POPLAR RIDGE - Most high school seniors within the Southern Cayuga Central School District will have to say goodbye to a final year stacked with study halls.
The board of education Monday voted unanimously to raise the academic credit requirements for graduation from 22 to 26 credits - or 6.5 credits per year - likely filling students' schedules with core academic classes rather than study halls for their last year in secondary school.
The state Education Department mandates a minimum of 22 credits for graduation, but provides individual districts autonomy for greater requirements.
Superintendent Mary Kay Worth said most students graduate with at least 26 credits, so this new policy sets in writing what is currently practiced, while also preventing students from opting out of core classes for study halls.
“Those that take an easy senior year struggle with their first year in college,” she said. “If they skip a science or skip a math, they really struggle.”
High school principal Luke Carnicelli also said this policy may improve the graduation rate.
But Steve Morse wondered if increasing the credit requirements will make graduation harder for students who opt not to go to college and instead work in agriculture and perhaps on family farms.
Worth said less than five students went directly into the work force this year.
“You have a significant percentage that recognize now that high school is not the end to get in to just about any work career,” she said.
In other news:
* The board accepted a $500 donation in honor of retired elementary school teacher Connie Bouck to pay for class trips for the kindergarten classes at Emily Howland Elementary School.
* The board will move its meetings to the high school library instead of the planetarium classroom effective Sept. 8, the date of its next scheduled meeting.
Staff writer Alyssa Sunkin can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 239 or alyssa.sunkin@lee.net
The state Education Department mandates a minimum of 22 credits for graduation, but provides individual districts autonomy for greater requirements.
Superintendent Mary Kay Worth said most students graduate with at least 26 credits, so this new policy sets in writing what is currently practiced, while also preventing students from opting out of core classes for study halls.
“Those that take an easy senior year struggle with their first year in college,” she said. “If they skip a science or skip a math, they really struggle.”
High school principal Luke Carnicelli also said this policy may improve the graduation rate.
But Steve Morse wondered if increasing the credit requirements will make graduation harder for students who opt not to go to college and instead work in agriculture and perhaps on family farms.
Worth said less than five students went directly into the work force this year.
“You have a significant percentage that recognize now that high school is not the end to get in to just about any work career,” she said.
In other news:
* The board accepted a $500 donation in honor of retired elementary school teacher Connie Bouck to pay for class trips for the kindergarten classes at Emily Howland Elementary School.
* The board will move its meetings to the high school library instead of the planetarium classroom effective Sept. 8, the date of its next scheduled meeting.
Staff writer Alyssa Sunkin can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 239 or alyssa.sunkin@lee.net
