Marshall High School Principal Christy Jones presented some alarming numbers to the school board during its meeting on Tuesday, August 24.
Jones said she would like to see the school board revisit the district handbook and change some of the wording to include verbiage about students who are deemed behind and not on track to graduate.
Jones proposed an after-school program for those behind in credit hours.
Jones said all of the “Back on Track” classes would be completed remotely.
According to unofficial minutes from the meeting:
Current Handbook Wording
Grade level or class designations are based on the following criteria:
Freshman Class (Grade 9) – Completion of the 8th grade and promoted by the sending school.
Sophomore Class (Grade 10) – Students must have earned 4 credits as a freshman to be
classified as a sophomore. If 4 credits or more are not earned, the student will be retained as a freshman.
Junior Class (Grade 11) – Students must have accumulated 11 credits by the end of the sophomore year, or they will be retained as a sophomore.
Senior Class (Grade 12) – Students must have accumulated 18 credits by the end of the junior year, or they will be retained as a junior.
Students in grades 9-12 are required to enroll for 7 classes.
Proposed Handbook Wording
The Marshall Board of Education, along with Marshall High School, have adopted the following criteria for grade level designation.
Freshman Class (Grade 9)- Completion of the 8th grade and promoted by the sending school.
Sophomore Class (Grade 10)- Students must have earned 6 credits as a freshman during the previous school year. If a student has not earned 6 credits by the end of their Freshman year, they are in jeopardy of not graduating with their class peers.
Junior Class (Grade 11)- Students must have earned 12 credits by the end of their sophomore year. If a student has not earned 12 credits by the end of their Sophomore year, they are in jeopardy of not graduating with their class peers.
Senior Class (Grade 12)- Students must have earned 19 credits by the end of their junior year. If a student has not earned 19 credits by the end of their Junior year, they are in jeopardy of not graduating with their class peers.
Reason for the request:
Current MPS requirements for graduation say that a student has to have 25 credits to graduate from Marshall High School. Students can earn 3.5 credits a semester, 7 credits in a year and a possibility of 28 credits in 4 years.
Our current policy is not holding a high enough expectation for our students. Currently, if a Freshman only earns 4 credits, they must pass every class the next three years. This student just indicated to us that is probably not going to happen. So, we can’t give freshmen the option to fail. On the other hand, if a Junior doesn’t have 19 credits by the end of their Junior year, chances are they are not going to graduate. These students have struggled to pass all their classes up until this point. Passing all 7 their senior year, while dealing with all senior year pressures, usually doesn’t go well for struggling students.
It is Jones’ belief and feeling as an educational leader that we need to push students academically. Students must attend school and do the work. It is our job as educators to build relationships with students and hold students to high expectations for them to earn high school credits. It is her goal as the head building instructional leader to have a graduation rate at Marshall High School of 95 percent or better. To do that, we have to make sure that Freshman entering MHS are passing at least 6 classes or they are going to struggle their entire high school career to meet the ultimate goal of graduation.
The preliminary numbers for the 2021-2022 school year are not good, and Jones will be the first person to admit that as the building leader. We have a lot of work ahead of us as educators, but the first thing we have to do is get our parents involved and make them aware that their student has not made adequate progress and we have to get a plan together to get them on track to graduate.
Here are the current numbers that were given to Ms. Jones:
Class of 2022- Current Enrollment 177; Number with less than 19 credits- 44- so 24.8 percent of the class of 2022 must pass all 7 to graduate in May.
Class of 2023- Current Enrollment 198; Number with less than 12 credits- 58, so 29 percent of the class of 2023 must pass all 14 out of 14 credits the next two years.
Class of 2024 Current Enrollment 197; Number with less than 6 credits- 64, so 32 percent of the class of 2024 must pass 19 out of 21 credits the next three years.
Jones says being prepared for life after high school is our ultimate goal and that starts with meeting graduation requirements. We must set students up with the best chance to achieve that goal. We can’t let them start out so far in the hole if we wish for them to be successful.
A night time school will be started next month from 3:30-5:30 p.m. for those students who are not on track to graduate. This will be on core subjects using the Accellus program and students will be asked to attend at least two times each week.
Jones reviewed the bell schedule, Owl Time procedures for this year, and procedures required for students to change their schedules. Teachers will be required to update their gradebooks twice weekly.
MHS and SCCC believe student success within academics is extremely important to lay the foundation for all students to be successful after graduation. Staff at both MHS and SCCC have committed to not removing a student from instructional time (for extra curricular activities or field trips) if the student is not passing the academic course or courses that they will be missing. They believe that academic success starts by being present in the classroom and receiving instruction from the content expert. This commitment to academic improvement does not mean a student is ineligible to participate within extracurricular activities, field trips, or games when they are not required to miss instructional or intervention time.
The board unanimously approved the Back on Track program presented by Jones.