A-G requirements waived again

Maria Carrillo High School student gets an A-G waiver (photo: Sophia Hughes, The Puma Prensa)

By Natalia Woods, staff writer

After over four hours of discussion at a special meeting on Dec. 20, the Santa Rosa City Schools Board of Education voted to extend a waiver regarding the controversial A-G policy for the fourth year in a row since 2018. According to the presentation given by Executive Director of Information and Evaluation Dr. Emanuele Bardelli, more than 33% of seniors in the district are not on track to graduate this year; the extension of the waiver may be the chance they need.  But what does this decision mean for students at Maria Carrillo High School?

Over five years ago, SRCS decided to alter graduation requirements to be aligned with the University of California and California State University A-G standards, standards for which classes students must take and pass to be eligible for admission to those universities. In June of 2018, these requirements were approved and then were implemented the following school year. This “A-G for All” policy included the addition of additional courses in mathematics and world language to the traditional 220-credit diploma. 

There has been rising concern recently among school counselors, teachers, and parents over the necessity of the A-G aligned graduation requirements. One of the problems they point out is that, even though MCHS and the other high schools altered graduation requirements to fit A-G standards, not every student meets them despite graduating. Because the UC and CSU require a minimum of a C or higher to graduate, many students do not meet these standards because they graduate with D’s. Simply aligning the requirements does not ensure that a student fulfills A-G requisites. In the graduating class of 2021, only 11.4% of all students met A-G requirements, and in 2022, only 22.5% did. The class of 2023 had an increase to 27.9% of students meeting these requirements, but still nearly three-quarters of students did not.  The projection for the 2024 class is that 34.51% of all SRCS seniors are not on track to graduate, meaning they do not have enough credits or time to meet the current standards. A-G is good as an option, but it is not enough, and initiating a waiver year after year doesn’t help,” said MCHS math department chair Brittney Geddes, addressing the board during their special December meeting focused on the topic.

The waiver in question was first introduced in 2018 as a way to help students struggling with course completion graduate; it included excusing the extra required courses in mathematics and world language. However, it was never settled whether the waiver would be extended to this year’s graduating class. The SRCS school board decided to hold a special board meeting to determine this, as they wanted to use the entire time to cover this specific issue and unanimously voted in favor of extending it to the graduating classes of 2024 and 2025. This means that a student can graduate with exemptions from one of the three years of math requirements and one of two years of a foreign language. Many people still feel strongly against the board’s decision to align the graduation requirements with those of A-G because not every student wishes to go to a CSU or UC, and the California minimum requirements to graduate are much less rigorous.

MCHS junior Claire Parsons, for instance, said that she “doesn’t know if she wants to go to a CSU” after graduating high school and is considering going to the Santa Rosa Junior College, so she questions “why it’s necessary to take these extra classes if [she] doesn’t need A-G completion.” 

Teachers, counselors, and the general public are unsure of whether the waiver is the best way to deal with the number of students not on track to graduate and feel that the main issue is the lack of academic support given to students who need it. Tom Gutch, a former teacher at Santa Rosa High School, expressed the sentiments of many concerned parents, teachers, and students when addressing the board during the public comment segment of the meeting. “A high school diploma should not be reserved for those going to college,” said Gutch. “Make the waiver permanent, or change the policy altogether.”