New graduation requirements on the drawing board at Edmonds School Board meeting

Members of the Edmonds School Board meet on Jan. 14. (Photo by Ashley Nash)

Preparing for high school graduation could look a lot different for students graduating from the Edmonds School District as early as 2026, due to state regulations.

At its Tuesday, Jan. 14 meeting, the Edmonds School District Board of Directors reviewed a proposed policy that outlines a performance-based graduation “pathway” students will soon be required to follow.

Per state law, students must choose a pathway based on their goals after high school – whether that’s college, technical education or military service.

The board also approved changes to several other district policies, including those on student homelessness and administration contracts.

“We do update our policies kind of constantly,” District Superintendent Dr. Rebecca Miner said. “…We hope to continue to give you smaller numbers of them so that we don’t have to do a huge revision update for a number of years.”

Most of the changes were slight, aligning the district with state policy and recommendations from the Washington State School Directors’ Association – but the district is departing from state recommendations when it comes to principal contracts.

New state legislation allows districts to provide multi-year contracts to principals, but the district plans to keep its one-year contract policy.

“We do not believe this is a prudent change to put into policy at this time,” district documents said. “We must remain nimble in our ability to make staffing decisions, particularly in response to economic challenges.

All updated policies can be found in board meeting agenda archives.

Graduation requirements

After approving slight language changes to Board Policy 2410, the graduation requirement policy, the district was briefed on new state requirements for graduation.

The new requirements would be added to Board Policy 2416. They could go into effect for the graduating class of 2026, District Spokesperson Curtis Campbell said in an email.

On Tuesday, the board discussed “graduation pathways,” which were mandated by state lawmakers when they passed HB 1599 in 2019.

A graduation pathway goes hand-in-hand with the state’s High School and Beyond Plan. It requires students to either take dual-credit college courses while in high school or complete technical education requirements, depending on what the student chooses. There is also an ASVAB pathway for students interested in military service.

A detailed look into each pathway option and their requirements can be found on the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction website.

Anti-hate speech signs

Pinned in the hallways of schools around the districts are signs that read: “Hate Speech Is Not Protected By the First Amendment.”

During the meeting’s public comment section, several speakers said they were concerned that the signs spread misinformation, saying that hate speech is protected by the First Amendment.

The sign continues: “Hate speech violates the fundamental human rights of the people that are targeted. Opinions may offend, shock or disturb, but they cannot incite violence, hostility and discrimination.”

On the sign is a QR code students can scan and then report that they’ve heard someone use hate speech at the school.

An old version of a poster displayed in schools across the district. (Photo provided by Edmonds School District)

“I would remind you that case law throughout the history of the United States has stated that all hate speech is protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and is also protected by Article One, Section 5 of the Washington State constitution,” one speaker said. “We should be teaching our children that they need to be respectful in their words, but also that they need to be responsible for their words. But to say that they cannot say something because it might offend somebody is going to limit their freedom of speech. This type of thing is a bold-faced lie and they need to be removed from schools.”

When it was time for the board’s student advisers to speak, several members spoke about how the signs and similar anti-bullying efforts have affected them personally.

Amin-Erdene Lkhagvasuren, a student adviser from Meadowdale High, said she was bullied for being Asian and because she had trouble speaking English when she and her family first moved to the U.S. as a child.

“I do not wish that on my worst enemy,” Lkhagvasuren said. “It is something that has and will affect me for the rest of my life.”

“I was not being hit every single day,” she said. However, she added that the verbal abuse was there “every single day” of her life. “It hurt me a lot. And a lot and a lot. …so to see these posters hung up to stand up for our students who are going through something like that, I am very appreciative.”

Responding to the comments, Superintendent Miner said the district is in the process of changing the hate speech signs to be more accurate. The posters provide clarity on district procedures for hate speech, which are aligned with federal and state laws to protect students from harassment, she said.

“It is correct that some hate speech is protected by the First Amendment,” Miner said. “Therefore the blanket statement at the top of the posters is incorrect. We’re already, prior to this meeting, in the process of revising these posters to be posted in our buildings so that our message will not be diluted by that inaccuracy.”

New poster design:

An updated version of a poster displayed in schools across the district. (Edmonds School District)

“A point to keep in mind is that while hate speech is generally protected under the First Amendment in the United States, schools can still regulate it to a certain extent, meaning it is not fully protected within school grounds,” Campbell said. “Schools can take action against hate speech if it creates a hostile environment, substantially disrupts the learning process, or constitutes harassment or threats against other students.”

Changes to student homelessness policy

On Tuesday the board approved slight language changes in board policy 3115, Students Experiencing Homelessness – Enrollment Rights and Services. Instead of referring to students as “homeless students,” the new language will say “students experiencing homelessness.”

These recommendations reflect the Washington State School Directors’ Association’s most recent model policy update from 2019.

Changes to contract policies

The board also approved changes to its policy on staff contracts.

The original policy, Board Policy 5050, regarding staff contracts is vague, saying only that the district will draft the contracts in accordance with state law and other district policies.

The amended policy goes into more detail, outlining the specifics of each contract based on different employee levels and how long each contract is allowed to last. This includes the decision to keep principal contracts at one year, departing from what the state recommends.

The board also approved changes to the board’s temporary administrators policy, which was edited for grammar and included a slight change to the segment about rehiring retired employees.

Acceptance of public works contracts

The board also on Tuesday unanimously accepted four public works contracts for construction projects completed in the district in 2024.

The following projects were approved: Track resurfacing projects at Brier Terrace Middle School and Meadowdale Middle School, the former Alderwood Middle School seismic upgrades project and the Mountlake Terrace High School field improvement project.

In other business the council had a first reading on additional proposed policy changes. Policies on the drawing board are the district’s transfer policy, release of nonresident students policy, nonresident student policy and policy on the new graduation requirements.

— By Ashley Nash

ashley@myedmondsnews.com

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