Graduation requirements

[Katie Belobrajdic]

Dear LAPS School Board Members,

The board packet for today’s school board meeting includes two possible scenarios (A and B) for graduation requirements starting with the class of 2029.  The only difference between these two scenarios appears to be an additional requirement for a 0.5 health credit in Scenario A.  I encourage you to support Scenario B which does NOT require this additional health credit.  

Without more information regarding the curriculum and development of what appears to be a new health course, I encourage you to not require all incoming freshmen to be essentially beta (or even alpha) testers of this new course.  Perhaps the course could be developed and students could be encouraged, but not required, to take it this year?  A requirement for this course could be revisited for future graduating classes after receiving course feedback from teachers, students, and parents.

Please remember that for some students, electives are critical routes to identity exploration and formation, and may allow a student to discover and/or explore a passion.  For some students, electives are an essential break in the school day from the stress of required courses.  It is not trivial to reduce student-selected electives by 0.5 credits.

I was also a little confused by the Scenario A and B credit totals in the chart in the board packet.  It appears that Scenario A is totaling 24.5 credits, and not 24 credits, as shown. Could this be clarified for the public? 

Thank you for your service to our community.

With appreciation,

Katie Belobrajdic