STAFF EDITORIAL

   With the coronavirus pandemic, schools all over the country have converted to online learning. Since the San Gabriel Unified School District (SGUSD) announced that students at Gabrielino High School would be working from home, the grading policy has been changed from what they had originally announced. The most recent revisions made to the grading policy are the most effective for the current circumstances since they benefit students with already high grades and give an opportunity to those who wish to raise their grades.

    On April 2,  SGUSD announced that all schools within the district would remain physically closed for the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year due to the worldwide spread of the COVID-19 virus, also known as the coronavirus. Although students were not required to partake in online learning from March 14 to April 5, distance learning was implemented on April 6. 

   In the beginning, students were given the luxury of receiving credit for the second semester through their current third quarter grades and were no longer being given a letter grade for their courses. However, on April 27, the school board announced that students could opt for letter grades, instead of credit/no credit, giving students an opportunity to work towards higher grades without penalty. Whatever grades the student had on March 13 are the lowest grades they can receive for their classes.

    In a webinar created by Gabrielino High School’s administration, Principal Sharron Heinrich stated, “We decided to offer [those with] post-secondary aspirations […] a letter grade and felt that in fairness to all our students, we should give our students that option.”

   Students may also choose to keep the credit-for-all policy, which does not entail letter grades. Each of their classes will show “Credit” on their transcripts.

   The final revisions allow every student the same opportunities to further their education regardless of their post-graduation plans. The grading policy accounts for all situations and makes it so that no student can be penalized for their choices.

   The admissions of the University of California responded to the changes by stating that “students are not penalized by their inability to earn letter grades for academic classes or take standardized tests during the COVID-19 pandemic.” 

    Senior Shannon Djie explained, “It’s great how our school allowed those who wanted to choose what they want to do. They considered everyone’s perspectives.”

   This strategy is also fair to students who have not been able to adapt comfortably to distance learning because it does not affect them negatively. 

   “I like the new policy because it’s a lot harder to work at home because there’s so many distractions,” Sara Camarero, senior, commented. “Now my grade isn’t on the line and I’m learning to digest the material differently.” 

   Learning at home has been a new experience for everyone. For some, it was an easy transition but, for others, it proved to be challenging, if not defeating. That is why it is admirable that the school district and Gabrielino’s administration switched to a system that embraces everyone’s situation during these trying times.