Will seniors graduate with waivers? Will there be a ceremony?
Photo illustration by Herald staff
MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake School District is seeking the ability to waive graduation for individual students “on a case-by-case basis.”
Speaking during a meeting of the Moses Lake School Board conducted via remote conferencing on Thursday, Superintendent Josh Meek said the district has submitted a formal request to be allowed to waive state graduation requirements to the State Board of Education, which had just approved the rules governing waivers.
Meek said he expects the state education board to review and possibly approve the waiver application on Tuesday, April 21, two days before the Moses Lake School Board’s next meeting on Thursday, April 23.
“That has to happen first,” Meek said, before the district’s board can approve waivers.
If approved by both boards, the process will allow seniors who are “on track to graduate with the Class of 2020” to waive state graduation requirements that they cannot fulfill because of the closures ordered by Gov. Jay Inslee, prompted by the COVID-19 outbreak.
The students most likely to be affected are those who need “an extra push” their senior year to get the credits they need to graduate, Meek said.
“We do not yet have any idea how many kids will be affected,” he said. “Hopefully, we have few kids who will be negatively affected.”
Meek said the waivers will not apply to district requirements because districts have the ability to waive those without state approval. He also said they will not apply to anyone who is not set to graduate in June 2020, nor do the waivers apply to the plans seniors are supposed to have for education or employment after they are supposed to graduate.
The superintendent also said he hopes that by graduation on June 5, the situation will allow for some kind of graduation ceremony.
“This has been an incredibly emotional time for seniors,” he said. “We will do what we can to have a successful ending of school careers, and we’re still hopeful a traditional graduation service will be doable, but we’re looking at alternatives.”
Charles H. Featherstone can be reached at [email protected].