Not only will students return to the classrooms next week, but a change in grading policy is helping students in the Crosby-Ironton School District return as well.

After meeting with a re-entry committee that consists of parents, teachers, community members, and administrators, the district came up with a way to have students return to the classrooms.

“Originally, we were planning to bring kids back on [January] the 4th,” said Crosby-Ironton Secondary Principal Jennifer Strom. “After meeting with our regional response team, we decided to bring the elementary school back on the 11th and the high school back on the 20th.”

According to Strom, there are 462 students in grades 7-12, and around 70 of them have opted to remain in distance learning for the remainder of the year.

“The biggest thing for us was adding extra desks where we could to spread kids out,” said Strom. “We also changed how we do lunch, we have added gym space as well to help.”

The other big change is their grading policy that only applies to the first semester:

• Students with 70-100 percent will receive an A to C-
• Students with 50-69 percent will receive a “P” for Pass on their report card
• Credit is earned for class with no affect on GPA
• Students with 41-50 percent will receive an “IP” for in-progress, needing to complete assignments from the teacher before the end of the school year
• Students with less than 40 percent will receive no credit. No affect on GPA, but will be ineligible to participate in school activities, including athletics.

“We felt to grade them on the 100-point scale that we have traditionally done throughout history of education wouldn’t be a good representation of those kids,” Strom said.

By — Nick Ursini