Cherokee Board adopts updated retention and promotion policy, sets 60% grade baseline
Summary
The Cherokee Public Schools Board approved a revised retention and promotion policy that removes a third-grade-specific retention clause, clarifies the decision timeline, sets a 60% grade baseline for promotion in many cases and codifies an appeals path from principal to superintendent to board.
The Cherokee Public Schools Board of Education voted to adopt a revised retention and promotion policy that standardizes how promotion and retention decisions will be made across grade levels.
Board members said the policy replaces older, grade-specific wording and establishes that students who “demonstrate proficiency” on state and local measures shall be advanced. The policy sets a 60% grade-average baseline for promotion in many circumstances and requires students in grades 1–8 to earn a 60% average in at least three major courses to be promoted.
Administrators said the policy removes the prior, third-grade-specific retention language and relies on a combination of state testing, classroom data and local benchmarks when evaluating a student’s readiness to advance. The policy directs the superintendent to issue regulations that lay out the step-by-step procedures, including early-semester teacher-principal conferences, parent involvement, interim benchmarks and a formal recommendation process before any retention decision is finalized.
The policy also formalizes an appeal pathway: a parent may first request review by the principal, then the superintendent, and finally the school board. The board’s decision on an appeal is final, the policy says.
Board members emphasized that the policy is intended to produce “good, meaningful conversations” among teachers, administrators and families and to ensure decisions are supported by multiple data points rather than a single test score.
The board approved the measure by formal vote.
