There will be a second district wide meeting on December 3 in the
Multi-purpose room at the Junior High to continue taking imput from the
public.
A compilation of the results of the November 12th meetings is listed below.
Proposed graduation requirements in approximate order of their importance
to those who attended and/or sent written comments.
1) Continue to offer world history and world geography as discrete classes
and require students to take them.
2) Increase the total credits required for graduation to either 44 or 46.
(current 42)
3) Require a minimum 2.0 GPA in the identified core classes. (Some would
argue the core class list is incomplete)
4) Maintain the current PE requirement - however there were a number who
disagreed and also a number who believe we should consider a waiver for one
or more PE credits.
5) Require more than 4 credits in math
6) Maintain the same requirements listed under the Class of 2001
7) We need not be afraid of change. Stepping outside the curricular "box"
and asking ourselves why we have these requirements and do we still need to
do things this way are appropriate questions to ask ourselves.
8) Whatever they are, graduation requirements must meet most college
entrance requirements.
9) Keep requirements low to allow for lots of student selection.
10) We need to determine how many correspondence courses we will allow for
graduation.
11) A foreign language should be required.
12) Drop many of the graduation requirements and replace them with a
complete, linear plan for career exploration, a plan of educated choice for
students and parents.
13) Reinstate the reading requirement and allow students to test out
14) Eliminate the humanities requirement
15) Require 1 credit of community service
16) Maintain the 90% attendance rule and strictly enforce it.
Other issues that are not directly related to graduation requirements
Priority items are
1) Provide Advanced Placement opportunities
2) Consider a career pathways format for all secondary students
3) Vocational offerings should not be required for graduation but we should
have more applied academics - And they should not be dumped down classes
4) A service learning offering might be a possible elective
Other considerations (in random order)
Have social studies 1,2,3,4 and integrate all subjects into each class.
We need not necessarily keep the same order we always have with Government
and one English class exclusively for seniors
Dual credit should continue for college classes taken by high school
students. We touched lightly upon the issue of who foots the bill
Go to a more flexible schedule - possibly trimester
We need a curriculum that holds kids in school and it needs to be flexible
PE might be required every day for every one, but not be a graduation
requirement. PE should be offered in more creative ways
Even college bound students need to take vocational classes because they
may need to work to pay for college.
Parents need curriculum guides and syllabi, perhaps on a web site, so they
can discuss at home with their students the classes the students should
take.
Study skills should be taught at 7th grade or earlier for all students
Foreign language offerings should begin in elementary schools
Add Spanish 5 and French 4 to the high school
All PE classes should be on a pass/fail basis
"I rather see students performing at a generally passing level in their
classes than putting extra kinds of testing in place
Create an individual education plan for all students tailored to their
needs and individual interests
Institute an International Baccalaureate program in Moscow High School
Increase PE for 7th grade to full year
As you can see we had a variety of options and ideas proposed. Please feel
free to come and express your opinions on December 3 in the Junior High
mutli purpose room.
John Danahy
jdanahy@turbonet.com