Quincy committee reviews proposed grading, attendance policy changes after educator endorsement

The Quincy School Committee on May 21 reviewed proposed revisions to the district grading policy (Policy Book Section 9.11) and the middle- and high-school attendance and tardy rules (Section 10.6), with educators and committee members requesting clarifications and outreach before a final vote.

Supporters, including Gail Carvalho, president of the Quincy Education Association, told the committee the two changes would “allow educators the ability to create a consistent learning environment complete with sequential lesson planning and effective assessment.” Carvalho said the letter-grade change at the high schools would align grades with what rising ninth-graders receive in middle school and “is more in line with the surrounding districts.”

The revisions under consideration would: replace the existing high-school grading format with a letter-grade system; clarify attendance thresholds and documentation requirements; define when a student is considered absent for a class (if they arrive more than halfway through a class); require a valid professional note after the third absence in a sequence; add religious or cultural holidays explicitly as excused; and specify credit-loss language (a referenced reduction of 15 credits). The draft also allows schools to require students who lose credit for a course to use credit-recovery options such as summer school, Quincy Evening High School or other school‑approved programs subject to administrative approval.

Committee discussion highlighted why the item matters locally: attendees said clearer attendance expectations support sequential learning and classroom assessment, while members and a parent advocate stressed the need to incorporate family perspective and to explain how make-up options will work in practice. One committee member suggested adding a short explanatory paragraph drawn from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) guidance—“students who attend school regularly are more likely to have success in school and careers”—to make the policy’s rationale clearer to families.

Questions from committee members and public commenters focused on (1) how the policy affects older students (the committee confirmed parental approval of absences remains required after age 16 in the draft), (2) the precise point that counts as an absence for a full day (the committee agreed to add the DESE convention about a half-day cutoff, often around 11 a.m., into the policy), (3) how teachers will record partial attendance when students arrive late, and (4) whether disciplinary-like consequences listed in the draft—“may lose access to privileges such as prom, graduation, and extracurricular programming” after 16 or more unexcused absences over four quarters—should remain in the policy or be handled separately.

Committee members and the administration agreed on next steps: Dr. Perkins and staff will incorporate the technical edits discussed (for example, adding explicit language that grades for students in grades 6–8 are letter grades in middle school), specify the exact half‑day time threshold in line with DESE practice, and add clearer language about school-based incentives and supports used before restrictions on privileges are applied. The administration also said it will produce a plain-language handout for families explaining attendance expectations and available credit-recovery options.

No final vote was taken; committee leadership said the revised draft will be returned to the school committee at a subsequent meeting for formal consideration and vote. The policy changes were discussed at a May 7 policy subcommittee meeting and will remain on the agenda for the June meeting after the edits and outreach plan are added.

Clarifying details noted during the meeting included: the draft’s referenced threshold of 16 unexcused absences over four quarters; the policy language clarifying a student with a reduction of 15 credits; credit-recovery options listed in the draft (summer school, Quincy Evening High School, or other school‑approved programs subject to administrative approval); and a plan to add the DESE half-day convention (approximately 11 a.m.) to the policy to define a full‑day absence. The committee asked staff to produce a simple parent-facing summary prior to implementation.

Speakers quoted or recorded on the record for this discussion are listed in the article’s speaker section. The committee distinguished between matters of discussion (questions and suggested edits), direction (staff to revise language and prepare outreach materials), and formal action (no vote; item to return to the committee for a future vote).