New summer Class of 2019 graduates face their families and supporters after a ceremony at West Salem High School (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter)
Thousands of Salem-Keizer seniors are abruptly done with high school after Gov. Kate Brown announced Wednesday afternoon Oregon’s schools won’t re-open their doors this school year.
“I know that social distancing orders have required huge sacrifices from our children,” Brown said. “School and learning will continue as best as we can using remote means.”
It’s likely, though not yet certain, the Class of 2020 won’t be able to pick a date up for prom, don a cap and gown for an early June ceremony or sit through a final round of exams before finishing high school.
“For the Class of 2020 – we see you. There is no world in which this is fair,” Salem-Keizer Superintendent Christy Perry wrote in an email to students and families. “We will not give up on finding creative ways to honor you and restore every amount of normalcy that we can.”
High school seniors who were passing courses as of March 13 will receive a pass grade and full credit for those courses. After waiting weeks to learn what the rest of high school would look like, the announcement means many of the district’s 2,600 seniors have now finished high school with no ceremony, celebration or public announcement.
“I refuse to punish students” because they couldn’t attend classes to finish coursework, Brown said. Seniors missing the final two months of school are losing about 1.7% of their total K-12 education.
DOCUMENT: State graduation guidance for Oregon’s Class of 2020
Oregon schools closed their doors on March 16 under orders from Brown to slow the spread of COVID-19. The closure was originally planned for two weeks.
Now, Salem-Keizer and schools around Oregon are expected to start distance learning on Monday, April 13. A detailed local plan for what those classes will look like has not been released, but Perry said “we do not expect it to look like the school days we had only a handful of weeks ago.”
Colt Gill, director of the Oregon Department of Education, said distance learning “looks different all across the state” and he asked parents and others to have “a little bit of grace and patience” over the next eight weeks of an untried approach to teaching public school.
“It’s a heavy lift,” Gill told reporters Wednesday. “It’s a heavy lift for our educators. It’s a heavy lift for our parents.”
High school educators will now shift to helping seniors who were not passing required courses in mid-March so they’re able to earn a diploma. Gill said the state’s new order allows high school educators to focus their resources on students who most need help.
The number of credits required to earn a diploma, 24, remains unchanged.
Graduates will not have to demonstrate “essential skills” in reading, writing and math, typically done through passing Oregon’s standardized tests as a junior. Those tests will not take place this spring.
Perry said the district hasn’t decided about graduation or other traditional senior events, though holding large gatherings in-person will not be allowed until Brown lifts her executive order, which currently has no expiration date.
“We are awaiting further direction regarding social distancing requirements. As soon as we know, we will let you know as we know you are anxious for information on the year-end traditions and celebrations,” Perry wrote.
Local school districts in Oregon often have their own graduation requirements above the state rules, but the Oregon School Boards Association supports a statewide system this year because of the unusual circumstances, according to executive director Jim Green.
Many district requirements like community service projects aren’t feasible to complete with social distancing requirements, Green said.
Green is also the parent of a Sprague High School freshman and said his daughter has been anxious to learn what the closure will mean for her credits and future graduation.
He graduated from Sprague in 1983 and said he still has fond memories of traditions like senior skip day and the high school awards ceremony.
“Those are life events that those kids won’t have the memories for and you just gotta feel bad for them,” he said. “Hopefully communities will find ways with which to celebrate their seniors.”
Those could include graduation ceremonies later in the summer if social distancing measures are lifted by then, he said.
Contact reporter Rachel Alexander at [email protected] or 503-575-1241.
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Rachel Alexander is Salem Reporter’s managing editor. She joined Salem Reporter when it was founded in 2018 and covers city news, education, nonprofits and a little bit of everything else. She’s been a journalist in Oregon and Washington for a decade. Outside of work, she’s a skater and board member with Salem’s Cherry City Roller Derby and can often be found with her nose buried in a book.
