High school graduation requirements can be waived on individual basis

MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake School Board on Thursday approved the district’s request to be able to waive high school graduation requirements on a student-by-student basis.

According to Superintendent Josh Meek, the waiver — which the state board of education has not yet approved — would allow the district to help graduating seniors by waiving state and local graduation requirements for “valid reasons.”

“We are not lowering the bar,” Meek said. “This will take away hurdles from some who could not be on campus.”

Meek cited examples of those involved in Running Start — students who enrolled at Big Bend Community College who are taking college course to fulfill high school graduation requirements as well as earn an associate’s degree — or students who were taking more than a full load to catch up.

“We will not graduate everybody and give out participation trophies, but this is for special circumstances,” he said.

A student would need to apply for the waivers, and he would personally approve them, Meek said.

Meek said that MLSD students are in a fairly good position since the district requires high schoolers to earn 26 credits, while the state only requires high school students to earn 24.

“That difference gives us a buffer,” he said.

Meek also said the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, or OSPI, handed down guidance for high school grades in light of closure of the state’s schools for the rest of the school year, opting to freeze high school grades where they were when Gov. Jay Inslee’s school closure came into effect on March 17.

Normally, OSPI leaves grading standards to local districts. In fact, Meek said, the ability of teachers to assign grades in class is “legally protected.” However, OSPI stepped in because of the control the state has over the content of high school transcripts, which are used by colleges and trade schools to evaluate students for admission.

Meek said that students can improve their grades, and he hopes most do, but if they don’t, they will earn what they had on March 17.

“If I had a C, I can’t get lower than a C,” Meek said.

Meek explained that OSPI also said no students could be failed or given “not pass” or “no credit grades.”

The superintendent said OSPI arrived at the “guidance” after a study showed over 90 percent of all letter grades, as well as pass/not pass grades, issued statewide were passing grades, with nearly 40 percent of those being “A’s.”

“It’s not as much of an issue as it is made out to be,” he said.

Students can receive “incomplete” grades, with options to make up the work, but will still be allowed to “graduate” with their class. And while the guidance also applies to any middle schoolers taking high school classes, the focus is on the grades which appear on a high school transcript, Meek said.

Meek also said that Washington is expected to get around $220 million in federal aid for the state’s schools, with more going to higher-poverty districts like the MLSD. However, spread among the state’s 295 school districts, it’s not likely to go very far.

“We have no guidance how that will be apportioned out,” he said.

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached at [email protected]