Newton Public Schools are under a time crunch to determine the district’s competency requirements for receiving a diploma.

Earlier this year, Question 2 on the state ballot passed with 59 percent in favor, removing MCAS as a state-mandated requirement for high school graduation.

Previously, the state mandated that students meet their district’s local graduation standards and pass the MCAS as part of what’s called a Competency Determination (CD) requirement.

CD requirements assess if students demonstrate proficiency in each common core subject.

Now NPS, and every other school district in the state, must create their own CD requirements that determine if high school students can receive their diplomas.

“There is some urgency here,” Superintendent Anna Nolin said during Monday’s School Committee meeting.

Nolin explained that there are NPS students in 11th and 12th grade who have not passed the MCAS. These students, although a small group, are waiting for the district to make final decisions on new competency determination requirements that would replace the MCAS so that they can change their schedules to fulfill graduation requirements.

The 11th-grade students are choosing their courses for next year right now. 

The district’s decisions will have to go through the state first.

On Jan. 16, Gov. Maura Healey announced the establishment of a statewide graduation requirement council that may affect what alternative requirements districts can put forward.

The Department of Secondary Education and the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education may review each district’s proposals, according to a Dec. 11 memo from Russell D. Johnston, the Acting Commissioner of Elementary and Special Education.

“That’s a tall order to get done quickly, but I think we need to do our part and determine how we want to proceed here,” said Nolin.

Once new requirements are determined, school districts will need to give former students, who hadn’t previously received a diploma, a chance to come back and see if they can receive one under the new standards.

Concerns from the Committee

Ward 6 School Committee member Paul Levy expressed that this could be a chance for NPS to set the precedent in terms what the new CD requirements look like across the state.

But Levy had concerns.

“Frankly within our own system we have a huge disparity in grading as to what a B means in any given class, even between the two high schools, and probably within the high schools,” he said.

Vice Chair Emily Prenner, who represents Ward 5, was concerned that the state could propose guidelines that could conflict with what NPS initially approves.

“We want to do this expeditiously for the kids on the line right now; and we are totally nervous about what the future expectations could be,” said Nolin, who explained that this is a common sentiment among school leadership across the state.

“I feel like we’re back in the pandemic period with tremendous uncertainty, changing policies, [and a] lack of clarity from the state,” said Mayor Ruthanne Fuller.

The committee will discuss CD requirements for the remainder of the 2024-2025 school year at its next meeting.