A temporary reduction of credits required to graduate for seniors of the 2020/21 School Year in the William S. Hart Union High School District was approved at a board meeting Wednesday.

In a regular board meeting for the William S. Hart Union School District Wednesday evening, Hart District Superintendent Mike Kuhlman introduced a motion to temporarily reduce the required credits for seniors to graduate from 230 to 220.

“Due to the pandemic emergency, staff recommend that the governing board authorize a temporary reduction in graduation requirements form 230 to 220 credits for all students for the 2020/21 school year, said Kuhlman in a statement Wednesday. “The 10 credit reduction would only be in the area of electives.”

The online learning environment during the COVID-19 pandemic has interfered with the ability of Hart District staff to employ many of the personalized strategies necessary to help students stay on track for graduation, officials said.

Despite persistent efforts to connect, a number of students have reportedly fallen behind, are not regularly completing coursework, and are at risk of not graduating, according to District officials.

Prior to Wednesday’s board meeting, the motion titled Resolution No. 20/21-29, was unanimously agreed upon between all high school principals in the Hart District after discussions were made with students regarding areas in which they needed additional support.

The motion comes from the considerable amount of required credits high school seniors in the Hart District need to graduate in comparison to other California school districts. The California Educational Board requires 130 credits for seniors to graduate, but the Hart District requires 230, with approximately 72.5 of those being elective credits.

The reduction of required elective credits from 72.5 to 62.5 is set to “allow seniors of the 2020/21 school year to focus more on core academic requirements during their final weeks of the school year,” Kuhlman stated.

Hart District staff believes this is a significant and necessary step to keep students on track to graduate.

The entire Hart District board meeting video is available here.

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