There are many students that are here for more periods than they think they should have to be. Most seniors just want to take it easy their senior year so that they can have a little break between high school and college. “I’m here four more periods than I need to be and taking three more than I need to for graduation requirement,” Jasmine Stansbury ’17 said.
The issue is that we have to come to school for six periods plus physical education. Reading into the issue, there is nothing in the handbook that says that we have to have that amount. “I think it’s pointless to put me in classes that I don’t want to take because I’m not going to try as hard or want to be here,” Stansbury said.
I couldn’t find the policy that states that we have to be here for six periods plus P.E. There was a meeting for the School Board in 2006 to change the number of classes having to be taken. At that time the recommendation was to increase requirements to have three math and three science when previously it was two years each.
The number of credits needed to graduate changed from 21 credits to 24. This was also the time period in which the top Iowa schools started asking for RAI scores. “Colleges and Universities were concerned that their incoming freshmen may not be challenging themselves as much as they could have during their senior year,” counselor Sue Baker said.
After looking, the policy could be found in the 2011-2012 School Handbook on the Academic Affairs page. “Beginning with the graduating class of 2010, all 11th and 12th grade students will have six courses plus physical education,” it stated.
This is the last time that the statement was put into anything easy for us to access. The reasoning behind that is unknown. “I think it’s been beneficial for students to academically push themselves in their senior year to prepare themselves for the most academically challenging time in their lives,” associate principal Jerry Stratton said.
Had the school properly communicated this with students and parents beforehand, people would have been able to better prepare for scheduling conflicts. No matter what the school thinks, they should not be able to enforce a policy that is not stated in the student handbook or online.
