Dear High School Parents and Students,
With the news that schools will be closed indefinitely for this school year, we want to give you an update regarding grading procedures for the fourth quarter and second-semester grades. Teachers will continue to give students point/percentage-based or letter grades on assignments for the fourth quarter. However, overall fourth-quarter grades will be pass/fail. Teachers will consider third-quarter grades and the effort and the work done during the fourth quarter to assign semester grades. Students can improve their third-quarter grades several letter grades, but their second-semester grades can drop at most one letter grade below what their grades were during the third quarter. Second-semester grades will be letter grades.
We recognize this is a very stressful time and online schooling is new for all of us so we will be flexible and understanding as we assign grades for the remainder of the school year. Students need to continue to keep up with their online or packet work for as long as we are out of school. We are making every effort to provide high-quality learning experiences for students during the closure. We want to be fair and understanding because we realize that each family’s situation is a little different and we do not want to punish students for the wide variety of circumstances going on in each home. If you have specific questions, please follow up with your teachers and if necessary school administration.
Due to requirements from our partner colleges and universities, dual-credit students will continue to receive grades as usual. Students taking dual-credit courses will receive letter grades for the third quarter and second semester.
During this time of online schooling, we realize that students are not able to receive the individualized support they might normally get in the classroom. As a result, it may make it difficult for students to achieve as they normally would in a face-to-face setting. Therefore, high school students can appeal to have their second-semester grades changed to pass/fail. By doing this, students will still earn credits towards graduation but any grades that they change to “pass” will not impact their GPA. For example, for a student that has a 4.0 cumulative GPA and earns a B in precalculus and chooses to have the grade changed to “pass” the student will still maintain their 4.0 GPA. Students can choose to have some or all of their courses changed to pass/fail. However, dual-credit students will not be allowed to choose to have the grades for dual-credit courses changed to pass/fail for the second semester. Keep in mind that should a student choose to utilize pass/fail grades for the semester, this could hinder the student’s eligibility for college athletics under NCAA guidelines. NCAA Eligibility Center assigns your school’s lowest passing grade for a course in which the student received a Pass grade. For most schools, the lowest passing grade is a D. (http://www.ncaa.org/student-athletes/future/grading-scales).
GRADUATION INFORMATION - We know this is a stressful time and our thoughts are with our students who are missing many important life events due to the COVID-19 outbreak. As we move forward towards the end of the school year, we will all need to be flexible and understanding as the plans we made months ago must now be changed and adapted to protect the health of our community. In regards to graduation ceremonies, our intention is to reschedule this important event to a later date when it is safe to do so. However, a time, date, and location of such an event has not yet been determined. We will continue to work through these challenging situations and look forward to a time when we can celebrate the successes of our students.