The Spokane Public Schools board of directors on Wednesday night unanimously approved the district’s plans to apply for a waiver of credit and graduation requirements offered by the State Board of Education in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mirroring recommendations from the state superintendent’s office, the guidelines are intended to provide flexibility for high school seniors during school closures.

High school seniors will have three choices for each course: a pass/fail grade on their high school transcript (for those who don’t want to negatively impact their cumulative grade-point average); a letter grade (for those who hope to improve their GPA); or a credit waiver from the school (for students with Fs and those who do not need certain credits to graduate or provide competency-based model to get to Pass grade.)

Individual teachers will use their professional judgment to determine competency-based credit opportunities to address the compression of available class time due to the school-closure period.