District 2 High Schools Offer Alternate Grading Systems for Rest of Year

Students at Sheridan High School and the John C. Schiffer (SHIFF-er) Collaborative School have until next Tuesday to decide whether they want to be graded on the current A through F scale or switch to a pass/fail system for the rest of this school year.

Trustees of Sheridan County School District 2, which operates both schools, approved the option as a revision to the high school handbook in a special meeting Tuesday.

Trustees Shellie Smyd and Tony Wendtland voted against the handbook revision based on objections to a grade of 60 percent being accepted as “passing” under the pass/fail system. Smyd spoke first to the issue.

The district’s Assistant Superintendent Mitch Craft said 60 percent is currently a passing grade in the district’s regular A through F grading system.

He also explained why the district chose next Tuesday as the time by which students must choose which system to be graded under.

He said the sooner students have a clear idea of their target, individually, the better off all of them will be.

Craft said the optional grading system is for this final semester of school only, but the system will remain in place even if Wyoming schools are allowed to reopen their classes before the semester’s end.

He said as of Monday, the Wyoming Department of Education has adjusted the Hathaway Scholarship so that pass/fail grades will not be calculated as part of the Hathaway GPA requirements, but credits earned in a pass/fail system will count toward the Success Curriculum.