Star Tribune
Rochester schools to allow students to fail classes again
ROCHESTER — Underperforming secondary students here will once again be at risk of getting a dreaded “F” on their report cards, with the school district announcing the end to a pandemic-era policy that had replaced failing marks with “no credit” grades.
The no credit, or “NC,” grading guidelines dated back to 2020 as a way to soften the blow for students who were struggling to meet the demands of virtual learning. District officials felt it was unfair to give kids failing marks when teachers were developing forms of at-home academic curriculum on the fly.
Since then, however, the drawbacks from the policy have become “increasingly clear,” Rochester Public Schools Superintendent Kent Pekel said in an email to parents this month.
For one, the NCs did not provide students or parents with a clear assessment of how the student is performing in class. For high schoolers, the NCs also did not count toward a student’s overall grade point average, improving college readiness opportunities, such as enrollment in the district’s postsecondary educational program.
Pekel, who took the job as superintendent in 2021, said the lack of accountability sent “the wrong message about the student’s overall performance in school.”
“Deciding that basic levels of effort were not necessary — because it wasn’t going to show up in their GPA and they never got the very recognizable symbol of an ‘F’— there was a subset of kids who were seeing that possibility as a reason not to meet some level of basic requirements,” Pekel said in an interview Monday.
In a recent survey, RPS educators mostly agreed with the policy change, which takes effect this coming schol year. According to the district, 65 percent of secondary teachers and 70 percent of secondary administrators supported reinstating Fs for failing students.
The grading change is the latest in a series of moves Pekel has taken to repeal policies put into place by the former Superintendent Michael Muñoz, some of which predated the pandemic. Under the previous administration, the district had implemented the so-called Grading for Learning plan, which prohibited homework and classroom participation from factoring into grading. The approach also allowed for students to take unlimited retakes for most quizzes.
For the 2023-24 school year, RPS leaders changed course — allowing teachers to base up to 30 percent of a student’s final grade on learning behaviors, like pop-up quizzes and homework. Pekel said part of the district’s rationale was based on lessons learned from the pandemic about the need for regular academic engagement from students.
“If you give kids no credit for being ready for a test, and instead they take a test and then study it because they can take any number of retakes; or you never give points for class participation or homework — especially in a pandemic when kids were disconnected from school and a lot of social norms broke down — you had a disincentive to engage in the practice side of learning.”
Pekel said even with the new grading requirements, the district is not trying to signal a readiness to let students fail. The goal, he emphasized, is for students to take greater responsibility for how their participation and grades may impact opportunities post high school.
“As the school year gets underway, we will take steps to ensure that all students understand this change and the implications that it has for their coursework next year.”
About 50 Ukrainian refugees have signed up to donate blood on Saturday in Minneapolis as a way to give thanks to Americans for welcoming them to this country and for support in the face of Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine.
The donated blood will then be given to the Children’s Hospital of Minnesota.
The Ukrainian American Community Center, located at 301 NE Main St. in Minneapolis, has organized the event. The blood drive will run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, said Iryna Petrus, community outreach manager at the center.
“It’s a sign of gratitude to Americans for supporting Ukraine and saving children’s lives in Ukraine,” said Yosyf Sabir, speaking on behalf of the blood drive.
It’s also a way to say “thank you to the United States for welcoming us so warmly,” said Petrus. She said there will be a program at 10 a.m. Saturday when several leaders of the Ukrainian American Community Center will speak. She said the center is hopeful that Ukrainian groups in other parts of North America will do similar blood drives.
Those who are unable to give blood have been asked to donate cash, which will be used to purchase tourniquets that will sent to Ukraine to be used by persons who have been injured in the war. Every $50 raised will purchase one hemostatic tourniquet, the Ukrainian Center said in a news release.
If approved, that approach would drop the district’s fund balance to 6% of general fund expenditures. The current board policy is to maintain a fund balance of at least 10% of general fund expenditures.
Anoka-Hennepin’s current operating referendum brings in about $1,154 per student, but the state-allowed cap is about $2,200 per student. If increased to the cap amount, a referendum would bring in another $40 million, McIntyre said.
According to community feedback collected through surveys and community meetings over the last month, nearly 90% of respondents said they supported a referendum. Parents and families also expressed concern about growing class sizes as a result of cuts.
The two options have already been revised based on board members’ requests to reduce cuts that would mean fewer teachers at schools, McIntyre said.
At one point in the discussion, the district floated changes to middle and high school class schedules to save money, but that was removed after board member feedback. At the board’s meeting last month, several board members thanked district staff for transparency about potential cuts and responsiveness to board and community feedback.
“I would encourage people to keep asking questions,” Board Member Michelle Langenfeld said at the September board meeting, “because as we unfold more information, the opportunity becomes greater for us to make the most informed decision under these very, very difficult circumstances.”
On Monday morning, contract workers began snipping razor wire and removing it from fencing that was propped atop concrete barriers along the perimeter of the former Third Precinct police station, which was set ablaze during the uprising over George Floyd’s police killing.
Finally, the concrete barricades will come down, after 4.5 years. As private security guards looked on, contractors began removing the security measures put in place to secure the building at 3000 Minnehaha Av. after it became a focal point of protests.
For the past three years, Third Precinct police officers have been based out of a city building in downtown Minneapolis, with plans to eventually bring them back to a south Minneapolis Community Safety Center just down the street at 2633 Minnehaha Av.
What to do with the former police station – home to what has been called a “playground” for renegade cops – has been the subject of heated debate, with the Minneapolis City Council and Mayor Jacob Frey at odds.
While the city debated its future, some conservatives jumped at the chance to use the charred building as a backdrop to hold press conferences and news reports in which they blasted the city and its leaders. Most recently, vice presidential nominee JD Vance made a campaign stop in front of the building earlier this month to blast his opponent, Gov. Tim Walz, for his handling of the 2020 riots and portray Minneapolis as a city overrun with crime.
GOP vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance speaks outside the former Minneapolis Police 3rd Precinct building in Minneapolis on Oct. 14. (Leila Navidi)
After that, several council members expressed frustration at the city’s failure to clean up the site. Despite signs saying “cleanup efforts are underway,” concrete barriers, fencing and razor wire remained all summer.
Council Member Aurin Chowdhury said earlier this month that the blight makes people feel uncared for and gives opportunists a backdrop to manipulate the scene for political gain.
Council Member Linea Palmisano blamed some of her council colleagues for the delays, accusing some members of being “desperate for any objection” to Frey’s proposal. The council passed a resolution saying that the building should not be used for any law enforcement functions again. Palmisano called it disgraceful that the building remains, scarred and secured, over four years later.
