A failing marking period can no longer score below 50

What happened

The board adopted a new grading rule for the secondary schools on February 26, 2026 as part of the 2026-27 programme of studies. A failing grade now runs from 50 to 64 rather than 0 to 64, so no marking period grade can be recorded below 50 on the final report card, while individual assignment grades stay as earned. Administrators argued that on an eight-point grading scale a failure is worth 14 points of range while an A is worth 8, so a very low single term mathematically sinks a whole year. The teachers' association formally objected before the vote, proposing instead a floor for only the first half of a course or converting only the lowest marking period, and warned a student could earn 79 in each of the first two terms, stop handing work in and still pass. In March the high school counselling team told the board that, contrary to what the board had been told, they did not author the full-year floor; they had proposed a narrower version covering only the first half of a course and it was rejected.

Why it matters to families

This changes how a report card is built and what a bad term costs a student. The district says the point is to keep a student who has one very bad term from being unable to recover, and has pointed to its early-warning platform, a secondary support coach and predictive assessment data as the safeguards. The union and some board members say it can equally teach a student that they can stop working once they are safely above the line. Because the rule sits in the programme of studies rather than in board policy, it is reviewed each year with that document.

The evidence

The February 18, 2026 recording sets out the change from a 0-64 to a 50-64 failing band on an eight-point scale, with individual grades kept as earned in the grade book and the floor applied at the final report card. The February 26, 2026 recording records the adoption of the programme of studies containing it and the teachers' association vice president's objection and counter-proposals read into the record. The March 23, 2026 recording contains the counselling team's correction that they did not author the full-year floor and that their narrower proposal was rejected.

The source