Clintonville School Board discusses policy
By Bert Lehman
Early graduation requests in the Clintonville School District are usually approved with no opposition.
However, Elizabeth Ruskosky, who was appointed to the Clintonville School Board in November, questioned a recent early graduation request submitted by a Clintonville senior.
The school board considered the request at its Dec. 13 meeting.
Ruskosky said early graduation should be reserved for students who have worked hard and are goal oriented.
“Not necessarily just, that, ‘Oh, I’ve checked enough boxes, let me go,’ situation,” Ruskosky said.
She added, “In reading this request as it was in the (board) packet, I just really feel you know, youth belong in school and learning, unless, you know, demonstrate there’s something else that they’re looking to do. I feel that the statement presented from the student doesn’t even necessarily answer the question or give rationale or reason why they’re looking for early graduation, I mean, other than their credits are complete.”
Ruskosky said the request from the student also included, “I’d like to use my time before I’m 18 to work fulltime to save money for my future.”
Age shouldn’t be a factor in the decision, Ruskosky said.
Superintendent Troy Kuhn told the board that it has approved all early graduation requests in the past.
He said early graduation has been a topic of discussion with school administration because it seems like the district is receiving a lot of early graduation requests.
“I don’t know why,” Kuhn said. “I can dig into that and research more.”
Board member Chad Dobbe said he thinks part of the reason for more early graduation requests is because someone who is the age of a high school senior can make $15-$20 an hour in the current job market.
“I have friends that did this when I was in school and graduated early to start working, and that was for a lot less than that,” Dobbe said.
Board President Ben Huber said Clintonville is “not unusual” in this respect. He said he spoke with someone from another district, and was told that roughly 10% of the senior class in that district was going to graduate early.
Board member Kris Strauman said if students can fulfill all the graduation requirements early, they should get “kudos.”
“I don’t see anything wrong with an early graduation if they want to make something of themselves, or get a good paying job or get started early or before, as long as they’ve met the criteria that we say they have to have,” Strauman said. “You know, schools shouldn’t be a seat time operation, it should be, as Elizabeth said, learning time. But, if they met all the learning standards that we set, more power to them.”
Ruskosky said she agrees that students should be able to graduate early in cases of obtaining employment.
She said she had an issue with this particular request because it contained only one complete sentence.
“I guess if they’re applying for early graduation, I would look for, maybe, just a little bit more of a statement,” Ruskosky said.
The board approved the early graduation request with no board members opposing it.