[EDITOR'S NOTE: The following is a Letter to the Editor, written by a Reader. It does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The B-Town Blog nor its staff:]
If you have a Senior graduating in one of the Highline School District High Schools in 2015, you may not be clear on the status of the Senior Culminating Project (CP) – and it’s no wonder. Communication within the district and among schools has been sporadic and conflicting. On 10/9/14, the Superintendent made written recommendation to the School Board the the CP be dropped as a requirement for Seniors graduating in 2015. A couple of weeks ago, as the Board meeting approached, that document mysteriously disappeared from the district website and the Board’s agenda for the 11/5 meeting was edited to remove the vote.
What happened?
As a bit of background, the State Legislature dropped this requirement to graduate from high school in April, 2014 and this recommendation was echoed at the State School Board level as well. Many other school districts in the state have dropped the requirement or morphed it into something that is simple, easy to complete, yet very meaningful to students success after high school. For example, Issaquah School District standardized the project into a simple three steps intended to equip students in advancing their careers: 1) create a professional resume, 2) write about your career aspirations, 3) meet with a counselor to review and discuss.
Many parents like me, along with our students, have been petitioning their schools and the district administration to drop the Senior Culminating Project for a number of very compelling reasons, yet we are ignored. As a result, we have created a petition which garnered over 350 signatures in under 48 hours. It was sent only to a very small list of parents and students at one of our smallest high schools. We know parents and students in the larger schools will want to have a voice in this matter, too.
So, if you believe the Culminating Project is an unnecessary graduation requirement and our seniors should be concentrating on holding up GPA’s, completing college applications (VERY time-consuming if you want to be successful), and completing other requirements to graduate on time, please sign this petition now:
http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/elimination-of-the-culminati?source=c.em.cp&r_by=4965934
Thank you!
– Lynne Gregg
If you have a Senior graduating in one of the Highline School District High Schools in 2015, you may not be clear on the status of the Senior Culminating Project (CP) – and it’s no wonder. Communication within the district and among schools has been sporadic and conflicting. On 10/9/14, the Superintendent made written recommendation to the School Board the the CP be dropped as a requirement for Seniors graduating in 2015. A couple of weeks ago, as the Board meeting approached, that document mysteriously disappeared from the district website and the Board’s agenda for the 11/5 meeting was edited to remove the vote.Here’s a response from the Highline School District:
The state has eliminated the senior project as a minimum graduation requirement. Highline, along with over 60 percent of school districts in our state, has opted to go beyond the state’s minimum and retain the senior project requirement for the class of 2015. A significant number of our principals and staff believe the senior project is a valuable exercise and have expressed support for holding our students to this higher standard.
Eliminating the senior project requires a formal change to school board policy 2410. There was discussion about making this policy change for the Class of 2015; however, the superintendent decided this would be premature, given the time and effort invested in senior projects by many students in this year’s senior class.
We will engage staff and families in a process this winter to help us decide whether to amend board policy for future classes.
While we understand that senior year is a busy time with many competing priorities, we believe that juggling multiple projects and meeting deadlines is good preparation for the demands of post-secondary education.
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