By Wendy Gumb
For our San Dieguito Union High School District School Board Trustees, managing education through the global COVID19 pandemic will be the most important test of their educational and political career. Their legacy will be defined by how they led/governed through this crisis.
While there is no precedent for managing education in a global pandemic, there is a precedent that establishes the District as high performing and demonstrates that our students are prepared for the next level.
Given this elevated status, it is unbelievable that the District chooses a “Credit/No Credit” grading policy.
The minute our students hit junior high they are bombarded with planning for college and the importance of grades on future success. This pressure is not restricted to the straight-A students, AP Students or the elite, it is applied to all students.
Our students use grades for all sorts of reasons; to motivate or demotivate, to receive kudos, to please the adults, to torture the adults, to stand out above their peers, to demonstrate rebellion, to be the first in their family to go to college and on and on.
Grades for high school students are the very fabric of what drives them to achieve a goal. Students work really hard for a variety of reasons: to secure the highest GPA possible to get into elite Colleges, to apply for Merit Scholarships, to just work really hard to get a 3.0 GPA so they can get to a UC Campus, or to work to get 2.0 GPA so they can participate on the athletic field or play Tuba in the band.
What makes SDUHSD special is the push given our students to excel, be better — improve your grades, improve yourself and soar. Now – they are being asked to do the work, but not receive a grade?
One thing we can all agree on, no one knows the best answer. So, let’s err on the side of caution and allow a choice, the same choice being given by UC system schools to their students and private colleges like USC.
Give the same choice as the millions of high school students in the three largest school districts in California (LA Unified, San Diego Unified, Fresno Unified) and many of San Dieguito’s peers, Los Gatos/Saratoga, Alameda, Sacramento Unified, Sweetwater UHSD, and Corona Norco, to name a few, being offered a choice of a Grade with a hold harmless clause.
As leaders, this Board has taken an extremely short-sighted (almost panicked) view and crafted a plausible excuse to justify their lack of decision. It is time to consider the short, mid, and long-term ramifications on the psyche of a young mind.
Demand our School Board give our students the choice to continue to soar.
Wendy Gumb,
Longtime SDUHSD student advocate
