The final exam exemption policy will receive a change for the fall semester. This change comes because of an increased number of absences due to COVID-19.

“Currently for this one coming up…all the students have to have is a 90 or higher in that class. So, we’ve eliminated the attendance part. Normally it’s been 90 or higher for the semester grade and then 3 or less absences,” said Assistant Principal Robert Stives. “Since we are in the COVID era, we understand that some kids must quarantine because of no harm to them, they haven’t done anything. We didn’t find that right to jeopardize a kid.”

The change is not district wide. It is made from school to school with some other schools having different policies.

“It’s really a campus-by-campus decision. So, some campuses might be handling it different. We decided to keep the 90. There are other campuses like say, Transmountain Early College, that we know actually tweaked it, but they put a 95 and above. All students already knew that it was a 90, so we can’t suddenly change that 90 three weeks left into the semester,” Stives said.

Students who are exempt will do something else and go somewhere separate for those days.

“So, we’re going to offer like…they go in, check in with teacher to see if they are exempt. Then probably in the library, we’ll probably have a movie for them,” Assistant Principal Stives said.

Furthermore, the schedule for the finals this year has been changed and is quite different to what many students are used to.

On the 15^th, exams for 3^rd and 4^th will be held. On the 16^th, exams for periods 5-8 will be held. On the 17^th, exams for 1^st and 2^nd will be held, and it will be an early release day.

Currently it is still up in the air as to how the spring semester finals will play out. There are still decisions to be made. At least for now, this fall semester exemption change is accommodating to the current COVID-19 circumstances.