The Class of
‘08 – next year’s high school freshmen – will have to begin
their career at either Live Oak or Sobrato High with a ninth grade
social studies course as the result of a contentious vote during
the Nov. 17 meeting of the Morgan Hill School District Board of
Education.
The Class of ‘08 – next year’s high school freshmen – will have to begin their career at either Live Oak or Sobrato High with a ninth grade social studies course as the result of a contentious vote during the Nov. 17 meeting of the Morgan Hill School District Board of Education.
Trustees voted 4-3 in favor of adding the course, after approving unanimously a motion to accept the recommendation of the Secondary Task Force, which did not include the ninth grade social studies mandate.
Voting in favor of the second motion were Board President Tom Kinoshita and Trustees Jan Masuda, Del Foster and Amina Khemici. Trustees George Panos, Shelle Thomas and Mike Hickey voted against the motion.
“Why would you go against UC requirements, when they recommend two years (of social studies)?” asked Hickey.
Assistant Superintendent Claudette Beaty said the district needs to strengthen its requirements.
“We need to increase the rigor to better prepare our students,” she said.
Live Oak’s graduation requirements have not been reviewed in 10 years, Beaty said, in answer to a question from Thomas.
“I think we’re putting a lot on our freshmen’s plate for next year,” said Thomas. “Are we setting them up for additional failure? I don’t know if I’m willing right now to put that much risk on students.”
With ninth grade social studies a requirement, instead of any UC recognized course, Thomas said, students will have less opportunity to try something new.
“If I took music for four years, I’d only have one other choice, and that’s very limiting,” she said.
The addition of a new high school may make the adjustment easier, Beaty said.
“I appreciate your concerns about changes for the ninth graders, but we’re going to a four-year high school instead of a three-year, plus we will have two schools with less students at each campus,” she said. “Those are factors which support students and may mitigate the changes.”
Sobrato High Principal Rich Knapp said students will need to have a good idea of what is expected of them and how they plan to fit it all in.
“Going in, in the ninth grade, students will need to have a better idea of their four-year plan,” he said. “Kids will need to be knowledgeable about the big picture in making their choices.”
Some students can opt to take P.E., for example, in their junior and senior years, or take some courses in summer school.
Hickey said in mandating ninth grade social studies, instead of offering a choice between that and another UC-recognized course, the district is shutting doors for students.
“We’re telling students that if you want to be a math or science major, you won’t be going to any dances,” he said.
Kinoshita reminded Hickey that there are still “that additional 50 credits,” and Hickey replied, “That’s not much.”
“But it’s there,” Kinoshita said. “It’s not that we’re raising the bar, it’s creating a bar where there isn’t one.”
Tracey Ciccone, a district parent who served on the boundary committee and regularly attends board meetings, told trustees the mandated ninth grade social studies class would mean district instead of parent planning of student careers.
“There’s one thing we know, we know what CSU requirements are,” she said. “Why do we not create a program that goes with that and then put the decision-making back in the hands of parents?”
Other changes to high school graduation requirements include: all students must pass the high school exit exam; student classification will be based on credits earned, not seat time, so that a freshman has from 0-39 credits, a sophomore has 40-99, a junior has 100-159 and a senior has at least 160 credits; all 9th, 10th and 11th grade students will be required to take six classes; and seniors will take a minimum of five classes.
