Fayette High Schools students will not receive standard letter grades for classes completed in the spring semester. Instead they will receive either a “P” for Pass, or “NC” for No Credit, according to high school principal Patrick Tray. He presented the information to the Board of Education at its monthly meeting April 15.

Students who held passing grades through the third quarter will receive passing marks for the semester after completing fourth quarter instructional assignments. Students with failing grades at the end of the third quarter may raise their final semester grades after completing fourth-quarter assignments.

“We understand the importance of grades in GPA at the high school level, however our method of educating and assessing students has had to change abruptly due to the endemic,” Tray wrote in his report to the board. “This is impacting high schools and colleges across our nation. In the same way that having State assessments this spring is not appropriate, we find the issuing grades at this time is not appropriate.”

Tray explained that students enrolled in dual-credit courses (classes that count for both high school and college credit) will receive letter grades for the college portion of those classes at the end of the semester based on work necessary to complete college credit.

Additionally, seniors expected to graduate with A+ scholarships will be largely unaffected. Tray said only one student was in a “grey area” with respect to the mandated 95 percent attendance. The student was less than one percent from meeting the requirement and will be counted as present throughout the remainder of the school year in order to meet the eligibility requirements.

While Tray called the possibility of holding the annual graduation ceremony on the scheduled date of May 15 “highly unlikely,” he explained that the district is double checking with the state. Although, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson extended school closures throughout the remainder of the academic year, it is possible that parts of the state will begin to reopen May 4. Guidelines for social distancing and large gatherings will likely still be in place. Fayette has set a tentative postponement date of June 28 for graduation.

Tray said that overall, the unprecedented situation has been largely positive with regard to parents. “They’re a lot more willing to roll with the changes than I thought it would be. I was expecting a few more emails,” he said.

Tray also reported to the board that ticket money raised for the now canceled junior/senior prom will either be refunded or put towards a private effort to hold a prom in June. The prom was postponed and then canceled as schools remained shut down due to COVID-19. Several parents have begun organizing a prom to be held in the summer in the hopes that the state will relax social distancing guidelines by the summer. Tray said that no prom fundraisers have taken place, so for the last few years tickets were sold to cover the overhead. Since the school won’t host the prom this year, it will either refund the ticket purchases, or forward those payments toward the parent group.

“That way we could just send them a list of who’s paid and send them just one check,” Tray said. “Because if we're going to have to refund them, we're going to have to write a purchase order for each kid that we refund.” He said about 30 sets of tickets had been sold. 

Additionally, decorations have been sent home with a student to be used in the summer prom.

Tray also told the board that Wagner Portrait Studio, the company that takes class photos for the district, will create a banner bearing photos of each high school senior. It will be displayed on the fence at the football field on Friday nights when the school turns on the field lights in a display of appreciation for the senior class.

Fayette superintendent Jill Wiseman is concerned about falling tax revenues during the COVID-19 pandemic. Public school districts rely on funding from sales taxes. But with large swaths of the economy shut down because of the coronavirus, funding drops are expected.

“I am concerned about some possible negative impacts I foresee as a result of our current economic situation,” Wiseman told the school board. “As each week unfolds, we should get more clarity on how the pandemic will impact our state revenues.”

Wiseman anticipates that any withholding from the state will likely come in the form of less transportation funding. As it is right now, the state only funds about 19 percent of costs associated with mandated transportation service.

Missouri has received $208 million from the federal government through the Cares Act. It is unknown how much of that each district will receive. And specific allowable uses will be in place for those funds. “Once we receive that funding we can explore options for best ways to utilize that money,” Wiseman told the board. “Right now there are a lot of questions, but not a lot of answers regarding school funding. Nobody really knows how the situation is going to impact us.”

Wiseman said the district is still waiting to hear from the Missouri’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (SESE) on guidelines for summer school, which is scheduled for June.

But with schools shut down, the district should also get some relief from expected overhead costs. The district will see cost reductions in areas such as fuel for buses, utilities, substitute teachers, and instructional supplies. Those savings have not yet been determined. Wiseman said she is preparing financial projections to present to the board during its May 20 meeting.

School board meetings are open and the public is invited. However while the world copes with limitations due to COVID-19, meetings are held online through the app, Zoom. Anyone wishing to view the meetings may due so through the app.