Clintonville seniors only need 21 credits

By Bert Lehman

The Clintonville School District reduced the number of credits from 25 to 21 that 2020 high school seniors need to complete to receive a diploma.

The Clintonville School Board approved the reduction in credits when it met April 13.

Information from the Wisconsin Department of Education (DPI) was presented to board members.

According to the DPI, the state requires a total of 15 credits for high school seniors to graduate. This includes credits for: English (4 credits), math (3), science (3), social studies (3), physical education (1.5) and health (0.5).

Along with that, the state superintendent recommended school boards to require an additional 8.5 credits selected from any combination of vocational education, foreign languages, fine arts and other courses.

Clintonville was requiring seniors to complete 25 credits to earn a regular diploma and 15 credits to be completed to earn an alternative diploma.

Options

At the meeting, Clintonville High School Principal Kelly Zeinert presented three graduation options in regards to the number of credits needed to earn a diploma.

The first option was for the district to modify district policy to grant a high school diploma to any student that has met the minimum requirement to 15 credits.

The second option was for the school board to “determine that coursework completed to-date is sufficient to award credit for the district-required graduation credits. Most students should have earned 21 credits at the end of first semester of their senior year.”

The third option was for additional learning opportunities that students could complete at home to meet district requirements/credits for graduation. This option meant “that courses taken during the second semester of their senior year would be counted as pass/no pass. The students would be required to meet the 25 credits as originally determined by the board.”

Board Vice President Laurie Vollrath made a motion to approve a 19-credit option for 2020. This motion was seconded by Board Clerk Mark Zachow. The motion was defeated, with only Vollrath and Zachow voting in favor of it.

A motion was then made by board member Jim Schultz to approve a 21-credit requirement for 2020. The motion was passed by a 5-2 vote, with Vollrath and Zachow voting no.

Senior scholarship

The school board also agreed at the meeting to again sponsor a senior scholarship in the amount of $665. The amount equates to each board member donating $95, which is the amount of one meeting stipend.

After reviewing each application, each board member will rank the top 10 candidates on a score sheet. After the results are tabulated, the top three candidates will go through a virtual interview process on May 11.