A large portion of the recent Adel-DeSoto-Minburn School Board meeting was devoted to a discussion on graduation requirements, proposed by high school staff and administration.

Principal Lee Griebel and a few teachers proposed several changes, such as increasing the number of credits required to graduate. Currently students need 44, and the proposal would raise the number to 51. Griebel pointed out, that goes along with changing physical education from .25 credits to one credit a year, and adding a credit for yearly portfolio assignments. The result would be three additional elective credits needed to reach the new graduation threshold.

The second proposed change was to the requirements for an honors diploma. Superintendent Greg Dufoe says under the new system, there would be more paths to the recognition. “You know right now, our honors diploma is a little more prescriptive in terms of the number of individual classes kids have to take a high level. There’s some of that that’s still in the plan, but it really opens up the door for students to take multiple classes in one particular area that allows them to go deeper into an area of interest and still qualify for the honors diploma.”

The final topic in the discussion was on weighted grading, where the staff proposed removing the requirement of taking the tests following any Advanced Placement (AP) class in order to have their grades weighted. It was argued that some students can’t afford to take the test so they miss out. Dufoe says each of the requirements proposed will be considered by the School Board at a later meeting. To learn more about this and other ADM topics, click the link below to listen to the recent Perry Fareway Let’s Talk Dallas County program with Dufoe.

https://www.raccoonvalleyradio.com/2020/02/12/lets-talk-dallas-county-2-12-2020-greg-dufoe/