The Administration recommends that the Board of Education suspend the provision of Board of Education Policy 217 requiring the completion of a service learning project for the Class of 2020 graduating seniors.

Purpose: To implement graduation requirements for the 2019-2020 school year in a manner consistent with stay-at-home orders and social distancing during COVID-19 response efforts.

Start date:  6/1/2020

End date:  8/31/2020

Description:

Board of Education Policy 217 - Graduation Requirements requires students to complete a service learning project in order to earn their high school diploma. This is not a state requirement, but a District-specific requirement the Board of Education has set through policy. Participation in and completion of service learning projects has been hampered due to COVID-19 mitigation efforts.  The Pennsylvania Department of Education distributed guidance to Local Education Agencies that have a senior project/graduation project as part of their local graduation requirements suggesting that school boards consider waiving such requirements or giving students credit for work completed to date.  As such, for students graduating during the 2019-2020 academic year, the Administration recommends that the Board of Education suspend the provision of Policy 217 requiring the completion of a service learning project for members of the Class of 2020 high school graduating class.