rick Buresh said.

A new Web site for the district and its school Web site could be in the future. It's in the planning stages, including a calendar that links all the schools' events and more teacher Web pages.

(Reach reporter Sara Kincaid at 250-8251 or sara.kincaid@;bismarcktribune.com.)