On Thursday night, after five hours of deliberation and public comment, the San Mateo Union High School District Board of Trustees voted 3-2 to switch to a credit/no credit grading system for the remainder of the academic school year. The Aragon Outlook spoke with SMUHSD Superintendent Kevin Skelly to discuss the district’s plans to continue supporting students, staff and administrators through the school shutdowns.
This interview has been edited for conciseness and clarity.
Aragon Outlook: Are you surprised with the results of the board meeting last night?
Kevin Skelly: I thought it was democracy in action. There were eight or 900 people between Zoom and Facebook Live. I thought it went well. You saw passions. You saw people who really care about kids. You saw a board that works hard to come to some sort of agreement, that searched for common ground, and then in the end made a tough decision. I think we have a really good board, and they work hard on these kinds of things. And I thought people are generally very respectful and thoughtful in their comment.
AO: What did you expect from the board meeting in terms of a result?
KS: I wasn’t sure what would be the outcome, but I think they reached a good decision. I don’t know if you had a chance to hear the beginning comments about the role of the board. I think they took their role seriously, and they are the people to make that decision.
AO: In an email you sent me you wrote that the original proposal didn’t have enough support to go forward, so the board meetings were pushed back. Did members of the board vote in the direction you expected them to vote?
KS: You know, you never know. I thought it would be a hard decision for them, and I think they ended about where I thought they would.
AO: How have teachers reacted to this announcement and have any teachers or staff reached out to you or the board since last night?
KS: I have probably gotten 10 emails. I think it was mentioned last night that the Union did a poll and about 80% of the staff were in favor of credit/no credit. The emails that I’ve gotten so far have been supportive of the decision to do that.
AO: Obviously, public opinion and comment is a vital part of a school district and democracy in general. Do you feel that the comments last night had any effect on the Board’s decision? In your opinion, was the nearly three hours of public comment worthwhile?
KS: I think you always have to have a deliberative process when it’s something like this, and so it was worthwhile. I think people need a chance to offer their thoughts. We got two or 300 emails beforehand, and then we got a whole bunch of comments that night and that went about. I expected a long night.
AO: Will there be a direct correlation with letter grades so that a D is considered a grade deserving of credit?
KS: I think yes, that’s where we’re gonna land. I think teachers are gonna have to ask themselves, is this student ready for the next level? Even if they want to be kind and merciful, if a kid is taking algebra 1 and is not ready for geometry, that student needs to get no credit and then work on it during the summer because you just can’t set a kid up for failure at the next level.
AO: For students who get no credit in a class, what will be the protocol going forward? Will summer school grades be credit/no credit as well to replace those?
KS: We talked about that this morning, and our thought is that a teacher who gives no credit needs to be clear with the student about what they need to do in the next six weeks or in summer school, so that they can earn credit for that class. Suppose you didn’t pass a class last semester and you want to take summer school, that class might be for a grade, but if you didn’t pass a class this semester, then you’re going to get credit or no credit. It depends on what course you are making up.
AO: Many parents voiced their concern last night for how credit/no credit would be decided. It’s my understanding that the decision is at the discretion of teachers. Are you concerned about inconsistent decisions amongst the district teachers?
KS: We’ll have to work hard on that, and it was part of the conversation today. Teachers need to have a conversation with the administration if they’re going to give no credit. And that first conversation needs to happen in May, May 4, so that we can start intervening and helping that students, so they can pass that class.
AO: How is the district helping advise teachers or prepare teachers for the grading switch?
KS: Monday we will do that. Each school has done some work on that. Looking at it, thinking about what their staff day is bringing them in, we’re going to do a screencast from the district level that schools or the principals can use to structure that day with staff.
AO: What are the next steps after the decision, there’s the implementation, but is there anything else being done after credit/no credit is implemented?
KS: So you’ve got Monday. Teachers are going to outline what they have to do going forward. We talked about a floor for grades, but I think teachers are going to have expectations for students, if you want to earn a credit due on so that’s part of what we want to get out of Monday is: here’s what you have to do. Here, you know, what are the expectations for earning credit for that class? I think you heard a teacher from Hillsdale talk a little bit about that. “Hey, this is what I’m telling kids they have to do in order to go forward,” and that’s what we would like all of our teachers to do.
AO: Has the district discussed any protocols for final exams for the spring semester?
KS: No. And, you know, some teachers will give final exams others won’t, but we haven’t figured that piece out yet.
AO: In your personal opinion, do you think that final exam should be mandated across the district and you think it should be the discretion of a teacher?
KS: I imagine there’ll be fewer finals, if you will, but then you take an AP class and many times, those are classes that won’t have a final because the AP test is a final.
AO: Do you think other states and counties will make a similar grading switch to ours?
KS: I know some schools are. I don’t know every school district in the nation, but many of the many of the high performing school districts like ours are having credit/no credit as their option.
AO: Do you expect the state superintendent or state government to make any advisories for the entire state to switch to credit/no credit?
KS: No, because the state pretty much defers to local school districts on grades. Now, as the meeting went on last night, part of me wished that the state would make a recommendation. If they just tell us then we don’t have to spend four or five hours in every district in the state dealing with this, but I don’t anticipate that to change. It could, and I want to talk to other superintendents about what their take is on that, but right now I haven’t heard any plans to make it a statewide decision about how to handle grades in a pandemic.
AO: Would you support a credit/no credit grading policy for remote learning continues into the next academic school year?
KS: I take my direction from the board, and it’s very clear that they don’t want to do credit/no credit for the fall.
AO: In terms of special ed, how was the letter grade system specifically affecting students within our district’s program for learning disabilities or special needs?
KS: Really hard. That was not talked about as much as it might have been last night, but that’s a really big topic for people, and it’s 10% of our students. So, that’s a challenge for us.
AO: On April 2, you sent out a recommendation to the board for credit/no credit grading for the remainder of the academic school year, but at the previous board meeting on March 26, you had some concerns about the implications presented by credit/no credit grading? What caused you to alter your opinion? Was it the message from the University of California regarding their acceptance of credit/no credit grades that helped switch that?
KS: Yeah, that was a big factor, as was the feedback I got from teachers about how difficult it would be and then some of the unfairness factors. Some students are adjusting the well to the online virtual experience and others are super struggling with it. Hearing teachers’ comments about that, really affected my thinking on that.
AO: Do you think that the grading switch could have a legitimate negative impact on college admissions, not specifically for advanced or AP students who can build their resumes through courses and transcripts, but more average students who rely on a GPA to succeed?
KS: I do worry about that. A lot of kids have the resources to go on trips and do summer schools at universities during the summer and then others don’t. The students who don’t have the resources are going to have some issues distinguishing themselves, and that’s a big challenge for us here.
AO: How can students who did poorly last semester be able to demonstrate improvement during this year’s second semester?
KS: That was brought up last night, and I think it’s a challenge. Mr. Friedman was pushing for teachers to be really clear with folks, and I think our teachers will do that. They get it. You know, I was a student like that. I had about a 3.5 GPA when I was a freshman and sophomore, and then junior year I started doing really well. I just can’t imagine having missed out on that time.
