PERRYSBURG, Ohio — Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced Monday that schools will continue distance learning for the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year.
With all the changes happening over the last month, leaders at several northwest Ohio school districts are changing up the grading scale.
Leaders with Perrysburg Schools let families know all fourth quarter grades will be either pass or fail, impacting students in fifth through 12th grade.
Executive director of teaching and learning for the district, Brent Swartzmiller said that grading on an A through F scale is a reflection of what students are learning, and that's hard to determine in their current environment.
From the beginning, district leaders said they wanted to address remote learning with empathy and compassion.
According to Swartzmiller, after talking to families and teachers, leaders felt this was the right decision to make.
"Why wait? Let's take the stressors off of some of the families that are dealing with stress and lets concentrate on what's really important. What's really important at this point is working with each other to get through this time of crisis that's really unprecedented," Swartzmiller said.
District leaders said they felt students shouldn't be penalized because of something out of their control.
Honors and AP classes for high school students will have their GPA weighted the same way. Swartzmiller said that if they pass, they get an A.
Other districts that have moved to a pass/fail grading system include Sylvania Schools and Springfield Local Schools.
Students in sixth through 12th grade at Springfield School will be graded on a pass/fail basis for the fourth quarter.
Sylvania Schools emailed families on April 14 about the changes. High school students will continue to receive grades. Junior High is using the pass/fail grading system.
Leaders at Toledo Public Schools and Washington Local Schools said a decision will be made in the coming week on moving to a pass/fail grading system.
Representative of Maumee City Schools said they have not yet made a decision regarding final course student grades. They will share the final grading plans with their parents and students once those decisions are made.